The Bewitching Twin (22 page)

They stared at her and she shook her head.

“Don’t you understand? Fiona and I must love the men we wed, our love brings you both together, opening the door for peace to reign among all our clans forever more.”

Raynor shook his head. “I don’t understand. You both were kidnapped to bring you to this point in time and reunite two brothers?”

“Destiny takes many twists and turns until it is appeased,” Aliss said.

“You sound like Giann,” Rogan said.

“I think I finally understand what she attempted to tell me. What is decided here this day between you and Tarr does not only determine our destinies—” She paused and gave thought to the babe she finally was certain she carried inside her. “But future destinies as well, and for some reason that is important.”

“You two better make amends,” Fiona threatened.

“Is that an order?” Tarr snapped.

Fiona poked her husband in the chest. “It certainly is.”

“Give me a good reason why I should be intimidated by your threat.”

“You’re going to argue with me about this, here and now?”

“Unless you can give me a good reason why I shouldn’t.”

Fiona bit at her bottom lip, grimaced for a moment, took a deep breath then said, “Because I think I am about to give birth to your child.”

C
haos took hold and everyone attempted to do something while actually nothing got done, until Aliss finally took charge.

“I have all I need at my cottage. It is best to take Fiona there,” she said, offering her sister comfort with a squeeze of her hand.

“Whatever you say,” Tarr said, and lifted his wife in his arms.

“I’ll go ahead and see that Anna has the bed prepared,” Rogan said, and rushed out of the hall.

Tarr was close behind him, while Raynor appeared lost and turned to Aliss.

“What can I do?”

Aliss grabbed his arm. “You have the most important chore of all.”

“I do?”

Aliss nodded. “You must keep peace between Tarr and Rogan.”

“You ask a lot,” Raynor admitted. “They are both ready to throw fists, though I cannot blame them. The news of them being half brothers is startling.”

“See that they don’t, please, for your sisters’ sake. There will be time later for the two to dispute the finding; for now Fiona must be considered.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Then I won’t worry,” Aliss said, kissed his cheek and rushed out of the hall. Raynor followed close behind.

Fiona was settled comfortably in the bed, her husband by her side, holding on to her hand as if he dared not let her go.

Aliss looked from one to the other. “It is better if Tarr leaves.”

“No, I’m staying,” he insisted.

Aliss shook her head, grabbed his arm, and yanked him away from Fiona. “No, you are leaving.” She pushed him to the door. “I will summon you as soon as the babe arrives.”

He looked lost and helpless, his eyes resting on his wife.

“I’ll be fine,” Fiona assured him. “Do as Aliss says.”

He nodded, hesitated, then reluctantly left the cottage.

Aliss turned to see her sister crying and hurried over to her. “Everything will be fine.”

“Will it?” Fiona asked, as if she expected a promise.

Aliss leaned over and combed her sister’s hair with her fingers, gathering it in the back to tie with a ribbon. “You and Tarr will be the parents of a fine babe this day. Do not worry.”

“If our husbands don’t kill each other first.” She sniffled.

“I ordered Raynor to keep watch over them.”

“That is good,” Fiona said with a modicum of relief.

“Now relax, you will need your strength as the pains increase.”

Rogan sat, with Raynor to his right, beneath the tree that shaded the cottage, watching Tarr pace in front of the closed door.

“Aliss is an excellent healer,” Rogan said, hoping to ease his concern.

“Don’t you think I know that,” Tarr snapped, never missing a step.

“Then there is no need for you to worry,” Rogan said.

Tarr spun around. “Tell me you would not worry if it were Aliss giving birth.”

“She is a healer who—” The sudden clarity of his remark made him think. There would be no one as experienced as Aliss to deliver a babe when she eventually gave birth. He would need to remind Aliss to teach Anna all she could about birthing.

“Worry all you like,” Rogan finally said.

Tarr nodded. “I plan to.”

“You don’t give your wife enough credit,” Raynor said. “Fiona is stubborn and strong. She will do fine.”

A couple of hours later all three men weren’t so sure about that when piercing screams resonated from the cottage.

“You did not warn me that it would hurt this much,” Fiona accused, dropping back against the pillow exhausted after several hours of labor.

“It would not have mattered if I did. You would do what you wanted anyway,” Aliss said in jest.

