All Things Merry and Bright: A Very Special Christmas Tale Collection

by Kathryn Le Veque

  “The little one will be here soon, child,” her mother crooned.

  The reprieve did not last long. Bella gritted her teeth against the painful tightening in her womb. She had the overwhelming urge to say something she was certain wasn’t very nice, and so she kept it to herself.

  The pain eased, and she fell back on the pillow. Her eyes rolled toward her mother, pleading. “Is it supposed to be like this?”

  “Aye, my love.” Her mother patted her hair, a gentle smile curling her lips.

  Bella swiped at a droplet of sweat on her brow. “I want to see Niall.”

  “Are you certain?”

  She was surprised her mother didn’t argue, didn’t even flinch. It was unusual for a woman to request such, and even more unusual for her husband to be allowed into the birthing room. “Aye. Please.”

  “Greer, go and fetch your sister’s husband.”

  Greer left the chamber, still as hushed as the moment she’d entered. This was perhaps the quietest Bella had ever seen her sister. Greer was the hellion in the family, known for making a ruckus everywhere she went. But as soon as she’d noticed Bella in the great hall, the blood draining from her face as the first pains hit, she’d been nothing but attentive.

  Another contraction hit, and she squeezed her eyes shut, holding her breath until it eased. Maybe sending her sister to get Niall had been a bad idea. She blew, exhaling loudly, rolling to the side and rubbing her lower back.

  Niall had to be in a state she was certain. He’d not wanted to leave but when the pains had started and Bella had practically fallen to her knees, she’d shooed him from their bedchamber and hadn’t invited him back. They’d been through so much together—but even a battle or being carted off by a violent enemy did not compare. She didn’t want him to see her this way—so incapacitated and in pain. Not because she was embarrassed, but because she knew he’d worry. Best if he went off somewhere and distracted himself. That was just a ninny thought though, for she knew her husband well, and working on accounts, or training his men, would be a disaster, for he would be able to do nothing without thinking of her up here.

  One of the unspoken worries they’d both had on their minds was whether or not she’d be able to make it through childbirth. Would they have been given this miracle when the idea of a child had seemed so remote, if only to rip away the mother? Bella didn’t want to think about dying. But she knew how very much dying was a part of this. Beside her, Lady Arbella dipped a cloth into a bowl of water and pressed the cool rag to Bella’s forehead. Her mother had been through five childbirths and made it out strong from each one. Bella prayed she would find the same fate.

  “Mama, it hurts so much. Are ye certain?”

  Lady Arbella Sutherland gazed down at her daughter with just the barest hint of a smile. “’Tis not pleasant, but the very special gift you get in the end is well worth the labor.”

  Bella nodded, then curled up once more as pain tightened around her entire middle.

  “Just breathe,” her mother crooned.

  As the pain ebbed, the door to her bedchamber banged open and Niall strode in, his face full of concern. With his warrior’s gaze, she watched as he scanned the chamber, taking in everything from her sweat soaked brow, to the pile of linens folded at the foot of the bed, and the cold cloth her mother was wringing out to press once more to Bella’s brow.

  “Sweetling, what is it? What has happened?” His voice was gravelly and full of worry. Of course it was, for he would not have guessed she simply wanted him at her side, but rather that something gravely wrong had transpired.

  Bella struggled to sit up and he rushed forward to help her, his strong grasp sliding around her back as he tugged her upright. She held onto him, breathing in his clean, masculine scent and finding comfort in him being there. If only it were proper for him to stay the entire way through.

  Her mother plumped the pillows behind her then motioned for everyone to clear the room.

  “I think ye should know what has happened,” Bella teased, before pain seared her stomach once more. She closed her eyes and panted through the ache.

  “Oh, Saints in Heaven.” Niall allowed her to squeeze the bones from his hand as she worked through the contraction.

  When it was through, she glanced up at him. “Thank ye.”

  “Is it bad?”

  “Not so bad.” She shrugged nonchalantly, hoping he’d believe her lie.

