Page 4 of It’s in his Highland Kiss

“Aye, until yer maither didna wish to come to Scotland anymore,” Eiric pointed out. “Weel, I remember ye weel from back then, and I remember how yer maither and yer faither treated ye. I also remember that ye stood up for me, even when ye kent that yer maither wouldna agree. Ye dinna need to explain anythin’ to me . . . I remember it all.”

Marion was stunned speechless. She stared at Eiric, mouth agape, trying to wrap her head around the fact that not only did someone remember her, but he remembered her fondly.

“Let me ask ye this, lass,” Eiric said, snapping Marion out of her shock. “What do ye wish to do noo? Do ye wish to go back to yer family?”

Marion didn’t need to think about it before she shook her head. It was the last thing that she wanted, and she was certain that were she to go back, she would try to kill herself again, and perhaps next time, she would succeed.

“No,” she told Eiric. “Cruel as it sounds, I don’t think I wish to ever see them again.”

For a few moments, Eiric seem conflicted, frozen in place, but then he took Marion’s hand in his and led her away from the river and back towards the manor. She stumbled after him, trying to catch up to him as he pulled her along, but she didn’t follow him without protest.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked. “I can’t possibly go back to the manor looking like this!”

“We’re nae goin’ to the manor,” Eiric assured her.

Soon, they reached the stables, and Eiric made her hide behind a short wooden wall, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“Stay here,” he told her. “And promise me that ye willna do anythin’ foolish. I’ll be right back, and I dinna want to come here and see that ye’re gone on yer own, alright?”

“I promise,” Marion said, though she didn’t know how much she could trust Eiric. “What will you do?”

Eiric grinned at her, and Marion was surprised to find her heart skipping a beat, though she supposed it wasn’t too strange. Eiric was a handsome man, more so than John Forsythe, though in his own, rugged way. Where Forsythe was refined, polished from head to toe, Eiric was brutish, and seemed to her like the kind of hot-headed man who would challenge another man to a duel for the smallest offense.

“I’ll be back,” he told her, instead of answering her question, and soon he was gone, leaving Marion alone in the stables.

I hope he’s not lying about coming back. I hope he won’t just leave me here for the rest of the night.

But Eiric didn’t seem to her like the kind of person to do such a thing. He couldn’t possibly play such a cruel prank on her, she thought. He seemed earnest and kind, and Marion remembered just how sweet he had been to her when they were children, even though he was a good seven years older than she was. He had never made fun of her before, not like other children used to do. He had never been anything but thoughtful.

She wondered where Eiric would take her. She couldn’t help but ask herself whether she was being too trusting; Eiric was no stranger, certainly, but she was trusting him to take her anywhere he wished, without telling anyone.

It doesn’t matter where he takes me. My mother will find out, sooner or later, and she won’t let me get too far.

Marion waited, and then waited some more. She didn’t know what Eiric was doing, but she did know that he was taking a long time to return, and her doubts began to come back to her one by one, her experiences up until that moment making her think that he had abandoned her.

Perhaps I should go back to the manor.

How could she, though? She looked like a mess, much worse than she usually did in her mother’s old clothes. Her dress was still drenched, the heavy fabric refusing to get any drier, and her hair was still plastered to her head, though the roots had begun to dry off. Even her shoes were muddy after she put them on while she was still dripping wet, causing them to pick up what seemed to her like half of the dirt in the garden.

Her mind reeled with unwelcome, suspicious thoughts. Marion almost expected Eiric to come back with every single person in the manor, all of them laughing at her, calling her naïve for believing him and pathetic for trying to take her own life. She could almost hear them all, and among them, her mother.

She would have no qualms chastising her in front of everyone this time, not when she would know that she had dived into the river.

Marion’s heart thumped in her chest, and her hands began to shake at the thought that Eiric would humiliate her. She tried to push those thoughts out of her mind though, knowing that it was nothing more than her low self-esteem trying to trick her.

He would never do such a thing. He would never hurt anyone like that. He’s a sweet man.

Before Marion could panic any further, she heard some footsteps approaching, and she could do little other than cower behind the wall where she was hiding, in case it wasn’t Eiric, but rather someone else. She could hardly explain the situation to the stableboy, after all.

“Marion!” a voice whispered, and Marion immediately recognised it as Eiric’s. “Ye can come out noo. It’s alright.”

A relieved sigh escaped Marion’s lips. Her hands were still shaking, though not quite as much as before, but she stood and approached Eiric, a small smile on her face.

A smile that soon turned into a frown when she saw that he was holding a dress. Even though it looked like a practical, everyday dress, it was much more beautiful than anything Marion had ever worn. Its mossy green fabric was sturdy, yet still delicate, and she could only imagine someone like Mary wearing it; someone who was used to beautiful dresses and spending every day in extravagance.

“I brought ye a dress to change into,” Eiric said. “Mary gave it to me, she said ye can keep it.”

“Is that why you went back to the manor?” Marion asked, tentatively taking the dress out of Eiric’s hands and admiring it. She couldn’t understand how Mary could possibly part with it. Had it belonged to Marion, she would have never given it to anyone else.