Colin.
His son.
Conall’s gaze flew to Cameron, who stood near the bedside of one of the other boys, where Tobias had taken the place of an assistant trying to revive him.
Yet a moment later, a keening wail broke from the throat of a second mother who’d followed her son to the fortress, the middle-aged woman racked by grief as the healer pulled a blanket up over the boy’s face.
Another bairn dead while his son lived—at least thus far.The third boy was already sitting up and watching the somber proceedings with such a look of sadness upon his face that Conall went over to his cot.
“Your friend?”he asked gently, the boy nodding as his parents, hovering nearby, came closer to comfort him.
“Aye, leave your son’s bedside without even acknowledging him tae everyone here!”Lorna blurted with such outrage in her voice that several people gasped, Aislinn included.“So much for the love you professed tae me four years ago when you asked me tae be your wife.I suppose you’ll not acknowledge me, either, and cast us out as soon as Colin’s up and about again!What am I tae do with him then?I told you my husband doesna want him, and I’ve another wee bairn crying for my return!”
“Enough, woman!”Cameron’s voice edged with anger, he glanced from Lorna to Conall as Aislinn hastened to his side.“We’re lord and lady here and we know naught of you.If Conall had asked you tae be his wife, he would have told me as much, as his elder brother—”
“I did ask her and she refused me.”His tone embittered, Conall met Cameron’s startled gaze.“I didna tell you because there was no point tae doing so.Lorna left Argyll and went east tae Perthshire with her new husband, a blacksmith.She didna want tae wed a warrior and spurned my love when I told her I wasna free tae take up another trade—not with Earl Seoras as my overlord.Are you satisfied, Cameron?Have you heard enough?”
Conall’s jaw had clenched so tight that it was hard to speak, his brother staring silently at him while Aislinn looked at him with pity.
“I didna know she bore a child…my son.You can see well enough that I sired him, aye?Raven-black hair and blue eyes, a Campbell through and through!”
Conall had shouted, such anger and resentment welling inside him over Lorna’s long ago betrayal—and that she had never let him know about Colin—that he could but storm from the infirmary.
He needed air.He needed to clear his head!He strode back into the bailey and roared for his horse—Conall pacing in circles until a flush-faced stable boy came running with his stallion saddled and snorting as if affronted to have been pulled from his stall and fresh hay.
Conall mounted and then roared again, this time for the fortress gates to be opened for him.He veered his horse sharply around and dug in his heels, a glance at the tower nearest the keep making him swear under his breath as he rode out.
Lisette still stood there at the window as if watching for him, waiting for him…the bright promise of the present colliding with a tortured past that he had tried so hard to forget—God help him!
He had a son!
Chapter13
“Idon’t have much else to tell you,” Aislinn murmured, squeezing Lisette’s hand as they sat side by side on the edge of the bed.“Well, other than Conall’s not yet returned and it’s almost time for supper.I would have come sooner, but I stayed at the infirmary since someone should be with her…”
Aislinn fell silent, but Lisette could guess what she was thinking.
Conall should have remained with his young son and the child’s mother, Lorna.A beautiful name for a woman Conall had loved four years ago…and lost.
So much made sense now after what Aislinn had shared with her, Lisette swallowing hard against the tightness in her throat and the tears threatening to fall.
She had seen him ride out from the fortress hours ago, leaving her in their bedchamber alone and confused as to what might have happened, so many questions running through her mind.
Who was the woman?Why had Conall gone running after her?Did he know her and the boy?Or had he simply helped out some strangers in the village and had rushed to the infirmary to see how they fared?
One look at Aislinn’s somber face when she entered the room a short while ago had told Lisette that her sister-in-law had come to provide her some answers…though she wished she had remained ignorant for the piercing pang in her heart.
Dear God, did Conall still love Lorna?The woman he’d asked to marry him and who had borne him a son…Colin.
A fine name for a handsome boy, for how could he be otherwise with Conall as his father?It was easy for her to imagine the child’s black hair and eyes as blue as the deep ocean that she had crossed with Isabeau to come to Scotland.
Now tears did tumble down her face, Lisette not having thought of her half-sister for days.It wasn’t even two weeks yet since she had last seen her.Was Isabeau content and happy with her new life?Her new husband?So much had happened in such a short time and now this startling news—
“Colin is doing better, heaven be praised,” Aislinn said in a hushed voice that broke into Lisette’s tortured thoughts.“The other boy that survived has already returned to the village with his parents while the one that died—ah, God, to lose one’s child.I pray that you and I never know such grief…”
Aislinn had let go of Lisette’s fingers to touch her stomach, which made Lisette’s heart seem to jump.
“Aislinn, are you with child?”
