Page 141 of Highlanders for the Holidays
Onnleigh nodded in agreement.
“I like the name Maureen, but I fear she does nae look like aMaureen.Elsbeth mayhap? Or Eliza?” he shook his head. “Nae, none of those seem to suit her. What do ye think?”
She swallowed the knot of trepidation back. Was he asking her opinion or laying a trap? At the moment, she couldn’t judge. Feigning ignorance, she looked down at her sleeping babe and smiled. “I think she looks like aNola,to me.”
“Nola,” he spoke the name twice more. “I think ye be right, lass. Nola be a fine name and Nola, it shall be.”
He turned back to the book, dabbed a quill into the jar of ink and began to write. “N, o, l, a,” he said, spelling the name aloud as he wrote. “I fear we dunnae ken the true date she was born. She looks to be only a few months old.”
Four months and two days to be exact.
“I dunnae ken who her mum or da be. I shall put me own name as her da’s.”
Onnleigh’s heart soared with gratitude while a question burned, begging to be asked. “Be that fer ferever?”
Connor turned and smiled. “Aye, lass, that be forever. From this day forward, I shall be her da. ’Twill never change.”
Tears threatened, but she held them back as she stepped away. ’Twas all Onnleigh wanted for her babe; a man who would gladly claim Nola as his own, even if he didn’t wanther.Her child would have a much brighter future, better than anything she could have given her, no matter how much she loved her. With her back to him, she asked, “Why do ye do that? Take a babe as yer own, nae kennin’ who she be or who her parents be?”
Before Connor could answer, she heard a woman’s voice come from behind her.
“So it be true.”
* * *
Onnleigh spun tosee Helen standing just inside the doorway. Life had been kind to the woman for she did not look much aulder than the last time she’d seen her. Her brown hair held only the tiniest hint of gray and nary a wrinkle on her face. ’Twould have been a quite beautiful face, Onnleigh supposed, were it not filled with so much hatred.
Ignoring Onnleigh, she went to Connor. “Nae only do ye refuse to listen to me about keepin’thatchild, now ye’ve gone and hired the thief’s daughter to take care of it!”
“Need I remind ye that I be chief of this clan? I do nae need yer permission to do anything,” Connor told her, his words clipped, his tone firm.
Helen scoffed. “Ye might nae need my permission, but ye should heed me good advice.”
“If I heededyeradvice, I’d have married Margaret the day after I buried me wife and son!” He had reached the ends of his patience. For four years, he’d bitten his tongue, tried being thoughtful and kind with this woman, but he’d had enough.
“Bah! I’d have given ye a full year to mourn. And what be wrong with Margaret? She’d make ye a good wife, ye ken it. I do nae understand why ye keep fightin’ it. And I cannae understand why ye’d take a bastard child as yer own and bring the daughter of a thief into me home.”
Connor jumped to his feet, his face purple with rage. “This isClan MacCallen’shome, its keep, and its lands. Onnleigh is a MacCallen and she has just as much a right to be here as any of us. Whatever her father may have done is nae a reflection upon her. It will serve ye well to remember that. I am keeping Nola as me daughter and Onnleigh as her nurse.”
“Ye’ve named it?” Helen exclaimed.
“Aye, I’ve namedherand I’ve claimed her.”
He said it with such pride, with such conviction that even Onnleigh began to believe he could love the child just as much as if she were his own. She swallowed back tears of relief.
Helen glared at him, her hands on her hips, her disgust quite apparent. “Ye’ll regret this, Connor. Mark me words.”
“Ye need to apologize to Onnleigh fer bein’ so rude.”
From the expression on Helen’s face, one would have thought he’d just slapped her. “I have nothin’ to apologize fer. Contrary to what ye might think, I do have only yer best interests in me heart."
Connor had known this woman all his life. He knew the only interests she ever had in her heart were her own. "If ye wish to remain in me good graces, ye will apologize to Onnleigh now. She has done nothing to deserve yer unkind mistreatment." On this, he would give no quarter.
"Verra well, then," she said before turning to face Onnleigh. "I apologize if I said anythin’ to upset ye."
There was no sincerity to her tone but at least she had uttered the words. With a graceful inclination to Connor, she quit the room. Her anger hung in the air long after she left.
’Twas the first time Onnleigh could ever recall someone standing up for her. Was it pity he felt towards her or some deeply felt sense of honor and kindness? Either way, she was grateful for his insistence that Helen apologize.
"I be sorry for the way Helen behaved," Connor told her. "I fear she has misguided notions that her opinion and only hers is important."
All she could think to do was thank him. "I thank ye kindly," she said.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to look into those warm, green eyes of his, without her stomach feeling as if it were full of birds wanting to take flight. "Nola needs changin'," she told him after several long moments passed between them.
Without waiting for permission, she quit the room in a rush.
