He chuckled. “It seems so,” he said. “Though it’s a miracle,” he added soberly. He still had no idea how it was that Miss Grady had been there just when they needed her. He decided it was better not to inquire. She might have saved their lives, but he still found her extremely disquieting.
“Everett?” Seonaid whispered. “Can you lie down beside me?”
Everett swallowed hard. “I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”
He clambered onto the bed awkwardly, his arm throbbing, and wrapped his good arm around her. She moved so that she lay on his right side, and his right arm wrapped around her shoulder, her head against his neck. He felt himself start to relax and it wasn’t long before he was asleep.
The next morning, Everett awoke to the sound of a rumble. He lay where he was, acutely aware of Seonaid’s head resting on his shoulder, and felt his heart melt with the beauty of it even as he tried, unsuccessfully, to identify where he was.
The sound changed, becoming louder and, as it mingled with shouts and exclamations, became evident as what it was – the mill cart, coming in to deliver flour.
“Out the way!” somebody yelled.
“Coming through! Coming through!”
A pail clattered as somebody dropped it, and somebody shouted angrily. The smell of the street seeped in mingled with the scent of salt from the sea and the cry of gulls.
“Leith – we’re in Leith.”
He should have realized that straight away – he and Seonaid must be in Miss Grady’s home. Though how that could be, he couldn’t quite fathom. Where were her father and the rest of the household?
He shifted to try and get to his feet, and Seonaid sighed. He tensed instantly, looking down into her face.
She was still sleeping, but her eyelids trembled and then her eyes opened. She looked shocked, then confusion dawned there, and then, finally, they brightened.
“Everett,” she whispered. “You’re here.”
“Och, lass,” he whispered. “I am here.”
She smiled and reached for him and, moved beyond expression, he took her hand and gripped it, then bent to kiss it.
She stroked his cheek. He felt his stomach turn to water. He bent to very gently kiss her lips. He could see a bruise on her face, and he wished he could remove it with his kisses.
As he bent to kiss her, wincing as his chest hurt, he heard steps on the stairs.
“How would somebody fancy a bite of something?”
Everett felt his mouth water. He was very hungry – he couldn’t remember when he’d last had a proper meal, which would explain why he felt so strange. He looked down at Seonaid, whose eyes shone.
“Breakfast?” he inquired mildly.
“Oh, yes! Indeed.”
He was still laughing as they limped down the stairs together. Seonaid was walking heavily on one leg, and he himself found that every step caused his injuries to ache a little. He was out of breath when they reached the bottom of the steps.
In the kitchen, they were met with a surprising sight. Miss Grady, dressed in a fine linen dress, was seated at the table with the big man. A breakfast was set out for them of slices of fresh bread, cheese and other things, all laid out on the small table’s surface. As the daughter of a wealthy merchant, owner of the fine house, Everett would have expected she would eat in another room, not in the kitchen with a servant. All the same, she seemed completely natural here.
“Thank you,” Everett murmured politely as he drew out a seat. Seonaid followed and slipped wordlessly into the seat beside him.
“We are in your debt,” she said carefully.
Miss Grady looked up mildly from the rim of her cup of tea. “You are not,” she said. “There’s no debt incurred for doing what we can for one another.”
“All the same,” Seonaid said tightly. “I would wish to repay you.”
“Don’t,” Miss Grady said, and her voice sounded emphatic. “Feeling guilty will extract worse debts from ye than I ever would. If you like, you can give me the cost of the tinctures.”
Seonaid looked surprised, and Everett thought she might argue. At length, though, she nodded.
“Very well. I will see to it.”
Everett looked from the one woman to the other, aware of some barely perceptible hostility between the two of them that he couldn’t understand. Then he looked away, reaching for a slice of bread.
Starving, he set about breakfast with a will.
“You look much better this morning,” Miss Grady commented as he ate. “I’m pleased to see your recovery is progressing.”
“Thanks,” he said, taking another bite of bread.
“We need to get back to my father’s,” Seonaid said. Her face was gray with tension. “He will be so concerned.”
“Of course, you must.” Miss Grady sounded in complete accord. “But you are welcome to rest here as long as you see fit.”
“Thank you, but we must leave, and soon,” Seonaid said. “I have to tell Father about…about him,” she whispered to Everett.
Everett’s eyes widened in surprise. He nodded. “You mean, so he can do something to stop him?”
Seonaid shot him a look. “I can’t explain now.”
Everett nodded, feeling confused and more than a little silly. What had he said?
He reached wordlessly for another slice of bread.
After finishing her tea and another slice of bread, Miss Grady stood. “I need to go into town,” she said. “I will see you both later.”
“We may have to leave before then,” Seonaid said firmly.
Everett looked at her as Miss Grady stared into her eyes, and it seemed like some wordless exchange happened. At length, she nodded and looked away.
“As you wish,” she said. “But I am always here if you need me. Or Luke is, and he will come and find me.”
She went to the door and lifted a long cloak from the peg. “Farewell Everett, Seonaid.” She nodded to them each in turn, and went out, shutting the door behind her. Luke rose wordlessly from the table a few seconds later and followed her out.
