Page 44 of Highlander’s Forbidden Fruit

“Now I know my job is done. I have just one more duty by ye, then I am free to join my beloved.”

“Da!” Evanna exclaimed. Vaulting out of the chair, she hugged her father. “Dinnae even think it. I willnae allow ye to.”

“Ah, silly child.” He caressed her hair. “Worry nae. Taking yer own life’s a sin. And if I didnae know for a fact that yer Ma’s in Heaven, I wouldnae have minded the fires of Hell much. I’m growing old.”

Evanna pulled back to look carefully at her father. The truth of his statement was there. She had seen it as soon as she had arrived, but she had denied it, had not accepted it as a possibility.

“I dinnae have long.”

“What is it?”

“The wasting disease.”

“Oh, Da.” Evanna sobbed. “Why didnae ye write to me? I would have come earlier if I’d known.”

“And spoil yer fun? Nae! I want ye to explore the world, lass. Yer Ma always wanted to. Married to a man like me, she didnae get to do much of what she wanted. She loved to travel, I liked to stay in one place. I wouldnae deny ye that.”

Evanna cupped his face in both her hands and kissed him on the forehead. “Yer the best Da any lass could ask for. And Ma will have to wait. I’m nae letting ye go that easy.”

“I didnae think ye would, stubborn mule as ye are,” he chuckled.

She helped him to the bed and tucked him under the covers. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. His face looked haggard, and his breathing was a little shallow, but as Evanna sat by him and watched him sleep, his breathing deepened, and he began to snore. Kissing him once more on the head, Evanna slipped out of the room.

Back in her room, she let the thought finally penetrate her conscious mind - her father was dying. Her father was wasting away, but she had been so preoccupied by her silly problems that she hadn’t noticed.

Evanna had two choices before her—accept the fact and cry, or do something to stop it. True to her nature, she chose the latter. As she undressed, she made plans in her head. The first thing to do would be to inform the Ashby’s. They might know a physician who could provide a cure their local physician could not.

Then, as soon as the weather allowed, she would take her father to London, and if they didn’t find a cure there, further East. Evanna was willing to go to the ends of the earth to find a cure for her father. She wouldn’t give up on him; he had never given up on her.

Aleck wasn’t the only one who understood duty. Evanna understood her duty as a daughter better than anyone, and she would save her father if it was the last thing she did.

Chapter Sixteen

The parlor hadn’t been made use of in years. It had been the room most in use when Mary MacLeod had been alive. She had held court there, decided menus, consulted with the housekeeper, all while Evanna crawled on the stone floor getting under foot.

Watching the dust fly in the air as the sheets were removed from the furniture, Evanna sensed the spirit of her mother stirring in the room. After the feast, the beautiful dresses, and the sapphire necklace, Laird MacLeod had presented her with the parlor as her special space in the castle, as well as the responsibility of managing the household.

Evanna had been delighted with both gifts, until the cook and housekeeper had stormed into the parlor and started fighting like angry chickens in the yard.

“One would think she’s burnt her taste buds,” Mrs. Lane sniffed. “Even the puddings have salt in them.”

“Once!” Mrs. McTavish groaned. “That was once! The scullery maid mistook the salt for the sugar, the silly goat. A scullery maid ye hired, I might add.”

“She was a perfectly well-composed lass when I interviewed her. Ye must have terrified her, for her to make such a mistake.”

“Yer only bitter because yer sister wants me job, but the feast was a success, nae thanks to ye and yer incompetent hires.”

“That is an appalling accusation!”

Evanna was no longer sure this was a gift, more like a punishment from her father. She tried to get a word in edgewise, but the two women were too loud and too angry to pay her much mind. The butler walked in with her post, and she finally had an excuse to break up the argument.

“I must take a walk,” she announced. “It is custom to read yer correspondence while walking on the Continent,” she lied. “I have picked up the habit, unfortunately. Thank you for bringing yer concerns to me. I shall think on them and suggest a solution. However, since we are expecting a guest in six days, we should put our differences aside ‘til after Christmas?”

Momentarily mollified, the cook and housekeeper took their leave. Before more people could show up with their grievances, Evanna took the two letters that had arrived for her, pulled on her cloak, and made a beeline for the grounds.

The wind was high, but the sun was making frequent appearances through the ship-sail clouds. The hills were so close to the sky in Scotland it made one believe they could jump up and caress the deep blue. A rush of childish wonder took over Evanna, and she raised her hand to the sky, her fingers grasping only air.

As she made her way to the fields beyond her house, she watched the children play at soldiers. She smiled at their intense faces, the effort and focus on the quest at hand.