“Have ye let her know how ye feel?” Cormac asked making Teige feel a little foolish. His sheepish look was answer enough. “Ye haven’t. What are ye waiting for? Ye think she’ll wait forever for ye to say something? If ye don’t speak yer mind, I’ll be forced to ask her myself.”
He looked sharply at Cormac. “Ye wouldn’t dare.”
“Ye don’t think so? I have a mind to go right now….” He moved forward and Teige’s hand shot out to stop him.
“I will talk to the lass.”
Cormac smiled, satisfied that he had given his friend a nudge toward starting a well-needed love life.
Aislinn spotted Cormac, and as soon as she could break away from the game, she went over to him. “Were you able to arrange for me to meet with Declan?”
“Aye. I will bring him by later this afternoon, if that is all right by ye.” “Bring him to my quarters.” She left him then to rejoin the game.
By the afternoon, it had begun to rain. It was a good downpour, sending everyone scattering to find cover. Aislinn raced up to her room so that she could remove her wet clothing and dry her hair before Cormac arrived with the MacKenna boy. She had donned a robe, while Moira was still trying to get a fire started in the fireplace. “Here, let me do it,” Aislinn offered. “You better change yourself before you catch cold.”
“But, milady….”
“Don’t argue with me, Moira. Go grab one of my robes.”
“Ye are so kind.” She started to untie the laces of her dress, when she noticed that Aislinn had pulled something from her pack. She watched curiously as the item sprouted flame. Her gasp caused Aislinn to turn to look at her. “I am sorry…” Moira stammered, “but what was that ye did? Flames flying from yer finger tips.”
“This?” She held up the lighter for her to see. “It’s something we use back home. It’s called a lighter. See?” With that, she flicked it and it came to life. The wonderment on the girl’s face was almost comical. “Nothing to it.”
“Yer land has many oddities that I do not understand, but I think that I like them.”
No sooner were they dry and warm, Cormac arrived with the little boy. Aislinn took one look at the blond-haired child who had big blue eyes, fringed with the darkest of lashes, and she immediately wanted to cradle him close to her and erase the hurt that was bottle up inside of him.
“May I?” She offered her arms to take the child from Cormac. The boy did not protest, but he did not cling to her either. “Declan, I am A.J., and I would love it if we could be friends.” The child just stared straight ahead, without so much as a fluttering of an eyelid to indicate if he heard her at all, but Aislinn continued to speak as though he were intently listening to every word. “And this is Moira.”
“Hello, Declan,” she greeted him, but she was a little wary of the way the lad was behaving. She looked at Cormac and he answered her silent question.
“He is fairy-taken.”
Moira nodded understanding immediately, but Aislinn was a bit put back. She knew from her father’s many stories that people of this time were superstitious to a fault. They blamed unexplained ailments on the fairy folk and there was no use trying to explain that it was otherwise.
“Are you cold?” Aislinn carried the child closer to the fire. “I bet that you are. We’ll just sit here, you and I,” she told the child as she sat down on the chair cradling him against her. “I believe that it is a perfect day to tell you a story.” She gently rubbed his head and spoke to him in a smooth clear voice. Slowly Declan seemed to relax against her, and though he did not utter a word, his small hand moved over hers.
When he had fallen asleep, she rose from her seat. She saw that Cormac was ready to take him, but she shook her head. “Let him stay here.”
“Ye don’t mind, milady?” “No, not at all.”
Moira had moved back the covers on the bed and she placed the sleeping child down. “He looks so exhausted.”
“Fiona told me,” Cormac felt he should warn Aislinn, “that Declan has not slept through a night. He is still having nightmares.”
Aislinn’s heart went out to the child. “Have you caught the person or persons responsible for his family’s murders?”
“Nay, not as yet.”
Aislinn tucked the covers under Declan’s chin before she looked at Cormac. “I hope when you do that you pay them as much kindness that they have bestowed upon this child.”
“Ye can rest assured they will be dealt with accordingly.”