Everett turned to Seonaid, his heart relieved at finally having some time with her alone.
“Seonaid,” he said, taking her hands in his. “It’s such a miracle that we’re alive.”
“It is,” she murmured. “I know. I am so happy.”
They looked at each other wordlessly and Everett leaned forward, wanting to plant a kiss on her lips. She let him kiss her, then looked into his eyes.
“We need to warn my father about Alec,” she said. “He trusts him.”
“Alec?” Everett frowned, shaking his head as if to clear it. Should that name mean something to him? He didn’t recall it if it did.
“Captain Westford,” she elaborated, and that meant a bit more to Everett, who knew he’d heard the name recently. He was racking his brains, wondering why she seemed so reluctant to divulge what she really meant.
“Alec Westford is the man who kidnapped me and hurt you,” she said.
“But why?” Everett frowned. “And why does your father trust him?”
“I don’t know,” Seonaid admitted grimly. “But he does. And we have to warn him.”
“Yes,” Everett agreed. “But, Seonaid? Why did he attack you? What was all this about?”
She looked at him levelly. “Father promised that I would marry him.”
MAKING A PLAN
Seonaid saw horror on Everett’s face. She felt her blood go cold. She looked away, wishing that she hadn’t seen that. Wishing that she could not imagine that he was shocked, and hurt, and envious…
“Seonaid!” he gasped. “Then the man’s an utter fool.”
She stared at him in complete shock. Then she started laughing.
“Och, lad!” she chuckled. “You’re right there. You are dear.”
He went red. “I am?”
She reached across wordlessly and took his hand. “Here you are, finding out that my father promised me to another, that I deceived you, mo
re or less – though I never meant to. And then you say that he’s a fool?”
“Well, he is,” Everett murmured. He squeezed her hand and she turned hers so that her fingers looped through his. “If he had only waited his time, I reckon your father would have intervened, and then there would have been nothing you could do, save marry him.”
“No.” Seonaid said the word softly, but firmly. “No. I wouldn’t have married Alec, no matter what. My father would have seen sense. He would never have made me, against my will. The man is…there’s something very wrong with Alec, truly.” She shuddered.
Everett nodded. “You could say that,” he agreed.
Seonaid surprised herself by laughing. It was not funny at all, but in that minute it seemed hilarious. Everything, in fact, seemed very funny. She was hanging onto the table laughing when a tear tracked down her cheek.
“Sorry, Everett,” she whispered. “I think it’s all just…it’s just…”
Everett nodded and reached for both her hands. He sat holding them, while she cried. The fear flooded back, the horror of that small room, of not knowing what was going to happen. She hadn’t realized just how much she had been through, in the last twenty-eight hours – and how much of a toll it had actually taken on her.
She looked up to find Everett looking at her. Again, she had half-expected him to be judging her, but instead he was sitting there with a gentle smile on his face. His hands were strong on hers and she sniffed and smiled at him through the fall of her hair.
“Shall we go?” she said.
Everett nodded. “I don’t see why not,” he agreed. He stretched and grimaced. Seonaid instantly got to her feet.
“Your injury..! How are you?”
Everett made a face. “I’m alright,” he said. “I can walk.”
She stifled a giggle as he stood up and stumbled, then smiled at her somewhat sorrowfully.
“I think I can walk,” he said.
She chuckled and came and stood beside him. “Well, I reckon we can walk together,” she said gently. “I can help you down the stairs. It’s not far from here to my home.”
“No,” he agreed.
“No?” Seonaid’s brow went up. “You know where we are, then? I didn’t know.”
“I do,” Everett said. “I came to look for you. That’s how I found the information that led me to you. I was in the street calling you, and your neighbor came out.”
“Bonnie?” Seonaid frowned. “She was the one who saw me go?”
“Not exactly,” Everett said. “She told me that Miss Grady’s maid had seen you go somewhere. That was why I came here.”
“And that’s how you found me?” Seonaid stared at him, a chill down her spine. It had been such a thin trail of events that led him to her! She shuddered to think how easy it would have been for him to miss her. What would have happened, without those two women having seen her being rushed away?
“It was,” Everett nodded. “I still can’t quite believe it.”
“Me neither. What would have happened, if you hadn’t come to find me?”
Everett took her hand and pressed it wordlessly. “I’m not thinking about it.” He said. “I don’t want to think about it.”
Seonaid nodded, feeling her eyes fill with tears. “Me neither,” she whispered. “Me neither.”
Everett nodded and they looked at one another wordlessly. Seonaid felt tears track down her cheek. Everett was crying too, his eyes filled with tears that hadn’t yet fallen. She took his hand and they stood there in the silent kitchen, both regarding each other with so much left unsaid and yet understanding one another perfectly.
“Come on, lass,” he said gently. “Let’s go.”
They headed out into the morning.
The scent of the air was sweet and cool – or so it seemed to Seonaid. Anything, even the fetid air with its smell of damp and fish and the distant tang of salt and, further away, of rotting river mud, was precious. It was free air.
Even a few hours of imprisonment have changed me.
Shivering, she drew her cloak about her shoulders, waiting for Everett to catch up. Together, they walked to the corner and around, to where her father’s home was. Seonaid took off at a run.
