“And will ye promise not to tell him right away but ease him into it?” Ellie added. “The last thing any of us want is to hurt Van and Jemina. This will come as a shock to both of them.” She thought of her friend, so used to being an only child, and now she would be told she had a brother. How would that affect her relationship with her father? And to learn that your parents held no love for each other? It was a hard truth to be aware of. Ellie vowed to herself she would always be there as a friend to Jemina, someone to listen to the lass should she need it once she learned the truth. Who else understood better than Ellie what Jemina was about to endure?
“I will nay tell the lad until we agree he is ready. But I want to ken him. If ye allow this, I will consider our agreement canceled. Along with giving ye my sincerest apologies, lass,” he added, looking at Ellie.
“Mother do ye agree?” Ellie asked, hopeful.
“Aye,” Lady MacAskill said, adding, “but ye need to leave here, Lachlan. We need time as a family. We cannae do the healing we need with yer men lingering at the keep gates. I promise I’ll send the lad to ye, and we will resolve what this is between us, but ye must leave us for a time.”
“Aye, ‘tis only fair with what I’ve put ye through.” Sinclair looked at Aidam and gave him a nod. “’ Tis done.”
Aidam walked over to his uncle and removed the agreement from his hands and, with one swift motion, tore it in two and tossed it into the hearth.
For the first time since leaving Sinclair Keep a prisoner, Ellie felt as though she could breathe.
* * *
Aidam watched Ellie leave the study. He desperately wished he could go after her. Now that they had resolved the issue between their families, they could be together without fear or reproach. Aidam found he did not want to leave her side, ever, not even to allow her a moment’s peace to reflect on the news she had only just learned about her mother, his uncle, and her brother.
“That was a bold move, lad,” his uncle interrupted his thoughts. “Ye rippin’ that agreement out of me hands like that.”
“Aye,” Aidam replied coolly. “Ye looked like ye could use th’ help.”
His uncle shuffled from one foot to the other, avoiding direct eye contact. It wasn’t something Aidam was used to, seeing his uncle vulnerable. He had to steel himself against the urge to reassure the older man. It was weakness that made Sinclair act in such a vile manner. Weakness was not a trait that looked well on the laird, and while it did nothing to erase the years of love and respect Aidam had for his uncle, it wasn’t something he was going to willingly or easily forgive.
“Ye ken I would nay have kept ye long in the dungeon,” Sinclair offered. “I only meant tae teach ye a lesson about takin’ what was mine. Yer kin and I would nay have held my grudge long.”
“And so I’m just supposed to forgive, then, uncle?” Aidam snapped. He could not believe his uncle was truly trying to make a weak attempt at amends by thinking Aidam was selfish enough to care only for his own well-being. “It isn’t about me. I could’ve stayed in that dungeon forever if I kent that Ellie would nay be harmed and her family safe from yer rage.”
“I would nay have hurt the lass,” Sinclair replied.
“And how were we to ken that?” Lady MacAskill chimed in. Aidam snapped his head around to face her, shocked that she would comment further. As far as he was concerned, Ellie’s mother was just as much to blame for this day as his uncle.
“Och, Sara, ye ken I would nay have hurt yer daughter,” his uncle replied. “I was angry. I may still be angry. But I’m nay a monster.” Lady MacAskill folded her arms and sat angrily down in the chair behind her late husband’s desk. Aidam could tell the hurt and anger between the two would not soon be resolved. There would be many more blow by blows in their future.
“The problem, uncle, is that we could nay have kent what yer rage would force ye to do,” Aidam replied. “Yer th’ one who taught me about love. The kindness ye showed me Ma when no one else would, how ye took me in as yer own. Ye gave me a future. Do ye get it that Ellie is me future now? The lass is me whole heart and were ye to do anything to her—” He punched his fist into the wall of the study, refusing to allow himself to finish his sentence. For the first time, Aidam experienced his own rage directed at his uncle. The thought of harm coming to Ellie was unbearable, the thought of his own flesh and blood to be to blame making it worse.
“Boy, ye ken I loved ye as yer were me own,” his uncle said, moving closer and trying to calm Aidam’s anger. “I didnae ken how ye felt about the lass.”
“That makes it worse, uncle,” Aidam replied. “Ye were willing to destroy a whole clan. A family.”
“How can I make this up to ye, lad?”
“Uncle, ye will have to think on that yerself. In time, I ken I may be able to see past this. I dae nae ken for sure, all I can offer is that I will try, but it will take more than a half-hearted apology and a few false promises for ye to help me along.”
“I will do me best, lad,” Sinclair replied. “It will be good between us again.”
Aidam gave his uncle a curt nod. For both of their sakes, he hoped the older man was right.
