Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
“I daenae ken the lass, and even I can see ye’re talkin’ out yer arse.” Jonah leaped unexpectedly to Adeline’s defense, snarling like his terrier at Oliver. “Weasel has a sense for people, and if I were to put him near ye, he’d bite yer nose off. But ye’ll notice he doesnae want to do anythin’ but kiss the nose off this lassie here. I suggest ye put another cloth on yer head and lie back down, ye wee wastrel.”
Adeline stood frozen beside Logan, willing him to look at her, willing him to show her that he didn’t believe a word his brother had just said. Maybe she had met with a seer, whatever that was, but she hadn’t done it on purpose.
She came to me. I didn’t seek her out. I didn’t even know what she was. I just thought she was some weird old woman, she wanted to say, but she had a feeling that would only make things worse.
Oliver’s nostrils flared, his eyes flashing with menace. “What did ye just say to me, old man?”
“Och, do ye want me to put ye over me lap and wash yer ears out, too?” Jonah shot back, with all the attitude of an elderly man who didn’t much care what happened to him.
“Watch yer mouth!” Dallas barked, though it was not clear whom he was reprimanding.
Logan put up his hands. “Quiet, all of ye. I dinnae bring Adeline here to start a quarrel.” He gestured to her without looking at her. “Can ye go and tend to Jonah, please? Meanwhile, I’m goin’ to deal with me brother.”
He stormed off toward the cart, taking hold of the carthorse’s reins. He turned the cart around and walked the mighty beast—Oliver jostling in the back—down the path from the hut, halting only when he was far enough to be out of earshot.
If you come back calling me a witch again, I’m going to take whatever that seer gave me, and I’m going to leave.
Angry tears stung Adeline’s eyes. After last night, she didn’t want him distrusting her again. Her heart, already fragile, wouldn’t be able to take it.
The terrier whined, jumping up to lick her face again, as if to say, It’s all going to be okay. Now, gimme a kiss.
Deciding that the dog might be therapeutic, she scooped the terrier into her arms and lavished him with scratches and kisses. He panted happily, his tail swishing, as she approached Jonah.
“We’ll get started, then, unless you still don’t want me to help you?” She flashed him a wry smile, doing her best to ignore whatever was happening by the cart.
Jonah shrugged. “Weasel seems to think ye’re nae so bad. Aye, ye can help me, though I daenae ken what ye think ye can do for me. If ye’re anythin’ like that last healer we had, ye’d be better off sendin’ for a priest.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Adeline said firmly, pressing on into the tumbledown hut with Weasel in her arms.
An hour, several bandages, a fresh batch of willow bark tonic, and some stern instructions later, Adeline emerged from the hut. Weasel trotted beside her, as if he was planning to follow wherever she went, while Jonah limped behind.
“Six weeks, and you’ll feel like a new man. Or an old man, but not so broken,” Adeline teased.
Helping Jonah had come at the perfect time, keeping her attention off Logan and Oliver.
“Remember,” she continued, “snow against the ribs for as long as you can bear it, until the swelling and bruising goes down. Sleep with a pillow under your back. Drink that tonic every four to six hours. And no marathons, no boxing matches, no duels, no playing chase with Weasel here, even if he gives you puppy eyes. Eat well, drink well, boil your water, and I think you might just outlive us all.”
Jonah bowed his head, fishing in his pocket for something. “Ye’ll take this for yer troubles, lass.”
A coin flashed in his hand.
“I can’t take that,” she insisted, but he put it in her hand anyway, just like the seer had done.
“I willnae be beholden to anyone,” Jonah said gruffly. “Ye did fine work, ye get paid for it.”
Reluctantly, she slipped the coin into her apron pocket, along with the mysterious parcel. There’d been no time for her to even take a peek at the object, but she could feel it there like an omen or a gift—she didn’t know which.
Just then, Logan returned, having left the cart and Oliver at the bottom of the slope leading away from Jonah’s home. He still wouldn’t look at Adeline, focusing his full attention on the old man instead.
“Has she healed ye?” he asked.
Jonah shrugged. “We’ll find out in six weeks, accordin’ to her. But I cannae say this wasnae one of me better afternoons. If ye feel compelled to visit me again, m'laird, despite me wishes to be left alone, bring her along with ye.” He winked at Adeline. “For Weasel, ye understand. Poor lad looks like he’s goin’ to miss ye.”
Sweeping the terrier up into her arms once more, Adeline kissed his coarse fur, her eyes discreetly peeking at Logan.
Was that why he was acting like this? She’d assumed that hearing about the seer would make him want to throw her in the dungeons again, but now she was starting to think it had more to do with what the seer might be able to do for her.
Is he ignoring me because he’s going to miss me?
Her heart twinged.
