The Bride Chooses a Highlander
Page 29
“Here, take her,” Katherine choked, lifting the babe. “Hold yer daughter.”
Lachlan’s expression grew horrified. “I fear I might crush the sweet angel. Or drop her.”
“Ye shall do no such thing.” Katherine sniffled. “Yet, if it makes ye more at ease, sit beside me on the bed. If she falls, she’ll not have far to land.”
A visibly nervous Lachlan took the newborn babe in his arms, holding her close to his chest as Katherine instructed. For a moment stark silence engulfed the room and then the babe opened her mouth and yawned.
Lachlan and Katherine broke into proud smiles, cooing and laughing at their daughter.
“Isn’t she incredible?” Lachlan gushed.
“A superior lass in all ways,” Katherine agreed.
Two hours later, Katherine lay enfolded in Lachlan’s arms, too happy and excited to sleep. The new parents could not stop peering down at the cradle next to their bed, which held their sleeping daughter.
“She’s perfect, isn’t she?” Lachlan said for easily the tenth time.
“Aye. We shall cosset and spoil her until she becomes an unholy terror,” Katherine jested. “A lass who will put Lileas’s willful ways to shame.”
Lachlan rolled his eyes. “Heaven forbid.”
“I need ye to promise me something,” Katherine said, looking deep into her beloved’s eyes. “When the time comes, and our daughter must marry, ye will allow her to choose her husband.”
Lachlan squirmed uncomfortably, setting his jaw in a hard line. “Fie, Katherine, ye’ve only just brought her into this world and ye’re already asking me to give her to another.”
“We will have many, many years with her until that happens,” Katherine said soothingly. “I want her to have a marriage such as ours—filled with hope and trust and love. Promise me?”
The chamber was bathed in silence for a long time. Katherine opened her mouth to ask again and Lachlan let out a long-suffering sigh.
“Aye. If it means so much to ye, then I’ll promise.” He moved his hand protectively over the cradle and sighed again. “I suddenly understand how yer father felt when ye brought me to him. ’Tis a miracle he ever allowed me out of his dungeon.”
Katherine traced a finger over Lachlan’s chest. It seemed impossible, but the love she had for him once again grew stronger and deeper. He was the only man she ever could have called husband. The other half of her soul, the one who completed her.
“It took him some time, but in the end my father realized that he could not deny me my heart’s true desire,” she said boldly. “I chose ye, Lachlan MacTavish. Ye are mine.”
“Now and always, my love,” Lachlan agreed, as he pulled her close and kissed her deeply.