"But will Islaen?"
"She isnae a muckle great beast like you. T'will take her longer. An it will ease your mind, I will ask Storm to come speak with you."
"Aye, please. An I ken all that I may about how she fares I may rest easier."
When his kin left and Alexander took up his seat by the bed again, Iain closed his eyes. The visit had worn him out. He wanted to wait to see Storm but soon drifted off to sleep again. Twice more he woke, then dozed before waking to find Storm entering the room with a tray. He grimaced with distaste when she helped him sit up and placed the tray before him.
"Gruel."
"Just for today, I think,” Storm said as she sat down near the bed. “Now, ye eat and I will tell ye what I can about Islaen."
"What do you mean—what ye can?” he growled as he started to eat and discovered that he was hungry enough to enjoy even gruel.
"I am no physician, Iain."
"Praise God. Those fools would bleed her and she doesnae need that."
"Nay, she does not. Iain, it has not been that long yet. From what I was told I know t'was a terrible ordeal. Some of this sleep may be due to that. All that she suffered wore her out, exhausted her. That could lengthen the sleep the knock on the head sent her into."
"Ye dinnae sound too sure of that."
"What you hear is ignorance. I do not know much of head wounds. No one does."
"Ye havenae eased my worries much, lass. Can ye tell me naught that is good?"
"She lives, Iain. Aye, the lump on the head is large but neither Meg, myself nor e'en Wallace can feel any damage done beneath the skin. The cut left by the blow was but a small one. She does not sleep the sleep of the dead. Several times she has stirred and cried out. That is a good sign, I believe. T'would seem to show that she has not pulled too far away from us."
He nodded, then sighed. “I wish to see her."
"That must wait, Iain, but not for much longer. Mayhaps e'en on the morrow."
When Storm rose and reached for the tray, he grasped her hand. “Thank ye for tending her so weel."
"I tend her because I care for her. We have become dear friends while ye were so much away."
Smiling crookedly, he murmured, “I deserve the condemnation I can hear in your voice."
"Nay, Iain, I..."
"Dinnae lie to soothe me. I begin to think I have been too much soothed."
"Your fears were very real, Iain."
"Aye, but I let them rule me, force me to hide away like some craven dog. Alexander didnae soothe me."
"Alexander meddles,” Storm muttered, fearing the man had hurt Iain.
"He does but I cannae fault him this time. He was right and, in speaking blunt, in trying to make me think about what I was doing, he gave up something—the chance to claim Islaen."
Storm grimaced. “I had wondered if ye had noticed that."
"Aye, I had noticed and Alexander told me himself."
"There has been naught but friendship between them, Iain."
"I ken it. Islaen says t'will truly be that and no more especially an he finds a lass that can look beyond his bonnie face. There is more beyond it than e'en I kenned. He saw what I did and made me see it. Aye, I was trying to protect Islaen, trying to be certain she wouldnae be left grieving or with child if MacLennon won, but I was protecting myself too and I was failing at it. Do ye ken what I mean?"
"Aye. Ye did not wish to care for her,” Storm said softly. “I am not the one ye should be telling this to,” she continued.
