~~~
Finlay Stewart might be teasing and strong on the outside, but inside, he felt guilty. He was the cause of Arabella’s pain and suffering in the moment. She would forgive him, of course, but given her past, he’d never wanted her to suffer ever again in her life.
His dragon spoke up. It is temporary. Besides, the pain will give us a family. That is something Arabella yearns for, but rarely voices.
Aye, she’s stubborn. Still, I wish I could take her suffering away.
Even though it was minor in comparison, Arabella squeezed his hand and pain radiated up his arm.
Thankful for his experience as clan leader, Finn never showed his discomfort. “You’re doing well, love.”
“Harder, Ara,” Layla ordered. Soon, the doctor shouted, “Another boy!”
He grinned. “We have two sons, love. I’m rooting for lucky number three, too.”
“I hope not. Living with four males in one house would drive me mad.”
Logan brought over their second son. He was tiny and pink with dark hair, just like the first. The thought that Finn had helped make the wee one sent a rush of pride and love through his body. He couldn’t wait to see how their bairns turned out. For Arabella’s sanity, he hoped at least one of them took after her and not him.
Finn was no expert, but their second child looked to be the same size as his other son, not to mention he had the same nose and face shape. “Hello, younger devil.” Finn maneuvered their clasped hands so that Arabella could touch their son’s head. “You’re handsome, just like your brother.”
Logan said, “Aye, he and his brother look alike. I’ll have to check more closely, but you might have identical twins on your hands.”
Finn smiled as Arabella said, “At least they have dark hair and not ginger. We don’t need two sets of ginger-haired twins.”
Finn’s cousins, Fergus and Fraser, were identical twins with red hair. “If our sons did, I might just have to question the parentage. Ginger hair is a MacKenzie trait, not a Stewart one.”
Arabella sighed. “Finn.”
At the exhaustion in Arabella’s voice, Finn nodded and refrained from teasing his mate further. Logan took their second son away to be checked and cleaned up. His beast said, Why do they keep taking our bairns away? I want to see them and hold them. They are ours.
In time, dragon. We need to make sure they’re healthy first. And we also couldn’t lend Arabella the support she needs if we had to look after the bairns, aye?
His beast grunted at his logic and fell silent again.
Finn focused back on his mate. “You’re nearly there, love. Just one more. Our third son is eager to join his brothers.”
Arabella shook her head. “Our daughter wants to wait as long as possible. She knows already that her brothers are overprotective. They probably growled in the womb.”
Finn chuckled. “Aye, I could see that. Even if it’s another boy, he’ll be the youngest and the other lads will look out for him.”
He watched as Layla felt around Arabella’s abdomen. While working, Layla said, “Don’t push on the next contraction, Ara. I need to get the last one in position.”
As if on cue, their boys started crying in unison. Logan murmured, “It’s okay, lads. Your sibling will be along shortly.”
While Finn trusted Layla and Logan with his children’s lives, he missed the former head doctor, Gregor Innes, who had mated Stonefire’s doctor and had moved to Northern England to be with her. If he were still part of Lochguard, Arabella would have both Layla and Gregor watching over her. Two doctors were better than one.
His dragon spoke up. Gregor is finally happy again and will have his own child before long.
I know. Still, he was much better at getting Ara to rest and listen to him.
Layla is still earning her marks as head doctor. It won’t be long before the whole clan adjusts.
Finn could spend an hour thinking of how to better support Layla, but Arabella sighed and he zeroed in on his mate. “Is the pain worse?”
“No. But I feel as if I could sleep for a week and still be tired.”
Because of the circles under her eyes, he refrained from mentioning that the triplets were going to keep them busy. Finn would shoulder what he could, but Arabella was the food source and would have to help.