Beloved Ruins, Book 1

by Marti Talbott

  Alistair stared at Egan. “You let her be born in France?”

  “Had to, otherwise she would have been born in England.” Egan laughed and then slapped his old friend on the back. “Let’s dinna tell her she was born in France, shall we?”

  Nicholas was more concerned with how tired Malveen looked and when he offered, she gladly gave him the baby. “I say we get Malveen home to rest.”

  “Dapper idea,” Egan agreed. “‘Twas not an easy birth.”

  “Dapper, is it?” Alistair grumbled. While Nicholas took Malveen to the automobile, he and Egan went to fetch their luggage.

  “Shall you miss all that travelin’?” Alistair asked.

  “Not in the least,” Egan answered. “Yet, I shall miss how my wife manages to delight a crowd. There are those who follow us from place to place, just to hear her play and I could not be more proud to be her husband.” He picked out three bags, handed one to Alistair and took the other two. “She is tired and with the baby, I doubt we shall see another train for months if not years. Tell me about the castle...”

  AS SOON AS THEY GOT home, Nicholas showed Egan and his wife to a bedroom upstairs complete with a bassinet for the baby. When he came back down, the others were waiting for him.

  “She looks dreadful,” McKenna said.

  “Aye, she does,” Alistair agreed.

  “I have never looked dreadful a day in my life,” Malveen argued. Sore from the birth, she took her time coming back down the stairs, but she wasn’t about to be treated like an invalid.

  Behind her, Egan carried the baby down, bassinet and all. “My wife fears she might miss somethin’,” he said.

  “Aye, like Jessie’s cookin’,” she agreed as she carefully lowered herself onto the sofa. “I am starved.”

  “Well, we cannae have that,” said Jessie, who turned right around and hurried off to the kitchen.

  “Have we a surprise for you,” McKenna said, giving Egan another hug. “Hidden under the castle, Charles found books containin’ old MacGreagor stories.” She spent the better part of an hour telling him all about the town, the castle and the books containing the stories, while Malveen nibbled on the cheese and apple slices Jessie brought for them all.

  Nicholas got up to look in the bassinet just to see how the baby was doing. “She is truly quite beautiful, just like her mother. What have you named her?”

  “What else?” Egan asked, “Melody.”

  “Melody MacGreagor,” McKenna said. “How very appropriate.”

  “We think so,” said Malveen. “About who might be threatenin’ to destroy the castle, I think it might be Rosslyn. Alistair, do you not remember? She ruined Cathleen’s gown and you sent her away.”

  “Aye, but would she be bold enough to burn down the castle?” Alistair asked.

  “She was daft enough at the time, but I know not if she still harbors resentment.”

  “I do not recall seein’ her in town,” said Jessie.

  McKenna nodded. “Nor do I. Perhaps she is gone.”

  “Well, I mean to find out,” said Alistair. “We must put a stop to this drivel.”

  “I agree,” said Egan. “Do you think Charles might need another hand? I long for hard work now that we are home.”

  Nicholas nodded. “We must deliver supplies and if you come with us, you may as well ask Charles then. I doubt he will say no. He has been asking me when you were coming.”

  Egan wrinkled his brow. “He still holds poker games?”

  “Oh, dinna remind me,” McKenna groaned.

  “Aye,” said Alistair.

  “No wonder he wants me home,” said Egan. “I am the worst at poker and he knows it.”

  Sitting beside Sarah. Malveen softly said, “My husband needs a break from me and my piano concerts, and I from him.”

  Sarah grinned, “As all husbands and wives do.”

  “And a place to live,” Malveen added.

  “You are welcome to stay here as long as you like,” said McKenna.

  “We thank you, but we have not had a home in a very long time. I long to set flowers on a table, and find them still there when I wake up. We normally dinna stay in one place for more than three days together.”

  Nicholas thoughtfully sipped his tea and set the cup down. “Do the French fear a war with the Germans?”

  “There is talk of it, but I doubt it...” he was interrupted when the telephone rang and Alistair went to answer it.

