Chapter Nineteen
“Rider approaches, Laird,” a guard on the battlements called down as Ewan, Allyson, Andrew, and Eoin stood in the bailey discussing needed improvements during summer to prepare the crofts and outbuildings for winter.
“Can you see who it is?” Andrew called back.
“A Grant is all I can tell, Laird,” came the answer.
Eoin spun around and asked, “Only one? Mon or woman?”
“Only a mon.”
Eoin didn’t wait to hear what his family had to say or if they followed him to meet the rider. His heart dropped when he recognized Bram approaching the gate. He ran to meet the guard as he passed through the gate.
“Is she well?” Eoin demanded before Bram reined in.
“Aye, but she bade me deliver a missive to ye,” Bram whispered as he dismounted. He slipped his hand into his sporran as Eoin shifted to block anyone’s view as Bram handed him the folded parchment and dropped it into his own sporran. “It’s urgent, Eoin. I’m certain ma lady explains all in her letter, but ye would do well to read it sharpish.”
“Bram,” Andrew greeted the guard and stuck out his arm, clasping Bram’s forearm in a warrior’s handshake. “What brings you to Huntly? Is all well at Freuchie?”
“All is well. I came to visit ma aunts and uncles. It has been some time, and ma mother would appreciate any news.” Bram kept his eyes on Andrew, unwilling to make the man suspicious by glancing at Eoin.
“They are well, and certain to appreciate your arrival. Be sure to join us in the Great Hall for at least one evening meal before you depart.”
“Thank ye for the offer, Laird. But this is but a brief visit. One night only.” Bram’s tone remained casual, and Eoin was grateful that the guard made no mention of Cairstine or him.
“I suspect my son shall also appreciate any news you have to share.” Andrew smiled at Eoin before leading Ewan and Allyson to where they’d been speaking before Bram’s arrival.
“We can go to my father’s solar,” Eoin offered. He had a sneaking suspicion what Cairstine’s letter would contain, and he didn’t want an audience. He wasn’t sure what his reaction would be, regardless of how prepared he felt now. The men made their way to the laird’s solar, where Eoin yanked out the parchment and ripped the wax seal. He scanned the contents before reading slowly from the beginning. The blood seemed to drain from his head because suddenly it felt as though it floated somewhere near the ceiling. He’d expected her request for help, but it blindsided him to learn that Edward would soon ask his own father to consider Cairstine.
Eoin hadn’t confided all to his father, refusing to betray Cairstine’s privacy, but he’d alluded to the reason Cairstine wished to retire to a nunnery. Eoin knew his father would accept the offer, understanding why Cairstine shied away from all other men. He might marry Cairstine, but Eoin doubted his father would see her as anything more than another daughter, just as he did Allyson. But the mere possibility that Cairstine might fall in love with his father made Eoin want to pound his fist through the wall. Cairstine was right. They couldn’t live under the same roof if Cairstine married Andrew. Eoin was certain his heart broke a little more each day that he was away from Cairstine, but it would be torture to be near her and unable to do anything more than treat her as his stepmother.
Eoin turned toward Bram, but a knock at the door prevented him from speaking. Ewan opened the door, concern etched on his face. Eoin sucked in a breath as he held the sheath of vellum out to his brother. Ewan’s face morphed from confusion to shock to uncertainty.
“What will you do?” Ewan asked.
“I don’t know. I promised I would come if she asked.”
“Regardless of whether you ride out, what are you going to do aboot the very real possibility that she’ll marry Father?”
“I don’t know aboot that either.” Eoin had shared more of what passed between him and Cairstine with his twin than with his father, telling him everything short of speaking aloud the details of what happened to Cairstine in the woods. “I have to go. I want to go, but I don’t know that I can do what she’s asking.”
“If only her reputation were for her piety rather than her sharp tongue,” Ewan suggested. “Then insisting she has a calling to take the veil would be a reasonable explanation for calling off the marriage. But no one will believe that.”
“Mayhap not, but I saw her at Dundee. She was more peaceful than I’ve seen her at court. The only other time she seemed to relax was when we rested and she could walk through the flowers or dip her toes in the water.” Eoin sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands. “Father would make her a good husband. He would respect her and treat her kindly. He could give her the life she deserves.”
“But he doesn’t love her. You do,” Ewan pointed out what all three men standing in the solar knew. “Eo, is the life with a woman you may never love worth it for siring your own children? Or would life with a woman you love, with a woman you could grow old with, be more important? I think you know my answers if you asked me.”
Eoin nodded, but he wasn’t sure that he could give Ewan the answers his brother expected. He’d been overjoyed to learn that Allyson was carrying, but it had only strengthened his need for his own family. He’d tried reasoning with himself that any woman he married might not bear him children. But he hadn’t moved past the fact that there was a greater chance with someone else than Cairstine breaking her resolve never to be intimate.
“Eoin,” Bram stepped forward. “The lass will do something more desperate if ye dinna play the part. I fear she’ll run away before accepting a betrothal to anyone but ye.”
Eoin’s eyes met Ewan’s, both remembering the nightmare they’d endured when Allyson ran away from a betrothal to Ewan. She’d almost been tortured and killed before the twins and her father could rescue her. She’d been forced to return to her family, where Eoin and Ewan witnessed her father’s indifference and her mother’s and siblings’ cruelty toward her. What Allyson hadn’t known for much of that time was that she and Ewan were already betrothed, the documents having been signed before she even ran from Stirling Castle. His brother and sister-by-marriage had time to get to know one another and fall deeply in love while they were at Redheugh. In the end, they both wanted the same future.
“Eoin, with time any rumors aboot how things end will drift away. You’ll marry and have the family you wish for,” Ewan patted Eoin’s shoulder.
“You think I should do it? Pretend to be her betrothed?” Eoin asked.
“I do. You’re going there, anyway. What will people think if you show up but don’t ask for her hand? That will do more damage than breaking off a betrothal.”
