“I dinnae have to prove anything to ye. I’ve contributed more to the village than anyone and have shown my skill in battle.”
“Ye seem to be forgetting that I’m her da. Like it or not, without my permission this union will not take place.”
“Perhaps I should go above yer head and appeal to Keenan directly!”
Eamon chuckled darkly. “Keenan may be our chieftain, but his affection fer his niece rivals my own. And he would never go against my wishes without good reason. If ye plan on marrying my sweet lass, ye’d have to win her heart.”
“I cannae believe ye’re denying me a respectable claim.”
“One day when ye have daughters of yer own, ye will look back on this and understand.”
“What do ye ken?” Conrad argued. “Ye’re a bloody cottar and any daughter of mine will learn to do as she’s told.”
The man’s face went dark at the words. “Dinnae forget yerself, Conrad. I’m the chieftain’s brother. Ye had best watch yer tongue when addressing me.”
Conrad’s mouth turned down into a scowl. His fists clenched open and shut as he tried to rein in his temper. It was all Conrad could do not to flatten Eamon to the ground. The insult of having to ask his permission to marry Jain in the first place galled him.
“This is exactly why my answer to ye was nae. Ye cannae seem to control yer temper. I’d think about that the next time ye come around here asking me fer favors. Now get off my land,” Eamon told him.
Conrad turned on his heel and stormed off toward the village.
How dare Eamon insult him by refusing his request after all the battles he’d won and beasts he’d contributed to feed the Clan. Jain would be lucky to have a husband like him.
Stupid arrogant man. If he wasn’t the chieftain’s brother, Conrad would have had no interest in impressing him to begin with. That’s the only reason Jain caught his eye – by getting close to her, Conrad would be one step closer to achieving his ambition. As much as he disliked Eamon, he would be chieftain one day since Keenan had no sons. If Conrad married Jain that would make him family and there’s no way Eamon could deny him a seat on the village council.
No matter.
One day soon, Jain would be his wife. It was just a matter of time before he could claim what was already his.
Chapter Five
Alan grinned, looking down at the women in the field while they harvested carrots and radishes from the garden, one of them with hair like fire, the other a chestnut brown. They were both lost in the work, yet they made it look so graceful and unencumbered. Jain could make even the most mundane of tasks seem like artwork. He heaved a tired sigh and sat down on the center beam, resting for a moment from their labor.
He continued watching her, his eyes tracing the elegant lines of her body as she stood and dusted the loam off her skirts. Then she pulled a kerchief from her brow, lifting her face and closing her eyes. Alan watched her for a moment and the bundle of thatch began to slip. He snatched then up before they blew away as well. Alan let his gaze drift over to Jain one more time and caught sight of a flame of red curls dancing.
How long had he been watching her like this? It seemed to be more of a regular occurrence these days. She was such a delightful distraction.
Alan was pulled back to the work at hand when Rodrick grunted. He tied another bundle of thatch and asked, “Do ye need help there, Rodrick?”
His companion sighed and wiped the sweat off his brow before responding. “Nae, it’s just my back is sore.”
Alan nodded, but didn’t feel the same exhaustion Rodrick did. He’d been working as a blacksmith for years now and the training made him strong. His hands were hard and calloused from hours of working near the coals on unforgiving steel, so the fibers of thatching a roof could not compare. Replacing the roof was no small task for any man, but the men in Elign took care of one another. It wouldn’t benefit any of them to let the family freeze in the winter months, and Eamon was too old to complete the task himself.
Alan didn’t mind the challenge. He welcomed it with an open heart. Alan enjoyed the change of pace from the heat and brutal fire of working in the blacksmiths. Besides, he enjoyed the view quite a bit … and the company as well.
His master was Moira’s older brother, and she and Eamon made a point of frequenting the blacksmith regularly. Jain would come along with them, standing quietly behind them as she admired the weapons hanging on the wall. With her stunning red hair and milky complexion, she was the vision of Scottish beauty, but there was a fire inside her not many others saw. Alan could see it in her eyes, a hunger for the unknown begging to be unleashed.
