A Battle Lord’s Heart (30 page)

           
His remark had them laughing softly.

           
“If there are stories and songs
about the two of you now, just imagine what it’s going to be like once news of
this latest gets out,” MaGrath stated. “Before you know it, the thousand Bloods
overtaking Bearinger will become two thousand. It’ll be interesting to see how
Atty’s take-down of that Blood leader is recounted.”

           
“I wish I could have been there when
she had,” Batuset admitted. “My word, that must have been something to see! So
far, all I have to show for her skills is two of my banners with holes in
them.” He gave her a stern but playful look. “The moment I saw that arrow
coming over the wall, I knew without a doubt you were back.”

           
Atty smiled. Once they had finally
managed to enter the main lodge, Berta was there crying buckets of tears as she
served them a light meal, and oohed and ahhed over the baby. It took nearly two
hours to calm everyone down enough so Yulen could relate a sketchy account of
the past several months, and promise more details in the days to come.

           
It was after midnight when they were
able to retire to their new lodge, where Yulen tore the black wreath off the
front door. Once inside, the place looked exactly as they had left it...until
they reached the top of the stairs.

           
Their bed had been filled with
flowers. But not with dead flowers. Not with flowers brought and placed in
grief and remembrance. Every inch of the quilt was covered with a riotous
kaleidoscope of color, brought there by many hands which had ventured outside
the compound walls in the dark to pick the new spring blooms while Yulen and
Atty had been inside the main lodge answering questions. The heady perfume of
the enormous pile could still be detected from the top covering down to the
sheets.

           
“Are you still intent on rebuilding
Bearinger?” Batuset asked.

           
“Yeah. Not right now, but soon. Even
though we managed to bring back two hundred of our men, there’s just as many
that didn’t return with us. Let’s honor their memories first, then we’ll talk
reconstruction.”

           
Mattox snorted in his sleep. Lifting
his head sleepily, he gradually turned his head to rest his other cheek on
Yulen’s stomach before drifting back into slumber. Everyone was riveted at the
sight.

           
“Yulen, isn’t he too young to be
able to lift his head yet?” Madigan pointed out.

           
The Battle Lord shrugged. “I don’t
know. Is he?”

           
“He’s not even a month old,” Liam
pointed out, also dumbfounded. “He shouldn’t have the strength in his neck
muscles yet.”

           
It was Tory who softly commented.
“He’s Mutah. You might be surprised at what he can do as he grows older. After
all, look at Atty. She made her first kill when she was two months old.”

           
Yulen smiled down at his wife who
was tenderly stroking their son’s back. Giving the top of her head a gentle
kiss, he agreed. “One thing’s for certain. I can never say that life is dull
with my wife around.”

           
“Can we look forward to another
D’Jacques making an entrance in the near future?” Tory inquired, while Fortune
goosed her for her lack of manners.

           
Before her husband could answer,
Atty placed a finger over his lips. “You promised me a daughter,” she reminded
him with a twinkle in her eye.

           
“We’ll talk about it later.”

           
“No, we won’t.” She shook her head.
The shoulder-length waterfall of blue hair brushed over the arm he had draped
around her shoulders.
 
“You can’t go
back on a promise.”

           
“Atty, you ruptured an artery—”

           
“And you had the crap kicked out
you,” she interrupted, burying her face in the warm hollow of his shoulder.
“I’ll be fine next time.”

           
Yulen turned a halfway pleading look
to MaGrath. “Would you talk some sense into her, Liam?”

           
Instead, the physician grinned and
held up his hands in surrender. “For once, I’m staying out of this argument.”

           
Looking back down at his wife, Yulen
asked, “What if the next one’s not a girl?”

           
“You’re not stupid. What do
you
think?”

           
“What if we’re not able to have a
girl?”

           
“Then I guess we’re just gonna have
a grand old time making babies, Yulen. Geez!” When her last comment drew
laughter, Atty wrinkled up her nose. “I’m serious!”

           
“We know you are,” Yulen laughed
softly, giving her a squeeze. “Okay, so what if the next one is a girl? That
means we have one of each, and we can stop there, right? Either one of us goes
on a contraceptive, or we curtail some of our little midnight escapades.”

           
“In your dreams, mister! If you want
to sleep with me in that bed up there, you damn well better make it worth my
time!” she warned him hotly.

           
Their laughter increased,
threatening to wake the baby. Exasperated, Atty started to get up to take Mattox
to the nursery where it certainly was quieter. Yulen would have none of it,
grabbing her before she could get out of the chair and pulling her back down
against him. Face to face, he smiled slowly and tenderly into her softening
gaze, then gave her another gentle kiss, this time on the lips.

           
And another. And another. Until
there was no one left in the world except the three of them on a long, lazy
afternoon, with the promise of two hearts beating in unison as the compound
around them shredded the last of the black linen.

           
For all of them, the celebration was
only the beginning.