Ian's Rose: Book One of The Mackintoshes and McLarens Read Free

shoulders. “He looks verra nice, Aggie. And quite handsome fer a man of his age.”
    Whether or not he was handsome was entirely unimportant. The only things that mattered were her husband, her children, and the Mackintosh family who had accepted her as one of their own from the day she married Frederick.
    Would ye like me to take Ada fer ye?” Rebeca asked.
    Aggie debated on whether or not to present her children to their blood grandsire at this, her first meeting with him. The instinct to protect her children was strong. “Aye, I’d like Rose to take her.”
    If it turned out that Douglas Carruthers was not the kind, generous man her mother wrote about in her journals, she did not want either of her children to witness this meeting. “Would ye also make certain Ailrig stays away?”
    As she handed Ada to Rose, Elsbeth, Aggie’s mother-by-law, floated into the room. She was as fierce as she was beautiful and Aggie admired her greatly. “Ye need no’ worry about Ailrig,” she said with a fond smile. “He is with his grandfather and uncles.” A moment later, she was kissing the top of Ada’s wee head.
    “Please, tell me they be no’ playin’ with dirks again,” Aggie said. “The last time they tried teachin’ him, John nearly lost an eye.”
    Elsbeth laughed and shook her head. “Nay, no’ dirks. I believe they’ve moved on to swords. But do no’ worry it, they all be usin’ wooden swords.”
    Aggie could only hope her nine-year-old son would not cause anyone any harm, wooden swords or nay.
    Elsbeth took Aggie’s hand in hers. “Come, let us go below stairs and meet Douglas Carruthers.”

    * * *
    A t Aggie’s request , Rose took Ada to her own room across the hall while she met with Douglas Carruthers. Rose was all too happy to oblige her friend. She’d never turn down the chance to hold a babe, especially wee Ada.
    ’Twas a small room with a small window that faced south and one arrow window that faced east. There were multiple tables heaped with all manner of fabrics. Once Elsbeth had learned what a talented seamstress Rose was, she immediately selected this room for her and began filling it with fabrics. Rose was all too happy to create beautiful gowns and dresses for Elsbeth, her daughters, and Aggie.
    Now she sat next to the arrow window with Ada cooing and gurgling happily in her arms. Rose loved the way the tiny babe smelled of lavender soap and clean linens. While it was a wonderful feeling to hold the tiny babe in her arms, her heart ached with wanting one of her own. “Ada, I be about to share a secret with ye and I’ll thank ye kindly no’ to tell another soul,” she whispered playfully.
    Ada looked up at her and cooed, as if she understood completely what her Aunt Rose was telling her.
    “I was almost a mum meself,” she told her. “Three times.” A sense of longing slowly crept in at the memories. “Three times I got with child with me husband, Almer Gray. I lost each one before I could reach me fourth month.”
    Though the miscarriages had happened many years ago, the pain was as fresh and intense as if it had happened only that morn. Those had been the most difficult and tragic of times, as a young bride wanting nothing more than to give her husband a child. The disappointment at losing the first was something she believed she would never get over. The agony after the third was unbearable. Almer had done his best to assure her he loved her all the same. ‘Twasn’t until he lay on his deathbed that she realized he had meant it.
    ’Twas then she experienced an epiphany of sorts. Was this the reason Ian had broken the troth? On more than one occasion, they had discussed her inability to carry a child to term. He had been adamant that he cared not if she could never give him a child of his own. ’Tis ye I love, lass. I care no’ about bairns, only that I am able to spend the rest of me life with ye.
    There had not been any doubt in her mind at the time that he meant what he