  “My hand says otherwise.” He shook out his hand, which still bore the mark of her grasp. “Blair is keeping your da well entertained downstairs.”

  Bella smiled. She was glad her youngest sister had the power to charm their father so well, else she feared he’d be in the chamber, too. Her whole family had traveled to her and Niall’s Castle Dupplin for the holiday season. Bella had no idea when she was going to go into labor, even though she’d been as big as a house. Her mother had suspected it would be around the Yuletide holiday, and perhaps that was why she’d insisted on a big family gathering, so they might have more than one thing to celebrate. Bella was grateful she had, for now she was certain she would not have made it through without her mother.

  “And ye? Who is keeping ye entertained?” Bella took note of how raw her voice sounded.

  Niall chuckled, and pressed his lips to hers. “Thoughts of ye, sweetling, and the miracle the two of us have created.”

  Bella was about to say something else, to tell him how much she loved him, but another round of spams took hold of her. Within half a breath, Niall had taken her hand once more, and was murmuring about her bravery as she breathed through it.

  When the contraction was done, she’d barely time to catch her breath before another was in its place. The baby was coming. And her mother and Greer had still not returned.

  Gasping, Bella cried out, “Mama!”

  Lady Arbella was there in seconds, and a baffled looking Niall had gone another shade lighter in his golden visage.

  “Best you head downstairs, Sir Niall, I think the babe is coming.” Her mother was the very essence of grace in delivering this directive.

  “Nay,” Bella managed through clenched teeth. “He stays.”

  Lady Arbella did not argue, looking proud, in fact, as she nodded at her daughter. Greer only looked like she was ready to be ill. Bella wanted to tell her sister she didn’t have to stay, but she’d insisted, and her mother needed the help since the midwife had yet to arrive.

  “More hot water,” her mother called to a maid lurking in the corner. Then to Niall, she said, “You’ll be her coach. She’s going to need your strength.”

  Niall nodded, clearing his throat. “Of course.” He held tight to Bella and nodded down at her. “Anything she desires is my pleasure to give.”

  His words were incredibly sweet, melting her heart, and she would have kissed him, but at that moment, with the pain so intense she could barely breathe, Bella thought she just might desire an arrow through his nether region instead.

  Everything happened quite quickly after that. Bella was nothing more than a living, breathing, pulsing mass of tissue, and beside her, Niall, strong as ever, held onto her for dear life. The first cries of their sweet bairn split the chamber, little fists punching the air, and feet kicking unseen enemies who disturbed the wee thing’s peace.

  “She’s beautiful,” Niall murmured against her ear, before pressing a kiss to her lips. “Ye gave us a bonnie daughter.”

  “A daughter.” Bella smiled, feeling her body relax, the pain now a distant memory.

  Lady Arbella pressed the tiny bairn into Bella’s arms, and Greer, beside her, had tears streaming down her face.

  Bella gazed down at her daughter, feeling such pride as eyes, the same shade of blue as her own, locked on her.

  “What shall we call her?” Niall asked.

  There seemed no other name more perfect than, “Angelina, for she’s an angel.”

  FOR THE NEXT several days, Bella rested in her bedchamber with her sweet daughter. Niall was cons
tantly at her side, helping her in everything, even leaping out of bed in the middle of the night to scoop up their daughter and bring her to Bella to feed her.

  As the sun shone in through the window, Bella lay on her side, Angelina sleeping peacefully between her and Niall. She’d finished feeding the bairn, and though he’d tried to remain awake, her husband had fallen into a deep sleep in spite of his efforts.

  He was just as beautiful as the day she’d laid eyes on him in the bailey at Dunrobin. Each day that passed gave them new insight into each other. Despite the strains of her pregnancy, the time had been made easier by a husband who carried her around everywhere, rubbed her feet, and made certain their kitchen was always fully stocked with her favorite things to eat.

  “Good morning,” Niall murmured without opening his eyes. A slow grin curled his lip.

  “I thought ye were asleep,” Bella whispered back.