“And you don’t? You jumped into marriage with a man you love, to discover he loved you only to be betrayed by him. You then enter a bargain with him giving the idiot time to prove his love, which evidently he’s done. But still you continue to worry if it’s all real.”

Aliss stared dumbfounded at her. Where had that come from? Her sister’s mind should be on her delivery and here she was pointing out Aliss’s problems.

“I know the way you think,” Fiona said with a shake of her finger.

“You seem to,” Aliss answered calmly, knowing this was not the time to discuss her and Rogan’s relationship.

“Why afraid to speak up?”

“This isn’t a conversation we should be having now,” Aliss warned.

“Why not? We have nothing else to do but wait for the babe, who will come in his own good time. Your words, not mine. If it were up to me, he would have been here weeks ago. Now tell me if I am right.”

Her sister would harp and harp if she didn’t speak, and besides, she ached to talk with Fiona. They might argue, but in the end, problems would be hashed out and decisions made. “Rogan has proven he loves me time and again. He confided much in me over the time we have been here . . .”

“But?”

Aliss knew she should not let it bother her, but it had been such a shock to find out, and even more of a shock that he had not told her about it before anyone else. “Rogan did not confide in me about Tarr being his half brother.”

“Understandably. It would have only caused more friction at a time Rogan was focused on getting you to realize how much he loved you. You came first to him. Damn, I hate taking his side, but the truth is—” A sharp pain robbed her of her words.

“No more talk, save your strength,” Aliss ordered, wiping her sister’s perspiring brow with a cool, moist cloth.

“No, this needs to be said,” Fiona insisted on a rolling breath. “The truth is, the man has put you first.”

“How so?” Aliss argued.

“Don’t sound like a spoiled child,” Fiona scolded. “He could have spilled his guts from day one and made everything worse.”

“He would have made it better.”

“That’s a laugh,” Fiona said. “Think of it. It would have sounded like you meant nothing to him and he did everything to get revenge. I imagine the idiot figured his only chance was to prove his love before he enlightened you to the truth. He actually put you first, thought of your feelings. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

That her sister made sense stunned Aliss to silence.

“My advice to you, dear sister? Feel love, accept love, live love, and stop worrying about all the extra nonsense.”

“I didn’t know you were such an authority on love.”

“I didn’t either, but I learned that you need to respect and honor love even if it doesn’t turn out exactly as you wanted it to. I’ll get used to the idiot, and the only reason why is because he loves you and will keep you safe. He’s—” She cleared her throat and rushed to add, “He’s a good man.”

“You’ve changed your mind about him?’

“A little,
just
a little.”

Aliss sat beside her. “Why?”

“I didn’t realize until today how much you both loved each other.”

“What do you mean?” Aliss asked.

“When Rogan explained what this land meant to him and that he was willing to give it up for you, that spoke volumes. He would sacrifice all he had planned and held dear, for you.” She shook her head. “That takes real love. And the way you rushed after him, the hurt in your eyes over his suffering and wanting to comfort him—” She shook her head again and swatted away a fat teardrop. “You two love each other, plain and simple.”

Another pain attacked and had Fiona mumbling several oaths beneath her breath as she grabbed her stomach.

“How much longer?” she pleaded.

“A couple of hours at least.”

Fiona groaned and dropped her head back on the pillow. “Enough talk. Tell your husband you forgive him and love him and get it over with. I can guarantee it will be much less painful than what I am going through.”

“Did you hear that?” Tarr asked, springing away from the tree trunk he sat braced against.

The other two men cringed as they shook their heads.

“I don’t know how much more I can take,” Tarr admitted.

“I think it should be Fiona considering that,” Raynor said.

Tarr groaned and dropped back against the tree trunk.

That evening, as the sun set, Elizabeth entered the world, to her mother and father’s relief. The two very proud parents cuddled her close while the whole village celebrated the first birth of a child in their new home.

“Mother would be proud that her first grandchild was born on this land,” Rogan said, his arms around his wife’s waist, her head resting back against his chest.

“She was a loving and unselfish woman,” Tarr said.

“That she was,” Rogan agreed.

Aliss was pleased by the exchange for it signified a truce of sorts and the willingness of them both to eventually settle their differences.

“Then it is only fitting that you provide her with her first grandson on the Isle of Non,” Tarr said, touching his daughter’s wrinkled face. “After all, Elizabeth will need someone to protect her.”