Every now and then, he’d catch a glimpse of her tenacity and it would leave him breathless. Over the years their friendship grew. She expressed interest in his own metal working skill, unafraid of the weighty tools. She could make him laugh and carry on conversations for hours that would captivate his attention. Her company was so odd and refreshing that Alan found himself seeking it more and more. Jain didn’t behave like the other lasses in the village. They preened their looks and flaunted themselves in front of eligible bachelors in hopes of catching themselves a husband, but Alan thought Jain even lovelier than the rest without her even trying. He counted himself lucky that she chose to spend her time watching him shape weapons in the smithy.
More than her passion or her beauty, Alan knew her to be kind—that meant more to him than a pretty face. She was a rare jewel. He gazed down at her and she caught him just before he had the chance to look away.
“Hand me another batch,” Rodrick asked, pulling Alan’s attention away from the fiery lass in the garden below.
Alan bent to grab another bundle and offered it to him. “Here ye go, Rodrick.”
His friend laughed, taking the batch of thatching from him with a sly smile on his face. “Are ye watching Jain again?”
“Aye, ye ken me too well,” Alan chuckled, pulling the tie of his own handful of thatch and securing it to the center beam.
“I might have suspected as much. Keep yer eyes on the work, will ye? The lass can wait.”
Alan’s smile widened as he positioned the thatching in place and turned to see Moira coming up the path on the ground beneath them. “Suppose ye’re right.”
Just when he finished tying the reeds, she called up to them from below. “Rodrick. Alan. Will ye lads be joining us fer dinner?”
Alan wiped sweat off his forehead with the fabric of his sleeve and said, “Aye, that’s very kind of ye.”
Moira chuckled, and placed her hands on either hip. “We cannae have ye going hungry after all the work ye’ve done.” Then her gaze shifted from Alan to Rodrick. “I ken Aileen will be grateful fer the company.”
Alan grinned at the tongue-in-cheek appraisal, glancing over at Rodrick.
“What about Jain?” Rodrick chuckled, securing the final batch in place. “Alan seems more interested in her than finishing the roof.”
Alan cast him a warning glare from the corner of his eye and the woman scoffed. “Aye, she’ll be there as well. Finish up then and we’ll have the evening meal ready in nae time.”
“We’ll be down presently,” Alan assured her and started cleaning up their tools before climbing back down the ladder.
As he stepped down onto the grass, Aileen and Jain emerged from the garden with their baskets overflowing with radishes, carrots, and lettuce. He watched them join Moira at the gate, bringing the vegetables with them, and then disappear into the house. Rodrick came down right behind him and started brushing off his clothes when they saw Eamon coming back from the chicken coop with his pants smeared with blood.
“Eamon!” he called out in greeting. “How are ye faring?”
The man looked back at him and smiled. Silver streaked his hair around the temples and his eyes crinkled from years of laughter that his wife and child brought him. “Oh, good to see ye, Alan. Everything’s well, we just had a bit of trouble with a fox getting in the coop. Are ye lads going to be
joining us fer supper?”
Alan nodded. “Aye, Moira already extended the invitation. We’re grateful fer the opportunity.”
“Nonsense, we’re glad to have ye. That’s some fine work ye did on the roof, I imagine ye must be starved. Come inside and get some food. Moira doesn’t like to be kept waiting. She and the Jain will have a fine meal prepared soon enough.”
Alan and Rodrick wiped off their hands and climbed down the ladder on the side of the house. They were both tired after a long day of work and the promise of food was a welcome reward after hours in the sun. Eamon gestured for them to come inside and they quickly bustled into the kitchen. “Were ye able to sort out the coop?” Moira asked.
Eamon sighed, rubbing out a stain of dirt. “The mess is gone, but the hens are still riled up. I patched the fence again, so it should keep the fox out this time.”