  “AYE,” ALISTAIR SAID over the telephone. “I shall tell him. Charles, do you know what became of Rosslyn? She used to...”

  “Aye,” Charles answered. “She sold sandwiches to the tourists until the duke decided to rebuild. What about her?”

  “Could she be the one threatening to burn the castle down?”

  Charles paused a minute to think it over. “I doubt it. She went to live with a cousin in Glasgow. Nay, she’s not the one. I’m convinced it is a lad and not a lass anyway.”

  THAT NIGHT, EVERYONE in the Mitchell household went to bed early for Malveen’s sake, and most everyone woke up each time the baby cried.

  “I have changed my mind,” Nicholas whispered. “I want no more children.”

  “Too late,” McKenna said as she curled up in his arms.

  He chuckled and went right back to sleep.

  The next day, Charlotte came right on time, and once invited in, she set her sewing kit on the table and looked around. “I dinna believe I have ever seen the inside of this manor.”

  “Charles secured it for us, and we are most grateful he found it.”

  McKenna introduced her to the other women, let her take measurements for new clothes, and the two of them told stories from their childhood to the delight of even Malveen who was somewhat younger at the time.

  The men took supplies to the castle where Charles hired Egan, and then invited him to a poker game.

  “I cannae,” Egan said. “My wife dinna believe in gamblin’.”

  Charles rolled his eyes. “You forget, I grew up with her. I know Malveen better than you and there is nothin’ she likes more than a good poker game. Come to think of it, I believe she is the one who taught me.”

  Egan looked shocked. “She has never said a word.”

  AT LAST, THE MACGREAGORS woke to a cloudy sky that promised to cool things down a bit. Therefore, Sarah and McKenna decided to walk to town. They walked down the lane, turned down the road, and when Sarah found a handful of yellow wild flowers, she bent down and picked them. “For the table,” she said.

  “What a glorious mornin’, and such a relief from the heat finally.”

  “Indeed.”

  They passed the tall oak trees, and were almost all the way around the bend when McKenna heard something in the distance.

  “Help...”

  “McKenna, I...” Sarah started.

  “Shush,” McKenna said, grabbing her arm.

  This time the cry seemed a little louder. “Help!”

  “Where are you?” McKenna shouted.

  “Down here.”

  She followed the sound of his voice to the edge of the curve and looked down the ravine. “Ally? Is that you?”

  “McKenna?” he asked. Of all people, he never expected her to come to his rescue. “I am trapped.”

  Without hesitation, McKenna started down the steep incline.

  “McKenna, be careful,” said Sarah.

  “Fetch Alistair and Nicholas,” McKenna shouted. The dirt on the slope was loose, and afraid she would fall, she sat down and scooted the rest of the way. At the bottom, she got to her feet and knelt beside him. “Did your horse throw you?”

  “Nay, I was walkin’ along the road when I feared an automobile was comin’ too fast to make the curve. I was right. It headed straight for me, so I jumped, rolled down the hill, and hit the tree. I feared no one would ever find me. I am quite embarrassed for here I am with a broken arm and my foot stuck between the rocks.”

  By the way he was holding his arm, McKenna did not d
oubt it was broken, but perhaps there was something she could do to free his foot. She got up, and walked to the other side of two large rocks. “Indeed it is stuck and I fear the rock too large to move by myself.”

  “I imagine so,” he said. “It came rollin’ down the hill after me and I dinna get my foot out of the way in time. I tried, but I could not budge it with only one hand.”

  “Well, ‘tis not bleedin’ and the lads shall soon come to help you.” When she looked up, Sarah was still watching, so she cupped her hands and again shouted, “Tell them to fetch help. His arm is broken and his leg is trapped in the rocks.” She watched until Sarah disappeared, stepped back, brushed off her skirt, and then sat back down in the same dirt. “Does it hurt awfully?”

  “Not awfully.”

  “I saw you at the bake sale. Ally, why did you not come talk to me?”

  He smiled in spite of his pain. “I have not been called that in years.”

  “‘Tis a name of endearment, and I confess I was always quite jealous that you had it and not me.”

  He wrinkled his forehead. “You...jealous of me?”

