***
Catherine kept her eyes fixed on her cousin’s face, for she wished to measure his response. Had he known about this missing link in the family? Had he been keeping it secret from her all this time? Or would he be as shocked as she to learn of it?
John strode forward, curious and eager to view the woman inside the coach.
Raonaid’s small foot emerged first; then her gloved hand reached out to accept the footman’s assistance. At last, she showed herself. She stepped fully into the pink light from the setting sun and lifted her face.
Catherine glanced quickly at her cousin. His cheeks went pale. His eyes deepened with wonder.
“My word.…”He moved closer to take Raonaid’s hand. “I am astounded. You are a perfect likeness.”
Raonaid regarded him with suspicion. “Did you know about me?” she asked.
“I assure you, Lady Raonaid, I did not—at least not until recently.”
It was the first time she had been properly addressed as a member of the aristocracy, and the importance of that moment was not lost on anyone. Especially Raonaid, whose head drew back in astonishment.
“When Catherine disappeared for the second time,” John continued, “I took it upon myself to look into her past. Then her letter arrived only a few days ago and confirmed what I had been able to uncover on my own.” He turned to address Catherine. “I have information for you both,” he said, “regarding your birth. If you will join me in the drawing room.”
Catherine felt an almost-dizzying rush of eagerness, for she was about to discover the truth at last.
She turned to Lachlan. “Will you come with us? I would like for you to be there.”
In actual fact, she had never needed him more than she did in that moment.
He stared down at her, as if considering how best to reply, then simply dismounted and handed Goliath over to a groom.
***
“Where is Grandmother?” Catherine asked when Mrs. Silver, the housekeeper, appeared in the doorway to the drawing room, looking pale and distraught as she set eyes upon Raonaid.
“She will not be joining us,” John explained. “I am afraid she has been keeping to her rooms lately.”
“Why?”
Her cousin hesitated. “You will understand soon enough.”
John waved Mrs. Silver into the drawing room, escorted her to a chair, and went to pour her a glass of brandy. It was hardly proper for an earl to wait on a servant in such a way, which left Catherine feeling shaken, for whatever information Mrs. Silver was about to divulge must indeed be most unsettling.
John poured drinks for everyone else, himself included, and sat down. “Mrs. Silver has proven herself to be an invaluable source of information,” he said. “What she is about to tell you will, no doubt, be disturbing to you both, but it is time the truth was known. Please, Mrs. Silver, describe the events of twenty-five years ago to Lady Catherine and Lady Raonaid, as you remember them.”
Catherine felt Raonaid tense beside her at the shock of hearing her name spoken for the second time with the proper form of address.
“When it was announced,” the housekeeper timidly said, “that your mother was expecting a child, everyone of course hoped for a boy, to secure an heir for the earl, but shortly before she went into labor, a woman came to the door, bold as brass, and claimed she was a gifted midwife. She told me that the countess would deliver a babe with powers from beyond, and that she would need to put an enchantment on the child to cure it of this malady. She was mad, I believed, so I sent her away, but when I told the dowager of it, she ordered me to send a footman to fetch the woman and bring her back.”
“Surely Grandmother would never believe such a tale,” Catherine said with skepticism.
“Oh, but she did, my lady. And the very next day, your mother began her labor—two weeks early. She collapsed in the stone circle with terrible pains in her belly.”
“Is that where we were born?” Catherine asked, feeling a cold shiver ripple up and down her spine at the memory of her own behavior on the night she walked in her sleep to the standing stone on the hill. “In the Drumloch Circle?”
“No, my lady. We managed to bring the countess back to the manor house, but the dowager insisted on using the midwife who had come to the door. Everyone else was kept out of the room—everyone but me—and it was many, many hours before you both were born. You came first, Lady Catherine, and then your sister. Your mother struggled hard. She gave you both everything she had, and I believe it’s important for you both to know that she held you together in her arms for a full hour before she passed.”
Catherine reached for Raonaid’s hand and held on to it while a tear trembled down her cheek. She looked up at Lachlan. He was watching her intently, with concern, and she was grateful that he was here to learn all of this.
“What happened next?” Raonaid asked.
Mrs. Silver’s hand quivered as she took another sip of brandy; then she lifted her eyes to meet Raonaid’s and faced her squarely. “As soon as the countess passed, the dowager took you out of her arms, Lady Raonaid, handed you to the midwife, and told her to drown you in the river.”