She thought of that morning, waking up without him. How she’d reached across to find him, hoping he was there beside her, and the crushing disappointment when he hadn’t been.
Last night had changed something between them. They’d both felt it, right at the end, when they’d gazed into one another’s eyes—a connection that would hurt like hell when time severed it.
“We should be I’ back to the keep,” Logan said flatly. “Do whatever she’s told ye to do, Jonah, and daenae complain about it. I’ve got faith in her healin’ abilities.”
Jonah rolled his eyes. “She’s already hammered the instructions into me head. Ye daenae need to hammer them again.” He paused. “Though, if ye are feelin’ obligin’, I wouldnae mind borrowin’ some lads to help me rebuild me roof.”
“I’ll come tomorrow,” Logan replied, a note too fast. “I’ll bring what I can, and if it takes a few days, so be it. I cannae have ye and Weasel freezin’ out here when the next storm hits us.”
Jonah shrugged. “Aye, well, I’ll be waitin’ with me boiled water for ye, then.”
“Adeline,” Logan said gruffly, making his way toward the horses.
It’s better this way.
But Adeline did not believe a word. She wouldn’t have asked Logan to forget about last night at all if she’d thought it would mean him turning cold on her.
Dallas had taken the horses off to graze while Adeline had been tending to Jonah, and it seemed like Logan’s uncle had gotten so bored of waiting that he’d fallen asleep on a mound of moss. As natural beds went, Adeline thought it looked pretty comfortable. The kind of place that, in the summer, when it was warm in the evening, she could picture herself lying on with Logan.
I won’t be here in the summer .
It hadn’t been an accident that she’d asked the villagers to give her a week to prove herself, and if nothing worked, she’d leave. In her mind, a week was just enough time to see the effects of her treatment without getting too attached to this place and the people in it.
Of course, she was painfully aware that she’d said that before last night happened, but still…
“Dallas, we’re leavin’.” Logan gave his uncle a gentle kick in the side. “On yer feet.”
Dallas peered up at his nephew. “How’s the wee imp farin’? I dinnae hear screamin’, so I assume ye either struck a peace treaty or killed him.”
“He fell asleep,” Logan grumbled.
Dallas got up, dusting off his trews. “I willnae join ye back to the keep. After seein’ what happened in the villages, I willnae be able to rest ‘til I’ve told the north, south, and the west about this boilin’ of the water. But I’ll return once the task is done.”
“Och, ye’re leavin’ me to contend with me brother alone?” Logan groaned in exasperation. “Me maither will coddle him, as she always does. She just willnae see that he’s the twin of me faither. Willnae believe there’s a bad bone in his body, when most of ‘em are rotten already.”
Adeline raised a shy hand. “I’m no psychiatrist, but I can’t imagine it’s easy to be the second son around here.”
Logan and Dallas both turned to stare at her. She realized, too late, that she’d let a modern word slip, but neither seemed to care about that.
“I was a second son,” Dallas replied haughtily, “and I never let meself get into the sort of trouble Oliver gets into because of it. I understood me place. He never has.”
Adeline hesitated. “With respect, that’s you, not him. People deal with things differently. He’s probably got a major inferiority… uh… obsession. I mean, you look at Logan here, and you think, ‘This man can’t be real.’ He’s like a mythical hero in real life. The kind of man people can only dream of, you know?” She gestured to the cart in the near distance. “And Oliver is just… the brother. He likely realized he’d get a lot more attention if he acted out and has been doing it ever since.”
Logan and Dallas kept staring at her, though she was fairly certain she wasn’t speaking a foreign language, and she hadn’t dropped any other modern words.
“Just a thought,” she said awkwardly. “An opinion. I might be wrong, he might be a total bastard, but… something to consider.”
Logan’s expression hardened. “Did ye forget what he said about ye?”
“I didn’t forget, but he’s sick, he’s cranky—he’s going to say some mean things. I’ve seen it a thousand times before,” she replied. “Besides, I know I’m not a witch.”
Something else flickered across Logan’s eyes. “But did ye speak with the seer?”
“Logan, I wouldn’t know what a seer was if it came up and smacked me in the face. What does a seer see, exactly? We don’t have them where I come from.”
It was only a partial lie, and until she knew what was in that little parcel that the old woman had given her, it would stay that way.
Logan’s face softened slightly, but tension lingered in his clenched jaw. “Uncle, ride on to the other villages and report to me when ye return.” He glanced back at Adeline. “I keep sayin’ it, but we’re leavin’ now, and if we daenae leave soon, it’ll be dark. Nights come in quickly here on the islands.”
I wish they’d slow down.
Adeline’s hand unconsciously fell to the pocket of her apron. Something round and solid pressed against her palm.
Her exit out of 1705, or just a gift from a mad, old woman? She guessed she’d find out soon.