Lily (The Highland Clan Book 3) (23 page)
Read Lily (The Highland Clan Book 3) Online
Authors: Keira Montclair
The following year
Kyle paced the great hall.
The love of his life was in a chamber above stairs with Lady Brenna, giving birth to their first son or daughter. He ran his hand down his face, pacing the hall for the hundredth time. “How long does this process take? Must she torture me like this?” He threw his arms in the air for emphasis, hoping the angels watching over his wife would see his frustration and take pity on him.
Logan and Quade sat in front of the hearth, drinking ale. Quade said, “I recall one lass who took two days to deliver her bairn. I did not think my wife would ever return.”
“Two days? Truly? I’ll not survive it if Lily takes that long. Can you not hear her scream? She’ll be the death of me by the end of the day.”
Logan laughed. “She’s not screaming that much. Gwyneth screamed so loud when she popped Gavin out that Seamus came running in from the lists.”
Gwyneth smacked her husband’s arm as she passed him, coming from the kitchens with a few pieces of fruit. “If you recall, I was yelling at you. I said you’d never touch me again. Stop scaring the lad.”
Logan jumped out of his chair to waylay his wife. He nuzzled her neck and grabbed her hips. “Seems my touch pleases you again, aye?”
She laughed, shoving at him. “Aye, but we’ve not had another bairn since, have we?”
“Aye, we have. You do not recall making Brigid?”
Gwyneth halted at the top of the stops. “Seems you have the right of it. ‘Twas a wonderful daughter we made.”
Logan growled as he chased up the stairs after her. “Since you’re headed in the right direction, I’ll follow. We can make another.”
Gwyneth spun around and planted her hands on her hips at the top of the stairway. “I doubt that shall ever happen again. We’re both too old. Now go back down the stairs and console your nephew. I’m needed by our dear niece.”
Logan returned to the hall, stopping to pat Kyle’s back as he passed him. “Lily is a strong lass. She’ll be fine. Her mother is in heaven watching over her. Come sit for a bit.” He ushered him over to a chair.
Kyle sat, rubbing his hands up and down his legs. He’d heard too many nightmare stories about lasses dying birthing bairns, or delivering a bairn that had something wrong with it, or delivering a dead bairn, or…
Quade said, “Stop thinking of the worst, Kyle. You’ll insult my wife’s abilities to deliver the bairn safely.”
Kyle stared at his father-in-law, but he could not quite summon the energy to lie to him, so he said nothing. Lily had been in there for at least six hours. “But how can she keep going? She must be exhausted. Will she have the strength to push the bairn out after working for so long? I do not understand how this works. How can a lass live through all that pain? ‘Tis gruesome to listen to them.”
His feet bounced against the floor, shaking his whole body.
Quade peered at the ceiling. “I’ve never understood it, to be honest, how the Lord could torture a woman so. But watching a loved one deliver a bairn is mighty painful, too. It can bring the most powerful man to his knees.”
Kyle pondered this thought before he peered at his father-in-law. “My laird?”
“You’re in our home, Kyle. Call me by my given name, please.”
“As you wish. Quade, may I ask you a personal question?”
“Aye, I’ll answer if I’m able.”
“Lily’s mother. She died birthing Lily, ‘tis true?”
“Not quite. She died from the act of giving birth. Something went wrong after Lily’s birth. She did not die until some time later.”
“How can you sit there so passively? How are you not banging on the door to see if your daughter is doing well? Are you not afraid the same will happen to her?”
“Well, ‘struth is that it has crossed my mind a few times, but my daughter has a much more skilled midwife caring for her than Lilias did. I have great faith in Brenna. ‘Tis her daughter in her hands. She’ll see her through.”
Kyle stared at the floor in front of him.
“Lad, you’ll see the Lord acts in strange ways. He took one wife from me and then gave me another. I love them both. Brenna has been a Godsend for my clan, so I do not question his ways. A part of me feels certain Lilias brought Brenna to us. Brenna cured her son and daughter of their illness. Nay, I do not question any more, son. I’ve seen too much.”
The door to the great hall opened and Kyle’s mother came in with Seamus. “Kyle? Is Lily all right? Has she had the bairn yet?”
Kyle escorted his mother to a chair by the hearth. “Nay, Mama. She’s in the chamber above stairs.”
Quade added, “She’s torturing your son. He’s been waiting a while.”
“Kyle, the first bairn takes a long time. I cannot wait to see if you have a lad or a lassie.” She clasped her hands together in her lap. “Seamus and I shall wait with you, no matter how long it takes.”
“My thanks, Mama. I just want them both to be hale and hearty.”
Logan said, “I believe they’ll be fine. Lily is a strong woman. Remember how she found a way to escape a daft man on her verra own. Your wife is strong.”
Kyle suddenly bolted out of his seat. “What is happening?”
Logan gave him a strange look, tipping his head to the side. “Kyle? I do not hear aught. What do you hear?”
“I hear naught and ‘tis wrong. She promised to sing every so often so I’d know she was hale. I’ve heard naught for too long.” He charged up the staircase, taking them three steps at a time. “Lily?”
A grated voice singing out of tune met his ears. “Ramsay land is…”
Kyle waited, but the chamber went silent. “Lily, Ramsay land is what?”
