Claiming Her

“I am glad you are back.”

“As am I.” He gathered her to him, hands circling her at the small of her spine.

“Yes, I can see,” she teased back, feeling the hard thrust of manhood push against her.

Aodh smiled then glanced away, looking around the bailey. “Where are the children?”

“Where are they not? Finn is in the yard; I cannot believe he has not yet accosted you. Aine is in the hall, doubtless dismantling tables or upending kettles or some such, and Lizzie is in Cormac’s arms—”

“Da!”

Their son came hurtling around the corner of the castle, full tilt for his father. Aodh crouched and took the hit, then scooped the boy into his arms.

Finn began hugging and talking all at once, his chubby little boy arms around Aodh’s neck, regaling him with tales of recent triumphs with a pony, and woes with his sister, all in a single sentence, without needing a reply. “…and I fell right off him, and he was trotting, but Mamma picked me up before he stepped on my head, so that was good...”

Aodh looked at Katarina. She shrugged. He turned back to his son, wiping away a streak of dirt under Finn’s eye.

“…and Aine stole my horse, the one you whittled me, so I pinched her slippers, and she—“

“You didn’t pinch her slippers,” Katarina said.

The boy turned to her with wide eyes. “Why, aye, I did, Mamma. You know it, for you told me if I ever—”

“You stole her slippers.”

“Oh.” He reflected a moment. “You’re right, that does sound better. I stole her slippers. And then she—”

The object of his discourse emerged from the hall, trailed by a servant. She was wearing tunic and hose, because she could not be kept in gowns. Tangled hair spilled over her shoulders, and there was some sort of white powder all over her face.

“Flour,” Katarina and Aodh said at the same moment.

They smiled at each other.

Her mouth rounded in excitement when she saw her father, then she came care

ening towards him. He scooped her up, and after a brief tussle for supremacy between the children, Aodh settled them, one in the crook of each arm, and looked down at Katarina.

“I got word from Ré.”

She clapped her hands together once in excitement. “When? Where? How is he? What did his message say?” The children, detecting their parents’ happiness, cried out equally, if ignorantly, excited, “When? Who is he? What is it?”

“He is an old friend, Aine. I told you of him, Finn, the one who dragged me out of the sea. He should be here within a fortnight, love,” Aodh finished with a smile down at Katarina.

She beamed at him. “Good.”

“He’ll stay the winter.”

She sighed happily. “He will be here for Christmas.”

“And through the spring, at least. He says he has news.”

She reached for his elbow, the only thing she could touch through the children. “What news?”

“I do not know. All the missive said was news.” They looked at each other, then smiled.

“He made it to the New World,” Katarina announced. “I know it.”

He bent and placed a kiss on her mouth. “Let’s eat.”