Baby ran squealing through the door but stopped short when she saw the three men silhouetted against the fire. All three were wearing funny skirts, but only one of them could be her Da. What if she chose the wrong one? She could feel the tears coming – oh, what should she do? Why didn’t she wait for Gunnie? She did the only thing she could think of – sat down on the floor and started to wail.
But one of the men chose her! And it was her Da! Baby laughed in relief. He lifted her up and held her before him to get a good look at her. And Baby tried to lean in and cover his face with kisses, but he laughed and held her too far away.
“What is this trout-face you are making, girlie?” he was saying. Her Da called her a trout-face! He was so funny! Baby laughed and clapped his cheeks with her hands, since that was as far as she could reach. He was so handsome! Handsomer even than Wynnie’s Da. Handsomer than the King! And stronger than anybody!
But then the strange men came. They were pushing too close and trying to touch her hair.
“Let’s see her ears!” the man with long hair said.
Baby screamed.
But she knew her Da would save her, and he did. He said something she didn’t understand to the men, and they stopped trying to touch her, and her Da held her close.
Baby stuck out her tongue at the bad men, and the short-haired one winked at her. He had golden eyes like a cat, Baby thought. Perhaps he wasn’t so bad – but that long-haired one looked like trouble. She would keep an eye on him.
Chapters
Poor Baby. To be scared by those fierce Scots.