Chapter 17 #2
“I’d love to go to Edinburgh some day,” Sara said. She’d never been in her own time, but somehow seeing it in this time period was much more appealing to her.
Everyone’s attention shifted as Aisla rushed into the room. “Edna has given me a list of plants she needs.” Sara stood and rushed to her side, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“We’ll see to it right away,” Nick said, “but first I’d like to introduce ye to me mother.” Lettie stood and joined them. “Ma this is Aisla. She carries yer grandchild.”
“What? I had no idea.” Logan watched the older woman carefully.
Aisla had been through too much to deserve judgement or scorn from anyone.
Lettie grasped her hands, “Rory told me he’d met someone at Breaghacraig, but when I heard how sick he was, I forgot all about it.
All I could think about was getting home to see him.
” She studied Aisla’s face and smiled, “So yer the lass who stole his heart.”
“Aye, ma’am,” Aisla shyly answered.
“And yer with child?”
Aisla looked down, ashamed, “Aye, ma’am,” her voice little more than a whisper.
Lettie placed her hand on Aisla’s chin and lifted her face, “Please call me Lettie. I am so happy to meet ye.” She embraced her and Aisla looked at Logan in shock, then allowed herself to hug her back.
She closed her eyes and Logan could see tears escaping.
He snuck a peek at Sara and was grateful she had been strong enough to fight for Aisla.
She was getting the love she deserved and, it appeared, a new family to love.
Lettie released her, but stayed close. “My girls will go get the plants she needs. Ye should go be with Rory while they search.” She looked to her daughters. “Isla, Merry take the list and go find what the woman needs.
The girls did as their mother said and Aisla returned to Rory’s side.
Lettie Mackall returned to her seat. “Come, let’s all sit again and visit with each other. ’Twill make the time go by more quickly.”
Logan was amazed at how Lettie was handling this. It was obvious that she was the matriarch of the family and was used to keeping things under control at Dunaill. As they visited, Nick’s brothers Duncan, Aidan and Lockie joined them. Lettie introduced them to Logan and Sara.
“How is Rory?” Lockie asked.
“Yer brother is quite ill,” she said. “He is being attended to right now by two kind people who have come a long way to see him.”
Solemn faces gazed back at their mother on hearing this news.
“Will he live?” Lockie asked.
“We must have hope,” Lettie answered, taking his hand.
***
Isla and Merry returned with the plants Edna needed. She’d requested several - dandelion, red clover, stinging nettle and burdock root to name a few.
“Thank ye,” she said. “Please stay. Yer positive energy will help me.”
Using a mortar and pestle she found by the bed, Edna cleaned it out, making sure no residue of the oleander was left in it. Then she carefully ground up the plants into a poultice which she placed directly on Rory’s wound.
Aisla held tightly to Rory’s hand as she sat next to him on the bed.
“These plants are to draw the toxins from his body.” She placed her hand over the poultice and the wound and began to chant.
It was an incantation that would have been unrecognizable to the others, but for Edna, it was the perfect spell for the occasion.
She repeated it over and over, occasionally removing and replacing the poultice, which she threw into the fire, causing it to flare and spark.
The others appeared silently mesmerized by her ritual and well they should be, by witnessing Edna’s work, they were adding their own healing thoughts into her spell and that was exactly what Rory needed.
Long minutes passed and well into the second hour Rory gasped and finally opened his eyes. He gazed around the room at them and a smile lit his eyes. “Why are ye all here? Why do ye stare?”
His sisters shrieked with joy and hugged each other. “How do ye feel, Rory?” Edna asked.
“Perfectly fine, why do ye ask?” He seemed unaware of his circumstance.
“Ye havenae been perfectly fine for some time now,” Edna said. She turned to the sisters. “Would one of ye be so kind as to go get the others.”
“Aye,” Merry said. “I’ll go.” She ran from the room and they could hear her receding footsteps all the way to the stairs and down.
“Aisla, have ye been here the whole time?” Rory asked
“Nae, love. Only a few days. Are ye well, then?”
“Aye. I’ve never felt better,” he said.
She held his hand to her mouth, kissing it as happy tears ran down her cheeks.
Rory sat up in the bed and pulled her close. “Don’t cry, love.” He cradled her head against his shoulder. Isla hurried to the other side of the bed and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “We thought we were going to lose ye.”
“It would take much more to ever get me to leave ye,” he said.
“Yer will to live is as much responsible fer saving yer life as is Edna Campbell. Everyone did their part to help, but ye were the most important piece of the puzzle,” Dr. Ferguson added.
The door opened and a rush of people entered. First was Lettie Mackall, then Nick and Kat, then Logan and Sara and finally Merry and the brothers. They all crowded around the bed wanting to see for themselves that he was well.
“Wow!” Sara exclaimed. “Compared to just a short time ago, it’s like you were never sick.”
“How do ye feel?” Nick asked the question on everyone’s mind.
“Fine, I’d like to get up and come downstairs, if that would be alright,” he said.
“I think it would be fine. If ye feel at all weak, please tell us,” Edna said.
“What are ye all waiting fer? I cannae get dressed while yer all standing there gaping at me,” Rory laughed and there was no more wonderful sound to the group gathered there.
The door opened and everyone began filing out. When Aisla got up to leave, Edna heard him say, “Nae, lass. Please stay. I dinnae wish you to be far from me.” Aisla sat back down and Rory took her hand. “I love ye, Aisla. I’ll never leave ye again.”
Edna smiled, knowing that by meddling in Rory and Aisla’s lives, she successfully helped Sara and Logan. She wasn’t sure she’d call that part of it meddling, but she was very pleased with herself.
