He closed his eyes as a searing pain swept over him. His future rose up before him as a bleak, lonely stretch of years. Despite the horde of kinsmen he would always be surrounded with, he knew he would be fighting that sense of cold emptiness for the rest of his life.
"Sigimor?"
"Aye?” Sigimor stared blindly at the trees as they rode past. “She has to stay with the lad."
"Weel, mayhap. She certainly needs to make some hard choices."
"She has made them."
"Ye cannae be certain of that."
"Nay? If she meant to stay with me, why did she creep away? Why didnae she tell me she was to meet someone, ask me to go with her to settle the future of the child?"
Liam softly cursed. “I dinnae ken. Mayhap she didnae want to have ye about because ye would tempt her to stay. Who can say what was in her mind and heart when she realized it was time to make a choice? She sore loved her brother, saw him cruelly murdered, and made him a vow as he lay dying in pain. She loves that wee lad, has had much of the raising of him, and was willing to do anything to keep him safe. She has a husband, a mon who must stay in Scotland whilst all that belongs to Reynard is in England."
"And she doesnae love me.” Sigimor hoped he did not sound too pathetic as he spoke that bitter truth.
"Ah, weel, who can say? She cares for ye.” Liam held up his hand to silence Sigimor's protest. “A lass like that wouldnae have let ye cozen her into marriage and into your bed unless she had some feeling for ye. And, she wouldnae have slipped away like this, either. She would have looked ye in the eye and said it was time for her to return to Drumwich with Reynard. If she didnae have some caring for ye, she wouldnae have avoided that confrontation. Nay, she did it this way because she feared ye could sway her from what she sees as her duty, as the fulfilling of a deathbed vow to a beloved brother."
They both reined to a halt as they saw Nanty riding toward them, and Sigimor thought about what Liam had said. Jolene was no coward yet this secretive flight carried the taint of cowardice. There was also the night of passion they had shared to consider. There had been the air of greedy desperation to it all. He had thought it was because she had faced death, but now wondered if it had all been born of a need to try and grasp a fistful of memories. What need would she have of those unless she cared for him, unless it was only duty that forced her from his side? It was a somewhat comforting thought, but it did not help him solve his problem. She had chosen the boy and Sigimor was not confident that confronting her now would alter that choice. It could well only add to his pain, and, perhaps, hers as well.
There had to be a better way, he thought a little desperately. Somehow there had to be a solution that would satisfy her duty to the boy yet keep her at his side. As Nanty reined in before them, however, Sigimor knew he was not going to be given the chance to think of one. The confrontation was upon him.
"She has met with some Sassenachs just beyond the edge of this wood,” Nanty announced.
"How many?” asked Sigimor, more than willing to fight to get his wife back, but not sure he would be given that option. Even he knew that slaughtering her kinsmen would not be a good way to woo his wife.
"A score or so. All weel armed, but no threat to Jolene and the boy."
"So, allies or kinsmen?"
"Kinsmen. At least a few are. There is a similarity of looks to a few. That black hair."
"That must have been what she learned from Harold whilst he held her captive. It would also explain the desperate action he took. He kenned that his kinsmen had finally learned what was happening at Drumwich and had come to Jolene's aid. Harold's chance to tighten his grip on Drumwich had slipped away."
Nanty nodded. “He had no time left to make her his wife, to give them a tougher knot to untie. All that was left to him was a ransom, her and Reynard's life for his, or to silence the one witness to his crimes that others might actually listen to."
"Can we reach them unseen?"
"Aye, if we are careful. We could encircle them, too. They are in a clearing with trees all about them. Howbeit, I believe they have two of your kinsmen from Scarglas with them. I couldnae get close enough to see which ones."
"Giving them safe escort, aye?"
"Aye. So, ye cannae attack them."
"Tempting as that may be, I think it might displease my wife,” Sigimor drawled, causing both Liam and Nanty to grin. “Are they readying themselves to leave?"
"Nay,” replied Nanty. “They seem to be resting and talking."
Sigimor could see that everyone awaited orders from him as to what they should do next, but he was suddenly unsure. It would appear that Jolene had made her choice, duty and love for Reynard and Drumwich over staying with him. Was it fair or right for him to interfere in that? Worse, if he did try to interfere, was he simply opening himself up to a greater and more wounding humiliation than he had suffered at Barbara's soft hands? Not many of his kinsmen knew about that embarrassment, the few he had had to tell keeping it quiet, but there would be over a score of them to witness this one.
Pride told him to say Jolene had made her choice and then go home and forget her. All the rest of him told him there was little chance he would ever forget her. Since he understood her dilemma, he knew he would not even be able to turn his pain into a cleansing fury. Then, suddenly, he knew that, if he turned back now, he would forever wonder if he had cast aside a chance, turned aside from the opportunity to change her mind and bring her back to Dubheidland. Although the threat of a well-witnessed rejection loomed, he knew he could not live with that doubt.
Taking a deep breath to strengthen his resolve, he began to give orders to his men. With Nanty's help, he sent his men in different directions that would stealthily bring them up close to the meeting place in a neat circle. He gave them strict orders not to attack, not to harm anyone unless pressed to save their own lives. Sigimor had no wish to try and retrieve his wife over the corpses of her kinsmen. Soon he was left with only Liam, the two of them riding forward to the spot where Sigimor felt confident they would close that circle of Camerons tightly around Jolene and her allies.
"She may have been planning to return,” said Liam.
"Nay, she wouldnae have been so sly and secretive if she didnae intend to return to England with these men,” replied Sigimor. “If all she planned to do was hand Reynard into their care, she would have told me about them, would have e'en asked if they could come to Dubheidland."
