Page 76 of Retribution

Cleodora was grinning at her son. “Come, Achilles,” she said, patting the bed next to her. “Come and see your new sister.”

Aidric audibly gasped. “A lass?” he said with utter joy. “We have a daughter?”

Cleodora nodded, holding up an arm as Aidric tucked their son up against her. She put her arm around her little boy as the child leaned over to get a look at the white-haired infant tugging on his mother’s breast. Aidric hovered over them, seeing half of the infant’s beautiful face pressed up against his wife’s flesh.

“She’s magnificent, my angel,” he said, leaning over to kiss Cleodora on the head. “What a beauty like her mother she will be.”

Cleodora lifted her mouth to his, relishing a few sweet kisses. “I hoped you would be pleased,” she said. “You kept calling her ‘Bastien,’ so I know you were expecting a lad.”

He shook his head. “I was not expecting anything,” he said. “I was only hoping for a healthy child and a healthy wife. Are you well, my angel? Truly?”

He was hovering over her now, kissing her head again, and Cleodora allowed herself to indulge in his comfort. She needed it because she wasn’t going to tell him that the baby had been born with the cord around her neck and it had taken some doing to free her. Other than that, the birth had been uneventful, but Aidric didn’t need to know that one small complication. The baby was well enough and feeding normally, so there didn’t seem to be any damage.

“I am well,” she said. “Ameline came rather quickly, I think. She was anxious to meet us all.”

“Ameline?”

“That is what I have named her.”

“It is a beautiful name.”

“Ameline St. John sounds like the smartest, loveliest lass in all of Cornwall.”

“All of England.”

She smiled, looking up at him and kissing him again. Her free hand was on his face as she gazed into his eyes. “Now that your daughter has come,” she said, “when are you leaving us?”

His brow furrowed. “Leaving you?” he said. “I just got here.”

She snorted softly. “I meant leaving for the marches,” she said. “You must go quickly if you are to intercept Eleanor de Montfort.”

Now, he was frowning. “Who told you that?”

“Did you think Celyn did not know?”

He hissed at the realization that Bennet’s wife had told her everything. “Of course not,” he said. “But I wanted to tell you myself.”

“When? When you return?”

It was his turn to snort. “You were preparing to have a child,” he explained, rather lamely. “I did not want to upset you.”

“So now the child is here,” she said. “I am not upset. But I would like to know when you are leaving.”

He sighed, sitting down on the bed next to her and pulling Achilles onto his lap. “Very soon,” he said. “Probably in a day or two.”

“Then I must help you pack.”

He put his arm around her, hugging her as he held Achilles and she held their daughter. His family. His beautiful little family.

God, he was loath to leave them.

“I have already packed my things,” he said. “You have a much more important task ahead of you in tending my new daughter.”

“Your new daughter?”

“Of course she is mine. She looks just like me.”

Cleodora laughed softly, shifting the baby, who was now sleeping, off her nipple. That gave Aidric a much more clear view of the little one.