  He grinned, and she leaned forward to sweep away a lock of his dark hair from his forehead, taking a moment to run her thumb over his eyebrow in a loving gesture.

  “I was, but I felt your eyes on me.” Sleep still filled his voice, giving him an endearing quality.

  “I’m sorry.” And she was. If one of them was going to lose sleep, she’d rather it be her. After all, he was in charge of protecting their castle, lands and people. Not to mention the tiny bairn she held in her arms.

  He blinked open, staring at her with that same warm grin. “Dinna be sorry. I like having your eyes on me… among other things.”

  Bella giggled, then clamped her hand over her mouth when Angelina stretched and let out a little mewling noise, before falling back into sleep, snuggling close to her mother’s breast.

  “We disturbed her,” Niall whispered, then chuckled softly.

  “She’s already got us wrapped around her wee finger.” Bella stroked their daughter’s soft hand, watching the wee thing flex her fingers before they quickly grew relaxed again.

  “Aye.” Niall leaned up on an elbow to peer at their daughter’s angelic face. “When do ye think she’ll convince ye to let her use a bow?”

  “No doubt afore she can say her first word.”

  “Och, like mother like daughter.” He winked up at her.

  “And ye, when do ye think she’ll be convincing ye to let her join a tourney?”

  “She’s got to at least walk first, so I say by summer next.”

  Bella bit her lip, trying not to laugh. “I love ye, Niall.”

  “I love ye, too, sweetling.”

  “Ye can go back to sleep.”

  “Ye first.”

  “I canna stop staring at her.” Angelina had the creamiest pink skin, a tuft of blond hair at the crown of her head, a rosebud mouth, and long dark lashes that splayed across her sweetly fattened cheeks. Though she was swaddled, she always managed to get one fist out which she now tucked beneath her cheek, like the cherub she was.

  “And I canna stop staring at the both of ye. Ye’re an amazing woman, and ’tis an honor to be your husband. And this…” His voice grew choked as he lightly brushed his finger along the cheek of their sleeping bairn. “This is a very special gift indeed.”

  Bella leaned over the baby and pressed her lips to his. “One in which we will both cherish for all the days of our lives.”

  “Aye, love, every single one of them.”

  December 31, 1320

  NIALL STARED DOWN at the sleeping form of Angelina in her cradle. She was quiet now, though an hour before her lungs and throat had been so filled with rage ’twas a wonder she’d not divested him of his sword and demanded her milk.

  The wee lass was enchanting. Peaceful one moment, and raging the next. Already, he could tell that he and Bella were going to have their hands full.

  Exactly one week had passed after the birth of their daughter, and Niall was already planning to host the first children’s tournament at Dupplin Castle. He thought three years was sufficient, but Bella convinced him to wait at least five, if he wanted Angelina to have any chance of winning said tournament. He was willing to concede, since this would give him more time to train her in the various tasks necessary to win. Already, he’d begun to put together a plan for the five-year training, and encouraged his daughter quite boisterously when she gripped tight to his finger.

  So, for now, with the tournament many years away, Niall was content simply with presenting his wee bairn to the clan—and his warrior wife who birthed her. That birthing had been eye-opening and left him quite awestruck. Niall had never seen anything so… arduous and battle-like that didn’t involve targes and claymores. Before now he’d known Bella to be strong, incredible and brave—now he thought her a goddess.

  That a woman had to go through such an arduous, painful and dangerous journey every time she had a child… it was astounding that women had more than one child at all. Truly.

  It just went to show that women were warriors whether or not they wielded a weapon. And his wife was divine because she could wield both.

  “Are ye certain about this?” Niall lifted Angelina, cradling her sleeping form swaddled in their clan’s colors.

  “Aye. Ye should carry her. Ye’re her father.” Bella was finishing tying a plaid ribbon at the end of her plaited hair.

  “But ye did all the work.”

  Bella winked. “Not all the work.”

  Five more weeks. That’s what the midwife said when she’d come to see Bella. Five more weeks until he could take her to bed and show her just how much he ardently admired her.

