‘What are ye up to, Isla?’
Her soft gasp seemed to reach out and brush against the front of his chest.
‘Ye startled me, Uncle.’ She straightened to her full height. ‘Ye ken where I’m going and why.’ She sounded determined.
‘Aye, and ye ken my reasons for waiting until the morn.’
‘The gates might be closed by the time we return to Aberdeen, but I ken if ye cause enough of a ruckus, they’ll let ye in. I also happen to be friends with the daughter of the commander of the guards.’
‘Ye would use yer friendship to gain entry?’ With a single movement of one hand, Father Beaton gestured for Cal to approach him. On silent feet, he moved to stand beside Isla’s uncle.
‘I will use whatever I must. Tomorrow might be too late.’
Norval Beaton gave a single nod as he looked in his niece’s direction and back to Cal. ‘Too late for what?’ He spoke, but instead of waiting for a reply to his question, the priest walked away along the length of the inn.
Cal turned back to look at Isla, a soft gust of wind pushing against his back and ruffling the hair at his nape. Her delicate if stubborn chin lifted and her head tilted a whisper to one side. She knew he was there. The breeze and his change of position had let her know.
The creamy smooth skin of her throat rippled as she swallowed. ‘Too late to live, too late to love for the rest of my life.’
Cal wanted to step close and draw her into his arms, but he didn’t want to interfere in what she had to say. He needed to hear how she was feeling.
‘I told ye I chose the church for then I would nae longer be a bother to anyone. I could be useful sewing and gardening, among other limited things, while being hidden safely away from harm. But that was before I learned I can do so many things and I have more to offer than simply being a burden to someone. That was before I met a man who saw more than a blind woman to be pitied, a man who forced me to take risks and to believe in myself.’
She folded her arms across her middle and caught her elbows. ‘Nae only did this man make me see my own potential he … he made me feel things I’ve never known, made me experience sensations I had nae clue were possible. I never knew a touch of a hand could send a tide of warmth rushing through my whole body. The sound of a voice could make teeny bumps rise over every inch of my skin. The thought, just the thought of being in his company could start my heart to pounding wildly. A kiss, just one, would make me wish for a hundred more. The ache in my chest as I rode away to live the rest of life without him … ’twas too much to bear.’
Her delicate chin lifted high. ‘So I decided I have to risk everything, now, this day, to let him know how I feel about him.’
Cal’s heart drummed heavily in his chest as he watched Isla draw a long deep breath and release it slowly. He hadn’t spoken words of love to her, nae yet, but was she truly about to confess her love for him? She took a tentative step toward him. He took one too, and then another, closing the gap between them until they stood with a single step separating them.
‘Ye have asked me so many times to make a choice, to choose what I want to do with my life and where I want to spend the rest of it. I thought I knew, I thought I understood what I wanted, but I had nae clue until I almost lost the most precious thing in my life. Somewhere between ye rescuing me from the flames and escorting me to Restenneth Priory, ye stole my heart. I changed my mind. I love ye, Callum from the Borders. I choose ye.’
* * *
Silence. She’d bared her soul, offered up her heart, and in return he gave her nothing. Isla’s fingernails dug into the flesh about her elbows. She couldn’t see him, but she knew he was there. She could smell his masculine scent, taste him on the gentle breeze brushing over her face, her mouth.
If he hadn’t come for her, then why was he here?
The shushing sound of the wind rustling the leaves of the surrounding trees broke the awful quiet. She clenched her arms so tight she could feel the shape of her bones beneath her skin.
He might not have come for her, but surely he could respond to her confession. Saint Mungo. She’d just told him she loved him.
‘Have ye naught to say?’ She loathed the uncertainty in her voice.
‘I …’ He cleared his throat. ‘I have much to say to you, Isla.’
Silence stretched, again. She wanted to run. She needed to hear what he had to say. Was desperate for his words to stop the painful feeling of something clawing at her heart. ‘Now would be a good time. We’ve kept my uncle waiting long enough.’
