Page 79 of Highland Sky

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Ijust canna do it,” Nash told North the next morning, pacing back and forth in the cottage he and his friends shared while visiting the MacKenzies. They had planned to spend the night in the stable, but had been convinced by Tomas to use one of the cottages after all.

“I canna say I blame ye,” said North with a yawn. “I wouldna leave the MacKeefes for a lass, no matter if she was my wife or no’.”

“That’s no’ what I mean.” Nash ran a weary hand through his long hair and plopped back down on the bed. “I canna leave Kellina. The lass has been through so much. She’s lost nearly everyone in her life, and I will no’ do that to her.”

“Did I hear ye say ye’re leavin’ the MacKeefes?” Gavin got out of bed and started dressing.

“Nay, he’d never do such a daft thing.” Cam sat on the edge of his bed and stretched and yawned. “Would ye, Nash?”

“Ye dinna understand. I love her.” Nash groaned and buried his face in his hands.

“Well, after hearin’ that profession of love accompanied by a groan, I really never want to fall in love or get married now,” said his brother.

“I dinna understand why ye canna stay at both places.” Cam got up and dressed. “Tomas is no’ bein’ fair at all.”

“Aye, it would be guid to trade off where ye live, like Cam and I and our wives are doin’,” said Gavin.

“I told ye, it’s different.” Nash got up and started to pace again. “Ye two dinna have wives from another clan. If I dinna make the right choice, our clans could go to battle. I married the girl for an alliance, and I canna just leave her behind now. This is a lifelong commitment.”

“An alliance that ye were forced into,” North reminded him.

“Tomas is chieftain now,” Nash continued. “He forbade us to live with both clans. We need to choose. One or the other.”

“Then just convince yer wife to go with ye,” said Cam, as if the answer were just that easy.

“She’s already made it quite clear that she willna leave,” Nash told him.

“Are ye really leavin’ the MacKeefes, Brathair?” North looked so disappointed that it made Nash want to change his mind. He didn’t want to abandon Kellina but, at the same time, he didn’t want to leave his brother either.

Nash let out a deep sigh, sitting backwards on a chair, burying his face in his hands once again. He’d had no idea that when he served his sentence it was going to entail all these decisions, and possibly leaving the MacKeefes. This really isn’t what he wanted at all. But neither did he want to leave his new wife. He loved her!

“God’s eyes, I dinna ken what to do,” Nash said with a groan.

“I’m sure ye’ll come up with the right answer,” said Cam, either being an idiot or having more faith in Nash then he did in himself.

“If there is an answer to solve all my problems, I dinna ken what it is.”

“Well, whatever ye decide, ye’d better hurry,” said Gavin. “We are leavin’ for the MacKeefes soon.”

“And we hope ye’ll be with us, Brathair,” said North, making Nash’s heart ache even more, if that were at all possible.

*

“Hurry, Kellina, thesun is startin’ to rise and I dinna want to miss it.”

“Me neither,” said Jamie, holding on to the kitten as he followed Caitlin up the hill to the gravesites.

Kellina followed her siblings up the hill, after they woke her much earlier than she’d intended on rising. Then again, this was the day the MacKeefes were leaving, and she needed to talk to Nash before he went.

“Look!” Jamie pointed at the orange ball rising in the sky behind the mountains of the Highlands.

“It’s beautiful,” said Kellina, glad she had come with them now. The sky looked magical. Orange hues lit up the horizon, and wisps of dark clouds made it stand out even more.

“It almost looks like fire,” said Caitlin, picking a handful of heather to lay atop the graves.

“Dinna say fire,” Kellina answered, feeling a shiver run up her spine. “There are too many bad memories involvin’ that.”