Page 26 of The Anguish of the Scottish Lairds
Now if he could only find his own wife. He’d be able to survive living with his father and his brother much easier if he had someone like Eva in his life.
But he forced himself to a topic he couldn’t ignore.
Was Rinaldo putting on a show for everyone?
A year ago, he’d have dismissed the thought without considering it, but now he had to reconsider.
Was Angus right?
Was his brother a phony?
CHAPTER TEN
Maitland
Maitland sat in the great hall with his son, enjoying the early-morning quiet. The wee laddie was usually the first one up, so Maeve fed him quickly, then handed him over to her husband, her eyes often still closed.
This was only fair, in Maitland’s mind. The boy was such a voracious eater that he still woke his mother up in the middle of the night to eat. Maeve deserved her sleep, so he changed the boy’s raggies and headed out into the great hall with Lia not far behind them, allowing Maeve a couple more hours of rest. He set the boy in the fabric lounger he’d fashioned in front of the hearth and got the fire going again. He’d made a small boat and packed it with furs and plaids to prop him up and keep him warm, and the lad loved it. It gave him the chance to kick his legs and watch everyone.
Cook was busy readying the morning meal in the kitchens, cooking porridge and fruit for everyone.
Other men left bairn care to the women, but not Maitland. He was young the first time he’d seen Alex Grant walking around with one of his grandbairns strapped to his chest. He especially recalled Dyna, who giggled and kicked all the way through training at the lists, though Alex did keep her a distance away from the swinging swords. Maitland had admired the way Alex raised his bairns and helped with his grandbairns, part of the reason he had agreed when Maeve suggested naming their son after her adoptive father.
Maitland let Lia keep Grant occupied while he grabbed a clean linen square and soaked it in his own bowl of porridge, then handed it to the boy to suck on. He and Lia always laughed at his face, covered with oats as he sucked and chewed on thesucculent treat, his legs kicking away. Maitland had tried to give him honey one day, but Lia yelled at him.
“No honey!”
“What? Why not? I’m sure he’d love it,” Maitland had asked, surprised by the vehemence in her words.
“He probably would, but I’m telling you it’s not good for wee bairns. Not yet. Not until he can walk.”
He had discussed this with Maeve, and the two had decided that with Lia’s dedication, they would honor her wishes. Alexander would not know what he was missing, after all, so they kept the honey away.
His mother came down the stairs, floating like an angel.
“Good morn to you, Mama. How did you sleep?”
“Wonderfully, Maitland. The heather mattress is lovely. And the lad is up already?”
“I bring him out every morn with me. And Lia.”
Avelina kissed his cheek, then bent down to plant a kiss on her grandson’s forehead. “My but the laddie enjoys that porridge, does he not? He’s wearing most of it on every part of his face but his lips.” She laughed at the boy and the bairn laughed back, wrinkling his nose. “And a lovely morn to you, Lia.”
His mother had asked him about Lia, why she always followed Grant about, but Maitland had advised her to ask the lass herself. His mother had some otherworldly talents, had been the keeper of the sapphire sword for years, and had passed it on to Alex Grant to give to his great-grandson, John. She had seer talents that Maitland had never understood, but somehow, he thought she might have a special connection with Lia.
He and Maeve had discussed the similarities between Lia and Callie, the wee lass they’d met in a snowstorm before they married. She’d been several years older than Lia, but Callie had many similar characteristics. They both spoke as though theywere decades old, never let anything bother them, and went about everything as if it were their primary task in life.
After all he’d learned about Lia and Magni, especially the haunting tale from Logan about how Magni had found Lia, he didn’t question. The lad had simply whispered that he’d found her as a faery under a frond in the forest. They all wondered about Lia but let her do as she wished, even staying by Grant’s side at all times. Some things were not meant for him to challenge, and this was one of them.
Maitland looked at his mother until he caught her eye, then nodded and tipped his head toward Lia, hoping she understood his meaning. No one else was around but the serving lasses, so this was a perfect time to question the girl.
“Lia, you are so wonderful with Grant,” his mother said, catching on to his meaning quickly. “How have you learned to handle bairns so well?”
Lia smiled, stopping her play with the laddie to give Avelina her full attention, handing Grant a toy to occupy him while she spoke. “Different experiences. I do adore the wee ones. Don’t you, Mistress Menzie?”
“Please call me Avelina.”
“What about Lina?” the girl asked, her brow raised in question. “It is verra much like my name. Do you not agree? Or would that be too confusing for others?”