While they discussed what to do about the chicken coop, Alan’s gaze settled on Jain across the room. She was tying a bundle of herbs together to hang from the rafters where they would dry. He could smell the basil, chives, and oregano from where he stood, and a few other he couldn’t recognize.
He carefully made his way over to her and asked, “Shall I help ye hang that when ye’re finished?”
Jain glanced at him sidelong when he spoke, and smiled.
“Thank ye,” she said when she finished securing the knot. He took the bundle of herbs when Jain handed it to him and hung it up with the others. Jain beamed at him and stood up to watch what he was doing.
When they were secured properly, he brushed off his hands and asked, “Now what?”
Jain glanced around the room at his inquiry and her gaze settled on her mother. He knew about her failing hip and understood immediately. Alan took a step closer to where Moira stood and kept an eye on her in case she needed him. Sometimes, weakness came on without any warning, so she wouldn’t be able to stand. If that happened, Alan wanted to be in a position where he could catch her.
“Da, ye should have Alan show ye the blade he brought. It’s a fine one,” Jain said to her father with a smile.
Alan grinned at the compliment and led him over to the table where his work was still resting on a length of cloth. Eamon nodded with approval when he saw it and carefully lifted it for inspection. “Lad, this is exquisite work. Ye’ve outdone yerself this time.”
“I’m just glad ye’re pleased.”
“Very much. Someone with skill like yers should be in a larger town. Ye could make a fine living selling pieces such as these.”
Before Alan could respond, Moira called out, “Jain, we need some water from the spring house. Do ye mind fetching a pail?”
Jain stood up and nodded. “Yes, Mam.”
“Be careful. It’s getting dark outside,” her da warned.
“I’ll go with ye,” Alan offered, stepping back from the table. “I’m more useful out there than here. We can bring back twice as much.”
“That’s a good lad,” Eamon said, clapping him on the back in approval.
“Mam, do ye mind if I take Angus a carrot on the way?”
Moira shook her head. “Nae. Ye’re more than welcome, lass.”
Jain grinned as she grabbed one of the carrots from off the table and picked up her fur-lined cloak off a hook on the wall. She retrieved two buckets by the door and handed one of them to him. He took it from her and followed her out into the evening chill. They stepped out onto the grass and she exhaled a tired sigh, glancing back at him. Angus was in his pen outside and Jain walked over to pat him on the side. The chestnut brown stallion stamped his foot with excitement at the sight of her.
Jain held up the carrot and offered it to him. Angus ate it happily and sniffed at her clothes, likely trying to smell if she was hiding any more.
Alan chuckled, watching her interact with the big animal. He’d noticed she was fond of horses, and Angus especially.
“I think he loves ye as much as ye love him.”
Jain rested her forehead on Angus’s muzzle. “He was the very horse Da rode when he found me. I first rode into Elign on Angus’s back. I was scared and heartbroken, but I could always come out here to the stables and talk to him. Even if he was just a horse and didn’t understand what I was saying, I could tell Angus anything. I could tell him things that I couldn’t explain to my parents. That brought me a tremendous amount of comfort at the time – I grew quite fond of him.”
With the carrot gone, Jain patted him again and joined Alan on their walk to the spring house.
There was a dirt path leading down the hill beside her house towards a stone hut that covered a water spring. She started down the familiar trail and pulled her wool cloak up tight around her chin to fend off the autumn breeze. The sun was not yet down, but the evening air brought an icy chill across the highland hills.
Alan followed close behind, singing to himself to keep the feeling light. He loved to sing and only partially because it made her smile. She glanced back at him out of the corner of her eye and grinned, wrapping her arms around her chest.
“Ye dinnae have to do this,” she told him gently. “I’m perfectly capable of fetching it myself.”
“I ken ye are, but is it really the point? Isn’t it better to have some company?”
A smile slowly spread across her face. “Perhaps.”
Chapter Six
Alan loved spending time with Jain when no one else was around.
