Chapter Nine
The closer Breckin got to home, the more concerned he was for Eva. She’d fallen asleep and hadn’t awakened for the remainder of the ride. On the approach to the bridge, he passed by his sister’s torch to ensure it had remained lit. Its flame was steady and bright.
The horses’ hooves tromped over the wooden boards of the bridge and instead of riding to the stable which he’d normally do, Breckin continued and headed toward his aunt’s home.
Gideon trotted toward him from down the lane and met him at the entrance of Clare’s cottage. Breckin was about to dismount but with Eva in his hold, it was most difficult so he waited for his comrade to reach him.
“Ye are back. Who is the lass?” His friend scowled in wonder. “Did ye find a wee fairy in the woods on your journey?” Gideon chortled at his jest but ceased when Breckin glared at him.
“She is my wife.”
Gideon bellowed a laugh and pressed his hand over his stomach. “Your wife? Ye jest, Breckin, because I recall ye saying ye wanted no wife. Ye were most adamant about it.”
“I do not jest and that was before…” He closed his eyes briefly and ceased his explanation. “This is Eva, Lady Buchanan to ye,” Breckin finally retorted testily. He wanted no banter from his friend because his utmost concern was getting Eva inside and tended to. “Here, take her for me.”
Gideon stepped forward and accepted Eva from him.
He held her in his arms and Eva continued to slumber.
She hadn’t woken even with the shift of her body.
“Praised be, Breckin, she’s a fair bonny lass.
I want to hear how this came about. Married, why ’tis unthinkable.
Did ye not profess before ye left that ye had no time for a wife? What caused this miracle?”
Breckin dismounted and took Eva back into his hold. She snuggled against him and set her head on his shoulder. Eased by her acceptance, he sighed. “There is no time for this discussion now. Will ye fetch Willa? My wife ails and needs medicine. She burns with fever.”
Gideon gave a quick nod and sprinted away.
Willa, his commander-in-arms’ mother, was a skilled healer but she preferred to stay in her reclusive cottage on the other side of the bridge.
His clan rarely called her forth and usually only for dire situations or on their return from war to patch up his soldiers.
Breckin reached the door and entered his aunt’s cottage. It was after the mid-day meal. He’d thought his aunt would be there. She was always at the cottage in the later part of the day. And indeed she was, kneading bread at the table. She looked up as he entered the room and ceased her work.
“Breckin…ye have returned. What, ah, who is that?”
He continued past the kitchen area and reached the bedchamber he used.
Awkwardly, he almost dropped Eva when he tried to push the door open.
Inside the chamber, he ambled toward the bed and set her gently upon it.
Eva still hadn’t awakened. He set his hand on her head and sighed at the heat permeating from her. Heat emanated from her.
Eva moaned as she rousted and blinked her eyes. “Where are we?”
“We are home. Rest easy, lass, and I will fetch ye a cup of water. Ye must be thirsty.” Breckin left the chamber and hurried to the kitchen.
His aunt followed him and mumbled under her breath, “Ye cannot bring your woman here, Breckin. This is a moral household and God fearing. I will not have ye here fornicating with that woman—”
“She is my wife, Clare. Cease pestering me now. I must get her water.” Breckin found a half-filled pitcher on the table.
He snatched the cup next to it and retraced his steps back to the chamber.
There, he poured a small amount of water for Eva and held it to her mouth. She groaned and took small sips.
“I am sorry…,” she rasped.
“Our healer is on her way here, Eva. She will have ye feeling better in no time.” But Breckin didn’t believe what he’d told her.
Concern furrowed his brows and he felt the pull between his eyes.
With a long drawn-in breath, he tried to maintain calmness.
But his parents had perished from just such a malady when fever ravaged them.
Breckin admitted to himself that he didn’t want to lose Eva too, just when they were getting along, and just when he was beginning to accept her.
“Sorry to…ruin your…homecoming,” she said groggily.
Breckin pressed his hand to her face and shook his head. “Ye did not ruin it, lass.”
Noise alerted him that Willa had finally arrived. The small chamber was suddenly filled with people: him, Eva, Clare, Gideon, and Willa. He explained her malady to the healer and waved her forward. “Will ye tend to her? She needs care.”
“Go on with ye, Laird, and all of ye get out. I shall see to her,” Willa said.
The aged woman wore a head covering over her brownish-red hair, streaked with a little gray.
Her eyes had dulled to a steely blue but there was still a shine to them.
