Page 4 (1/2)
"Ye dinna want to know," he said, grinning He covered o; I’ myself Jemmy was indisposed to share his mother’s embrace with the newcomer, and howled and squir red with annoyance under a blue knitted cap I reached out and took his
"Thanks, Ma tiny Joan into a ainst her shoulder "Are you sure you want that one, though? This one’s quieter--and weighs half as ht Hush, sweetie, come see Grannie" I sled surprise and delight that I could actually be so me, Jeing-to-a-rock routine, chubby fists gripped tight in ers, I peered over his head, but things below see wet, Ja out his shirtfront one-handed, saying so to the soldier who had rescued Germain Marsali had whipped off her arisaid and wrapped the little boy in it, her loosened blond hair flying out from under her kerch like cobwebs in the wind
Lieutenant Hayes, attracted by the noise, was peering out from the flap of his tent like a whelk froht my eye; I waved briefly, then turned to followso to Brianna in Gaelic, as he helped her over a rocky patch in the trail ahead of lish "Where’s your coat, Da?"
"I lent it to your husband," he said "We dinna want hihed, wiping a flying strand of red hair out of her ar than an atteed from the shelter of the rocks The wind barreled across the open space, pelting us with sleet and bits of stinging gravel, and I pulled the knitted cap further down over Jemmy’s ears, then pulled the blanket up over his head
"Whoof!" Brianna hunched over the swaddled baby girl she carried, sheltering her fro when the drums started up; he nearly cut his throat The front of his coat is covered with bloodstains" She glanced at Ja with the wind "So you’ve seen hi Where is he now, do you know?"
"The lad’s in one piece," he assured her "I told hio and talk wi’ Father Donahue, while Hayes was about his business" He gave her a sharp look "Ye ht," she said, unperturbed "But I didn’t It’s no big deal to me"
"If ye mean by that peculiar expression, that it’s of no consequence--" Jae in his voice, but was interrupted by the appearance of Roger hireen-and-white MacKenzie tartan, with the ood coat and waistcoat The coat fit decently--both h Jaray as quite as becoer’s dark hair and olive skin as it was to Jaer," I said "Where did you cut yourself?" His face was pink, with the raw look coer was carrying Jamie’s plaid under his arm, a bundle of red and black tartan He handed it over and tilted his head to one side, showing ash just under his jawbone
"Just there Not so bad, but it bled like the dickens They don’t call theash had already crusted into a neat dark line, a cut soled down from the corner of his jaw across the side of his throat I touched the skin near it briefly Not bad; the blade of the razor had cut straight in, no flap of skin needing suture No wonder it had bled a lot, though; it did look as though he had tried to cut his throat
"A bit nervous this hts, are you?"
"A little late for that," Brianna said dryly, co up beside me "Got a kid who needs a name, after all"
"He’ll have er assured her "So will you--Mrs MacKenzie"
A small flush lit Brianna’s face at the name, and she smiled at hi the cocooned baby from her as he did so A look of sudden shock crossed his face as he felt the weight of the bundle in his arawked down at it
"That’s not ours," Bree said, grinning at his look of consternation "It’s Marsali’s Joan Ma the bundle with a good deal " He lifted the blanket slightly, exposing tiny Joan’s sleeping face, and sht of her comical quiff of brown hair, which came to a point like a Kewpie doll’s
"Not a chance," I said, grunting as I hoisted a well-nourished Jes, into a ained a pound or two on the way uphill" I was flushed from exertion, and held the baby a little away from myself, as a sudden wave of heat flushed my cheeks and perspiration broke out under the waves of my disheveled hair
Jamie took Jemmy from me, and tucked hi the baby’s head
"Ye’ve spoken wi’ the priest, then?" he said, eyeing Roger skeptically
"I have," Roger said dryly, answering the look as much as the question "He’s satisfied I’ the lad should be baptized Catholic, there’s no bar to the wedding I’ve said I’runted in reply, and I repressed a sious prejudices--he had dealt with, fought with, and coround--the revelation that his son-in-laas a Presbyterian--and had no intention of converting--had occasioned so sles of catlike aion ahead of tih for Ja ahead of us, still rather stiff in their attitudes, though the for draperies of the babies they carried