‘Isla.’ Just her name and his palms captured the backs of her hands clutching her elbows. She knew she trembled. She couldn’t stop. ‘I love you.’
Everything stilled. The wind, the leaves, her trembling, and a burst of light ignited inside her chest. ‘But there are things about me you dinnae ken. Things concerning my past, my mother. Things I have only recently learned.’
Isla released her elbows and took hold of his hands. ‘Ye ken about yer mother?’
‘Your uncle told me all I needed to know when he came for you at the friary.’
‘Uncle Norval knew yer mother?’
‘Nae, but one of the priests from years before spoke with her the day she arrived at Restenneth Priory. I was with her.’
Isla squeezed his fingers. ‘Tell me.’
He cleared his throat. ‘It seems my mother’s father died from the Black Death, but his wife and their bairn survived. The bairn was my mother.’
The Black Death. Another dreaded illness that had taken so many lives. Isla held her tongue but gave his hands another gentle squeeze to encourage him to continue.
‘Her mother struggled to survive alone with a babe. They left their home in the small, empty village where they lived and made their way to the closest town in the hopes of finding help, but there was none to be found.’
Isla imagined a young grieving woman trying to protect and care for her baby daughter. An icy chill swept through her that she’d received no assistance from anyone.
‘She …’ He shifted his feet and then continued. ‘They were starving. There was a … whorehouse.’
Isla heard the distress in his tone and lifted her chin so it appeared she was looking directly at him. If only she could.
‘She found work there and she and her daughter, my mother, were given food and shelter.’ Isla heard him swallow. ‘When she was of an age, my mother found work there too. It seems my father was one of the first men she lay with, but she was never certain who.’
Isla’s heart ached for Callum. She knew how much he wanted to know who his parents were. She threaded her fingers through his, the same way he’d done for her several times before.
‘As I grew, I started asking questions about my father. My curiosity troubled my mother. But then she became ill.’ He drew a long breath and exhaled. ‘The master of the house wouldn’t let her leave, but she didn’t want me to grow up in the same place she had. She wanted me to have choices. She ran away and took me with her.’
‘Oh, Callum.’ Her words were of little help but she had to say something. She squeezed his fingers and stepping closer, she lifted one hand and pressed her palm against his chest.
His hand captured the back of hers and pressed it more firmly into the familiar feel of soft leather. ‘The master came after us. We hid behind the stone cross. He never found us.’
She heard the hint of pride in his tone and a sense of elation swept over Isla.
‘My mother got us to Restenneth Priory and told the priests of her plight. She looked unwell, even as she begged them to protect me.’ His chest pushed against her hand as he breathed deeply. ‘Brother Torrian was leaving for Jedburgh Abbey in the Borders on an errand. He took me with him, but when we were there I wandered off searching for my mother.’ He sighed. ‘Poor Brother Torrian blamed himself for losing me. They said it aged him and he has long passed so I can’t tell him I found a home with the Elliot clan.’
‘It wasn’t yer fault.’
<
br /> ‘Perhaps, but I dinnae have to like it.’
‘What happened to yer mother?’ Isla couldn’t help asking. She had to know.
‘She left the priory when we left for the abbey. The priests never saw her again.’
‘I’m so sorry, Callum.’
‘Her name was Caitriona.’
* * *
Callum looked at the woman with her hand settled protectively over his heart. He didn’t know what expression he expected to see after telling her about his mother and his past. He’d envisioned uncertainty, disgust or perhaps pity. He never expected the upthrust of her delicate chin and a half smile, even as a tear trickled down each of her high-boned cheeks.
A heavy weight he’d carried about for the last twenty years seemed to lift from his shoulders in the blink of Isla’s unseeing eyes.
‘What a beautiful name.’
Cal gently wiped the moisture from her cheeks.
‘I wish I’d met her.’
He wished she had too.
‘She was a strong woman. She loved ye very much. There is much of her in ye.’
