Marti Talbott's Highlander Series, Volume 5

by Marti Talbott

  “That is very kind of you.”

  Nessa rolled her eyes. “You are not taking me seriously.”

  “If a lad loves a lass, should he let her marry someone who does not love her as much?”

  Nessa turned and started to walk away, but he grabbed her hand and pulled until she turned back to face him. “I am too tired for riddles.”

  He pulled her back into his arms and instead of kissing her, he just held her close. “I know, do forgive me.”

  His arms offered the kind of strength she needed most just now and she welcomed it. She wanted to stay there and was grateful he did not demand more conversation. But it also reminded her of how tired she was and when he took her back to the others so she could sleep, she went willingly.

  Nessa slept, but fitfully. Twice a frightening nightmare woke her and with her mind so plagued, it took a long time to go back to sleep.

  CHAPTER VIII

  THE WHISTLES ECHOING down the glen signaled their return, but there would be no joyous reunion. Instead, the four searchers were greeted with silence from the men and tears in the eyes of the women. Nor did Neil come to tell them Dolee had been found and was well. After nearly a week of worry and despair, Nessa could no longer hold back her tears.

  As soon as they reached the courtyard, Ros got off his horse and went to Nessa. He lifted her down, but he did not let go. Instead, he scooped her up in his arms and headed for the cottage she shared with her younger sisters.

  Then he felt her grab hold of his shirt, bury her head in his shoulder and begin to sob. He stopped, leaned his head against the top of hers and just let her cry. Surrounded by words of comfort from her sisters, at last, she pulled herself together and he took her on home. He paused to wait while Aleen opened the door, then he carried her inside and laid her on the nearest bed. Even then, he did not leave. Instead, he knelt down next to the bed and held her hand. “Do you want me to stay until you are asleep?”

  He smiled when she nodded and in just a few minutes, she drifted off. He watched Aleen spread a plaid over her sister, brushed a strand of hair off her forehead and then went outside where he knew Neil was waiting.

  “How is she?” Neil asked.

  Ros waited to answer until all the sisters were gathered around him. “She blames herself. She stopped eating two days ago and has slept little, although she has not cried until just now.”

  “Was there no sign of Dolee?” asked Neil.

  “We saw nothing. The rest of the lads stayed with Camran to keep searching, but he thought it best to bring Nessa back and I agreed. Have you heard anything?”

  I sent inquires to the other clans and those that reported back say they have not seen her.” Neil folded his arms and kept his voice low. “You have done the best you can, go to your rest.”

  ROS TRIED TO REST, but he was worried and after bathing in the loch, he went back to see about Nessa. To his surprise, she was awake and all eight of her sisters were insisting she eat. She balked, protested and whined, until she realized the only way to shut them up was to eat. It made Ros smile and when she spotted him in the doorway, she glared. No longer worried, he back out of the door and left. Nessa’s sisters would see to her.

  But for the next two days, the sisters would not let him see her. They said she was resting, or bathing or sleeping, none of which he believed. Had he done something wrong? Was she rejecting him? Lost in thought, he headed down the path to the end of the new cottages.

  The whistles began again at the bottom of the glen and everyone gathered to watch. It had to be Camran and the men, whom they prayed, had a very alive and very healthy Dolee with them. But the closer they got the more evident it was the search had been unsuccessful.

  At length, Ros hung his head and closed his eyes. But then he felt a hand take his and when he looked, Nessa was standing beside him with tears in her eyes. He dropped her hand, put his arm around her and together they watched Camran slide down off his horse and walk up the path to the cottage he once shared with his wife. Camran opened the door, went inside and softly closed the door behind him.

  “I cannot bear it,” Nessa whispered.

  “Nor can the rest of us.” He took her hand again and started to walk her down the glen toward the horses.

  “I should take him something to eat.”

  “Dolee’s brother will see to him,” he said.

  “I did not know she had a brother.”

  “Most of the MacGreagors are related in one way or another. Emily is my cousin.”

  Nessa hesitated to ask, but she had to know. “Will you marry her?”

  Ros stopped walking and turned to face her. “I am not holding her hand, I am holding yours. Emily and I have been friends all our lives. She loves me and I love her very much, but not in the way you think.”

  “But you are with her constantly.”

  “And you are with your sisters constantly. That is the way of families.”

  “Then you are not going to marry Emily?”

  “Only if you deny me.”

  Nessa finally smiled, “Are you asking, Ros MacGreagor.”

  “I am.”

  She let him wrap both arms around her. “Then you are not afraid of me?”

  “I am afraid you will not marry me.”

  “I cannot refuse.”

  He lightly kissed her lips. “Why not?”

  “Because I am not willing to let Emily have you.”

  His smile grew wide and he lightly kissed her lips again. “Is that a yea, Nessa MacGreagor?”

  She did not answer, instead she got lost in his kiss and the feel of his arms.

  THE MINUTES, THE HOURS and the days passed without any word of Dolee, but at least no one found blood, bones or remnants of a MacGreagor plaid. It was not much, but it was some measure of hope to hang on to.