  “Of course I was. You were far more able than me. Do you not recall in school how you always had the answer before I did? Try as best I could, you outwitted me every time. It was a hopeless case.”

  Ally was astounded. “I dinna know ‘twas a contest.” He winced when he tried to move his arm a little. “I always thought myself quite without any wits at all.”

  She took a cloth out of her pocket and began to gently wipe the dirt off of his face. “‘Twas because your father convinced you of it. Forgive me for sayin’ my piece, but he was most unkind to you.”

  Ally looked away for a long moment. “I dinna think anyone noticed.”

  “We all did and we hated it. I even complained to uncle, but I dinna suppose anythin’ came of it. Not long after that, Uncle died, and I dared not tell Hannish. He was still a bit impetuous, as you recall.”

  “I do recall. Besides there was naught anyone could do about it. Father would not have stopped; he merely would have made certain no one heard him.”

  “I suppose you are right.”

  Ally laid his head back and tried to forget his pain. “McKenna, why do you and Charlotte curtsey when you see me? Do you mock me?”

  “Mock you?” McKenna’s mouth dropped. “My dear Ally, if ever I thought you...you always laughed, so we thought... Oh dear, do forgive us.”

  “I shall, if you tell me why?”

  McKenna couldn’t help but giggle. “Charlotte favored you.”

  “What?”

  “Did you never wonder why we were so constantly around you?”

  “I...”

  “No matter what she did, you refused to notice her. You rarely looked either of us in the eye, you know. We might have gathered our courage and tried to make friends, but you were quite unapproachable. When we curtsied you did notice, you see. ‘Twas a childish thing, but...”

  Ally closed his eyes while she finished wiping the dirt off his forehead. “I was ashamed of my clothin’.”

  “We suspected that. Uncle said ‘tis not clothin’ that makes a good lad, but that which is in his heart.”

  “Your Uncle was very wise,” he managed to say as he ignored a pain that shot through his foot.

  “She yet favors you, Charlotte, I mean.”

  “Did she not marry last year? Sunday, I assumed she had only come home for a visit.”

  McKenna looked up at the top of the hill but no one was there yet. “Aye, she did marry. He liked his ale a little too well and when she complained, he beat her.”

  Horrified, Ally tried to sit up, “Beat her?”

  “Quite severely too, she said. Well, a MacGreagor lass knows she dinna have to put up with that, so she ran from him. She hid for nearly a year and at last, he divorced her on grounds of desertion. I thought her brilliant, for do we not all know how impossible ‘tis for a lass to get a divorce, no matter what her husband does? She cleverly made him divorce her. Now she is free and frets that no lad will have her now.”

  “She is wrong.”

  Again she looked up the hill. “I cannae think what is takin’ Sarah so long. Have you met Sarah yet? She is Alistair’s wife and I truly love her like a sister. Alistair has come back to Scotland with me, you know. But of course you know, you beat him at poker.” She kept talking, hoping to keep him distracted. “I believe him happier for comin’ back.”

  “Aye,” was all he said.

  “Where have you been? I mean, why have I not...wait, is it not you who makes the likeness of the castle warrior to sell?”

  “Aye, ‘tis me, only...”

  “Only what?”

  “Only now that the castle is to be rebuilt, I make them no more.”

  “Why not? They sold quite well in Colorado.”

  “But the castle is to be rebuilt,” Ally argued.

  “Why should that matter? I see not why American’s need to know what has become of the castle. A replica of our brave warrior, who survived the fire, and the story behind it, is fascinatin’ to Americans. Truly, most have never even seen a castle.”

  “Never seen one?” Ally asked.

  “Nay, accordin’ to its years, ‘tis just a wee country yet learnin’ how to walk and talk. They have yet to build their own castles.”

  Ally chuckled, and then his smile disappeared. “The duke shall not mind if I made the replicas still? ‘Twas quite profitable and I hoped to buy a proper cottage with the money.”

  “I shall simply tell him I have approved it, and that shall be that. He is much too far away to argue the matter. Perhaps you might sell them in the Sears Catalogue. They advertise nearly everythin’, includin’ a privy seat.”