In that instant, Cal understood all his mother had done and why. She’d done it all for him.
He inhaled his first full breath in twenty years and drank in Isla’s lavender scent. This wise woman who’d lost so much yet never stopped giving. He slid his hands free and pulled her close.
‘There has been an emptiness inside me for as long as I can remember, but during the last few days, after you were gone, even the emptiness grew hollow.’ He feasted on the sight of the red-gold tips in her hair highlighted by the fading sunlight. ‘I believed it was due to my year of searching for my past coming to an end. But here, standing before you, with you in my arms, you make me feel whole, as if I am one half of the same person and you are the other. Hearing you say you love me … knowing you choose me … I love you, Isla. I dinnae ken what more to say.’ A beautiful smile spread across her face and teardrops fell from beneath her lashes. Reaching forward, he wiped the moisture from her cheeks with trembling hands.
‘Then dinnae say more. Kiss me instead.’
Cal smiled down at the beauty in his arms and captured her face in his hands. ‘I’ve discovered you to be a demanding woman and before I kiss you I have something to ask.’ A question he’d never expected to ask anyone. Ever. He lowered his voice and searched the features of the woman who’d captured his heart and taught him how to love. Callum slowly lowered his bruised body down on one knee and peered up into her radiant expression. ‘Isla, will you marry me?’
* * *
‘Have I made the right decision, Uncle?’ Despite her dreams, Isla had never expected any man to ask her to marry. She’d envisioned herself spending her days at the priory proving herself useful and had grown comfortable with her future. She twisted her fingers together until they hurt as she waited for her uncle’s response.
‘Ye ken what’s in yer heart, lass. Trust in what ye feel and ye’ll always make the right choice.’
Isla drew a long breath and slowly released it. She nodded as if to reassure herself that she had made the right decision.
‘’Tis time, Isla. Are ye ready?’
Her next breath shivered out and she nodded again. ‘Aye. I’m ready.’
Her uncle’s hand found hers and settled it on his forearm before leading her out of the room. The room she was meant to be staying in for the night. The same room she’d shared with Callum after the storm. Sprites danced and leapt in her belly just thinking of him. What she did in the next few moments would lay the path to the rest of her life. Was she making a mistake? Was it too late to change her mind? Did she want to?
As if sensing her inner turmoil, her uncle’s other hand settled over the back of hers as he steered her out of the long passageway, through the dining area and outside. The evening’s cool air brushed her cheeks and touched her throat, telling her the sun had set. They could have waited for the morning, but once Isla had made her choice she refused to wait any longer. Why wait when she knew she’d suffer through yet another sleepless night.
Each of their steps as they crossed the yard between the inn and the stable rang louder than she recalled. Warm air and the scent of horses washed over her as they entered the stable. The pounding of her heart drowned out their footfalls and every other sound. They stopped. The warm breath of the horse standing close beside her washed over her shoulder. This was it.
‘Wait here for a moment, lass.’
Her uncle released her. Had he forgotten something? She listened to his footsteps recede and focused on the mount’s nearness to comfort her. Moments later, footsteps drew closer. Her heart hammered in her chest and suddenly the air beside her shifted and changed. She drew in her next breath and savoured the spicy, masculine scent.
Large, warm fingers encased her twisting hands. ‘Afraid?’
‘Impatient.’ She wanted this done.
A soft chuckle filled the space between them and she felt her lips lift in a smile.
‘The waiting is over.’ Callum gave her hands one last gentle squeeze before releasing her, but his presence never left her side.
With Callum standing strong on one side and Mungo on the other, her uncle began the marriage ceremony.
‘Wilt the have this woman …?’
Isla did her best to listen, but the words I am getting married chanted inside her head interfering with all that was said.
‘… so long as ye both shall live.’
‘I will.’
Callum had just agreed to take her, a woman of little prospect, a blind woman, to wife. Her heart squeezed inside her chest. What if she failed? What if she made a terrible wife?
‘Wilt the have this man …?’