  Camran and two others went once more to look for her and came back within a week. In his heart, he believed she was still alive somewhere and forbid himself to mourn the loss of her. It would be like giving up. Just the same, his heart was heavy and his concentration poor.

  Doing nothing caused the time to endlessly drag on and he found himself using the scraps of hides to make little covers for the children. He ate, slept and worked so he would not have to think about his missing wife.

  Then winter came.

  When the clan awoke, the morning dew was frozen and the air was cold. Camran walked to his door, opened it and gazed out. Was Dolee warm enough? It was one more plague on his soul, and he wondered just how much torture his mind could withstand before he went daft. Then he supposed going daft would be far more pleasant than what he was feeling currently.

  Slowly he closed the door and began to play the game he now played every waking moment - when Dolee comes home, everything must be ready. There must be food, water and ample warmth. For Dolee’s sake, he retrieved a candle from the table, lit the fire in the hearth and gently fanned the flames with his hand.

  Winter was indeed unkind. What began with one frosty morning turned to thick dark clouds, ice around the edges of the lakes, and then the snow began to fall. Certain the other clans would not be out and about either, Neil kept fewer men outside and those that were, stayed close to the cottages so they could go inside and get warm occasionally.

  To preserve wood, Neil advised everyone to double up. Walrick, Steppen and all their adopted children stayed on the second floor of the Keep, while Gelson and his family let their cottage grow cold and sought warmth with Neil and his family in the great hall. They left the third floor empty. Three days later, Neil sent word to double up again and several more families came, including the sisters, Jessup, Kadick, their husbands and some of the English brides. Ros came often to see Nessa so Neil finally let him stay.

  It might have been a party atmosphere had it not been so cold. There was little to do but tell stories. The sisters told of life with their father, Glenna talked of her mother knocking the air out of her father, and before long, the stories were growing longer a
nd more detailed. Most doubted all of it was true. Every hour, Neil and Walrick went outside to check the weather, the wood supply and the guards.

  During the next two days, the cloudy skies delivered still more snow until it was so deep, it measured mid-calf on Neil’s leg. The men went out each day to break the ice on the loch, so the animals could drink, and to dip their buckets and haul water for the clan. Baths were out of the question.

  The wood was dwindling but not at an alarming rate. They had enough food and so far, none were unwell save Camran who now had nothing to do but mourn his missing wife. Dolee’s brother and his wife tried their best, but it was clear nothing except Dolee’s arms were going to console him. Then when Camran asked Neil for a turn at standing guard, Neil saw it as a sign he was doing better.

  The days passed slowly and still the MacGreagors waited for the dark clouds to lift and the air to warm.

  Finally, sunlight filtered once more through the heavily draped windows, the snow began to melt and clansmen took their families home. Children ventured out and mothers were so glad to get them out from under foot, they did not care about all the muddy messes that would need cleaning later. Then the mud turned back to dry dirt, the air warmed significantly and life began to return to normal.

  For Camran, going back home where he could once more prepare everything for Dolee’s return seemed to ease his grief. He refused to lose hope. He simply loved her too much to let go.

  CHAPTER IX

  IT WAS BEN WHO SAW them first. He and two of the other men were feeding the horses in the corral when he happened to glance down the valley. They were definitely horses, two in all, but he could not see a rider. He thought he recognized them as the missing horses, but he was not quite certain, so he just watched as they came closer and closer.

  Suddenly, Ben caught his breath. He took hold of the rope he laid over the fence earlier and grabbed a small bag of grain. Then he climbed up the side of the fence, went over the top and hopped down. Afraid he would spook the unbridled horses, he put the rope over his shoulder, reached in his bag and withdrew a handful of grain hoping to tempt the horses to come to him. It worked. As soon as he held out his hand, both horses quickened their pace and came. He let both have a taste, grabbed the rope and put the noose over the head of the larger of the two horses.

  The bulge atop the horse was covered by a cowhide coat and hardly looked like it held a human being inside. But the bare foot hanging down was unmistakably that of a woman—it was without color which made Ben certain she was not still alive.

  Slade was the second to arrive and quickly took hold of the horse’s rope. “Is it Dolee?”

  Ben did not answer. Instead, he gently patted the horse’s neck and then cautiously moved the heavy leather cow hide away. It was Dolee. She was slumped against the horse’s neck and her eyes were wide open.

  She was dead.

  Ben quickly covered her back up, glanced around to see if Camran was coming, and was prepared to stop him before he saw her that way. A man should see his dead wife with her eyes closed as though she merely went to sleep. It was somehow more comforting that way.

  He felt Dolee move.

  “She is alive!” Ben shouted. He carefully pulled her down off the horse and then lifted her into his arms. Soon the news was being shouted down the valley and more men came running including, Neil and Camran.

  At first Camran was relieved, but once he saw her, he feared she had come home to die. She seemed to weigh next to nothing when he took her out of Ben’s arms and started back to their cottage. He could not get her there fast enough. Never before had he realized how many steps it took to get from the pasture to the village, but even when other men offered to carry her, he simply could not let go.