Dougray was quite worried when he had learned that Aislinn had taken her evening meal in her room. He wanted to check in on her before he retired, just to make sure that she was all right.
Moira must have gone to bed for Aislinn was the one who greeted him at the door. “Are ye ill?” His gaze took in her appearance. She was dressed for bed, barefoot and a robe hanging loosely around her. She didn’t look sleepy, but her hair was messed in a way that led him to believe that she had been in bed. He could not find fault in the way she looked with all the wisps of dark hair that framed her face. He had the urge to brush his hand against her soft skin.
“I’m fine,” she said slowly and in a whisper bringing him back to the reason he had bothered her in the first place. He noticed that she made no move to let him enter. Matter of fact, she seemed to be purposely blocking his way. “What made you think otherwise?” she said nervously and even looked over her shoulder, as if she thought that someone would hear her.
“Ye did not,” he found himself whispering too, “take your meal in the hall.”
“Not because I was ill,” her voice was still just as quiet, but with a definite edge to it.
“If ye are not ill…and why are we whispering?” he questioned her as he again took in her disheveled appearance. She apparently was not sick, so why had she decided to stay in her room? Over her shoulder, his eyes found the evidence. There were two plates not one. His mood veered sharply to anger. “Ye are hiding someone?” He didn’t wait for her to answer, but forced his way in. “Where is he?”
“In bed.” Aislinn had known that she couldn’t keep the boy a secret for long. She had just hoped that she could have explained everything to him in the morning. “Please lower your voice. You’ll wake him and he is exhausted.”
The glower he gave her made her cringe. “Ye don’t even try to deny ye have someone in yer bed and ye gloat on how ye exhausted him?”
“What are you talking about?” Her temper rose at his accusation. “You must know what the boy has been through. I did nothing to excite him.”
“Lad?” Now he seemed confused, which totally baffled her.
“Declan MacKenna.” She saw his expression change to what could only be relief, then embarrassment before he looked away. “Just whom did you think I had in my bed?”
He ran his hand through his dark hair feeling rather foolish for the assumption. “I thought that ye were….” He let the sentence trail off to silence hoping that she would just leave it alone. No such luck.
It took a moment, but it finally dawned on her what he had meant. “You thought that I was entertaining someone, didn’t you?” His answer was a shrug. “And if I did have a man in my bed? What did you think you were going to do?”
“I was…” What exactly had he planned? He was not so sure. He just knew that he hadn’t liked the idea of it. “Ye are my responsibility and….”
“And you will decide if and when I may have a relationship?”
His eyes narrowed. “Do ye want to take a man to yer bed, Aislinn? What happened to ye waiting for yer true love?”
“I’m not getting any younger, you know, so I might as well just find out what I’m missing.” Why in the world had she baited him? It seemed that this man was forever capable of provoking her to say things that she really didn’t mean.
“Well, darling, I could be a service to ye then.” He made a move toward her and she backed up, bumping into the small table she had used for the evening meal. Without taking her eyes off
him, she grabbed the first thing her hand came in contact with and she waved it at him. It so happened to be a chicken bone. It wasn’t too threatening, but she didn’t care. She pointed it at him as though it were a weapon. “Stay away or so help me.”
“So help ye what? Ye going to beat me with chicken scraps?” He just shook his head. “If ye are going to make an offer, Aislinn, ye should be willing to see it through. The next man ye say this to may not know ye do not mean it.” That remark cost him a lethal glare. He didn’t move fast enough when she decided to let the bone fly from her fingertips. It hit him in the head. “Ach! What was that for?”
“For making me want to kill you.”
She stood there so tall and angry beyond belief, but she couldn’t have looked more tantalizing to him. Before she could say anything more, he held up his hands. “Truce?”
“Fine.”
They stood there for a few moments, before Dougray spoke in a controlled voice. “May I ask ye why the lad is here? Fiona was to care for him, until I could find a home for him. I spoke to her only today about Declan. She did not mention that she would be bringing him here.”
