Malcolm makes an ill-received announcement

“She’s in here,” Malcolm’s brother called from the kitchen.

Malcolm followed him in. “There you are! What are you doing, Babe? Why didn’t you answer?”

“Because I have my hands full here,” Iylaine sighed. “And what does it look like I’m doing? I’m bathing this baby. And what are you doing home already? You just left.”

“I came home to find out what you were doing in my absence and, sure enough, I find you in the kitchen with a naked man.”

Iylaine twisted her lips into a lopsided pout to prevent a smile.

“Why are you washing this boy anyway?” he asked her. “He just had a bath last night.”

“Because right after you left he spit up everywhere all over everything, and Mother Curran wasn’t even here to help.” Now her pout was becoming real. “And then he simply laughed at the mess he made, just like a stupid disgusting boy.”

“He probably wasn’t laughing at the mess, Baby, but at the fit you were throwing.”

“I did not throw a fit!”

“Didn’t you?”

“It was not a fit.”

“Wasn’t it?”

One corner of her pout began to turn up again, and Malcolm took the opportunity to glance back at his twin. Colban was smiling slightly, but one eyebrow was definitely higher than the other.

Malcolm did not want his brother to think he was stalling. “But I did come home for a good reason. You’ll never guess what happened last night!”

“I don’t know,” she groaned. “Don’t ask me to play guessing games when I have this slippery wet baby in my hands.”

“All right, I shall tell you. Lili had her baby!”

Iylaine let her hand lie for a moment beneath the water, and then she lifted it to give Duncan a good splash on the belly. “What do you think of that, turtle baby?” she squeaked. “You have a new uncle!”

“But it’s a girl, though,” Malcolm said quickly. “They named her Jehanne, after Lili’s mother. It’s a French name, but I suppose we’re used to those now, with Britmar’s girls, and Godefroy and Odile and everyone.”

Malcolm scarcely knew what he was saying. He was more intensely aware of the water that was dripping from Iylaine’s limp fingers and of his brother’s stare. He could not take his eyes from the former, and he thought he could feel the latter scorching the back of his head.

“They sent for Maire last night, and by the time she got there, the baby had already come! Cat and Girl-​​Flann helped. What do you think of that?”

Iylaine finally moved to lift Duncan out of the tub. “How nice! Could you hold the towel for me?”

Malcolm scrambled to get the towel, but in so doing he was able to peek at his brother. Both eyebrows were now on high.

Malcolm wrapped the towel around the baby and helped Iylaine dry the pumping legs and flailing arms before Duncan threw a fit worthy of his mother. He did not mind being wet in the water, but, like his mother, he could not bear being wet out of it.

Once Duncan was dry and diapered, Malcolm dared to say, “We’re all going out to see her this morning. Wouldn’t you like to come?”

“See whom?” she chirped and kissed Duncan’s nose.

“The new baby! Stupid girl!”

“Stupid boy!” she cried, loudly enough to startle Duncan into thinking he had done something to make his mother angry, and he began to whimper. “I can’t go all that way! What about this little turtle?” She cuddled the baby against her neck and purred, “Whisht, whisht, turtle baby. Mama isn’t going anywhere.”

“But can’t you come when he takes his nap?” Malcolm asked in the meekest voice he could muster. He realized now that it was a bad idea – it had been a bad idea even to ask – but his brother was watching him.

“Oh, that would be fine! I ride all that way, look at a baby for two minutes, and then ride all the way back. And you can be certain he would pick today to have a short nap, and he would be crying for his mama by that time. No, thank you!”

“Well, that’s true, Babe,” he smiled, thinking that it was reason enough to abandon his attempts. “You can always go in a few months when this turtle is a little older. Newborn babies aren’t as much fun as four-​​month-​​old babies, anyway, are they, turtle man?”

“By that time we’ll just have another one on the way,” Iylaine muttered, “and I still shan’t be able to go anywhere.”

Why, why did it always seem she saw the worst side of everything whenever Colban was there to hear her grumble?

“Then she’ll simply come to you,” Malcolm said, but he spoke to the baby, “and visit her nephew too.”

“He’s not truly her nephew,” she sniffed.

Malcolm sighed. Everything he said was wrong today.

“He’s only her distant cousin, you know,” she continued. “She’s not truly my sister.”

“Baby!”

“She’s not! He’s not truly my father, and Lili certainly isn’t my mother. My mother is dead. Perhaps my father, too.”

Malcolm leaned his head closer to hers and growled, “Iylaine, what would your father think if he heard you say that? Your – father?”

Iylaine’s only reply was to bounce the baby.

“It’s breaking his heart you would be. Now, I am on my way to see my truly-​​sister-​​in-​​law, and I shall tell Lili and your father that you are very happy for them. And I’m counting on you not to make a liar out of me. Do you hear me?”

She bobbed her head against Duncan’s in something that could have been a nod, or could have been a snuggle. Malcolm decided to content himself with that rather than risk making things worse. His brother was watching.