Grigor glanced around the chamber and nodded. To a one, the Mackintoshes dropped to their knees around the bed. Brodie began to object then, but Grigor silenced him with a gesture.
‘While you have been here,’ he said, ‘the elders have finally been tending to clan business. We examined the documents and the rest of the evidence you gathered and settled the matter of inheritance. Well, most of the elders did. Some left in haste during the night.’ Some of the men laughed and she did not doubt that a few of the elders had been urged along in their leaving.
‘With Caelan’s death, the seat was opened. The council has voted and appoints you, Brodie Mackintosh, as chieftain.’
Brodie began to object, to offer his loyalty to Grigor as he’d planned to do, when Grigor went down on his knee and bowed his head in obeisance, ignoring him. He struggled to rise from the bed when the chanting began.
‘A Mackintosh!Loch moigh!’
Arabella knew it was the Mackintosh battle cry and it rose and echoed throughout Drumlui Keep. She leaned over and whispered to him.
‘You kept your faith in them. Let them keep faith with you, Brodie.’
He fell back, taking her hand and entwining their fingers as he liked to do. When he pulled her closer to kiss her, she saw that his lips were split and bruised. So, she kissed him on the one place on his forehead that was not bruised.
* * *
It took several weeks to sort through the clan’s business and set things to rights. Messengers came and went from Drumlui as Brodie made new alliances, strengthened others and severed a few rotten ones. Her father counselled him, as did Grigor, and Rob and some other trusted warriors. Caelan had caused such damage in trying to seek vengeance and it would take time to correct it all. But they would have that time.
Her father told her the rest of it when she left Brodie to rest. They grieved together for the loss of their Malcolm, now knowing the truth of how he’d died. And he spoke of her mother for the first time, explaining and apologising for the distance between them.
She also discovered that she had been betrothed to Brodie as part of the new contracts and agreements. Arabella smiled at that arrangement, wondering if he would ask her himself before they married.
* * *
A week later, she learned the answer when she arrived in the hall for their noon meal.
‘My lady.’
She turned to find the women who’d lived in the camp there. Margaret, Bradana and the rest. She hugged them all, asking about the children and their husbands.
‘Brodie sent word for us to return,’ Margaret explained.
‘He did not want to accept it,’ she told them. They laughed over his stubbornness until he left the table and came to them.
‘Welcome home, Margaret,’ he said. ‘Does Rob know you are here yet?’
‘He does now,’ Arabella said, watching as Rob strode across the hall to his sister and grabbed her in a fierce embrace.
‘Bradana, I wondered if Fia would like to serve as my maid,’ Arabella asked. The girl was pleasant and it would give her a respected place in their household.
‘Oh, my lady! She will be so pleased,’ Bradana said.
‘And I have asked young Alan to serve me,’ Brodie said.
Already there were signs of a blending of their kith and kin. A good sign. Brodie moved to her side and then gestured for quiet.
‘I know that we are betrothed, Arabella, but a wise woman once told me that I should say the right words to you and I have not had the chance,’ he said. Margaret laughed the loudest and nodded at him, telling her and everyone just which wise woman had spoken her piece to him.
‘You had every reason to hate me, but you did not. You had every reason to fear me, but you did not. Instead, you made me question myself and everything I believed.’ Tears filled her eyes as he spoke of things she never thought to hear. ‘You loved me in spite of what you believed. You loved me in spite of being enemies. You had faith in me when I did not.’
He paused then and looked to her. ‘So, I will give you the only thing I can give you. Freedom. ’Tis your choice. You are not bound by any contract to me unless you wish it to be so.’ He kissed her then, taking her breath and her wits. ‘But I hope you will choose me.’
Before she could say anything, a woman called out, ‘Ye daft man, she chose you a long time ago!’
He waited, watching her and giving her the freedom of her own mind, though it was, as had been said, a choice she’d made some time ago. That night when she’d gone to his cave to betray him and instead had given him her love.
‘You are my choice, Brodie.’
