“Aye, Ma. I’m back.”
Her wrinkled eyes went wide as she took him in. After several months of living on the road, he no doubt made quite the sight. He berated himself for not taking the time to clean up before going home. He should have known that seeing him so disheveled would have affected his mother. But before he could apologize for his messy appearance, his mother wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed hard.
Unable to stop himself, James tucked his face into her shoulder, stooping his back in order to reach. She smelled of lavender and fresh tea, as she always had. He breathed her in and let her soothing presence ease some of the ache in his chest.
“Son, glad to have ye home,” his father greeted with a hand on his back.
It felt nothing like the cajoling, proud claps he had gotten from the guards in the tower earlier that evening. His father’s touch was warm and welcoming, familiar and kind. Lifting his head, James met his father’s eyes while his mother’s arms stayed wrapped around him.
It looked and felt like staring into his own reflection. They shared the same green eyes, thick dark hair, and proud nose. His father’s eyes had several more lines in the corners and streaks of white through his hair that James had not yet inherited. James had a few scars his father had avoided, but their wide, square jaw had the same determination to it.
“I thought we had lost ye too,” his mother whispered into his chest, dampening his shirt with her tears.
“Nay, Ma. I told ye, I was going to?—”
“We ken fine what we set off to do,” his father cut him off. “And I suppose that now ye are back, that must mean ye completed yer task?”
“Come in, come in,” his mother said before James could answer his father’s question. “Ye must be tired after all these weeks on the road.”
She kept a hand on him, as if she couldn’t believe he was truly back, while she pulled him deeper into the house. The room that had once been stocked full of fabrics of all different colors and textures was now holding a few bolts of the most basic materials. They wove through the empty shelves to reach the doorway on the other side that led to the family room. There, a warm, blazing fire sat in the small hearth, emanating enough heat to make the rest of the house comfortable.
“Do ye want some tea? I will fetch the kettle. Have ye eaten? I have some bread and cheese left from dinner that I can bring.”
His mother bustled around the room after depositing James onto the sofa that had already been recovered and restaffed four times in his lifetime. He sat, sinking into the worn cushions, letting them envelop him.
“I am nae hungry, Ma,” he answered, stretching his legs out to get closer to the fire.
A moment later she popped back in, carrying a tray with steaming cups of tea, one for each of them. They all sipped their drinks, no one quite knowing what to say to the other. He knew they must have dozens of questions for him, but without having answers for his own confusion, he had no idea how he would answer them.
He thought that seeing the messengers ride out with word about Taryn’s return to the Baron would bring him some peace,some sense of fulfillment knowing that Laura would be home soon. Instead, it had him questioning if he had done the right thing. The Laird had made it more than clear that Laura’s return wasn’t his highest priority. All of his work to bring Taryn back could have been for naught.
“I did it for the both of ye. I hope ye ken that.”
Though he had spoken in the middle of a thought, his parents knew exactly what he was talking about. That much was clear from the pained expressions they both wore. He didn’t understand why they both looked so upset. They must not comprehend what he had done and why.
“I went after Taryn because the Laird made it clear, and even Taryn’s parents agreed, that the only way to put an end to all of this was for her to come back and follow through on her engagement to the baron. A few years ago, when his attacks first started, perhaps we could have gathered the forces necessary to stop him. But nae now, nae after we have all lost so much.”
He searched his mother’s face for any signs that she understood where he was coming from. She looked so much like Laura, it only deepened the ache in his chest. He wondered how his father had withstood the resemblance between his beloved wife and his lost daughter. He wondered if his mother had stopped checking her own reflection to avoid the painful reminder.
Her hair, the same rich brown that Laura sported, wasn’t tied back in the neat and tidy bun he had come to expect from her. It was instead pulled into a messy braid that hung down the length of her back. She no longer looked like the confident, elegant, put together woman he had grown up with. Now, she looked as tired and worn thin as James felt.
“I could nae stand to sit here another year, another month, nae even another day kenning that Laura was trapped there while Taryn was out, living the life she was never meant tohave. If bringing her back means that the Baron will stop his campaigns against us, if there is a chance he will allow Laura to return home, I had to try. I kent I was the only one who could track Taryn down and bring her back. So I did. And now the Laird has promised to do everything in his power to see Laura returned to us, safely.”
Exacting that vow from Laird McGregor had been all he thought he needed to see the light of hope return to his parents’ eyes. But it didn’t. Instead, it only seemed to make the grief they carried deeper.
James huffed, confused by their reaction, frustration that they weren’t more grateful, more pleased with him.
“I dinnae understand,” he blurted out, setting his now empty tea cup on the table in front of him.
There was a strip of wood missing from the side of the oval table where Laura had tripped and scratched it when they were kids. James tore his eyes away from the mark that proved this had once been Laura’s home too.
His father sighed and set his cup down too. He moved to stand in front of the fire, his back to them, while he tried to think of the right words to say. When he turned back to face James, he wore a pained expression.
“I always kent that Jonah and Rowena never cherished their daughter the way parents should. Every time Taryn stepped foot in our home, it was clear to me that she was desperate for the love and affection of a parent. The saddest part is that she is so verra easy to love. She has a way about her that slips past yer defenses and convinces ye to love her before ye realize it. She does nae do it on purpose, it is just who she is.”
James didn’t know why his father was telling him this, nor did he know why it stirred something deep in his chest.
“It did nae take long before I viewed Taryn as one of my own. I truly loved her as a daughter. The news of her engagement wasdevastating to both yer mother and me. And when Isobel and Laura were summoned to the castle to make Taryn’s wedding dress, they both came home in shock at how distraught Taryn was. I felt hopeless then, that has nae diminished during these last three years. First, I worried that she would nae get away. Then I worried that she would nae be safe wherever she disappeared to. When the Baron attacked, my concerns were focused closer to home. Now, I worry about Laura and Taryn both.”