“If she’s anything like her mother that won’t be necessary,” Raynor said, chuckling, and so did everyone else except Fiona. She glared at him.

Anna peeked her head in the door. “I don’t wish to interrupt, but there are many who would like to see the first babe born on the Isle of Non, if that is all right?”

“Your choice, Fiona,” Aliss said.

“Tarr and I would be honored.”

For the next couple of hours, villagers streamed in and out of the cottage, each one leaving a small token for the babe and for what her birth meant to them all, a new life.

It was well into the evening when Aliss settled mother, father, and babe for the night and took her leave.

She had sent Rogan home an hour ago under protest. He had wanted to wait for her, but she needed time with her thoughts. The walk to the keep would give her that time.

Her mind flooded with memories of the last few months and she allowed them to roll by, dismissing each one. It was easier to do that knowing the whole truth. Everything made much more sense, and she needed to finally let go of her doubts and fears. She now had all the facts. The decision was hers.

Actually, her abduction had proven beneficial to her. It had allowed her to discover her own strength, separate from that of her sister.

Aliss smiled. Giann had been right. She had been given a gift and she would treasure it forever. Now all that was left was to tell her husband how she felt.

She entered their bedchamber and immediately drifted into her husband’s arms. Aliss rested her head to his chest, grateful to hear the steady beating of his heart and to know his heart beat with love for her.

“Everyone is fine?”

“Yes.”

You must be tired,” he said.

“No,” she said, lifting her head and taking his hand to lead him to the bed. She nudged him to sit down. “I have something I must say.”

He reached out and rested his hands on her hips. “I am listening.”

Where should she start? It ought to be easy, and yet standing in front of him now, staring down at his handsome face, his wicked smile and heated eyes, she didn’t want to do anything but make love with him.

She shook her head.

“What is wrong?”

“You distract me.”

“How do I do that?” he asked innocently, while his hands urged her forward between his legs.

“Just like that,” she said, and squirmed away from him, holding out her hand when he stood so that he would not approach her. “I need to say this.”

“All right, you have my attention. I promise not to distract you.”

She appreciated that he folded his arms across his chest. She’d be safe from his touch, at least until she finished, and then she intended to run into his arms and never leave.

“We have been through much together—”

“And have survived it all.”

She laughed softly. “You stole my words.”

“We think alike.”

“I have come to realize that.”

His dark eyes focused intently on her and she was covered with gooseflesh. Lord, but the man could stir her passion.

He waited, and she could see in the depths of his green eyes that he knew what she wanted to say to him. She knew that he wanted to hear it, had patiently waited to hear it, and had been sure that he would hear it.

He had been right.

It had taken her far too long to get to this moment, to forgive him and to let down her defenses and simply love him. All that he had done had been for love. Love for a mother he had hardly known and love for a woman he had never expected to find love with.

He drifted over to her.

“Our bargain is no longer necessary,” she admitted, her heartbeat rising and her breath catching.

“Why is that?”

“You proved that you love me.”

“You know that for sure now?” Rogan asked. “You have not a doubt? I don’t want you to have a single doubt.”

“Not a smidgen of doubt. You’ve made certain of it. Besides, my sister agrees and pointed out just how much you love me.”

His brow wrinkled. “Fiona did that?”

She nodded. “She reminded me how you were willing to walk away from this isle that meant so much to you, all for my sake. You could not have done that if you did not truly love me. And you could not have wooed me so tenaciously if there was no love in your heart for me.”

“And my betrayal? You have said nothing of that.”

She smiled. “Fiona helped me to understand the wisdom in your choice. I respect you for it and I forgive you. After all, love caught us both off guard and created complete chaos. You have redeemed yourself quite nicely.”

He kissed her. “I have waited patiently and what seemed like forever to hear you say that.”

“There is more. Two more very important matters.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “What are they?”

Aliss took his hand and placed it on her stomach. “I will give birth to your child come spring.”

He spun her around, scooped her up in his arms, and hugged her tight. “I thought I could not love you any more than I already do, but I love you much, much, much more than ever before.”

Aliss laughed, smiled, and grabbed hold of his face. “My turn, husband.” She kissed him gently. “ I love you with all my heart. I always have. I always will.”

Just before their lips touched in a kiss, they both whispered in unison, “I love you.”