Heather Graham - [Camerons Saga - North American Woman 02] (53 page)

Skye squeezed his hand. “At least he was not captured and taken prisoner with the others!”

Men
had
been taken. They had been sent to the Williamsburg jail, and they had been tried on March 12. All but one gentleman—who had been able to prove himself a guest and no more on Blackbeard’s ship, the
Adventurer
—had been sentenced to hang.

“Aye. Well, it’s over now.”

“Is it?” Skye asked him.

He nodded, looking out to the James that swept by them, the very life of their land, their property, their estate, their future.

Their children’s future. Their destiny.

“Yes,” he said, drawing his wife close. “I think that it is over. I told you once that the Crown created pirates—Sir Francis Drake was a fine example. We warred with Spain, so the kings and queens cried, ‘Rob them blind!’ Then men began to forget that they should pirate only foreigners, the enemy. The islands gave the rogues bases. Now Woodes is cleaning up New Providence, and Ocracoke will never welcome pirates again. An age is coming to an end. The age of piracy. Maybe that was our age, my love. When the settlers arrived here last century, they had to survive against the Indians. They had to hold fast to the land. For us, it was the menace of the pirates. We had to endure, and survive. Who knows now what the future, what our children shall face? It’s all to God, isn’t it? Fate. And we can only pray that each generation will endure.”

Skye touched his cheek. She started to smile, started to speak. “Oh!” she cried instead.

“What is it?”

She sighed, and flushed, and smiled again. “It’s quite all right. I mean, I think that it’s some time yet.”

“What?”

“Well, you remember, I met
you
when the age of pirates was flourishing! And you were an absolutely irresistible and ravishing pirate. And—”

“Skye!”

“Well, I believe it’s time for a certain ravishment or seduction—whichever it was!—to bear fruit.”

“The babe!”

“Yes!”

“Oh!”

He leaped to his feet and drew into his arms. He groaned slightly. “Well, you’re not as light as air at the moment!” he apologized.

“And I can walk perfectly well!”

“Not on your life, my love.”

He carried her to the house, and up the stairs, and to the bed they shared. Mattie was there, and Tara and Bess, and Peter hovered by the door with Davey and some of the others ready to run and fetch whatever might be required. Davey was sent for the doctor, then Mattie expelled Roc, too. “It’s a long, long time!” she assured him.

He paced the portrait gallery, and then he went out walking again, and he came down to the cemetery, and looked out over the tombstones. He walked over to those belonging to Jamie and Jassy, and he touched the cold stone, and he smiled. “I
am
mad!” He laughed aloud. “But it all came out so very well.” He paused. “Life is good. It is Eden. I—I thank you for this place.”

He decided that he
was
mad, smiled again, and turned around. He came back to the house, and he paused by the beautiful portrait of his great-great-grandmother, then he walked on again and went to his office down the stairs.

Robert Arrowsmith arrived, and drank with him.

He had several snifters of brandy, and smoked several pipes.

Then he heard one cry, and then another, and he glanced
toward Robert, and he tore up the stairs, two at the time. He burst into the room, where Mattie was just swaddling the babe. Roc looked at her expectantly. Mattie smiled and handed him the squirming bundle.

“A …?” he inquired.

“What else, Lord Cameron? A boy.”

“A boy! Wonderful. But don’t you what-else-me, Mattie! A girl would have been just as welcome!”

“Well, sir …”

“What?”

“I’m glad to hear that, for the second is a little girl, wee and fine and golden-haired.”

“Two!”

“Twins, Roc!” Skye called from the bed. He hurried over to her. She was pale, but she smiled beautifully, and the happiness that radiated from her was glorious. He knelt down beside her and he kissed her hand. Mattie brought their son over, while Bess carried over their scarcely bathed daughter.

They inspected their infants, hesitant, curious, laughing. Adoring the infants, more deeply in love than ever with one another. Mattie and the girls left them alone. The babies fussed, and Skye, laughing and awkward, tried to nurse them both. Roc helped, trading infants while she traded breasts, and together they laughed again, until he saw that her eyes were closing, and that she was exhausted.

“I’ll call for Mattie and Tara,” he assured her, kissing her forehead.

She nodded sleepily, and he called to the servants, and then it was Mattie’s turn to cluck proudly over the newborns. Roc came back beside his wife and sat down, cradling her hand. She was nearly asleep. Clean and bathed and beautiful after the ordeal, she was again sweetly innocent and pure to him. It was hard to recall her as the passionate vixen who had come to his arms to create their marvelous new additions, but he knew that he would meet the vixen again. He kissed her forehead. Her eyes fluttered open, teal, beautiful.

“I’ll let you sleep. I’ll send a message to your father. I’m sure he can be here by tonight.”

She nodded, and squeezed his hand. He kissed her again
and stood. Her eyes opened again, devilish slits. “Make sure you tell
them
we have twins,” she whispered.

“Them.”

She winked. “Jamie and Jassy. I think that they’d like to know.”

He laughed, and said indignantly, “My love, one day our children’s children will live here. In the world we work to build year by year.”

“And one of our great-great-great-grandchildren, a handsome lad, a rogue with dancing silver eyes, will come by us, and whisper of what has come!” she said.

“Vixen!” he teased her, and kissed her again.

“It takes one to love a rogue,” she assured him demurely.

And he laughed, and it turned out that he didn’t leave so quickly after all, for she was not so tired that she could resist being taken into his arms and giving him a kiss of infinite tenderness and passion and promise.

A kiss … to the future.

About the Author

New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author Heather Graham has written over one hundred novels and novellas, including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, and paranormal. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift. Romance Writers of America presented Heather with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.