After three days of traveling, Dunnedin came into view and everyone in their group came alert. In a short time, they rode through the gate and into the castle. Shielding his eyes against the midday sun, Robert saw Struan standing on the steps, watching their approach. Struan said something to Brodie and then turned and entered the keep. Robert pulled up on the reins, bringing Dubh to a stop, and dismounted. Walking over to Anice’s mount, he waited for her to adjust the bairn in her arms and then lifted her to the ground next to him.
Firtha’s cry could be heard throughout the busy courtyard as she saw Anice for the first time. Before he could say aye or nay, the woman had Anice in her embrace and was checking her over from head to toe. Then she claimed the bairn and subjected him to the same inspection. Every little thing that did not meet her standards gained Robert a frown or stare. As if it was his fault that she had run away by herself! But before she could spirit Anice away, as she obviously planned to do, Brodie called to them.
“The laird would see ye both in the hall, Robert.”
Robert nodded and offered his arm to assist her up the steps.
“Courage, lass. Here we go now,” he whispered so that only she could hear.
They made their way into the keep and then up and into the great hall. Struan and some of the elders sat at the table in front of the room. Since the evening meal approached, the room was filled with people preparing the tables. Robert led her up to the front and waited on Struan. They did not wait long.
Struan stood quickly, knocking the chair he sat on over and then kicking it out of the way as he circled the table. Hisfury was palpable and Robert prepared himself for the confrontation to come. The laird strode down the steps and approached them. Robert felt Anice’s shudder and her grasp of his arm tightened with Struan’s every step. The hall quieted as the clan waited to see his response to Anice’s flight.
“How dare ye? How dare ye think ye could run and take my grandson from me?” Struan’s eyes blazed with anger and he raised his hand to strike her. Anice threw up her hands to protect her face, but Robert was there first. Grabbing Struan’s hand, he stopped the blow in midair before it could even come close to her.
“She is my wife, Struan, and no one will touch her while I live and breathe. No’ even ye.”
He grasped Struan’s arm and threw it back away from her. The shock of his announcement roared through the hall until everyone present had heard. Struan stumbled back a few steps and then he caught himself and stood.
“It canna be! She is to marry Angus MacLaren.”
His words brought on another wave of surprise and Robert could hear whispered gasps throughout the room.
“The Demon MacLaren? Surely ye did no’ plan to give her to the Demon?” Firtha’s voice rose above the rest and Robert was puzzled by the name given to Angus, for he’d never heard it before. The women in the room clearly knew it for they all turned a disapproving look towards Struan, as though giving Anice to this man was a fate worse than death. And considering what Anice had already faced in her life, that was not a good thing. They actually began hissing at their laird.
“She is my wife, Struan, and no’ to be part of yer plans any longer. I will take care of her and her son from now on.”
“Nay!” Struan roared. Robert waited for Struan’s next words and watched as his father struggled to regain control over his anger.
“Is it true, Anice? Did ye marry him?” Struan asked, his breath coming hard for him.
He looked over at her and waited for her words. Her face was a ghostly pale and she shook in the face of defying Struan. But she placed her hand in Robert’s and nodded. “Aye, Struan, he is my husband.”
Robert contemplated kissing her here in front of the clan as he had in Dunbarton, but decided not to push her that far. Exhausted as she was, he feared she might faint before them. He turned and instead touched his lips to her forehead.
“Firtha, take Anice to her chambers. She haes no’ recovered from her injuries and needs to rest now.” Struan started to object but Robert cut off his words. “I will speak to ye in private, Struan. Anything ye have to say to Anice can be said to me now.”
Struan recognized he’d been outplayed for the moment and acquiesced to his demand to speak privately. Allowing Struan to lead the way to the solar, Robert watched Firtha take Anice and the bairn out. Content in the knowledge that she was being cared for, Robert turned his attention to the battle before him. Closing the door as he entered, Robert waited for Struan to speak first.
Struan faced him from across the room and Robert looked for some indication in his expression to tell him what to expect. There was no sign of the fury that had held him sway in the hall now. Only the cool facade of a master strategist planning his next move. Robert cleared his mind and waited.
“Ye canna think that this marriage will stand? If the truth is kenned, she will disavow ye for the lying bastard ye are.”
“But ye have sworn never to acknowledge me as yer son before the clan, Struan. If I am no’ yer son, then I am free to marry the Lady Anice.”
“Ye are my son, Robert. We both ken the truth of it. A marriage to yer brother’s widow is no’ a true marriage in the eyes of the church. It will no’ stand.”
Robert fought the urge to cry out at Struan’s words. For the first time in his entire life, Struan had called him son. The need within him to hear those words through all the years of his exile at Dunbarton had not lessened and he felt his throat tighten with unshed tears as he let the words sink into him. Why could it not be that simple? Why did Struan say them now and not when it would have mattered the most? He pulled in a ragged breath, trying to retain his control, for losing it could be the end of this.
“Faither Cleirach married us at his church. I have thepapers with me declaring us wed.”
“But he is a priest in the old ways. The MacNab will no’ recognize it.”
“The old ways are just as accepted in the Highlands as the Roman Church, Struan. We both ken that. And an annulment will be just as difficult and expensive to get, since the Roman Church will no’ take the chance of simply ignoring it.”
“Ye will no’ thwart the MacNab in this, Robert. He wishes an alliance with the MacLarens and will get it with Anice’s marriage to Angus.”
“No’ any longer. She is my wife now, declared by the church and handfasted before witnesses at Dunbarton. The MacNab will have to look elsewhere in his clan for someone to bind them to the MacLarens.”
