Chapter 17
“I just came by to…” Halloway seemed to search for something to say, and Cait felt the young man’s painful embarrassment.
“To get more poultices for his back,” she said a bit frantically.
Iain looked Halloway up and down with that inscrutable expression. “You’re a wee bit young to be in such bad shape,” he said.
Cait threw him a narrow-eyed glare and turned her back on Iain to speak to Halloway. “Come with me and I’ll get you another poultice.”
Halloway followed her to the front of the cottage. “I apologize for Campbell’s behavior,” she said. “That was uncalled for.”
Halloway shrugged, but his face was still red. “I’m accustomed to the derision of the Scots.”
“I’m a Scot, Francis.”
His brows dipped in confusion. “But you’re not like them. You accept us into your home and you heal us,” he said.
Oh, dear.“I heal people because that’s my calling. For a healer it does no’ matter if ye’re English or Scots, but that doesn’t discount that I was born a Scot and am proud to be a Scot.”
“But…” He seemed at a loss for words, confused. “I thought…”
“Ye thought that I was Scottish but no’ really Scottish?”
“I…I don’t know. You’re so different…”
“I’m no’ different, Sergeant. I’m the same as the other Scottish women. Ye just choose to see it differently.” She touched the sleeve of his red coat. “Sergeant, I can’t wed ye. I can’t move to England with ye, because my home is here.”
His expression hardened. “With him?” he spat out, lifting his chin toward the back of the house where they’d left Iain.
“I don’t know what will happen between Iain and me, but I’m needed here in Scotland.”
His jaw worked as his gaze moved over her face. “I’ve heard what the officers are saying. Scotland will be destroyed. Rumors have it that the clans will be abolished.”
She recoiled at the thought. Clans abolished? She couldn’t imagine such a thing. The clan system was everything to the Scots. It was their way of life, their judicial system. Theirfamily.
“Then Scotland needs me even more than I thought,” she said.
“I can provide for you in England.”
She squeezed his arm in sympathy. “I wouldn’t be happy in England. And I don’t think yer family would be happy with ye bringing home a Scottish lass.”
“They would love you.”
She smiled sadly. Oh, to be young and full of ideals and so passionate that you thought everyone would believe what you believed just because you said so. “There is a lass in England waiting for ye to find her, and when ye do, ye’ll forget all about me.”
“No.” Though he shook his head, she saw the doubt in his eyes.
“Aye. Ye’re a good lad, Francis Halloway.” She patted his arm. “Now let me get that poultice.”
It took her no time to grab the poultice. He was standing in the same spot she’d left him, and Iain was nowhere in sight.
“I did come to warn you about Palmer,” Halloway said. “When he questioned me about you, I told him you were sympathetic to England.”
“I appreciate that ye defended me. I’m a healer. I save lives. I don’t take them. I think Palmer will see that.” She sounded more hopeful than she felt; Palmer frightened her.
“I’ll uh…I’ll be off now.” He hesitated. “Can I come around again?”
“Of course. Ye’re no’ banned from the cottage. Let me know when ye need another poultice.”
