Page 52 of Highlander’s Claim

“Why is that even—”

“Just do it.”

While he did it, Jenny worked with the needle over the bloody gap in the woman’s body. Aulay kept muttering to Mhairi that she was going to be all right and holding her shoulders down. While the wee bairn screamed and his father wept happy tears over him, Aulay watched Jenny’s precise, quick movements with fascination.

Soon, the gap was closed, and she dressed the wound. “Sweetheart, you can’t move…” But Mhairi was asleep again.

She wiped her forehead with her hand and looked at Bhatair, who studied the dressed wound and the patient with fascination. He listened to her heart and nodded, bewildered. “She’s still alive.”

Jenny asked him to pour water over her hands, and while Bhatair did that, she asked Aulay to put a clean sheet over Mhairi’s bed and carry her back to bed. While Aulay did that, she cleaned her hands with uisge once again and went to Seoras.

“May I see the baby?” she asked. “I’d like to make sure he’s okay.”

Seoras nodded, his eyes teary. Aulay put Mhairi into her bed and covered her with a clean blanket. He came close to Jenny. As she took the newborn, who was now quiet and watched her with interested dark-blue eyes, Aulay’s heart lurched. She cooed and talked to the bairn as she carefully looked him over and counted the fingers and toes.

She looked at them with shining eyes. “He’s perfect. Congratulations, Seoras, you have a beautiful, healthy son. And your wife lives.”

Seoras nodded as he accepted the baby from her arms, tears in his eyes. “Is Mhairi going to be all right?”

She exchanged a glance with Bhatair, who still eyed Mhairi like she was the next Ascension of Christ. “We will see. It’s important to keep an eye on her wound. She had a major surgery. If you have a wet nurse lined up, it’s best if she feeds the baby. I’ll check on Mhairi regularly.”

Aulay’s heart kept doing something strange…like soaring, warm and light, as he watched this wondrous woman. But it was painful, like a needle kept poking his heart and digging deeper and deeper.

“May I have a word, Jenny?” Aulay asked as he took her hand in his.

Jenny smiled at him and nodded. “Only for a moment. I still need to clean and make sure Mhairi is all right.”

He led her out of the room and onto the landing, then closed the door. In the dim light, she was like a mysterious creature from another world.

“I…I just wanted to say thank ye.” He felt tears prickle the backs of his eyes. “I am in agony…and ye… Seven years ago, had ye been here, ye could have saved my wife and my own bairn.”

Her eyes filled with tears, and she squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry, Aulay. I’m sorry I couldn’t have saved Leitis and your baby.”

He nodded and pulled her into his arms. Godly benediction flowed through his veins. Only why God would have sent her to him so late, he didn’t know.

CHAPTER 21

Aulay opened the door to his bedchamber before Jenny and let her in. The scents of roses and meadowsweet filled her nostrils. A bath stood in the middle of his room, reflected flames of the surrounding tallow candles dancing off the water. Steam rose from it, and Jenny’s tired muscles ached to get in there.

“A bath…” Jenny murmured dreamily and turned to him. Her lips spread in a huge smile, and he returned it, wrinkles forming around his eyes.

“For ye, lass,” he said.

She gasped and, despite her exhausted muscles, went to the large barrel and climbed the stairs and dipped her hand into the water. The scent of flowers and herbs came from there. The hot liquid burned her fingers pleasantly.

“Oh, it’s like you read my mind, Aulay…”

Something lightened and bubbled in her chest. He was a kind man. Bossy, yes, but she now understood why his whole clan worshipped him. He went above and beyond for them…and for her.

“I thought ye might want one, after a day like today,” he said as he came closer. “Ye must be exhausted after the birth and cleaning everything.”

“That’s so thoughtful of you. I am grimy, and I’m sure my hands need another good scrub to fully remove the blood. But main thing is, Mhairi and the baby are all right.”

Mhairi had woken up with a huge hangover. But now that she wasn’t pregnant, she could take some willow bark tincture, which dulled her pain somewhat. Of course, she was still in a lot of pain and in shock after enduring a major surgery, but Aulay had asked one of the women from the village to step in as a nurse and helper for her, and, with time, the poor woman would heal.

“I’m still in shock myself that we pulled it off,” Jenny said.

She didn’t want to say it out loud, but she was not a surgeon. And even though her technique was the best bet they’d had given the circumstances, she had been terrified. She didn’t know how she’d commanded her body to move and cut and do the right thing when there’d been a voice inside her head screaming at her the whole time.