Maddie's Gift

At that, Maddie stepped forward and Padraic watched, astonished, as her hand came out and delivered a resounding slap across her brother's face. "Michael Welby," she hissed, "How dare you speak about Padraic that way! You owe him your life! Take it back or I'll never speak to you again!"

Padraic felt a surge of love for Maddie. He'd never seen her show such spirit before, and in his defense! No woman in his life had ever stood up for him like that, not even his own mother.

Michael, too, was obviously stunned at Maddie's unexpected show of spirit. But to his credit, he bowed his head, a contrite expression coming to his features. "I'll take it back if you'll let me," he said softly.

Maddie didn't answer. Her hands had flown to her cheeks and she seemed to be in shock from what she'd done.

"She'll let you," Padraic said as he came and put a supportive arm around her.

Michael was looking at Maddie with a sheepish, wounded expression, and Padraic felt pain in his heart for him. He hadn't wanted to hurt the lad by being with Maddie. Michael was a troubled lad in some ways, but he was a good-hearted human being. At the same time, however, Padraic didn't want this beautiful wee woman to die of a broken heart.

"I'm not a hypocrite, Maddie," Michael said, almost in a pleading tone. "Melody and I are to be married."

Padraic saw Michael's thoughtless words slice into Maddie like daggers. The sight of her pain was unbearable. He had to act! "So are we," he heard himself say.

Michael's head snapped up and he stared at Padraic as if the older man had just dropped from the sky.

"I have every intention of marrying Maddie."

Padraic's heart surged in his chest, and the room tilted slightly, though he hadn't had anip of whiskey. Not yet. The step he was about to take was one he swore he'd never do again. His marriage had been mostly a painful trial, and his affair with Caroline, though sweet in some ways, had been fraught with difficulty, arguing, jealousy and guilt on both sides. But where Maddie was concerned he felt nothing but protectiveness and tenderness, so strongly it made his heart fill to bursting. Though marriage to her would also have its trials, he realized he didn't want to live the rest of his life without her.

He put his hand out to her. "Will you have me?" he asked softly.

Maddie looked up at him, her eyes full of tears. In spite of her state, she didn't hesitate to take his hand. "Aye, Padraic," she answered. "I will."

At her touch, Padraic felt a jolt of heat through his entire body. What a woman she was! Her show of emerging inner strength and faith in him erased any lingering reservations. If he were to take this step again with anyone, Maddie was the lass.

He squeezed her little hand gently, then turned to Michael. "Done," he said. "Maddie's my wife. She has a year and a day to decide if she wants to stay with an old man like me."

Michael's eyes widened and he stared at Padraic. "That's handfasting!" he breathed.

"Aye," Padraic answered. "We Scots invented it. What's to stop us?"

Michael's jaw clenched and he struggled visibly for self-control. "Very well," he said tightly.

But Maddie gasped. "Is that all you have to say?" she cried at her brother. "Do you really care so little about me?" She fell against Padraic, sobbing into his bare chest, drenching the hair with her tears.

"What do you want me to say?" Michael answered.

"Have a care, lad," Padraic said to him as he held Maddie, stroking her hair. "Put yourself in her place, just once. You never have, you know, not for a moment."

Michael looked at his sister, misery marring his beautiful features. To Padraic, he looked like a sad, bewildered boy rather than the laird of an estate.

"Go back now," Padraic told him. "I'll be along in a bit. And please have Fanny bring Maddie some of her things. She has nothing here. And some breakfast for her. Would you do that much?"

Michael nodded wordlessly, gazing on his crying sister as if she'd just slipped away from him over the side of a cliff. To Padraic, the lad hadn't looked that frightened since the night he'd learned his parents had died in the fire down South in Oxford. He watched Michael turn and go back out into the cold, his cap still crushed in his fist.

Padraic walked Maddie over to the chair by the hearth and sat her down. He crouched in front of the cold hearth and began to build a fire. When he had a good, cheery blaze going, he turned to Maddie and kneeled down before her, his hands on her arms. He looked into her eyes. "Are you sorry you married me?" he asked.

To his relief, Maddie shook her head vehemently. "Of course not, Padraic," she said. "I'm honored."

Padraic smiled and pushed back a lock of Maddie's hair that hung in her face. "Then pull yourself together, lass," he told her gently. "You showed some spirit back there. I've never felt so loved by a woman in all my life."

Maddie smiled through her tears. "Really, Padraic?" she said. "Is that true?"

Padraic took her hand and squeezed it gently. "Have I ever lied to you?"

Maddie reached out and touched Padraic's beard. "No," she whispered. "You haven't."

"Then honor your love for me and the rest will go straight. Even with Michael." Padraic touched her cheek. "Do you understand, lass?"

Maddie sniffled as she nodded. "Aye, Padraic. I understand."

Padraic reached up and brushed away her tears with his fingertips. "I'm sorry I can't give you everything a wealthy man could, Maddie," he said. "But I love you."

"I've had all those things, Padraic," Maddie answered. "And I've been miserable anyway. You know that. None of that means anything to me without love."