  That made his smile widen, until the pain set in again. The noise behind her made her turn around just in time to see Nicholas coming down the hill. “McKenna, are you hurt?”

  “Nay, but he is,” she answered.

  Nicholas came to a full stop before he recognized the man he played poker with. “Gavin?”

  “Aye,” Gavin answered. “My foot is caught.”

  Nicholas walked around the rocks, assessed the situation, and looked back up the hill. “Alistair, bring a shovel.”

  “Aye,” Alistair shouted.

  Nicholas went back to take a look at Gavin’s arm but there was no doubt it was broken. “Do you think your foot is broken?”

  “I hope not. ‘Twill most likely be sore though. The rock hit it hard.”

  “McKenna, is that our Ally?” Charlotte shouted from the top of the hill.

  McKenna nodded to her friend. “I forgot she was comin’ today. Charlotte makes excellent chicken, and if you are very good, I shall demand she make some for you.”

  He let go of his hurt arm just long enough to wave to Charlotte. “I have heard about her chicken.”

  “She is a seamstress and has come to make maternity clothin’ for me. Now you cannae avoid her no matter how hard you try.”

  Gavin smiled. “Now...I dinna wish to.”

  McKenna cupped her hands around her mouth again. “Charlotte, call for the doctor.” She watched Charlotte disappear and then Sarah and Alistair reappear.

  Alistair laid the shovel down, let it slide, and scooted down behind it. When he reached Nicholas, he too walked to the other side of the rocks. “Can we not just push the rock off his foot?” he asked.

  Nicholas said, “We can try it.”

  Alistair tossed the shovel aside and just as he got into position, two more men slid down the hill. “Thank you, lads.”

  Gavin watched the men begin to push the rock and said, “McKenna, give me your arm to bite on, so that I might endure the pain.”

  “Well, you have not lost your humor, I see,” said McKenna. She got up, moved out of the way, and before long, Gavin was free.

  By then, a small crowd had gathered at the top of the hill, two automobiles stopped to see what everyone was looking at, and three more men started do
wn the hill to help bring Gavin up. One brought a hemp canvas, which they laid Ally on and then the men hauled him up the hill. As soon as they got him in one of the automobiles, Alistair and Nicholas went back down for McKenna.

  OVER THE COURSE OF the next few days, McKenna’s household was kept too busy to read. Gavin’s foot was not broken, just badly bruised. The first few days of his recovery took place at Nicholas and McKenna’s Kentigern Manor, and friends he never knew he had kept dropping by to see how he was. Charlotte seemed to have all kinds of reasons to visit. Almost as important as getting to know Gavin better, McKenna was letting the two of them read the book instead of making them wait until the copies were printed.

  Charlotte seemed to like reading to Gavin, and he liked listening.

  No one would ever figure out why the threats and the nonsense at the castle stopped, and Gavin said not a word for fear Charlotte would think less of him.

  At last, Gavin went home, and of an evening after the children were in bed and Malveen’s baby was fed, it was time to read the rest of the Michael’s story.

  MACGREAGOR GLEN, 1371

  King Robert II of Scotland walked his horse into the glen wearing a simple crown and a purple silk robe. With him was a priest to give last rights if he had come too late, and an escort of only forty men, for he guessed no one meant to fight him that day. As he slowly passed the MacKintosh, the warriors slid down off their horses and respectfully knelt. In return, he nodded which meant they could rise. The Kennedys did the same as he continued toward the castle, as did the Dalldons. Even Laird Dalldon dismounted finally and knelt, but the king did not seem very impressed. Instead, he turned his attention to the kneeling MacGreagors, Fergusons, Swintons, and their lairds.

  “You may rise,” he commanded. When he spotted Meghan and Elena, he nodded his recognition and then motioned to someone behind him to come forward. To Michael’s amazement, Balric appeared. He walked his horse all the way to his sister in the outer courtyard and dismounted.

  “I should have guessed,” Elena whispered. At the same time, Laird Ferguson looked back to see where his wife was, but Michael did not look at Elena and her heart became heavy with disappointment.