  At length, he carried her inside their cottage and was grateful her brother was already there building a bigger fire in the hearth. Camran gently laid Dolee down in his bed. “Dolee?” She did not answer, but she did try to open her eyes. “You are home now, love, and I will not let you die.”

  Camran hoped she heard him and as quickly as he could, he checked her for broken bones and injuries. Except for her cold legs, she seemed all in one piece. He wrapped her upper body back up and began to rub the circulation back into her legs. He nodded when his sister-in-law brought in some warm broth and watched her set it on the table. Then he covered Dolee’s legs, pulled a chair close to the bed and reached for the spoon. He did not even notice when Neil came in.

  It was then that he fully saw how gaunt Dolee’s face looked and he wondered how long it had been since she had eaten. He hoped the smell would wake her more fully, so he passed the spoon full of broth under her nose.

  At first, her eyes fluttered and then she opened them. Her voice was weak, but she managed to utter a few words, “I ran out of food.”

  “You will have plenty now.” He slipped his hand behind her neck, lifted her head a little and touched the spoon to her lower lip. Camran waited until she opened her mouth and then fed her the warm liquid. Again and again, he filled her mouth, but it did not take long for her to run out of enough energy to eat, so he let her lay her head back down and sleep.

  Camran could not take his eyes off her and his heart overflowed with the love he feared he would never feel again. His sweet Dolee was finally home.

  TWO DAYS LATER, WHILE she was still trying to regain her strength, the story of how Dolee managed to survive alone for so long was on everyone’s lips.

  “I could never do that,” Nessa groaned.

  Ros took her hand and walked with her down the path toward the river. “You would if you had to. Thank goodness she took her bow and arrows or she would not have had even an occasional squirrel to eat.”

  “Did she get lost the day she left or the next day when it was cloudy?”

  Ros frowned. “I neglected to find out which day. The important thing is she found a deserted cottage in the forest with enough dry wood to keep her warm.”

  “But if she was lost, how did she find us?”

  He stopped and wrapped both arms around Nessa. “It was her last hope. She thought she was about to die and hoped the horses would take her home. How she managed to mount the horse at all is beyond me.”

  “How long did it take her to get home?”

  Ros smiled. “Less than a day. She must have been going in circles before she found that cottage.”

  “Less than a day, and all those nights lost and alone? How very dreadful. But why did she do it? She surely knew she has no sense of direction.”

  He quickly kissed his betrothed on the lips and then held her close. “That reminds me, you must not fear I will set you aside for any reason, do you hear me Nessa?”

  She pulled back and looked into his eyes. “What are you saying that for?”

  “There is an edict in our land that if a woman does not bear a child in the first three years, her husband may set her aside and take another. I want you to know that will never happen to us.”

  Nessa fiddled with the edge of the piece of plaid he wore over his shoulder and grinned. “We sisters have an edict of our own. If a husband sets one of us aside, he best not live in the same village as we do.”

  She enjoyed his laughter. After the weeks of worry and upset over Dolee, Nessa found she enjoyed the laughter of everyone in the clan a lot more. At last the world was set right again.

  AS SOON AS HE SAT DOWN on the bed beside her and took her in his arms Dolee rested her head against her husband’s shoulder. She was still exhausted, still needed to eat more to regain her strength and still worried that Camran would never forgive her. But there was a new light in his eyes—a light she needlessly risked her life to see.

  Every morning for the past two weeks, she had thrown up and this time it did not look as though it was going to go away.

  -end-

  CATLIN

  CHAPTER I

  SPRING BROUGHT A RENEWAL of life to the MacGreagor Clan, just as it always did. The sheep were sheared, the wool washed
and then dyed. From there it went to the spinners who expertly wove the yarn, wrapped it in balls and took it to the weavers. Delighted with having something to do once more, the weavers set their looms back up and began to work.

  The hunters hunted, the tanners tanned and the cobbler, and the men with strong hands began again to sew warm coats and make shoes. Candle makers gathered beeswax, farmers began to sow their fields and Ben made wagers with Alison on which mare would foal first. The cattle were moved to greener pastures and the builders renewed their work on the new cottages. That meant the cabinetmakers went back to making more furniture, more wood was chopped and more shavings were gathered and stored for use as kindling in the hearths.

  The men also went back to practicing their warrior skills and rebuilding whatever strength was lost to them over the winter. The sisters again delighted them all with their songs at the end of each day, and a new baby seemed to be born nearly every night.

  The English brides-to-be gathered in the courtyard every morning, weather permitting, where Jessup, Bethia and Greer taught them Gaelic. The afternoons were filled with washing, bathing, the baking of bread, and excitement for the coming evening when the men would come to take them for a ride or a walk.

  The children, who were bad, tended the chores Neil handed out as punishment and the ones who had been good, or were not yet caught, pretended to be brave warriors or Scottish queens.

  But for everyone, two things never changed in the land of the MacGreagors—falling in love and spreading gossip.

  IT WAS THE MOST UNEXPECTED sight they could have imagined. Late in the afternoon, the usual whistles announced the arrival of two women and one man. That the women were escorted by only one man was usual enough, but what the strangers wore was something the MacGreagors never thought they would see again—Cameron plaids.