Fen went and sniffed at both bairns in the two cradles, then stretched out in front of both to sleep.
Bhric slipped his boots off and got in bed to sit beside his wife and tucked her in his arms and contentment washed over him when she settled herself comfortably against him.
Tavia draped her arm over him, rested her head on his chest, and looked up at him. “I never expected to find such happiness with you, Bhric, and never did I expect to find such a binding love with you.”
He cupped her chin and ran his thumb slowly over her bottom lip. “I had hoped for both and yet I got so much more with you. You are my heart, Tavia, it beats strong because of you and would wither without you, and in my heart is where you will always be, now and beyond this earthly plane.”
He brought his lips to hers and sealed his declaration of love with a tender kiss and while she slept in his arms, he thanked the heavens that this mother had been wise and courageous enough to rescue and keep safe a tiny bairn that would one day be his wife.
Bhric rested his head on top of his wife’s head and smiled, the familiar scent of mint drifting off her hair and closed his eyes. He did not know how he made it through the delivery. It had absolutely exhausted him and so he joined his wife in sleep.
The end