Aislinn nearly smiled when she realized that this was why Dougray was talking to Fiona this morning. “Cormac was worried about Declan and thought that I might be of help.”
“He should not have imposed.”
“I don’t mind.” She moved toward him and gently touched his arm.
“Come and see for yourself.” He followed into the adjoining room and his gaze found the small form lying upon the bed within the comforts of the blankets. The child appeared to be in a deep sleep, his thumb securely locked inside his mouth. He did look comfortable, peaceful. He glanced at her then. “Ye are a good lass, Aislinn Hennessy, for taking in this poor soul.”
The tenderness in his compliment touched her like a caress, confusing her. She lowered her gaze, before she spoke again. “You will let him stay with me, won’t you?”
“Aye. He looks content, and I thought I would never to see him that way again.”
It was still early when Aislinn arose and dressed, letting the exhausted Declan sleep. She did her early morning stretches before she sat down on the rug to do her sit-ups. This was a ritual she did at home for good practice, but here it was a necessity to get warm. The room even with the fire going could be somewhat drafty, at least to what she was used to in sunny California.
Sit-ups were what she was doing when the blond-haired child peeked over the edge of the bed to view her. His thumb was in his mouth and his blue eyes were wide with wonder. Finally she realized that she was being watched. Ending her exercise for the moment, she looked at the child with a welcoming smile. “Good morning, Declan, I hope you slept well. Are you hungry? I think I have just about worked up an appetite and Moira should be arriving soon. As if on cue, the girl entered with a tray full of wonderful food that smelled delicious.
“Good morning, A.J., young Declan. I brought some vittles.”
Declan looked at the plates full of food and his thumb dropped from his mouth.
Aislinn was on her feet and she offered the boy her hand. “Let’s see what Moira brought us. Shall we?”
He didn’t object and his appetite was ravenous. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought the poor child hadn’t had a meal in days.
“Slow down, Declan. You don’t have to be in a rush.” That seemed to work and he took smaller bites of his warm bread. “That’s better.”
Cormac arrived soon after to take the boy for a while. Aislinn was already growing attached to him and she made Cormac promise to bring him back by the afternoon.
With the rain of the early morning all but gone, a rainbow appeared overhead and the weather cleared bringing out the sun. Aislinn was quick to change into her trews and sling her backpack behind her. She nearly ran to meet with Rhiannon, whom she knew would already be hard at work by the curtain wall, where she tended the gardens. Aislinn spotted the fair-haired woman and waved to her.
Rhiannon’s green eyes sparkled with delight and waved back. She was glad to have the company.
“I’m ready to get my hands dirty.” Aislinn smiled as she threw down her pack.
“And ye will. Trust me.” She handed her some gloves that she just happened to bring along with her.
They worked side by side, conversing and laughing until their sides hurt. Rhiannon had been telling her about her childhood and growing up at Dunhaven.
“The Celtic festivals are still held even though the Catholic priests want to condemn them as the work of the devil. It will be a shame if they are eliminated, for they are fond memories to me. I first gave myself to Murrough at Beltane.”
“I don’t mean to sound like a prude, but this is permitted?”
“Encouraged actually.” When she saw that Aislinn had stopped what she was doing and was now studying her, she wondered if she shouldn’t have been so blunt. “I do not offend ye, do I?”
“No, not at all. You’ve piqued my curiosity; please tell me more about this festival.”
“It is the season where trees are in full leaves and flowers are a plenty. It is the season of life where we will engage in projects and plans, which we have waited a long winter to fulfill. On Beltane eve, a fire is kindled, and there is dancing and singing. Unmarried couples and sweethearts pair off and go to the woods.” Rhiannon was well aware of the teachings of the church, but she did not understand how something so beautiful as the coming together of a man and woman could be considered wicked. Aislinn was, no doubt, of the Christian faith. She was rather curious to know how a Christian woman thought. “Have ye not wanted to be with a man?”
