Chapter Sixteen
Maddie is abed with her fifth child, and everyone must adjust.
The group sat around the dais with a sense of loss. He sat on a bench at the end of the table near Jennie. Maddie was not with them, and everyone could feel Alex’s tension. At one point, their three lads, Jamie, Jake, and Connor attempted to sneak up the stairs in pursuit of their mama.
A booming, “Lads!” caught them in the midst of their journey, and all three stopped instantly.
“Papa,” Jamie whispered. “We want our mama.”
“Lads, you will not bother your mother. She is ill and abed, and you will stay here.”
Jake turned to look at his father. “But Mama reads one of her storybooks to us every eve.”
Alex pointed to the bottom of the stairs and all three of the bairns rushed back down the stairs, their hands clasped behind their backs as they gazed up at their da. Kyla strolled over and grabbed her sire’s hand. “Papa, you can read us the story tonight. Please?”
Aedan watched with bemusement. He leaned toward Jennie, “Maddie has storybooks?”
Jennie nodded. “Aye, she makes them herself, drawing pictures. They are quite beautiful. She has read from them for many, many moons. All the bairns of the clan love them.”
All of Alex Grant’s bluster had been taken out of him by his four bairns and his wife’s illness. He didn’t know what was wrong with Maddie, but this couldn’t possibly be the first time she had been abed.
Connor tipped his head back as far as he could as he stared up at his sire. “Please, Papa?” he asked in a small voice.
“Please?” Jamie added. “We do so love it when Mama reads to us.”
Jake nodded his head.
“Connor, you shall choose the book.” Alex strode over to the hearth and sat in his chair while three of his bairns followed him and Connor scampered off to choose a book. Gracie, Robbie and Caralyn’s daughter, followed with Roddy in hand, and Braden toddled over on his own.
Aedan found himself glancing at Jennie to see how she was reacting to the scene.
He most enjoyed catching her unaware. Jennie couldn’t help but smile when her brother’s booming voice echoed through the room.
The tale was about some monster, and Alex’s interpretation had all the weans staring at him with wide eyes.
He noticed Loki had made his way over a bit closer so he could hear the story.
He was quite sure that Maddie would have told the tale differently, and the weans would probably beg him to read many more books to them in the future if they managed to survive the night without haunted dreams.
Aedan moved over and took the seat next to Jennie. “Your brother is lost without his wife, I see. She has never been sick before?”
“Nay, never. She has the constitution of a horse, and if she is forced to bear any pain, she never lets on. Maddie has been invincible up until now.”
“She’ll get better? ‘Tis not some unknown sickness?”
“Aye, she’ll improve in a few months, after she delivers the bairn. Mayhap this will be their last.”