Page 25 of Highland Spy

“Is somethin’ the matter, Bridget?” he asked.

She didn’t want to worry her father. And since he couldn’t see well enough to read the passage anyway, she figured it best not to tell him about this at all. She would confront Caleb about it later.

“Nay, Da. Everythin’ is fine,” she said, her blood already boiling. She picked up the quill and the bottle of ink and smiled. If Caleb were going to play this feckless game, then she decided she was going to make him sorry he ever thought to pull such an addled stunt. Because if he wanted to be mentioned in the Highland Chronicles that badly, she would make sure it would be for something that no one would ever forget.

* * *

“Is Bridget here yet?” Caleb asked Logan, as they approached the practice yard where the lairds were sparring with each other in the preliminary round of the Leader of the Lairds Competition. Today, they would go through a round of events, and only the top six with the highest scores would compete in the finals tomorrow. His brothers, Grant, Quinn, and Finn were with him. There was such a crowd inside the castle walls, that he still hadn’t seen his sisters, Finnea and Trea, yet.

“Isna that her over there with the auld man?” asked Grant, pointing in the opposite direction.

Caleb turned his head to see Bridget standing with her father at the rail. Her father had the Highland Chronicles in his hand and was scribbling something down.

“Aye, that’s them. Brigham is writin’ in the Highland Chronicles,” said Caleb anxiously.

“Has he mentioned ye in the book yet?” asked Grant, always admiring his older brother. “After all, ye’ve done lots of things that should be recorded.”

“Oh, believe me, he’s mentioned,” said Logan. “His heroic deeds are all recorded on the pages of that book, and ye willna want to miss it.”

“Really?” asked Quinn. “Well, let’s go over there and hear what’s written about ye, Brathair.”

“I want to hear it, too,” added Finn.

Caleb shot Logan a dirty look. Logan laughed and headed in the opposite direction. “Happy readin’,” he called back over his shoulder.

“Well, what are we waitin’ for?” asked Grant. “Let’s go.”

“Why dinna we wait until later?” suggested Caleb. “The chronicler seems pretty busy right now.”

“Nay, we want to hear what he wrote about ye in the king’s book,” insisted Finn.

“Now isna a guid time,” said Caleb, trying to keep them from reading about him. If Logan laughed at the passage, then mayhap his brothers would, too. That was not the reaction he was looking for when he wrote it in the journal.

“They dinna seem that busy. Ye stay here if ye want, Caleb, but we’re goin’ to ask to read the passage about ye.” Quinn took off in the direction of Bridget.

“Nay, wait!” Caleb ran after them, thinking mayhap he could read it aloud, and change a few words to make it sound even better. He rushed ahead of them, getting there first. As he approached Brigham, he noticed the oddest thing. The man had the quill in his right hand, even though Bridget had told him that her father learned to write with his left hand.

Bridget turned her head slightly and saw him. “Caleb,” she said, jumping in front of her father. “What are ye doin’ here?”

“We want to hear what yer faither wrote about him in the Highland Chronicles,” said Grant anxiously. “Chronicler, can ye please read it for us?”

Brigham and Bridget exchanged a glance that, to Caleb, almost seemed a bit worried.

“He’s very busy right now,” said Bridget. “Ye’ll have to come back later.”

“See, I told ye so,” said Caleb. “Come on, Brathairs. I’ll just tell ye what’s been said about me in the book.” They started to walk away.

“Wait a minute.” Bridget stopped them. She took the book from her father while he held on to quill and put the bottle of ink on the ground. “Mayhap Caleb would like to read it for ye,” she suggested, flipping the page and handing the book to him.

“Nay, that’s all right,” said Caleb. “We’re leavin’.” His pine marten poked its head out of his bag and he reached over and petted it. “I dinna care to read it. We’ll come back later.”

“Nay, I want to hear it,” protested Quinn.

“Me, too,” said Finn.

“If he doesna want to read it, I will.” Grant reached out and took the book from Bridget causing Caleb’s heart to jump into his throat. He was starting to regret ever writing in the book at all now. If his brothers laughed at him the way Logan did, he wouldn’t ever be able to live it down. What if everyone laughed at what he wrote? He thought it sounded heroic and admirable but now he was having second thoughts. He had to stop his brother from reading it aloud.

“Nay, I’ll read it.” Caleb put his bag and his pine marten on the ground and took the book from his brother.