With a smile, she shuffled all of them out of the room with flaps of her hands.
“I cannot take care of the lass with ye all looking over my shoulder. Worry not, for she is in good hands.”
Breckin stood by the door. “I will return shortly. She’s been feverish since early this morn.”
“All will be well, Laird. The willow bark shall cease the fever’s hold on her, I can promise ye that. Before ye leave, light a fire in the hearth.” Willa turned away from him and began her ministrations.
He did as she asked and placed logs in the small hearth.
Then he set kindling in and found flint in a basket where the logs were kept and set the flame.
Breckin was hesitant to leave because Eva wasn’t quite aware of where she was or that Willa tended to her.
She had fallen back to sleep before the healer arrived.
Breckin would hurry about his tasks and return to ensure she was on the mend.
As he passed through the cottage, Clare stopped him. “Who is she? I will hear no tales, Breckin, and disbelieve that falsity about a wife. If ye think to keep your mistress here in my home—”
Gideon stopped next to his aunt and bellowed, “She is his wife if ye can believe that.”
His aunt scoffed. “I never knew ye to be deceitful, Breckin. If ye were going to marry, ye would have told me, would ye not? Nay, Gideon, he must speak falsely.”
Breckin grew wearisome of their incredulity and grunted before he explained, “Alexander bade me to marry her when I was in Edinburgh. Unfortunately, we owe the king a good amount of tax on our land and he was willing to forgo it if I married Eva.”
“Oh, good Lord. Did ye not tell him that we paid Lord Lennox as agreed?” Clare asked.
“I did, but the king said that regardless of our agreement with Lennox, we still owed tax on the land to him, to our sovereignty, and hadn’t paid it since we’d received the land from Lennox.
Ye can imagine how it amounted as we have held these lands for years.
As ye know, we do not have the coins to pay such an exuberant amount of tithe and I had no choice but to marry her. ”
“Well, I for one am gladdened,” Gideon said and shoved his shoulder. “She’s a bonny lass, Breckin. Ye are fortunate. I fear our soldiers will have a hard time focusing on their training if she passes by them.” He whistled low. “I do not think I have ever seen a more beautiful woman.”
Clare set her hands on her hips and glared at his commander. “I will be sure to tell your wife ye spoke such nonsense, Gideon.”
Gideon snorted. “Och, go ahead, for she will not believe ye. But ’tis true enough because your wife, Laird, is breathtakingly beautiful.”
“I would appreciate it if ye did not notice or say such things.” He wanted to laugh but with Eva being ill, he kept his mien serious. “Now, tell me about the happenings whilst I was away.”
At that moment, his brothers entered the cottage shouting his name. Breckin shushed them. “Quiet. Why must ye bellow?”
Connor pushed past Caden. “Is it true, Laird, that ye brought a woman home?”
“Aye, the men said they saw ye holding a woman,” Caden said with awe, “…upon your horse.”
“I married a lass in Edinburgh named Eva. Lady Buchanan, to all of you.”
Breckin stepped outside and stood before the cottage. He needed air. The closeness of the cottage and the retelling of the events at the king’s castle nearly suffocated him. But his family and commander followed and surrounded him. They seemed to want to question him further about his marriage.
Meanwhile, his younger brothers continued to snicker.
Conner said, “Why do ye need a wife, Breckin? Och, we do not need another to tell us what to do. We get enough of that from the elders.”
He wanted to cuff his brother’s head for such a comment but just shook his head. “I did not need a wife, but when the king demands ye accept one, ye do. And as for telling ye what to do, go on and see to my horse and my wife’s. Bring our satchels and belongings back to Clare’s.”
“Breckin, the cottage is small. There’s barely enough room for me and the lads.”
“We shall only stay long enough for Eva to recover from her ailment.” Breckin had given thought to where he would put Eva when they arrived. The only available lodging was his uncle’s longhouse. No one had occupied it for a time, but he’d have his brethren make it habitable.
As he waited for Gideon to give his report, his aunt left them and ambled down the lane to speak to some of the women who stood in a group. He suspected they would gossip as women were likely to do.
“Tell me the happenings, Gideon. Did the men train hard?”
His commander nodded and pressed his hands over his tunic. “Aye, they practiced from sunup to sundown, Laird, and even the fledgling soldiers have improved. They are ready for any fracas and anticipate taking to arms.”
“Good, because I saw William Stewart when I passed his land and he told me that he married Danella MacLaren.”