When they approached a fork in the road at the bottom of the hill, Jain headed towards the stone hut that had been built around the spring to protect animals and leaves from fouling their water supply. It was getting dark as the sun dipped behind the trees, but the trail was still visible in the light and they made it to the springhouse without difficulty. The heel of her leather shoes padded against the rocks and dirt, stepping over fallen branches as they went. She pulled the door open and stepped inside the cool stone building with Alan following right behind. Jain took their buckets and dipped them in the wooden trough to fill them right up to the brim with crystal clear water, using the practiced air of someone who had done this, every day for years. When she turned around with the buckets in her hand, Alan took one from her and held the door open for them both before starting back the way they’d come.
The journey back up the hill was more difficult than coming down, and they were laden down with the weight of the buckets they carried. Her breathing became more ragged from the exertion, yet her feet were sure, and she didn’t spill a drop as she glanced up at the sky. The deep blue canvas was already darkening on one horizon, littered with stars, twinkling with tiny jewels. “Do ye ever look at the vastness of the sky above and wonder how impossibly small we are?”
“Sometimes,” Alan mused. He paused to look up at the firmament above and the stars beginning to show. “The church talks about God in the heavens and celestial bodies moving around up there, but more I remember the stories Nan told us of the heroes and monsters in the stars.”
“I would have loved to hear stories like that,” Jain mused. “Whenever I see them it reminds me of how beautifully constant the heavens remain. Da once told me that sailors used them to navigate on the open sea, so they could find their way back home.”
He nodded in agreement. “Aye. It’s reassuring to think of a homeward star that always leads ye back to whence ye came from. That it would never change, and it would always be there in case ye needed it.”
When they crested another hill on the outskirts of her parents’ farm, she sighed, making her way over to a low branch from one of the trees that looked sturdy enough to sit on and slipped off both her shoes. “I wish to rest fer a moment before we go inside,” she told him.
Alan chuckled to himself and followed suit by sitting on the grass beside her underneath the canopy of leaves. Jain set her bucket of water on the grass and sat down at the base of a giant tree. She rested her head against the trunk and looked up at him with a contented smile on her face. “I could sleep out here all night.”
“If that be the case, I’ll have to bring ye another blanket,” he responded with a grin.
“I suppose ye’re right.”
Her eyes closed for a moment while they rested, and her lips curved in a soft smile.
Alan wanted to know what she was thinking and what caused those lips to turn. His eyes rested on them for a while. Suddenly, her smile faded and her brows drew together. She opened her eyes and met his gaze. “Do ye think Mam’s health will yet improve?”
Alan rubbed the back of his neck and chose his words carefully. He knew nothing about illness or healing arts, but he understood that Jain was just asking him as a friend. “That’s difficult to say, lass. I love her as if she were my own, but life will take its toll on some.”
Some of her silken hair had escaped its bindings, framing her heart-shaped face. He reached out and tucked a curl behind her ear.
“Ye needn’t worry, lass. Moira is a strong woman and it would take a lot more than an ailing hip to keep her down fer long. It might be one of those things she must learn to live with, but other than that I’m sure she’ll be alright.”
Jain nodded at his response and turned her gaze back toward the stars. “She never should have been on that ruddy horse to begin with. The animal could have crushed her when it fell. If Da hadn’t gotten Mam out from underneath it in time she could have died…but she wanted to ride. Eamon dinnae have the heart to stop her.”
“We all have desires that seem irrational to people who dinnae understand them. Yer da is a kind man, who only wanted to make her happy. Ye’re also forgetting that he was there and made sure that she was safe.”
Alan turned to look at her and noticed a far off look in her eye. “Ye’re right. I’ve done foolish things myself at times.”
“What troubles ye so?” he asked her suddenly. “Ye look as though ye still have some foolish things ye mean to see through. What is it that makes yer eyes fill with such longing?”
Her cheeks reddened as she dropped her gaze to the ground. “What do ye mean?”
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