***
The great hall was filled with the Mackalls and their guests. Everyone waited patiently for Rory and Aisla to make their entrance.
Sara was so excited by this turn of events that she had to control the urge to jump on Logan, who seemed overjoyed at what he’d just witnessed. He hadn’t been able to stop stroking her hair and her face. The elation she saw told her he loved her and she had no reason to doubt him.
“Sara, thank you,” Logan said, gazing into her eyes.
“For what?” she asked.
“For knowing the right thing to do and doing it. If it werenae fer ye, Rory would never have known about Aisla or the babe and he may nae have lived. And if it werenae fer ye, I would have lived me life without ye.”
His words touched her deeply. She didn’t know what to say, she did it because she loved him and there was no way she was going back home without having tried everything she could think of first. “Well, I did what I had to do.”
“I’m verra happy ye did, lass.” He crushed her to him and when she gazed up at him he took that opportunity to place a sweet, soft kiss on her lips.
Aisla and Rory entered the hall to cheers from all gathered there.
“I have an announcement to make,” Rory said once they had stopped. “Aisla and I are to wed.” Aisla looked over to Logan and smiled. Logan was so happy for her, she looked to be at peace. As though all of her wishes had just come true.
“Congratulations, brother,” Nick said, slapping Rory on the back. “And congratulations to our new sister.”
The other Mackall brothers raised their quaichs in a toast. “To yer good health and to our new sister. Welcome to the family.”
“Aisla would like to wait fer her Da to join us,” Rory said.
“Of course, my dear sister,” Nick said as he took Aisla’s hand and bowed to kiss it. “I shall send a messenger to Breaghacraig within the hour.” Aisla thanked him. And then she was swept up into hugs by her new sisters.
“Of course, in the meantime, we’ll plan the feast,” Lettie said, turning to face her guests. “We’d be happy to have ye join us for the celebration. Yer welcome to stay fer as long as ye like.”
“Thank ye. ’Tis most kind of ye,” Edna replied.
“Ye saved me son, I cannae thank ye enough, Edna. If I could give ye the moon and the stars, I would.” Lettie went to Edna and hugged her for a good long time.
Sara was feeling quite emotional and found she had tears in her eyes, she was so happy for this family and for Aisla.
***
Finally, back in their room and wrapped in each other’s arms, Sara’s thoughts were a jumble. She’d done it. She’d done what she set out to do and now here she lay in the arms of her love, a testament to the power of her determination.
They were quiet for a while, simply being together was enough for them and they both seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.
Sara thought of Aisla swept into the loving arms of her new family.
She looked so happy and so overwhelmed at the same time.
Aisla had a new home. She had Rory and baby.
She had brothers and sisters now, and her child would grow up surrounded by people that loved him. Or her.
She thought about her own childhood. Her brother that she left behind and felt that ache again.
She missed him. She wondered if he was worried about her.
She had been gone for weeks without checking in and she wondered if he had called in the cavalry to look for her.
Edna hadn’t said anything, but she hoped that somehow Zeke knew she was safe. Logan could be her family.
“We’ll be going home to Breaghacraig soon. Are ye happy, lass?”
Still lost in her thoughts, Sara didn’t answer right away. Home. Family. It suddenly occurred to her that she had no idea if Logan had a brother. She didn’t really know anything about him, his childhood. How did she get this deep without knowing the basics?
“Sara?”
“Yes.”
“Are ye happy or did ye you nae hear me?”
“I’m sorry, I was just thinking.”
“’Twas a simple question. Are ye happy?” He seemed afraid of what her answer might be.
“Of course, I’m happy,” she said, shifting in his arms and turning slightly to look into his eyes.
“So, what were ye thinking of?”
“Nothing. Just stuff.”
Logan tipped his head and cocked an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
“Logan, tell me about your family,” she said.
“There’s nae much to tell,” he answered.
“Have you always lived at Breaghacraig?”
“I was born at Castle Treun, where Dougall MacRae’s father is laird.
When I was about eleven or twelve, Dougall and I went to live at Breaghacraig.
Aisla and her Da also lived with the MacRaes and decided to move on at the same time.
So, the three of us, Dougall, Aisla and I became the best of friends. ”
“Why did you move to Breaghacraig? Did your family move there too?”
“Nae. Me family stayed with the MacRaes. Both Dougall and I were fostered out to the MacKenzies. ’Tis a tradition among families here to send their children to live and work with other families.”
“I’ve read about that. Was it hard for you to leave home?” Sara couldn’t imagine being a child and being sent away from your parents to live with strangers.
“It was, but ’twas also an exciting adventure. The MacKenzies are a good clan and they treated us well. ’Tis nae always the case with fostering, so I considered meself lucky.”
Sara’s thoughts went to her own childhood and how lucky she’d been to have a grandfather to care for her and Zeke. “And what about your family? Your mother and father. Where are they?”
“They’re still with the MacRaes. They work fer the laird. Me ma is the alewife fer the castle and me da is the master huntsman for the MacRaes.”
She had so many questions to ask him. So many things she didn’t know about him.
So many questions about what it would mean to live in this time.
Her parents had abandoned her and Zeke when they were young, but at least they were with her grandfather.
If she and Logan had children here would they expect her to send them off to live with strangers?
Is that what Jenna and Ashley were planning to do?
She watched as Logan drifted to sleep, his arms tight around her.
She loved him. But she wondered if she could ever feel at home at Breaghacraig.
Could she live in the past and leave her brother all alone?
The thoughts and fears continued to swirl around in her head until she fell into a fitful sleep.