The door creaked open, and Cecily was there. Peyton forced a smile onto his face. ‘I was just thinking of you, and you appear. I think you read my mind.’ He turned back to the water.
Cecily came up behind him and put her arms about his waist, her head on his back. ‘Hiding from me again?’ she said softly.
‘No. I just wanted a little peace. That is all.’
‘From me?’ she said quietly.
Peyton grasped her hand and kissed it. ‘Never from you, my love.’
She turned him around, went on tip-toe, and kissed him on the mouth. Just then, Bertha came rushing in, wheezing. ‘Damn those stairs.’
‘What’s the rush?’
‘You must come down to the hall, Laird. You have a visitor.’
‘Who?’
‘Tis a ghost,’ she said and rushed off.
When they reached the hall, a familiar figure was holding his buttocks to the fire. Cecily gave a little shriek of surprise. ‘Father Luggan!’
‘I thought you were dead,’ gasped Peyton.
The priest frowned. ‘No, I am very much alive.’
Peyton rushed to the priest and drew him into a bear hug. ‘God’s teeth! Thank Christ.’
‘Do not blaspheme, Peyton.’
Peyton pulled back and kissed the man on his bald pate, over and over, until Cecily elbowed him aside and did the same on Father Luggan’s cheeks.
‘Well, I have had some welcomes in my time, but never like this,’ said the priest. ‘What have I done to deserve this?’
‘You died,’ said Cecily.
Peyton took his arm. ‘Come, Father. Let us walk and talk. There is much to tell. Cecily can put out some food and ale for when we get back.’
Cecily nodded and bid a hasty retreat. She would know he wanted to talk to Father Luggan, man to man. There were things he had to say which were not for her ears.
***
They walked along the water’s edge as the gulls screeched overhead. Peyton recounted what had happened with Eaden and Elene. Father Luggan said not one word of interruption. Was he appalled and disappointed in his friend?
‘So, Father, that is why we thought we had seen a ghost today,’ said Peyton.
‘That is a horrible tale, my son. How you have suffered these last weeks. I wish I had been here to offer counsel and ease your burden.’ He tutted. ‘A bad business, indeed.’
‘I have mourned you. I searched for your body all over Crichton Moor.’
‘My body is alive and extremely well-fed.’ The priest patted his stomach. ‘I have been staying with friends in Edinburgh, and they keep a hearty table. I am sorry to hear of all your troubles but gratified that I was missed.’
‘I don’t understand why Elene said that she killed you when she had not. It only inflamed my anger.’
‘Elene Strachan always thought of herself as invincible. She would have thought she could prevail right up to the end. Or perhaps she could not resist the urge to hurt you, Peyton. Her cruelty knew no bounds.’
‘Nor does mine. I have done a terrible thing, Father.’
‘You have done a necessary thing, my son, and saved many lives by doing it. It is a burden you have to bear for the sake of others. You cannot let it eat you alive. Do your penance, offer prayers to God and turn your mind to your family and your clan. They rely on your strength.’