Padraic reached out and gathered Maddie into his arms, pressing a soft kiss into her hair. "Ah, Maddie," he said softly close to her ear. "Then I am wealthy, aren't I?"

EPILOGUE

One Year and One Day Later

Maddie put her arms around Padraic as he picked her up and carried her over the threshold of their bedroom. John had lit the fire in the hearth, making the place a cozy refuge from the winter winds howling outside the large windows. It was a night almost identical to that one a year ago, the night that had changed the course of her life, Maddie thought as Padraic set her down on the rug by the cheerful blaze. Only now, ironically, she and Padraic were in the very house from which Maddie had fled. They had moved in recently to keep Melody company while Michael was down fighting in the trenches in France. Melody was proving to be a kind sister-in-law. She had arranged a special dinner this evening in celebration of Maddie and Padraic's affirmation of their vows now the trial period had ended.

Padraic took off his shoes and lay down beside Maddie. He let his dinner jacket fall open and held his stomach with both hands. "Oh," he groaned, "I ate too much."

Maddie smiled at him, watching the glint of the firelight off Padraic's skin and beard. She leaned in to him and placed a tender kiss on his lips. "It'll give us more sustenance," she said in a silky voice as she reached over and laced her fingertips into his beard.

Padraic chuckled deep in his throat as he looked at her, grasping the hand that stroked his beard. "You don't need more sustenance, lass," he told her. "One of these days you're going to wear my poor pecker down to a nub! You'll take down my trousers and there'll be nothing left for you to suckle on!"

Maddie laughed as Padraic turned her hand and pressed his lips into her palm. Then he released it and let her play in the hair of the beard she took so much delight in, like a child with a favorite toy.

"I love you," she whispered when her laughter had passed. She looked down into his eyes, feeling her soul caressed and captured by the tenderness for her she saw in them. No one she knew had such a vivid world of emotion pass through their eyes as Padraic, and every time she gazed into them was like the first.

"And I you," he answered softly, reaching up and cradling the back of her head in his large hand, drawing her toward him.

Maddie settled into Padraic's arms, parting her lips for warm, deep kisses. Slowly, sensuously, they tasted each other's lips and tongues, still sweet from the wine at supper. Maddie felt her body quickly soften and yield to him, and for a long time they lay caressing each other, drowning in the simple pleasure of kisses.

The evening would have been perfect if not for Michael and Eric's being down in France. Great Britain had gone to war with Germany a mere few months after Michael and Melody's wedding. Michael and Eric had enlisted in the 52nd Lowland Division of the Scottish Regiments. Maddie had been crushed at the thought of Michael's going off to war. She still loved him in spite of all that had happened, and dreaded the possibility of losing him and of knowing how horribly he would suffer in that environment, being the sensitive, poetic person he actually was.

But she had gone ahead and done as Padraic told her, taking to her new role as Padraic's wife with joy and enthusiasm. Padraic kept her so busy tending the cottage, cooking, visiting the crofters and making love with him that Maddie soon blossomed into a strong, mature woman.

And Padraic had been right about Michael. He had not left without reconciling with his sister. One night, shortly before he was due to leave, Michael went down to the cottage and apologized to her for all that had happened. He told her how much she and Padraic meant to him and that he loved them both and couldn't bear the thought of losing them. He swore he'd come back alive and make everything up to her. Then Michael had proceeded to give Maddie a wagonload full of wedding gifts. There were new bed and table linens, dresses and nightgowns, jewelry and china. Maddie had thrown her arms around Michael, sobbing in her happiness to have made up with the brother she loved so much and in her grief that he was leaving to go to war.

The night before Michael left, he threw a banquet in honor of Padraic and Maddie's marriage, complete with music and dancing. Most of the crofters on the estate and their families had attended, and Padraic's two sisters, Rosie and Sarah, came from Edinburgh to celebrate.

Now, Maddie prayed every day for Michael and Eric's safe return, and she was all the more grateful for the gift of Padraic's love which had transformed her life, filling it with promise and laughter and sweetness...

Padraic reached up and pushed aside Maddie's shawl, slipping his hand under the shoulder of her evening dress. Maddie moaned as his fingertips sensuously grazed her chest, inching toward the softer, more sensitive breasts. Her nipples tingled in anticipation of Padraic's touch on them and Maddie felt the throbbing begin down below between her thighs. She ached to have Padraic inside her, to feel the hot thrust of his erection. With anxious fingers, she began to undo the buttons of his vest.

Padraic stopped his petting long enough to oblige Maddie, pulling off his jacket and helping her with his vest and shirt. As soon as his flesh was exposed, Maddie put her hands on his chest, caressing the muscles and thick soft hair. A smile of delight played on her lips as she gazed up at Padraic through heavy-lidded eyes, her being saturated with the potent mixture of love and desire she had for him.

Her cheeks were flushed and her lips glistened from their kisses. Her body beneath his was open, soft and yielding, hungry for his possession. She could feel her creamy musk begin to seep out from between her thighs into her drawers, and when Padraic lowered himself back down and claimed her mouth again, Maddie grasped at the buttons of his trousers and worked them open.

