Chapter Twenty-Five #2
Alex smiled. He and the Ramsay laird had always been a wee bit competitive.
He couldn’t wait to see how the Ramsay loch compared to the Grant loch.
It had not been difficult at all to create a comfortable area at the opposite end of the loch from where Robbie and Caralyn lived, and the swimming spot had, in fact, become a clan favorite.
Many a clan member spent the warmest days of summer out by the loch.
Quade continued as they drew near. “As you can see, my men had to build stone benches for seats, and we also put a dock out in the middle of the loch as you did. I admit the dock island is a favorite with the older bairns. But Brenna did not stop there.”
Alex noticed the edge where all the weans were splashing. “Why do you have rope across the loch?”
“Och, you’re catching on to your sister’s thinking, are you not? The rope is the limit for the wee bairns. They cannot go beyond it until they learn to swim. ‘Tis Brenna’s idea. And Molly is gifted at teaching the youngest ones how to swim.”
Alex nodded. “I suspect Maddie will be having me create the same as soon as we are home.”
A giant old oak leaned gracefully over the water in the middle of the loch. Alex stopped in his tracks and turned his head to the side. “What the devil is that?”
Quade chuckled. “I see you’ve discovered Logan’s contribution to the loch. After watching him try to toss my son and daughter from the lower branches of the big oak tree, I agreed to allow him this instead. But ‘tis all Logan’s creation. As you can see, the older ones enjoy it.”
As Alex watched, Loki grabbed the knotted rope that hung from the highest branch of the oak, pulled it back as far as it would go, then ran down the grassy slope leading to the loch, jumping up and lifting his feet to the knot at the last minute.
As soon as he sailed over the water, Loki threw himself into the air and did a flip before landing in the water with a huge splash.
Alex applauded Loki’s achievement and watched as all the lassies giggled and collected around the lad as he climbed out of the water, his chest puffed out with pride.
“Do a double flip, Loki,” Torrian yelled.
Lily shouted, “Nay, do a backward flip.”
But before he could do any of those things, Logan came charging toward the tree, grabbed the rope, and ran back as far as he could, stopping at the top of the slope with a huge grin on his face.
“Are you all ready? I’ll give you a challenge.
This will be the biggest splash ever. Then we shall see if all you wee bairns—“ he pointed at Loki, Torrian, Lily, Ashlyn, Molly, Jake, and Jamie, who were all standing around watching, “—can beat me.”
Logan flew down the slope and launched himself into the air, letting go of the rope at the last minute to fly out over the water.
Landing at an odd angle, Logan created a huge splash that spouted like a fountain, saturating those who were standing nearest to the edge of the loch.
The spectators shrieked at getting wet, but all laughed and applauded when Logan climbed out.
While Alex stood to the side, Brodie came running past him from the end of the loch with a grin on his face. “I take up the challenge,” he said, grabbing the rope. “We’ll see who can make the biggest arsewhacker of all.”
Brodie did his best to beat Logan, but he did not quite make it. Micheil followed with a hoot.
Maddie ran up to Alex, who was still watching the display, and flung her arms around his waist. “Alex, is it not wonderful out here? Have you seen the swing? And look at how Quade chopped a tree down and cut off pieces to be used as seats around the loch. And we have to add a rope to our shallow section for the bairns, just as Brenna did.”
Quade chuckled just as Alex gave him a pointed look over Maddie’s head. “Ramsay, the next thing she’ll have me doing is planting an oak tree next to our loch.”
“But that would take too long, Alex,” Maddie pleaded. “I’m sure the men would be happy to transplant one from another spot. Just choose your strongest men.” She gave him a sweet smile as Quade guffawed.
Alex kissed the top of Maddie’s head just as their daughter, Eliza, tottered over, all wet, and lifted her arms. “Papa, up?”
Alex picked her up, kissed her cheek with a resounding smack, and then hoisted her up onto his shoulders.
“By the way,” Maddie said, “you know the wee lads have been waiting for you to play the tree game, Alex. I promised them ‘twould happen.” She gave her husband a hug, and Alex rubbed his thumb across her cheek.
“Did you, now? Hmmm…that could cost you later, sweeting.”
Quade said, “Alex, play a tree? I’d like to see that.”
Alex passed Eliza off to her blushing mother, then made his way over to the shallow end of the loch where the bairns all splashed in the water.
As soon as they spied him, the wee ones all ran over yelling, “Tree, Uncle Alex. Please, be the tree.” Celestina held her youngest, Catriona, while Caralyn held her wee lad, Padraig.
Maddie smiled up at her husband. “See how they love you, Alex?”
Alex strode into the water up to his knees, holding both arms out to the side, and shouted in his deepest voice, “Watch out, a storm is a brewing.” The bairns giggled and ran toward him, each of them reaching up to grasp his enormous arms.
Gregor was last, chasing the older ones into the water. “Dabin, wait for me!”
Once they were all hanging from his arms, he started to swing them back and forth, “Here comes the wind.”
The bairns started to swing and squeal, some of them landing in the water with a splash, others hanging on for dear life.
Maddie yelled, “Be careful, Alex. Do not hurt them. There are so many hanging on your arms.”
Once all of the bairns had landed in the water, he climbed back out and headed over to greet his sister, Brenna, who was standing off to the side on the hill overlooking the water.
“All is well, Brenna? Is this not too hard for you, watching all the bairns?”
Brenna’s eyes teared up. “Nay, ‘tis wonderful. You know not how happy you have made me by bringing the family to support me. Alex, look at our clan and all it’s become.”
As Alex stopped to stare out over the loch, Jennie and Aedan came to join them. “I know,” he said. “‘Tis hard to believe they are all part of our clan. I wish Mama and Papa could see us now, how we’ve grown.” He wrapped his arm over Jennie’s shoulder and kissed her cheek.
“I know, but I believe they are watching.” Brenna swiped away a tear as Brodie and Celestina joined them, and Maddie came over to hug her husband. “How could I be sad about losing one child, when we have so many strong bairns?”
“You’ll have another someday,” Maddie whispered. “Alex and I lost one before we had Eliza.”
Silence settled over the siblings, but the solemn moment was broken when Logan came running at them from the tree, followed by Robbie. Before he reached them, Logan first chased over to Gwyneth, who was sunning herself on her plaid, and proceeded to drip water all over her.
“Logan, you’ll pay!” She jumped up and chased him back to the tree.
All the older bairns chased after the two to see what they would do next.
Logan flung himself into the water from the swing, yelling, “Come catch me, Gwynie.” He landed with a big splash almost as loud as his first. Gwyneth used the swing next—after flipping in the air, she kicked her legs straight up and landed in the water head first, with her arms leading overhead, not far away from Logan.
Dressed in her leggings and a sleeveless tunic, she hardly made a ripple in the water.
“How did she do that?” Robbie whispered, Caralyn right behind him with their babe on her hip.
“Are those two always so playful?” Celestina asked.
Micheil and Diana came over, holding their two lads, David and Daniel, both a bit overwhelmed by everyone. “Aye, Logan loves to tease Gwyneth,” Micheil replied.
“But Gwyneth enjoys every moment of his teasing,” Diana added.
Celestina said, “I love to see the strong friendships among the cousins. Look at Bethia and Kyla, and Gracie and Sorcha. Roddy and Braden are inseparable until they come here, and then they love spending as much time as they are able with Gavin and Gregor. Those four lads are all within a year of each other, are they not? And look at Molly and Ashlyn, they’re so dear together! ”
Moments later, Logan and Gwyneth climbed out of the water laughing, arms wrapped around each other.