Susan had been straightening the kitchen. She had just set the dishes to washing when she heard Cecily cry out. Hearing the patter of her daughter's feet on the steps, she ran into the hallway. Cecily's tartan nightgown flittered and bounced around her knees as she ran past Susan.
"Cecily, what is it lass? Is something –" She stopped speaking as her concerns left her, watching her taller than average six year old jump into Seamus' lap, thrusting a small book into his waiting hands.
He laughed when he looked at the cover. Mitchell MacDonald's Bagpipes. "Again?" he asked in feigned annoyance. The crackle of the fireplace made them both look over at the glowing embers, each of them seeing different things in the flickering flames.
"Papa says this was Da's favorite when he was my age. Read it," she directed him imperiously. She smiled up at him, her dimple deepening, knowing that Seamus never refused her.
Susan shook her head with a wry smile, thinking that her daughter was coming into her own as the DA princess. She was the most important person to many people, Susan thought, watching Seamus as he was finally, after six months on the farm, coming out of his self-imposed shell to kiss the top of her daughter's head. He began to read about Mitchell and the MacDonald clan and the bagpipes that they could hear in the distance each October.
She stood in the doorway, watching him give Cecily another kiss on her cheek when she felt Fiona's arm go around her shoulders and give a little squeeze.
"He's really grand with her, Susan."
Susan nodded.
"You know, when you first suggested bringin' him here, after those terrible things he'd done, Duncan and I were none too fond of the idea. We were more than a little worried, him bein' that close to our only granddaughter, but we love you, Susan; like our own. We respected your decision to help. He's a fine man, though. He dotes on the little lass. And Cecily adores him."
Susan looked at her as she squeezed her shoulder one more time before winking and moving back into the kitchen. Susan rolled her eyes. Her mother in law was always one for seeing matches where there weren't any.