Page 50 of Highlander’s Lesser Evil

“She had no ale or wine at dinner. I saw to it.”

The healer, an older woman named Eliza, swatted Theo away from the bed and peered down at Gemma. “Tired?” she asked in a clipped voice. “Nauseous? Feel as though ye might be drunk?”

Not wanting to look at Theo, she nodded. He would be furious if she suspected that she’d been sick, but there were too many things to do, and she didn’t have time to be forced on bed rest.

“Not drunnnnk,” she murmured.

“Go to the kitchen, and have someone juice an apple and sugar it,” Eliza instructed. When Theo did not move, she planted her hands on her hips. “Well? Ye want me to examine her or not?”

“I am her husband.”

“Aye. And if ye want her to stop slurring her words, ye will go do as I ask. I amnae giving ye busy work. I need the juice!”

With a glare, he stomped out of the room, and Eliza cackled. “Perhaps I misjudged that one. Now then, it appears that I owe ye an apology, lass. Had I see ye earlier, I may have known that ye were carrying.”

“Carrying?” Gemma paled. “I thought I was tiiiiired. Sick. I don’t wish to make everyone sssssick.”

“Lord, I had heard that ye were an intelligent one, but then, men sometimes rarely look past a pretty face. Ye’re not carrying a sickness, lass. Ye’re carrying a babe.”

A babe? Terror gripped her. Immediately, she struggled to sit up. “No, that is not posssssible.” If Theo found out, he would send her away, and she still had so much to do. In her head, she thought about her last monthly. Perhaps she was a few weeks late, but that didn’t necessarily mean she was pregnant.

“So ye are a virgin then? WIth a man like Theo as a husband, I find that difficult to believe.”

“Well, nnno?”

“Ah, then ye have been abstinent since ye have been married. Good for Theo for marrying ye anyways.”

Eliza was jesting, but it was cruel. She didn’t understand. “Theo is terrrrified to be a father. He thinks he willlll not make a good one.” Her words slurred just a little, and she blinked, tears in her eyes.

Eliza sat on the bed and took Gemma’s hand. “Ye and that husband of yers are a complicated matter. I knew Patrick MacDougal vera well, and I looked after that boy when he came to me with his back bleeding from his father’s whip. I know the root of that man’s fears, and based on the things he has done, I might say that his fears are justified.”

“Noooo.” Gemma tried to glare at her, to make the healer understand. “He is not that man.”

“So I have heard,” Eliza sighed and sat down next to her. A faraway look came across her weathered face. “I had a pretty young daughter that Patrick coveted, and she once came home with her dress torn and bruises forming on her face. Although she wouldnae admit it, I knew what had happened. The next day, Theo came by and told us that my sweet Annie had been stealing and was to be imprisoned. I knew what they would do to her and begged Theo to help, to remember all the times I had helped him, but he took her away, and the next day, I was informed that she was dead. Now I wonder...”

“He ssssaved her.” Gemma knew it in her heart that Theo would never let a woman be at Patrick’s mercy if he could help it. “Otherwise, it wouldd have taken days before news of her death had gotten to you. Theo helped her escape. He is a goooood man.” Was the healer getting any of this? The words felt flat in her mouth, and she worried they weren’t coming out right.

“And he knows that ye are with child,” Eliza said softly, chilling Gemma to the bone. “He brought me here thinking I’d given ye some herbs to take care of the child.”

“How could he knnnow?” she asked, but then he was there, a glass of juice in hand. And why would he think she would do something like that? She wanted Theo’s children, wanted to prove to him that he would be a good father, but she also knew that now might not be that time.

Eliza looked at her with pity as she handed her the juice. “I tutored under a man who had no idea what he was doing and fully believed that some women were hiding ale and wine in their bedchambers and getting drunk in secret,” she chuckled. “But the child inside ye is sapping away more energy than most. When ye feel dizzy, drink some juice or eat some fruit, and it will make ye feel better.”

The effects were almost instant, and Gemma was relieved even as she stared at Theo’s ashen face. Eliza continued as if they were not even in the room. “Most likely, ye are a month or so along since there is no physical evidence. I will be back to check on ye to see how things are progressing.”

“No,” Theo said quietly. “She wilnae have the child here.”

Her heart dropped. He wasn’t even going to give her the chance to argue with him. “Theo...”

“Is there a healer on Loch Moran?” Eliza asked.

“Aye.”

Gemma stared at him. “The healer is old man Crawford. You cannot be serious!”

“Nay, not him. Agnes is a fair midwife, as ye well know.” His tone was disapproving, as if he knew she was looking for a reason to stay. “She will care for ye well.”

“All right. Then there is nothing more for me to say.” Eliza stood and looked at him. “Annie?”