“Father!” she called. She hammered on the door. Something about the house seemed wrong to her – there were no lights in the upstairs windows, and the place had a desolate air. “Father!”
She was hammering on the door, desperate for somebody to answer, when Everett caught up. “Easy, lass,” he whispered. “It’s alright. There must be somebody here.”
“Let me in!” she called, hammering on the door. She tried to calm down, to think rationally. Everett was right, there was surely somebody in there; even Logan, their steward, might be here. All the same, her fear shivered down her spine and she whirled around desperately as somebody came up the alleyway.
At that moment, the door opened. Seonaid almost fell through.
“Father!”
Her father stared up at her in horrified amazement. His blue eyes – blue as the sea – were wide and damp with crying. “Seonaid?” he whispered, as if half-afraid that she might slip away before his eyes.
“Father!” She reached out and wrapped him in a big hug. With him pressed to her chest, she felt like the world was, for the moment, as it should be. She held him close.
“I didn’t know what had become of you. I didn’t know where you’d gone! Oh, my daughter…” he was crying, his words incoherent. Seonaid felt her own heart almost come to a stop, she’d never imagined seeing her father cry. Certainly never like this.
“Father,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. I had no choice. I never meant to worry you…”
“I thought you had been taken, or killed! I thought I’d never be happy again.”
Seonaid stared at him. She couldn’t quite believe how much he loved her. She had always known he held her in regard, but, strangely, she had never realized it would extend to the fact that, without her, he would not be able to be happy.
“Oh, Father,” was all she could say.
“I’m sorry,” Everett said from behind them.
Seonaid turned around. Her father stared up at Everett. Spots of color appeared on his cheeks.
“You!” he hissed. “You scoundrel. Where did you take my daughter..?”
“Father, no!” Seonaid protested, first in humor, and then, as her father struggled to rise, looking as if he might try to bodily assault Everett in earnest. “He saved me. He acted with great honor. He meant no…”
“Out!” her father was shouting. He’d lifted a staff from the corner – one he sometimes used for walking, if the wind was stiff or the pathway muddy – and was brandishing it at Everett.
He simply stood where he was, fending off the blows that were directed at him. He looked completely confused, and Seonaid felt quite bad for him. She stood to one side, unsure how she could best intervene.
“Father, no!” she shouted. “Stop! It isn’t like that.”
“You blackguard! You took my daughter! You harmed her. How dare you…”
“Father!” Seonaid beat on his shoulder with her fists. “He didn’t! He saved me! There were other people trying to hurt me!”
“What?” He spun to face her; eyes wide.
“Father! Everett McDowell – this young man – never hurt me. All he wanted was to take me away from danger. There was a group of people who attacked both of us. They were…” she drew in a steadying breath.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he looked at her, eyes bitterly reproachful. “You should have come to me! Why didn’t you trust me, daughter?”
“I did,” she said desperately. “There was no time!”
“We were set about in the street, together,” Everett spoke up. His arm, already bruised, showed a nasty strike from the staff and Seonaid winced, thinking of the pain he was already in, which was indirectly her fault. “That was why we ran away together. We were unable to get you news. I am sorry, sir, for w
hat I did. But I am not sorry that I could save your daughter.”
“He saved my life, Father,” Seonaid said firmly. “More than once.”
“I see.” Her father sat down in the chair again, letting the staff rest against the wall once more. He looked more relaxed. Seonaid looked swiftly around the room, noticing again that the place was ill-maintained, that there were dishes which hadn’t been washed, the curtain hadn’t been lifted, dust was clinging here and there on surfaces. She could see in this room just how worried her father had been. He never let anything be less than shipshape usually.
“Father, we were assaulted here, in this street.” She pointed out of the window at the alley way that ran past the house. “We ran to the river and clambered onto a barge. From there we ended up in the next village.”
“Why didn’t you come back?” he asked, voice tight with pain.
“We did,” Seonaid said gently. “But, when we returned, we were followed and attacked again. This time, I was taken to Westhill Fort. It was Everett who rescued me,” she finished. “I owe him my life.”
“The scoundrels,” her father murmured. “It’s simply preposterous…”
“It is,” Seonaid agreed softly. “It’s done with now though.”
“You’re right, Daughter,” her father murmured. “It is. But…but what now?”
Seonaid looked across at Everett. “Now? Well…”
“Daughter?” her father cleared his throat. “You are under no obligation to this man, no matter that he saved you or no. I hope you know that.”
“But Father, I…”
“I know you have settled for Alec Westford, and he is a fine…”
“It was Alec Westford who abducted me,” Seonaid said with a voice like flint.
“No!” Her father stared at her, and she had expected him to express sorrow or outrage. Instead, he looked from Everett to her and back again. “I don’t believe you. You’re lying out of a sense of duty to this man and I never thought my daughter would sink so very low.”
CONFUSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Everett stared in horror at Captain McCarrick. This was Seonaid’s well-respected father? A man who would hear of his own daughter’s abduction, and then level the worst sort of insult in her direction?
The Highlander’s Passion (Iron 0f The Highlands Series Book 3) Page 15