Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 102573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Tavia kept hold of Bhric’s hand as she assured everyone, “I fainted that’s all.”
“Have you eaten?” Hertha asked. “Or received upsetting news?”
“She has eaten little,” Bhric said answering for his wife, then gave Hertha a slight nod in response to her second question.
Tavia went to protest then realized her husband was right. With the excitement of his parents visit and the wait to find out the truth about her parents, she had barely eaten.
“Food, drink,” —Hertha looked directly at Bhric— “and rest should do it.”
Bhric acknowledged with another slight nod that he understood that rest would help ease her upset.
“I will see it brought here,” Marta said.
“Nay!” Tavia said and saw sadness wash over Marta’s face. “Hertha, Please tell Shea to bring what is needed.”
“Aye, my lady, and I will return to see how you fare after eating,” Hertha said and left the room.
“Bhric, please take your mum and devise a good story to tell everyone, since I will see your mother’s promise kept that my da never learns the truth,” Tavia said and looked to Marta. “You and I need to talk.”
“You need to eat first and you need rest,” Bhric said, helping his wife sit up when she grabbed his arm to pull herself up.
“I will see that she eats and rests,” Marta said.
Bhric worried over his wife and their bairn nestled inside her, but he also understood what finding out the truth meant to her. “Are you sure about this?”
“Aye, I am sure. We will talk later. “Tavia looked past him to his mother. “As will you and I, Orianna.”
“Màthair. Please call me mother,” Orianna said.
Tavia smiled. “I never thought I would have so many mothers.”
Bhric was glad to see her smile and her cheeks flush lightly and he could not help but kiss her soft pink cheek. “Send Fen if you need me.”
Fen barked as if he understood.
Bhric stopped by Marta. “You are truly family now. Treat your granddaughter well.”
“Of that there is no doubt, my lord,” Marta said tears heavy in her eyes.
When the door closed, Tavia said, “Please tell me about my mother.”
CHAPTER 30
Birthing time!
“Everyone does well together,” Tavia said, her arm hooked on her husband’s as they walked through the village.
“Aye, thanks to you,” Bhric said.
“Me?” she questioned.
“Aye. Everyone is amazed how you forgave Marta and how she serves you and now lives in the keep. Shea cannot believe what a pleasant woman she is and how she requests things from her rather than demand since her sole task is your care.
“A task that requires her presence in the keep where she belongs,” Tavia said. “Besides Shea is right. Marta is different now. Don’t you Agree?”
“Very much so. I have never seen her so happy or smiling as much as she does. She is much more pleasant to be around. Even Fen has grown to like her and amazingly she has grown to like him.” He looked at the hound that had kept close to Tavia the last couple of days and wondered if he sensed her time was near. “But I suppose it is because the hound protects you so well. I also like the way she looks after you and sees that you eat and rest and warns you to not overdo with your leg.”
“You may have thought of her like family at one time, but she is truly family now. I share the same blood with her and another who soon will,” Tavia said, resting her hand on her large-rounded stomach.
“You have grown very large in the last month,” Bhric said with some worry. “He is going to be a big one.”
“And I am determined to spit him out as quick as possible,” Tavia said with a laugh.
Bhric wished he felt as confident. It had not made him feel any better knowing Margaret was not her true mother since her true mother also died in childbirth. But his mother believed Eydis had no desire to live after losing the man she loved. Lord Bennett had told her that the young woman seemed to wither away little by little, her heart broken in too many pieces to ever be put back together again.
“Aye, wife, take pity on me and do just that. I do not know if I can survive a long birthing time,” he said, his stomach churning at the thought.
Tavia laughed again. “I will do my best.” She hurried to change the subject seeing how upset her husband appeared with talk of her delivery time. “Have you heard any news about who will become the new Lord MacVannan?”
Bhric smiled. “Aye, I received word this morning and thought to surprise you with it.”
“Then surprise me,” Tavia said eagerly.
“Terence… Glenna and William’s son, now Lord Terence,” Bhric said.
Tavia smiled with delight. “How is it that their son is now lord of Clan MacVannan?”