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Alanna reached up to caress his cheek, satisfying herself that he was unchanged. "I'd almost forgotten how handsome you are."
"Then I have returned just in time."
"What about Byron? The Gazette had the most awful description of the battle, and I've been so terribly worried about you both;"
"Byron is on his way out to the plantation. We're both safe," he told her, taking no credit for the excellence of Byron's health. Christian had begun to yank on his hair, and Hunter caught his tiny hand and placed a kiss in his palm. "He'll say only good things about us to your aunt and uncle, but he has scant hope that they'll ever want to see us."
Understanding Byron's skepticism had good cause, Alanna continued to sweep Hunter with a hungry gaze. She had spent every minute he had been gone loving him, and yet fearing his return. "There's been a good deal of gossip. I was even referred to as Randolph's mistress for a while. He visits us every day, but it's Charity he comes to see, not me."
"Really? Well, he was lonely, so a pretty woman with a houseful of children ought to be perfect for him."
"She has only three children," Alanna reminded him. "That's not a houseful."
Her expression was troubled, rather than filled with the joy Hunter had expected to see, and he gestured toward the grass. "Come sit down with me." He led the way, and set Christian on his feet before he chose a place to sit. The little boy grabbed the fringe on his shirt and made his way around him. "Is he this friendly with everyone?" Hunter asked.
"Charity and her children, Randolph, you and me, we're the only people he knows, but he's not in the least bit bashful with us."
Hunter tousled Christian's hair as he toddled by, and the little boy's giggle made him laugh. "He seems like a very happy child."
"Yes, I hope so."
"And you? Have you been happy, too?"
Alanna shook her head. "Without you? No."
Hunter reached for her hand. "I've not been happy without you either. Is there room for me to live here with you?"
Perplexed by his question, Alanna didn't know how to answer. "Do you want to live here with us?"
"Only until the boy is old enough to be weaned. I won't leave here without him."
Alanna's eyes began to fill with tears. "Have you changed your mind?" she asked. "You no longer want to give him away?"
Hunter had never seen Alanna cry, not when Elliott had been killed, or they had almost died fighting the Abenaki, or even when she had told him goodbye. That she would cry now made no sense at all to him. "How I came to my decision is a long story that I'll tell you at another time, but yes, I want us to raise Christian. I want him to be our son, yours and mine."
Tears continued to well up in Alanna's eyes and began to trickle slowly down her cheeks. She caught Christian and made him a part of the hug she gave her husband. "I love you so much," she vowed.
"Then why are you crying?"
"I'm sorry. I can't help it."
With the joy of holding his wife and baby in his arms, Hunter was on the verge of tears himself. Christian began to squirm, and they let him go to continue circling them with unsteady steps. That Hunter had once hated Melissa enough to reject her son now seemed like the worst mistake of his life, and he was relieved he had come to his senses in time to make his family whole.
"Isn't Christian ready for a nap?" Hunter asked his wife.
"Soon, and the harder he plays, the longer he sleeps."
With that inspiration, Hunter saw that his little boy had a very good time indeed. Then he and his bride celebrated his homecoming with a passion flavored with warm kisses and husky laughter that lasted the whole afternoon. War with France was still on the horizon, and troubled times lay ahead, but for them, the battles were over, and all three of them had won.
The End
