“Do ye have pain, sweeting?” he asked her, picking her up and walking quickly across the hall to the staircase leading to their chambers. “Ah, Fiona mine, I canna bear to see ye hurting.” “Then ye should not have gotten a bairn upon me, Nairn,” she said with a small attempt at humor. She winced. “Ohhhhh!” The castle servants had been galvanized into action. A serving wench had dashed ahead of Nairn to alert Nelly. Another ran off to find the birthing table. Elizabeth McKay turned before going up the stairs, saying to her husband and brother, “Keep Colin's spirits up as best ye can when he returns to the hall. And that does not mean getting him drunk, my laddies. I'll both answer to me if ye do!” Then she was gone. “She did not say we could not get drunk,” the Lord of the Isles said to his brother-in-law. “Is it too early for ye?” “’Tis never too early, Alex,” came the reply, “but I suspect she'd be verra angry with us. She has a fierce temper, yer sister, my wife.