A loud yell came from the chamber. “Is bonny land. Go downstairs, Kyle!”
Scowling, he retraced his steps back down to the hall and resumed his pacing.
Not long after, Torrian and Heather came in the front door, their first born son strapped to Torrian’s chest. Nellie came in behind them. “Where’s the new bairn?”
Kyle stared at the three of them, unable to answer, and continued pacing.
The group started to chatter, and the noise was loud enough that he didn’t notice the silence from the chamber above stairs until the door opened.
“Kyle?” Gwyneth yelled over the balcony railing. “Would you like to come in?”
He flew up the stairs and pushed past Gwyneth, desperate to see his beautiful wife again. “Lily?”
Lily sat up in her bed, a huge smile on her face and a small bundle in her arms. “Come closer, Kyle. Meet our daughter.”
Kyle grabbed a stool and moved it by the bed, leaning in to kiss his wife before he sat on the stool. “We have a wee lassie?”
She nodded and pulled the plaid back so Kyle could peek at the bairn. “Is she not beautiful, Kyle? Look, she has your dark hair.”
Kyle smiled as soon as he saw their daughter. Her face was all scrunched up in preparation to bellow, and her wee fists flailed around her as she opened her eyes to her new world. “Lily, she’s beautiful. You’ll not die on me now, will you?”
Lily smiled. “Nay, everything was perfect, right, Mama?”
Brenna smiled at the end of the bed, fussing with her tools. “Aye, Lily came through it beautifully. We had only one surprise.”
Kyle glanced back at their daughter, still infatuated with the new one. He reached for her hand, and the lass grabbed onto his finger, opening and closing her mouth. “She looks as if she’s about to start hollering about something.”
A scream echoed through the room, but not from the bairn in front of him. He jerked his head to a spot in the corner. In a basket sat another bundle, the source of the second yell.
Kyle sat up wide-eyed, glancing first at Brenna, then Gwyneth, then his wife. All had wide smiles on their faces, but none of them spoke.
“What?” he whispered, squeezing Lily’s hand.
A knock sounded at the door as Gwyneth reached down to the basket. Quade opened the door and peeked in while the other members of their family waited behind him. At the same time Gwyneth picked up the second bundle.
“Greet your other daughter, Kyle. You have two wee lassies.”
Quade whistled and clapped his hands. “Twins! You’ve blessed us this day, dear Lord!”
Logan hopped in the air, declaring, “Two wee Lilys! Thank the Lord above. What more could we ever ask for?”
Nellie cried, “I was hoping they’d be lassies.”
Kyle glanced from bundle to bundle, then fell off his stool backwards, passing out cold.
The End
The Clan Grant Series
#
1-
RESCUED BY A HIGHLANDER
-Alex and Maddie
#2-
HEALING A HIGHLANDER’S HEART
-Brenna and Quade
#3-
LOVE LETTERS FROM LARGS
- Brodie and Celestina
#4-
JOURNEY TO THE HIGHLANDS
-Robbie and Caralyn
#5-
HIGHLAND SPARKS
-Logan and Gwyneth
#6-
MY DESPERATE HIGHLANDER
-Micheil and Diana
#7-
THE BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE HIGHLANDS
-Jennie and Aedan
#8-
HIGHLAND HARMONY
-Avelina and Drew
The Highland Clan
LOKI
- Book One
TORRIAN
– Book Two
LILY- Book Three
The Summerhill Series- Contemporary Romance
Regency
I hope you enjoyed my third novel in The Highland Clan series. If you enjoyed reading about Lily, her story began in
Healing a Highlander’s Heart
, and her trouble “in the trees” happened in
Highland Sparks
. I think you know that Jake’s story will be next, and you can count on the fact that I have many more stories to tell in The Highland Clan. There could be more than thirty in this series if I tell all the bairns’ stories! I have a third Summerhill story started, also.
If you want to know more about my novels, here are some places for you to visit.
-
Visit my website at
www.keiramontclair.com
and sign up for my newsletter. I’ll keep you updated about my new releases without bothering you often. -
Go to my Facebook page and ‘like’ me:
You will get updates on any new novels, book signings, and giveaways.
https://www.facebook.com/KeiraMontclair -
Stop by my Pinterest page:
http://www.pinterest.com/KeiraMontclair/
You’ll see how I envision Lily and Kyle. -
Give a review on Amazon or Goodreads.
Reviews help self-published authors like me and help other readers as well.
Happy reading!
Keira Montclair
Keira Montclair is the pen name of an author who lives in Florida with her husband. She loves to write fast-paced, emotional romance, especially with children as secondary characters in her stories.
She has worked as a registered nurse in pediatrics and recovery room nursing. Teaching is another of her loves, and she has taught both high school mathematics and practical nursing.
Now she loves to spend her time writing, but there isn't enough time to write everything she wants! Her Highlander Clan Grant series, comprising of eight standalone novels, is a reader favorite. Her third series, The Highland Clan, set twenty years after the Clan Grant series, focuses on the Grant/Ramsay descendants.
You may contact her through her website at
www.keiramontclair.com
. She also has a Facebook account and a twitter account through Keira Montclair. If you send her an email through her website, she promises to respond.
Copyright © 2016 Keira Montclair
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