Keeley offered no argument and headed for the courtyard, eager to feel the coldness on her cheeks. She closed her eyes as soon as the chill hit her. Exhausted to her core, she sank onto the steps. Birthing always scared her. Too many women died while trying to birth a child, and Keeley was determined that it wouldn’t happen with Mairin. She needn’t have worried though. It was one of the easiest births she’d ever attended. Still, relief was so fierce within her that her knees were weak.

So she sat there breathing in deep, steadying breaths.

“Keeley, are you all right?”

She yanked her head around to see Alaric standing in the shadows. Her pulse beat more rapidly as she drank in his appearance. ’Twas funny since it hadn’t been overlong since she’d seen him at all, but still she soaked him in like a parched plant soaked in rain.

“Aye, I’m well,” she murmured.

He took a step forward but stopped a respectable distance from her. “Keeley, I …”

She rose, moved by the discomfort in his voice. She pressed in close and put a finger to his lips. “Nay, don’t say it,” she whispered. “I’ve always known of your destiny—and mine. Yours is a noble one. You should have no regrets. You will be great, Alaric. You’ll be a great laird. I am proud to have called you mine even for so short a time.”

Alaric touched her cheek and then leaned in slowly and pressed a tender kiss to her lips. So sweet and fleeting. Brief. But she felt it to her soul.

“You, too, are great, Keeley McCabe,” he whispered. “My clan is better for having you.”

She leaned into his kiss, tipping her forehead to his. She closed her eyes, savoring the sweet contact. She breathed, allowing him to wash away the fatigue and grief.

Then she pulled away and steeled herself against the pain in her heart. “I must go now. I must see to Mairin and the new babe’s needs.”

Alaric stroked her hair away from her cheek and then cupped the side of her face in his palm. “I love you. Remember it always.”

She covered his hand with hers and smiled achingly up at him. “Aye, I will.”

Slowly, he pulled away and then stepped back so she could walk by him back into the keep. She went without looking back but felt the wetness on her cheeks before she mounted the first step.

Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32

Laird McCabe stood atop the stairs to the courtyard, the tiny bundle of his daughter cradled in his massive arms.

“My daughter!” he proclaimed and held her high.

The gathered clan roared their approval. Swords thrust upward, shields banged, and a resounding cheer echoed over the land.