  “Ye’re a tease ye wee minx.”

  “Wee? I’m still as big as a cow.” Bella rolled her eyes and pressed her hands against her belly where the skin was still stretched from housing Angelina.

  Niall came closer, bending down to brush his lips on hers. “Ye’ll always be wee to me. And dinna worry overmuch about this.” He stroked her belly with the backs of his fingers where he held their child. “I love ye no matter what the size or shape. Just remember, this body created a child. Our child.”

  Bella wrapped her arm around his neck and tugged him close for a deep kiss. Niall relished in that moment they could share together, however brief, as Angelina did not like the feeling of being pressed between them. Since she’d been born, she didn’t seem to like being confined at all. A testament to her nature that would certainly drive them both mad when she was able to walk and run.

  Bella sighed. “Ye know all the right things to say.”

  “I am only being honest.”

  “Which makes me that much luckier to have ye,” Bella said. This was an argument they had often—who was luckier. They could go on for hours, which often ended up in some sort of game either in the bedroom, or on the archery field.

  Alas, today, they had no time for games, but had to make an appearance below stairs.

  “As much as I wish we could stay here, love, we’ve a great hall full of people, and a bailey with even more.”

  “Let us go then; I am eager to see my family.”

  They left the chamber with Bella leading the way, and Niall behind her carrying their child. Bella was slow to descend the stairs, feeling a little off-kilter with the weight of the child no longer in her womb.

  By the time they’d made it down, Angelina was stretching and blinking her eyes open, staring at her father in wonder—and Bella found herself doing the same thing.

  The sounds of cheers in the great hall broke up their gazes, and startled Angelina who threatened a wail until Niall rocked her and murmured soothingly in her ear. Who would have thought the warrior was a natural? Well, Bella would have. He’d been soothing her since she was a child, and he’d told the other lads he’d be proud to go up against a lass in the tournament.

  Niall handed her the bairn, and wrapped his arm around her back. “Ye carry her into our people. I want them to know this is your accomplishment, not mine.”

  Bella smiled up at him. “Thank ye.”

  They entered the great hall together, each of them smiling
. The castle was packed with people. Sutherlands, Oliphants, Murrays, Sinclairs, Montgomerys, and more. Every part of their extended family seemed to have joined them for the Hogmanay celebration in order to see the miracle child born.

  Every time Bella thought back on the rumors of Niall’s lack of virility, she laughed. The idea that she thought she’d been barren because her women’s courses had yet to fully come before her wedding was also a puzzle to most. But her midwife had said she’d seen the same before. That some women who were extremely active did not seem to fully come into their courses until later. And some women skipped a month here and there.

  All the same, she cherished the miracle they’d created, because she wasn’t certain it would happen again. Take blessings where they are given, she’d heard someone say, and Bella believed in that whole-heartedly.

  The crowd was swift to swarm in rings of smiling faces. The inner circle made up their parents and siblings, and outward from that were their uncles, aunts, cousins, and dear friends.

  “She’s beautiful,” Bella’s father, Magnus Sutherland said, squeezing her shoulder. “My first grandbairn is a sweet lass.”

  “Do ye want to hold her, Da?” Bella beamed proudly up at her father.

  His battle-hardened features softened. “Aye.”

  Bella transferred Angelina into the massive warrior’s hold, and watched as her mother nearly wept with nostalgia over it.

  “Greer.” Bella took her sister’s hand in hers. “I never got the chance to thank ye.”

  Greer’s cheeks, golden from the sun, turned a brilliant shade of pink. “I was nervous, I admit it, but I was also so happy to be allowed to take part.”

  “Ye’re not scared away from having a bairn of your own?”

  Greer grinned. “Nay. But I may convince Mama and Da to wait a wee bit longer before seeking a husband.”

  Bella pulled her sister in for a hug. “Ye’re brave.”

  “Not as brave as ye.”

  “Not true. Ye brave waves every day.” Greer seemed to have mastered the art of taming the sea. Else she’d mastered the art of driving their parents mad with her antics.