“Ah, here is yer food,” Caitrin said as a serving lass brought a steaming bowl of parritch, some bread, cheese and an apple. “I will leave ye to enjoy it.”
“Ye are kind, milady,” the lass told her. “Ye have helped me to feel better.”
“Then eat, lass.” She stood and patted the young woman’s shoulder. “I will check on ye later, but ye have only to ask anyone if ye need help.”
Caitrin straightened and caught Madeleine watching her. The older woman smiled, making Caitrin feel as though she’d learned the lesson Madeleine had been trying to teach her. Caitrin nodded and moved to the next table and the next, simplytalking to her people, showing them she was with them and helping where she could.
The clan could no longer count on her father. She had to be the one they could have confidence in—with or without Jamie Lathan.
Hours later,an excited rumble of voices in the great hall drew Caitrin out from the herbal where she had gone to check with the healer on the lass she’d met at the midday meal.
The door was open and people were bustling through it into the gloaming, while frigid air streamed from the bailey around them and into the keep.
Voices shouted, “They’re back!”
Who was back? The searchers had come and gone several times without this level of enthusiasm. Could they have found the missing men? Jamie?
She ran past several people and slipped out the door next to another man in time to see Jamie dismount and turn to notice her.
“Get the healer!” His shout rang out and echoed off of the keep’s cold stone walls.
Caitrin had never heard a sweeter sound. Her heart in her throat, she grabbed the man nearest her and sent him back inside. “Hurry!” Then she ran across the bailey and wrapped Jamie in her arms.
He caught her as she cried, “Where have ye been?” She buried her face in his neck as she clung to him, inhaling his scent and thanking the saints he was home. “Are ye well?” She loosened her hold and looked him up and down. His hair was matted and his skin reddened from the cold, but she didn’t seeany blood. All her fear and anxiety fled when she realized he was not injured. Exhausted, probably hungry, but unhurt.
“I’ll tell all when we get inside. Magnus needs the healer. He’ll be with us for weeks while he recovers.” He hugged her to him and turned so they could watch the men carrying the one who must be Magnus in a sling they’d rigged from several plaids.
She and Jamie followed them inside, where the healer met them. After one look at the man they carried, she waved them toward the herbal and walked along with her patient, checking on him as they went.
Caitrin’s father and Lady Madeleine joined them there while Jamie explained to the healer what he knew of the man’s injuries and their cause. Hearing the litany, Caitrin marveled that Jamie had kept him alive for several days.
Her da turned to Jamie. “Well done, lad, though ye worried us all.”
“I ken it, Laird, and I’m sorry for it, but I dared no’ leave him, and I couldna bring him by myself without doing him more harm. We had to wait for the weather to clear for someone to see the smoke of our fire and find us.”
“Dinna be sorry,” Madeleine answered, stepping forward to put a grateful hand on his arm. “Ye brought him back to us.”
Once the healer dismissed them, they returned to the great hall, but Laird Fletcher and Lady Madeleine continued upstairs. Caitrin and Jamie sat at a table near the hearth and signaled for food and drink. While they waited, people kept coming by to say how relieved and happy they were to have both of them back. Jamie thanked each one, giving them his complete attention until the next person approached. Finally, their food arrived and the parade ebbed.
Caitrin took Jamie’s hand. “Tell me.”
While they enjoyed their meal, Jamie filled her in. “He got separated from his men in the snowstorm. Wolves spooked hishorse, and it threw him. Lucky for him, the wolves chased the horse.”
“Maybe not so lucky for the horse,” Caitrin commented wryly.
Jamie shrugged. “I found him under a pine, with all the injuries ye heard me tell the healer. He passed out when I tried to move him, which helped. I got him into a cave nearby that Fletcher men had shown me on patrol several months ago. The opening was large enough for the horse to squeeze through, too. A fire, blankets and my horse blocking the wind kept us from freezing. We ate what I had packed in the first two days. I gave him all the wine for his pain, and I hunted. That and melted snow kept us going until the men arrived. The storm kept anyone from seeing the smoke from our fire. This morning, they finally did.”
“Ach, Jamie, ye must be exhausted.”
“Aye, and in need of a bath.” He made a show of looking around. “Perhaps I could convince one of these serving lasses to help me with that…?”
“Jamie Lathan! Ye willna.” Caitrin ordered the tub and hot water to be carried to their chamber while Jamie finished eating.
Once Jamie ate,he insisted on seeing what progress the healer had made with Magnus. Her ministrations satisfied him that the man was in good hands, though he wished Aileanna were here to attend him. Magnus would be healed and on his feet in days with the Lathan healer’s special talent. The Fletcher healer was doing her best, but Magnus would have a long and painful recovery.
Jamie let Caitrin usher him upstairs to their chamber and the waiting tub, steam rising from its surface beckoning to him nearly as strongly as the sight of their bed. And Caitrin.
“Lass…”
