“Nay.” She laughed as she brushed one of her hands over Greylen’s face. “Hold the baby while I sit up. He needs to be fed.” Greylen helped her sit instead, letting her hold the babe while he adjusted her. He took the babe and laid him between his legs. “Open the blanket, Greylen. I want to see him again.”

“’Tis what I’m doing,” he said with a grin. “You’ve not had a chance to really look at him.”

They stroked his little body, counting his fingers and toes. They laughed as the baby latched on to Greylen’s finger. They finally wrapped him again and Greylen watched in awe as Gwen nursed him for the first time. Then he helped her change and swaddle him again.

He lost track of how many times they kissed him, of how many times they kissed each other, as the babe lay between them.

A cradle sat beside their bed, but they’d not place him in it. Anna now slept in the chamber next to theirs, a complete nursery. Their babe wouldn’t see it for days, mayhap even weeks.

“Gwen?”

“Aye, Greylen?”

“You wish to name him Tristan, don’t you?”

“We can name him whatever you want, Greylen. He wouldn’t be here without you.”

“’Tis Tristan then. Tristan Allister MacGreggor.”

“Tristan Allister MacGreggor,” she said, looking down at their son, “this is your daddy.” Then she looked back to Greylen, taking his face in her hand. “My hero.”

Chapter 31

Tristan Allister MacGreggor was christened on a warm summer day. Gwen basked in the joy she felt from Greylen, who stood proudly by her side, Gavin and Isabelle next to them as they held their godson.

The weeks that followed Tristan’s birth created a bond between Gwen and Greylen that astounded them both. From that first night Tristan lay between them—in the aftermath of his birth and everything that had happened throughout the previous year—they now had a child they created together. Their love could not have been stronger.

Tristan stayed in their chamber every night, in the cradle beside their bed. Greylen would always pick him up and hold him before handing him off so she could nurse him. He was a very large boy and it was no wonder she’d had such a hard time delivering him. Her husband told her he considered having no more for fear that she’d not make it through another, but Gwen only laughed, assuring him that the next would most likely fall out. He seemed appalled at her words, but finally laughed with her. He wasn’t fooling her, though, she sensed he secretly considered leaving Tristan an only child rather than watch her suffer again.