She arched a pretty auburn brow at him. “Are you yelling at me?”
He ran a hand through his hair and spun in a circle, alternately stopping to swipe at his mouth and spin again. “Sorry,” he finally murmured. Then he asked much more calmly. “You knew?”
She nodded.
“How could you keep this from me?” he asked.
“She needed to tell you in her own time. I just don’t think this is what she intended.”
There was no use avoiding the obvious. Their little girl wasn’t an innocent. But she wasn’t their little girl, either. She’d grown up without them and was woman enough to fall in love, marry, and raise a family. And she would do a damn fine job with it. “She’s about four months into the pregnancy.”
“Four months?”
“Do you remember when we went to the land of the fae and left her in his care?”
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “We picked the wrong person, didn’t we?”
“Everything happens for a reason, darling,” she reminded him. She crossed the room to lay her hand on his chest and look up at him. “Do you remember when we fell in love?”
He covered her hand with his. “Of course, I remember.”
“They fell in love too.”
“But he wasn’t very honorable,” he murmured, finally settling down.
“I hope our children never do the math and figure out Marcus was born a mere seven months after we married.”
His face colored. “That was different.”
“How so?”
One of the many reasons she loved him so much was because he was like this. He loved fiercely and completely. He was protective and he could even be overbearing at times, but he had a good heart.
“Never mind,” he murmured as he heaved a great sigh.
“Can we go back out without you trying to beat Lord Phineas to a bloody pulp?”
“Maybe,” he said, begrudgingly.
“Stop pouting,” she warned playfully. He jerked her against him and pressed his lips to hers.
“I can’t believe you knew and didn’t tell me.”
“She called me for help. I didn’t want to betray her trust and have her never call on me again.” She searched his eyes. “She called for me, of all people, when she needed someone. I would have expected her to call on Sophia. But she didn’t. She called on me.” Tears pricked at the backs of her lashes, even though it had happened more than a sennight ago.
“Of course, she called you. You’re her mother.” He pressed his lips to her temple. “I imagine we should go back out there so that scoundrel can marry our daughter.”
“It would be a good idea to do it before the baby is born.” She bit back a laugh.
He chuckled and squeezed her hard in his arms.
Thirty-Three
Claire had never looked more beautiful than as she stood there with her hand in his, staring up into his eyes. “Wilt thou have this Woman to thy wedded Wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?”
“We had better live for a very long time,” he murmured. She smiled softly and wiggled her brows to scold him. “I will,” he affirmed.
She repeated similar words, her eyes filled with so much emotion that he wanted to crawl inside her and live there forever. Finn reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. He slid it onto her fourth finger and said, “With this Ring I thee wed, with my Body I thee worship, and with all my worldly Goods I thee endow: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”