Page 14 of Highland Spirit

“I’m sorry about Ethan’s death, Daughter. Honest, I am. I had nothin’ to do with it. Ye have to believe me. I didna even ken.”

“I believe ye, Faither. But Ethan is no’ dead. I saw Ethan MacKeefe last night, right here on this isle and at the castle.”

“Ye did?” Her father looked confused. “But I thought Diarmad said he was dead.”

“That’s what he wanted us to think,” she explained. “And like fools, we believed it, givin’ him more power to control us all.”

“Oh, Alana, I am so sorry.”

Alana went back to the bedstand, cradling the cup. She seriously started to consider the suggestion of leaving without her father. But then she shook her head and turned to face him. “Nay, Faither, we willna leave without ye. We are in this together to the end. That is what family is for.”

“Ye dinna deserve this kind of life, Alana. I’ve ruined all yer lives and killed yer mathair. I dinna deserve to live.”

“Stop that kind of talk.” She hurried over to the bed and sat on the edge, taking her father’s hands in hers. He looked so frail and gaunt. Ever since her mother died, he had lost his will to live. “Mathair’s last words were to forgive ye, and so I have. I understand ye’ve made some poor decisions in life. We all have. But we canna live our lives in regret. It’ll get better soon. I ken it will.”

“How can ye say that, Daughter? It’s been five years that we’ve been prisoners of Diarmad. He’s forced us to help him smuggle and he’s taken yer sister for his wife against her will. We are trapped and doomed to live this life forever.”

“Nay, we’re no’, Faither. We’ll find a way to leave now that we’re back in Scotland. But we’ll do it together.”

“None of us are welcome here anymore. Because of me, ye will all be rejected. And when it is discovered that we all had a hand in this deceitful ring of smugglin’, we’ll be killed or imprisoned for the rest of our lives.”

That was the thought that had been running through Alana’s mind for quite a while now. They were in too deep to ever get out.

“Mayhap Ethan can help us,” she blurted out, testing her father’s reaction.

“Nay!” her father bellowed, taking all his energy to do it. “The MacKeefes are our enemies now, just like the MacDougals, the Chisholms and many others. Ye canna ever tell him about this. If so, he’ll be sure to tell the others and that will be yer downfall. Ye must keep quiet about all this and tell no one. Do ye understand?”

“But Da! We are talkin’ about Ethan. He is the faither of my baby. Certainly he willna do anythin’ to risk our lives once he kens he has a child.”

“Nay, Alana. Ye must never tell him he’s the faither of yer child either,” her father said in a strong voice. “He’ll take Isobel away from ye, and ye’ll hang by the neck or spend the rest of yer life behind bars.”

“Nay, Ethan is no’ like that. He would never do anythin’ to hurt me. I was supposed to be his bride.”

“Exactly,” said her father, sadness filling his eyes now. “No man will accept that kind of treatment from a lassie. He will hate ye forever for leavin’ him at the altar.”

“Nay!” Alana dropped her father’s hands and sprang to her feet. “He must ken that it wasna my idea to leave him. It was yers, Faither, if ye havena forgotten.”

“Aye, it was my idea. And that is why ye and yer siblin’s must leave me and go far away. Try to make it to France where no one kens ye.”

“France? We dinna have any relations in France and neither do I want to go.”

“Ye’ll need money,” he said, his eyes closing partially. “God kens I’ve tried to work with Diarmad to pay back my debts and provide a guid life for ye, Kirstine and Finn. And even little Isobel. But I failed, Daughter. So now it is up to ye.”

“What do ye mean?”

“I saw yer mathair give ye somethin’ before she died even though ye deny it. And I’m sure it has somethin’ to do with the hidden treasure.”

“I – I dinna ken what ye’re talkin’ about.” She had never told her father. Her hand subconsciously caressed the key hanging from a string around her neck, under her clothes.

“Dinna lie, Alana. It doesna become ye. And I dinna have enough strength left to look for the treasure myself. I ken it is here in the castle, just as ye do.”

“What makes ye think that?”

“It only makes sense,” he told her. “I was a fool no’ to think of it before. One day, yer uncle told me that when he was a boy he used to come to Blackbriar Castle often in secret.”

“Uncle Freddie came here? Why?” she asked, not knowing why anyone would do that on purpose. The place was eerie and she didn’t even like being here although it was now her home. Still, hearing this confirmed her suspicions.

“I believe he befriended the madman, Murdock who used to live here. I saw them together once or twice. That got me thinkin’ lately, that he might have had Murdock hide the treasure. Ye’ve go to find it, Alana. With it, ye and the others will be able to start a new life far from Scotland.”