Duncan’s voice took on a strange tone. Robert felt as though he was telling him to seek out Ada for some reason.Not for her healing abilities. For something else.
“I will ask Ada for help, Duncan. Thank ye for yer indulgence in this.”
Duncan slapped him on the back and walked towards the door with him. Stopping a few steps away and letting Robert go on without him, Duncan stayed in the solar. Robert was almost out the door when Duncan’s words reached him.
“For a moment there when ye came in, I felt at least a score and five years younger and thought my good friend Struan was here to call on me.”
Robert turned and looked at the MacKillop.
“The resemblance is there for anyone to see, Robert. If they look closely enough.”
Duncan smiled and chills passed over Robert’s skin. Gooseflesh was raised everywhere as some of the implications of Duncan’s words sank into his mind. He knew the truth? Before he could ask any of the dozens of questions that raced within his heart and head, Duncan nodded and closed the door, effectively stopping any discussion of his revelation.
Robert left the solar and headed for the kitchens; someone there would know Ada’s whereabouts. Once in the cooking area, though, his stomach began rumbling loudly at the appealing smells and aromas surrounding him. Several of the serving women offered him food and he sat down and accepted the well-cooked meat and hot bread from them. Two days of oatcakes and porridge had left him deeply hungry. He finished quickly and asked for some food to be packed for his trip back to Anice and made arrangements to pick it up as soon as he talked with Ada.
Walking through the yard, he approached the small stone chapel where he was told he would find the old woman. Stepping into the cool darkness within, he saw her sitting on a bench near the altar. Other than the two of them, the chapel was empty.
“Are ye waiting for a priest?” he asked quietly as he walked up the center aisle.
“Nay, boy, I was waiting for ye. ’Tis good to see ye returned.” She stood and gathered him within her embrace. Since she was so much shorter than he, her head lay on hischest.
“Ada, I have missed yer counsel these last months in Dunnedin. How do ye fare?”
“I am well, Rob. How is the Lady Anice?”
He could feel the blood drain from his face at her question. He moved back away from her and sunk onto a stone bench. “How did ye ken?”
“Ah, lad. ’Twas plain to me that ye were in love with her already when ye saved her and her bairn. When I heard she was missing from Dunnedin and kenned ye were on yer way here, I just thought she would be with ye.” She paused and looked at him. “Am I wrong then?”
“Ye are most likely wrong about how it all happened but ye are right that she is here.” He looked at her. “She left on her own, running away from her father and Struan’s plan to marry her off to the MacLaren heir.”
“Angus MacLaren?”
“Aye. Struan would keep her bairn and she would marry Angus. Next summer if everything is worked out between them.”
“Angus is a fair man. Would he force himself on the lass, do ye think?”
“Ada, I dinna ken what part he haes in this. I dinna even ken if he wants to marry her. I only ken that Anice panicked, took her son, and left Dunnedin wi’out Struan’s kenning or permission, once she heard the news. She caught up with me on the road here and begged my help.”
“And will ye give it?”
Robert let out a breath. That was the question that he pondered most of the night and during the hours it took him to reach here. Now he knew the answer.
“Aye, I will. I dinna ken how, but I want to help her.”
“Is there a way to stop the betrothal? Mayhap that would give ye time to come up with some way of helping her. Mayhap ye could speak to Angus and ask his cooperation in waiting to wed her until she is ready?”
“After what Anice told me last night, she will never be ready for another marriage.”
“’Tis a shame that,” Ada answered. “For I can only thinkthat a marriage to someone else is the way to stop the one she doesna want.”
“She would never agree. She lives in absolute fear of submitting to a husband.” Robert shook his head. There was no one he could think of who was both suitable and safe for Anice.
Ada sat next to him and looked at him. She did not speak for several minutes and then she smiled.
“She would no’ fear marrying the man who saved her life and her bairn’s.”
“Are ye daft, Ada? She is my brother’s wife. Even if she would agree to it, we canna marry.”