Maddie felt the warmth from the fire kiss her skin as Padraic raised the skirt of her dress. His tongue plundered her mouth in deep sensuous strokes while he slipped his hand into her filmy linen drawers, burying his fingertips deeply within her swollen pink cleft. Maddie moaned and arched her hips under his hand, her legs spread wide open, begging for Padraic to take her.

When she'd gotten his trousers open, she slipped her hand inside, closing it around his cock. She loved the feel of the hard muscle filling her hand and felt her hunger to taste him. In their time together, Maddie had grown to love going down and pleasuring Padraic with her mouth, so much so, that the mere thought of it at any given time during the day would start the pulsing between her thighs.

Maddie pulled away from their kisses and lowered her face eagerly down to Padraic's erection, pulling his trousers down to his knees just before settling herself alongside him, her breasts pressed against his thighs. Leaning down, Maddie captured Padraic's hard shaft in her mouth. With her hands on his hips, she suckled gently on his hardness, taking as much of the length into her mouth as she could. Up and down she massaged Padraic's hard sex with her lips and tongue, teasing the opening with the tip of her tongue. Padraic moaned, his hand on her hair. One by one, he pulled out her hairpins, letting her hair fall loose and silky onto his thighs, so he could entwine his fingers in the tresses.

With gentle hands, Maddie caressed Padraic's hips, stomach and chest as she pleasured him, until he stayed her with his hand and bid her rise and undress. He unbuttoned the back of her dress, helping her lift it over her head, then did the same with her silky chemise and drawers. When Maddie was naked except for her garters and stockings, Padraic laid her down on the rug underneath him and mounted her. In one swift thrust he took her, driven on by her cries of pleasure as he stretched the swollen pink flesh of her womb, made smooth and sleek by the flow of her sexual musk.

Maddie spread her legs wide, grasping Padraic's behind, pulling him deep inside her. Maddie squeezed her muscles around Padraic's cock, writhing her hips against his. Together they rose into a passionate frenzy, kissing deeply, their open lips joined, tongues pressed together in a sweet, moist dance.

After a few minutes, Padraic slowed down the rhythm of his thrusting so that he could take the time to lower his head to Maddie's breasts, teasing and suckling her dusky pink nipples, causing her to moan with the intense pleasure. For a while, he moved just enough to stay hard inside her, delighting in teasing Maddie, bringing her closer to the edge of climax then back again, knowing that the slow building of tension would make her eventual release that much more heavenly.

In the middle of their languorous heat, Maddie gazed up into Padraic's dark eyes, her fingertips teasing and caressing his soft beard. "Padraic?" she whispered.

Padraic smoothed back her hair. "What is it, love?" he asked softly.

"Stay inside me the whole time," she said. "Until the very end. Would you?"

Padraic kept up the slow stroking movements, all the while caressing Maddie's hair. He studied her flushed cheeks and soulful blue eyes gazing up at him.

"Is it all right?" she asked when Padraic didn't answer right away. "I mean, now that I know you want to stay with me, I want so much to have a bairn with you."

Padraic kissed her tenderly. "Are you sure that's what you want, Maddie?" he asked. "You know how things went sour with me and Eric. I'd not want to do that to another."

Maddie reached up and touched Padraic's cheek. She knew about what had happened with Katherine and Eric, for Padraic kept no secrets from her about his life. "It wasn't so simple as that," she replied. "And you've tried to make up with him." Gently, she brushed her thumb across his lips. "Padraic," she said, "I can't imagine anyone who'd be a better father."

Padraic sighed as tears came to his eyes. Each time she expressed her faith in him, he was unprepared for it. But he thanked God for it. For the gift of this beautiful lass who loved him as he was. "I would love to give you a bairn, Maddie," he said softly.

Maddie smiled and held Padraic close. In their embrace, she began to move her hips again, faster and faster, using her body to stroke Padraic's shaft. Her movements roused his passion again and he moved with her, lowering his face back to Maddie's breasts, suckling and pleasuring them while he ground his hardness against her sweet spot. All the slow, sensual teasing he had done before had brought Maddie so close to release, that in only a few moments, she climaxed, crying out with the intensity of it, her eyelids fluttering shut, her head thrown back, moaning until the spasms passed and her body relaxed, limp and satisfied, under his.

Maddie opened her eyes and gazed up at Padraic, grasping his hips, bidding him to come to his own release. She squeezed him and moved with him, stroking his sex with hers, offering her soft mouth for deep kisses, moaning with the pleasure of his hot deep thrusts. The tension built again, this time in Padraic, and he came, emptying his warm seed into Maddie's womb.

Their passion spent, Padraic collapsed onto Maddie, breathing heavily, his body entwined with hers, the perspiration on their bare skin glowing in the firelight. Maddie stroked Padraic's hair as they rested and she closed her eyes, smiling as she drifted into sleep.

Finally, when the fire had begun to die, the chilly air on their naked bodies woke them and they rose and went into their bed, their clothing still in small piles by the hearth. Together, their bodies nestled like spoons, they fell back asleep. Maddie curled up in front of Padraic with the very beginnings of his bairn inside her, the son who would one day inherit Welby Manor from his uncle Michael.

But that is another story...