‘Aye. That is best. I wish you didn’t have to go, Cullen. I will see you again, won’t I?’ she said in a forlorn little voice.
‘Of course, lass.’
When Maeve had gone, Lowri turned to Cullen. ‘How can you come back here after that fight?’
‘Seamus and I fight all the time. Don’t fash. His temper will cool soon enough, and he’ll have forgotten most of what was said, come morning.’
Cullen rummaged in a cupboard and pulled out a bottle. ‘He doesn’t hide his whisky very well.’ He sat down before the fire and took a big, gulping swig, wiping blood away from his nose with his sleeve. ‘Come, sit, have a drink.’
‘I am going to bed.’
‘No, you are not. Drink.’ When Lowri shook her head, he said, ‘You shared your body with me, surely you aren’t too proud to share spit with me, lass? It’s the least you can do after insulting my family to their faces.’
Lowri snatched the bottle from Cullen. ‘I suppose I should have bitten my tongue,’ she said.
‘That’s as begrudging an apology as ever I’ve heard. And you misjudge Seamus. He is proud and….’
‘And pride is everything to a Macaulay.’
‘You have it right. He is married to a woman he cannot trust to be true to him, so how can he trust any bairn she brings into this world to be of his blood? And Maeve tells her tale of woe to anyone who will listen just to get sympathy.’
‘She is unhappy.’
‘She made her choices willingly and must take the consequences, just like you. Drink’
The whisky’s burn softened Lowri’s anger, and she was remorseful about any retribution Maeve would suffer on heraccount. ‘If I am so wrong about Seamus, why did you defend me?’
‘Because you are mine to defend, and I admire your courage in taking Seamus on.’ He gave her a warm smile, which was unexpected.
‘Will he come for us in the night?’
‘He wouldn’t dare.’
‘Why, because he is frightened of you, as your father is frightened of you?’ When Cullen did not answer, Lowri took another swig. ‘What are we to do now?’
Cullen took the bottle and carried on drinking. The question hung between them. Why would Griffin fear Cullen? Should she fear him, too? Lowri had to fill the awful silence.
‘Maeve and Seamus have nothing but bitterness between them. Is that how it will be with us?
After a while, he said, ‘You are nothing like Maeve.’
‘I am not well-bred, delicate and comely. There is nothing here to grace a man’s home and take pride in.’
‘I disagree, and you are not spoiled, selfish and lazy. Maeve is all those things and worse, but she can also be kind, affectionate and high-spirited. She is a strange, fey creature, that one. Perhaps it is not her fault. Her brother would have kept her close to home. Her mother would have controlled her with iron discipline. And see how she has turned out?’ Cullen grimaced. ‘Maeve cannot fend for herself nor curb her worst impulses.’
‘The bairn, you mean?’
He shook his head and sighed. ‘The second time I met her, she kissed me, out of nowhere. We were in the kitchen, and I wasasking after her health when she kissed me. Seamus’ wife kissing his cousin as if it was the most natural thing in the world.’
‘And what did you do?’
‘I told her never to do it again. And she just shrugged and said, ‘Alright, but you are so handsome, I could not help myself.’
‘I cannot believe that.’
‘That she thought me handsome or that she kissed me?’ he said, with a smile.
‘Both.’
