‘I will leave.’ The decision had been made.
‘Will you risk my displeasure to seek a woman who does not want you to find her?’ his father asked.
‘Connor, what do you mean?’ his mother asked, coming to his father’s side and touching his arm. ‘You sent Catriona away.’
‘Nay, wife,’ his father said, shaking his head. ‘She came to me and bargained for my assistance to get her away from our son. She swore she wanted to never see him again and I agreed to help her...and promised her I would not reveal her whereabouts to him.’ He nodded at Aidan then.
‘Connor!’ his mother cried. ‘Why did you not tell him, tell me, this before? Why did you say it had been your plan to send her away?’
‘It matters not. Until I hear it from her mouth, until she hears my explanation, until she can say that she does not return my love, I will not stop searching for her.’
‘If you leave without my permission on the morrow, if you break your oath of loyalty and obedience to me, you are no longer my heir.’ When his mother would have cried out again, his father held her off with his arm as he took several steps towards him. When they were scant inches apart, he uttered the threats that Aidan knew would come.
‘Nay, Jocelyn. The boy needs to understand the consequences of refusing my orders and what his actions will bring about. He will no longer stand in my favour. He will be an outcast. No MacLerie will stand by him and remain bound to me. Is that what you want, boy?’ his father asked him.
A loud knock interrupted any answer he would have given. The door opened and Duncan stepped inside.
‘Is there aught that I can do, Connor? We can hear you out in the hall.’ Duncan looked from one to the other and back again.
‘Nay, Duncan. We are finished here,’ his father said, walking past him and out of the chamber. ‘Come, Jocelyn.’ He held out his hand to her and waited for her to follow.
‘Aidan, please,’ she whispered to him. ‘Do not...’
‘Hush now, Mother,’ he said, taking her shoulders and kissing her cheek. ‘I know what I am doing.’
She returned his kiss and took a step towards the door, looking back at the last moment. ‘Men, I have discovered, rarely know what they are doing.’
Her anger cheered him somehow and the thought of his father having to deal with her now lightened his mood. Duncan yet remained there, so he bade him a good night’s rest and left.
There really was no choice in this for him. Living as his father’s heir would cost too much for him to stay. He was a good fighter, good with a sword, and he had battle experience. He could find someone who would hire him for that. Part of his training had been menial labour, and he’d not been spared that because of his position as heir. So, he was not afraid of working with his hands or his back, if he must.
* * *
By the time the sun rose and the other inhabitants of Broch Dubh keep awoke, he was packed and ready, taking only what could be considered his. As he rode through the yard, anyone there going about their chores and duties turned to watch him leave. Aidan dared one last look behind him and found his father high on the battlements watching him as well.
He touched his legs to the horse’s flanks and spurred him to move. Aidan passed through the village, forcing himself not to look at the familiar places there. Only as he reached the last lane did he realise that something was tucked inside his leather jacket. He grasped it and pulled out a small bit of parchment rolled and tied. Sliding the small length of ribbon from it, he recognised his mother’s writing.
Go and visit with your sister.
Aidan laughed aloud then, knowing that somehow his mother had discovered Catriona’s hiding place and shared it with him. He did not miss the irony in this situation, for she had done the same thing—sending a written warning about his sister to the man she loved—to warn him, too.
To Keppoch Keep, and hopefully Catriona, it was that he headed now.
Chapter Twenty-One
Keppoch Village—the lands of the Clan Matheson
Catriona accepted the small bundle from the little lass with thanks. The girl’s mother had welcomed Cat to the village outlying Keppoch Keep and continued to send her food. Everyone here had been welcoming to the widowed kin of the MacLerie’s wife. Everyone accepted the story that Lord MacLerie created for her—she was the widow of a loyal retainer and distant kin to his wife and sent here under his protection.
Though it was close enough to the truth, it was the new name she could not get herself accustomed to using—Coira MacCallum. It mattered not for the villagers had accepted her when she arrived nearly three months ago and made her welcome. When her condition became obvious, the women were even nicer, providing her with meals and inviting her to their cottages and including her even in some of their chores. Though some looked at her with questions in their eyes, none stared at her the way they’d done in Lairig Dubh.
This had become the kind of life she always wanted and could never have in Lairig Dubh.
Without him.
She sighed as she went back inside and opened the cloth to find some bread and cheese and roasted meat. Now, she could inhale the smells of food without her stomach rebelling. Her appetite had returned and she could keep down everything she ate. Cat wrapped it once more and put it aside for her noon meal. But first, the sun was shining and she had work to do outside.
The cottage she had was smaller than the house given her, but it did have an open area for a garden. Working the soil, pulling up weeds, nurturing the herbs and flowers she’d planted had saved her during those first weeks here. She had hired a few, strong lads to do the heaviest of the work and moving out the rocks, then she’d done the rest. Now, a nice crop grew and it needed her attention.
