He brought out the leather-bound volume before answering. “For not believing my father and for exiling me.”
“She confessed then?”
“Aye.”
“Where did you find her? Was she at the nunnery?”
“Lilias? We got there just in time. The Mother Superior is sending her to work with lepers on St. Jura, the isle toward the land of the North men.”
“Norway?”
“Is that what it’s called in your time?”
“This is my time, Tavish.”
“Aye, but ye ken what ah mean.”
“Come on, get to the point. I’ve waited a month to hear this story.”
“She couldnae live with the guilt of what she’d done, blaming me for the death of Margaret. She took herself off to the nunnery to shut herself off from the world and beg forgiveness for what she’d done. We were lucky.”
“Lucky?”
“Aye. Her Mother Superior told her to beg my forgiveness when ah got there. Let me in to see her in person. You should have seen the laird’s face. Two men given consent to enter a nunnery.”
“I can imagine.”
“She told him what really happened. Margaret went up on the roof when I rejected her and Lilias followed. The princess teetered too close to the edge and when a gust of wind caught her she started to fall. Lilias could have caught her but she didnae.
“She watched her fall tae her death, knowing she had the perfect change to get revenge on me for not loving her. Mother Superior said working in the leper colony would be the best way to atone for almost plunging the whole country into war.”
Lindsey shook her head slowly. “Now everyone knows the truth.”
“Aye, I return home an innocent man once again. Now do you want to look in this book or should I go deposit it in the library?”
She took the book from him and flicked through the pages. It felt surreal seeing the actual volume that had been referenced in the book she’d read before.
“This was one of the sources in the book I read about you,” she said, turning the pages slowly. “The colors are stunning.”
The writing had been interspersed with illustrations that were some of the finest work she’d ever seen. Toward the middle of the book, there were pages she didn’t recall reading about.
She glanced up at Tavish before continuing. Did he know how much had changed?
No longer did the story of Tavish Sinclair end in mystery, his disappearance was only the start of pages of description of the good he had done for the clan. Because of him, the clans had reunited.
Lindsey stopped, reading a sentence twice. She hadn’t been mistaken. That was her name right there in black ink on vellum.
‘Then Lindsey MacMillan guided Tavish Sinclair to Castle MacIntyre. There the sacred stone of Clan Sinclair was received in the spirit of friendship from the erstwhile bitter rival of the Sinclairs. With its return, the clans were bonded for all time and the defense of Scotland strengthened beyond measure in preparation to repel Edward. As a reward for all she had done, Lindsey MacMillan was given freedom by the laird of the Sinclairs to speak these words to the future and forevermore let these words shine forth for all those to read who praise God and love the Highlands as a free land for God’s people below Him upon high.’
She turned the page and there it was, her message to her mother. She read it. Then she read it again. Three, four, five times. It was really there. She ran her hands over the letters, expecting them to melt away. They remained as real as the touch of Tavish’s fingers on her shoulder.
“I told you I’d think of a way to get a message to your ma,” Tavish said.
She looked up to see him smiling. “You thought of it, did you?”
“You might have helped.”
They laughed. Taking his hand, she moved it down to the flat of her stomach, holding it there with her fingers entwined with his. “I have something to confess,” she said as realization dawned on his face.