God above. Her uncle was talking to her. How she wished her father was here. She’d ask him what she should do. But her father wasn’t here, nor could she ask his advice ever again. But he’d chosen Callum to escort her to the priory. A telling choice. And now she’d made her own. She’d chosen life with Callum. She was marrying a man she’d met two weeks before. Two weeks of turmoil and learning to trust a man she’d hadn’t known before. A man who had brought with him a shining light into her dark world. A man she couldn’t see, but could feel his goodness within. A man who made her feel things she’d never experienced before. A man who showed her beauty through his eyes. A man who made her feel beautiful, protected and needed. Callum made her heart sing.
‘… so long as ye both shall live.’
She loved Callum. She couldn’t imagine life without him.
She turned her face to where she knew Callum stood beside her and lifted her chin. ‘I will.’ The moment she said the words, her heart melted and a smile curved her lips.
Her uncle’s next words hummed in her ears, but she was too full-to-bursting with joy to hear what he said. She’d all but given up on her dream of marrying a man who loved her for who she was, pretending her life would have more meaning serving God. But now she knew she was choosing to settle for the only life she’d grown to believe was open to her. Until Callum rode into her life and swept her off her feet and stole her heart.
What would Sorcha think?
‘Ye may kiss yer wife.’
Wife. Isla’s heart pounded in her chest as large hands settled on her shoulders and turned her toward him fully. Gentle palms cupped each side of her head and tilted her face up. Warm breaths washed across her mouth. Close, so close. Her heart thundered. But still he waited.
‘Callum?’
‘Aye.’
‘Do ye mean to kiss me or nae?’
A deep chuckle sounded and the feel of it swept softly over her face. ‘I see your impatience hasn’t lessened.’ His thumbs brushed a path along her cheeks. ‘Aye, I mean to kiss you every day and each night, but this will be the first time I kiss you as my wife and I mean to savour your beauty and the moment before I do.’
Joy surged upward and spilled over in Isla’s heart. His hesitation, his care, his words made I
sla feel and be a part of the beauty he spoke of.
‘I love you, Isla.’
Callum’s lips pressed against hers, spreading warmth through her mouth, her body; her entire being. She stretched up on her toes and curled her fingers into the linen fabric of his shirt, increasing the pressure of his mouth on hers, savouring the taste of this man who loved her, her husband. Isla tore her mouth from his, needing to speak, desperate to say the words she’d been too afraid to say before today. ‘I love ye, Callum.’
Her fingers tightened within the front of his shirt and pulled him down for another bone-melting kiss.
Someone cleared their throat and her uncle’s voice broke through the well of desire her husband’s kiss had tumbled her into.
‘If ye calm yerselves down for a time, I’d like to congratulate the pair of ye on yer marriage.’
Callum’s mouth deserted hers. ‘Forgive me, Father.’
‘There’s naught to forgive, Callum. I am well-pleased with the union and ken my niece will be treasured and will spend the rest of her life in loving hands.’
‘Thank you, Uncle.’
Gentle arms embraced her and her last living relative whispered in her ear, ‘Yer father would be pleased with yer choice, lass.’
Knowing her father would approve of her marrying Callum striped away any remaining uncertainty clouding her heart and set her free.
Chapter 21
Callum stared down at the woman in his arms. The woman he’d just carried over the threshold into the room they were about to share for the second time, only this time they were husband and wife in truth.
They’d shared a meal with her uncle after he’d wed them. After Keddy had glanced at Mags, given Cal a slow shake of his head as if to tell him he’d made a horrid mistake getting married, before he’d then ensured no one’s cup was empty, particularly his own.
Cal’s gaze swept over Isla’s face. His chest tightened in wonder. This beauty, this woman of strength and determination chose him. Loved him.
She’d said aye when he’d asked her to marry him and even the single heartbeat of time it had taken her to agree had been too long. Sweat had beaded his brow and every muscle within his body had clamped tight in preparation for her refusal.
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