Jeanne glanced with despair from Aislinn to Cameron, who went down on one knee beside the bed to cover their hands with his own, his fingers so warm and comforting.
“You’re a good, kind woman,” he said gently, as if to reassure her. “No sin of yours could be so grave—”
“Ah, but we kept Sorcha for our own daughter when we should have tried tae find her kin. Yet there was no one tae ask—all those poor drowned souls upon the beach. Leith and I couldna believe when we heard a wee bairn crying… but there she was, tangled in seaweed. An older woman lying dead next tae her, the child’s nurse, surely—och, God!”
Jeanne had tried to sit up in the telling, but had fallen back onto the pillow, gasping with pain as Aislinn leaned closer.
“So you kept the child when the rest were dead, surely that’s no sin—”
“Aye, it was! We heard others coming tae gather what they could from the shipwreck and we ran away with her. I couldna have bairns of my own, you see? We lived further south near Leith’s kinsmen, but we kept her hidden and moved north tae start a new life—”
“Ease yourself, Jeanne, her parents must have drowned, too,” Cameron interrupted her gently. “You and Leith did the best you could by her. If you hadna found her when you did, the waves would have dragged her back into the sea.”
As if his words had lifted a great weight from her shoulders, Jeanne heaved a weak sigh, the last of her strength spent. Aislinn felt her fingers growing limp, though the woman fixed her dimming gaze upon them.
“Please… take Sorcha with you and raise her as your own. Swear tae me, I beg you…”
“Aye, I swear it.”
Cameron answering first, his voice low and resolute, Aislinn met his eyes as she nodded. “Aye, I swear it.”
She could not say if Jeanne even heard her for the rasping sounds coming from the woman’s chest… though a faint smile had settled upon Jeanne’s lips as she drew a shallow breath, and then another… and then fell still.
Neither Aislinn nor Cameron spoke for a long moment, Aislinn laying Jeanne’s lifeless hand upon the bed. A soft rap at the door made him rise to his feet and draw Aislinn up beside him to pull her into his arms.
“Sorcha canna know the truth, Aislinn. It would crush her. Someday mayhap we’ll tell her, but Leith and Jeanne MacLean will always be her loved parents, aye?”
“Aye, Cameron.”
He bent his head to kiss her with such tenderness as the door opened, Sister Agnes having returned with Sorcha while Sister Hestia stood behind them.
All the girl had to do was look into Aislinn’s eyes and she burst into anguished sobs, Sorcha running into the room to sink to her knees beside the bed… her small hand reaching out to touch Jeanne’s face.
“Mama…Mama!”
“Let’s give the lass a few moments with her mother,” Cameron said as he drew Aislinn into the hallway, though she wanted so badly to stay and comfort her.
He looked so grim again that she felt a chill. Sister Agnes followed them after murmuring to Sister Hestia to remain with Sorcha, and then she shut the door quietly against her heartbreaking cries.
“Please… a word.”
Aislinn felt Cameron’s hand clench around hers, which made her think that he must sense what Sister Agnes might have to say to them.
“What will you do now, Laird? You have a wife tae think of… and a family now.”
“You heard us?”
Startled by the harshness in Cameron’s voice, Aislinn was relieved when Sister Agnes shook her head that she hadn’t been listening through the door.
“Jeanne shared with me—and Sorcha—that she hoped you would take her with you and raise her as your daughter. Yet you have a terrible man that wishes tae destroy you, Laird. If you could have heard Lord Butler when he learned that Aislinn had run away from the convent—God help me! I’ve never wished ill on any soul, but I prayed hard from then on that he never came face-tae-face with either of you ever again. What will happen now? Where will you go?”
Cameron didn’t readily answer, his jaw clenched, his grip almost painful upon Aislinn’s hand, until he sighed with great heaviness.
“Forgive me, Reverend Mother. It’s Aengus Butler who plagues my mind, not you. Aye, we both swore tae Jeanne that we’d take Sorcha, but I canna say what will happen when Aislinn and I return tae Dumbarton Castle.”
“Dumbarton Castle?” Aislinn echoed, stunned. “We don’t have to go there now! I would have done anything to help Jeanne, God rest her, but she would want us to think of Sorcha—”
“Iamthinking of Sorcha—and you, wife.” Cameron met her eyes, his voice low and fierce. “I canna trust that our riding tae even the northernmost reaches of Scotland will stop Lord Butler from coming after you—and I believe only King Robert has been standing in his way. He gave me three days tae bring you back, Aislinn, and I will honor his command and not defy him. Will you go with me now and not fight me?”
