“Well, I do nae wish to speak to them. I have nothing to say to them,” Ceana told her sister, but Alina did not move. Frustrated by the unease in the air, she turned to face her mother with her angry eyes begging the question:What do ye want from me?
Her mother came forward and put her hands on Ceana’s shoulder. Ceana found herself calmed by her mother’s touch and the sincerity in her eyes for all her anger.
“I am sorry for the way I spoke ill of Torcall. I should have listened to ye. I should nae have forced ye to accept another man. I just didnae wish for ye to mourn a man whom everyone thought to be a killer,” Regina told her daughter.
Ceana had planned to ignore her family for days, but that afternoon, she hugged her mother, and both women cried in each other’s arms. She looked to her father, who nodded in agreement with his wife’s words as well. Ceana left her mother to slip into her father’s arms, forgiving him.
“Scott was never good for ye,” Connor told his daughter.
“I told ye,” Ceana replied, and both father and daughter laughed.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a horse neigh outside the house. Alina rushed to the window and checked to see who their visitor was. The dreary look on her face told the family who it was that approached their door.
“I shall speak to him,” Connor offered.
“Nay, Faither, let me speak to him,” Ceana reproached and headed to the door herself. She came out to meet Scott, who had an irritating smirk on his face as he approached her.
“Oh, ye smell of sweat and grass. Did ye nae ken that I would ride by yer home this day?” He asked her, expecting an apology.
“Apologize for yer words,” Ceana said to him. Scott was taken aback by her response.
“I said ye smell like an animal. What about that do ye wish me to say again?” Scott leaned forward to glare in her face, but it was a mistake he was quick to regret. His eyes were so distracted by her angry face that he had not paid her hands any heed until she had slapped him across his face.
Scott had staggered backward from the impact. “How dare ye lay a finger on me?” Angry, he rushed at her to strike her, but her father came out with a sword in his hand.
“If ye lay a hand on me, daughter, ye would never use that hand for anything ever again,” Connor threatened him.
“Ye dare threaten me?” He asked both father and daughter, expecting one or the both of them to come of sense, but neither did.
“Aye,” Connor replied to the younger man, coming to stand between the man and his daughter. His angry eyes and his blade dared Scott to retaliate, but Scott hesitated. For all his boldness and anger, he understood the situation perfectly.
“I will tell this to me faither,” Scott said before heading back to his stead. Ceana looked on at her father proudly as Scott had mounted his horse and had ridden away, bitter.
“Do tell him that me da will come over to tell him of yer words. He should ken how ye obey him.”
Scott shook, visibly frightened, and then ran away.
“Thank ye, Faither,” Ceana said proudly.
“Nay, thank ye, and I am sorry for nae lettin’ ye have yer way. Torcall was innocent, and he was lucky to have someone like ye who believed in him. Ye have me blessin’ if ye both decide to stop sneakin’ about,” Connor replied his daughter. Ceana was dumbfounded by the fact that her father had come to know of her escapades.
Staring at the retreating sun, she made a last wish before it would leave the sky. She turned back, and Alina was there waiting for her. The two sisters had said goodbyes to one another just a while ago. Though each had accepted what fate had thrown their way, they had also been thrown a second chance at being there for one another.
“I owe ye fifty gold coins, do I nae?” Ceana asked with a smile, and Alina threw her hands around her older sister.
“I love ye so much, Ceana!”
Ceana said nothing, glad that she didn’t have to live without her.
Ceana spent the rest of the night talking to Alina about Torcall. No one could have known about how dangerous their plan to get Torcall had been. It was between the sisters. Alina, who seemed to dislike Torcall, initially seemed to have warmed up greatly because her sister was in love with him.
“What are the two of ye waitin’ for?” Alina had asked Ceana.
I am waitin’ on him.Ceana knew but knew not how to tell even her sister. He had confessed his love to her twice –for she remembered it every morning when she woke, and it had always made everything else feel better—and still, she was uncertain.
As though someone had been eavesdropping on them, they suddenly heard a knock on the door. Both women had looked to one another, each wondering who it would have been. The fear on their faces gave away their guesses: SCOTT.
* * *