“Well of course, but I can’t see myself just sleeping with any man just for curiosity sake. I would have to love him before I would give myself so completely.”
“As it was with me.”
She was helpless to stop the embarrassment that rose inside of her. “I’m sorry, Rhiannon. I didn’t mean to imply….”
Rhiannon just laughed with a shake of her head. “I know ye didn’t. I was just saying that I have found the man who makes my heart sing.” “Murrough?” She still had a hard time picturing the two of them together.
Murrough was so big and always seemed to have a frown set into his granite- stone features, his dark red mustache drooping down his face exaggerating the effect. As for Rhiannon, she was determined that much was certain, but she was also very kind hearted, much too sweet and petite for the abominable giant. They seemed the most two unlikely people to be thought of as a couple, but then she saw how Rhiannon’s face beamed with pride when she spoke his name. She had to wonder what it was that she was missing.
“He may not look it, but he is a gentle man.”
“I’m sorry, but I just have a hard time imagining this. With the withering looks he gives me, I think he wishes me gone from this place, as soon as possible.”
“Murrough does not understand yer ways is all. He sees how ye occupy milord’s mind and it worries him.”
“Occupy…who? You mean Dougray?” “Milord speaks of no other woman than ye.”
“What about…well I thought that he was with…you know, Fiona.” “Dougray is no monk.” She smiled at her almost sympathetically. “He was a pained soul seeking comfort and Fiona was willing, but she was never someone that would give him a lifetime commitment. They are at odds with the goals they have mapped out in this life.”
Aislinn became silent then, making Rhiannon wonder what she was thinking. Maybe she had revealed too much.
“Rhiannon?” She paused, as she thought of how she should word her question. She decided it was best just to be direct. “You speak as though Fiona is of the past.” She tried not to look hopeful, but had failed miserably.
“I believe that milord’s eyes are elsewhere. Are ye not curious about the man intimately?” Rhiannon’s eyes clung to hers analyzing her reaction to what she had asked.
Aislinn was thoughtful for a moment as she weighed each word. C
urious was putting it mildly. She thought about him the moment she awoke and couldn’t wait to see him, even if they ended up arguing. Her last thoughts before she fell asleep at night were of this man and even then he seemed to creep into her dreams, filling them with wanting. “I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was, but I am not from here and I have all intentions of returning to my home, if the time presents itself. I can’t allow myself to have fanciful thoughts when there could be no future for them.”
“Would ye not stay if he asked ye to?”
“I can’t…I couldn’t…Rhiannon, he would never ask me anyway.” She made herself busy trying not to dwell on what Rhiannon had said, but how could she not? The mere suggestion intrigued her.
“If ye are still here at Beltane, maybe ye could persuade him to join ye.” “It would never happen. He is Catholic and the church forbids such activities.”
Rhiannon couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t say that she wouldn’t want to ask only that she felt that she would be refused. “Aye, ye are right about the Christian church, but it is still allowed in the Brehon laws and they still govern Ireland.” She studied the woman who had strength befitting a man, but seemed to shake with fear at her own desires. “And if he decides to ask ye, Aislinn? Would ye go with him?”
She never had the chance to answer for just then she spotted Murrough and Dougray approaching. As they neared she could see that Dougray wore a scowl that made his eyes look gray as the turbulent sea.
“A word with ye now!” Dougray demanded without waiting for Aislinn to refuse. He grabbed her backpack and took hold of her arm, nearly dragging her away. Rhiannon looked to Murrough for an explanation to the rude behavior.
“Do not look at me that way, woman. I do not know of her deed that warranted Dougray’s wrath, but I am sure that it is well justified. The woman is always causing mischief.”
“Why do ye say this? She is a good, decent woman, and ye would do well if ye would open yer eyes and see it as so.” “Now, Rhiannon…”
“Do not patronize me, Murrough O’Donoghue.” “Blast it! Will ye not let me speak?”
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