Chapter 33 #2
They rode under the gatehouse of the big house, road-weary and exhausted in their souls. All Cait wanted to do was fall into a soft bed and sleep for the next several days, but that wasn’t possible, because both grandfathers were waiting for them.
Their faces were expectant when they saw Iain. It turned Cait’s heart that she had worse news to impart.
She slid off her horse into Iain’s arms. “Be strong,” he whispered in her ear as he hugged her tightly.
“I don’t think I have any strength left in me.”
He kissed her nose. “Of course you do.”
“Well, lass, ye did it,” Graham said. “How ye did it, I don’t know, but he’s free from the clutches of the bloody English.” He eyed Iain. “Although ye look a little worse for wear, lad. Had a time with ye, did they?”
“Aye,” Iain said.
She hugged Graham, then MacGregor.
“How’d ye do it?” MacGregor asked.
She hesitated and looked at Iain.
“We’ll tell you all about it,” Iain said. “But first we need to speak to Graham alone.”
MacGregor glanced at Graham, who had gone pale. He looked around at the travel-weary warriors. “Where’s Rory?”
Cait took Graham’s arm and steered him toward the house. Iain was right. She found the strength she needed. She always found the strength she needed. She heard Iain give orders to the grooms, who were taking the horses away, and to the housekeeper about food.
Maggie came out of the house and went to MacLean, who hugged her tightly. Eleanor emerged as well and met up with Sutherland. How the women came to be at the big house, Cait didn’t know, but she was inordinately glad to see them.
Iain caught up to Cait and her grandfather and directed them to his study, where Graham sat down heavily and looked at Cait with sad eyes. “Just tell me.”
She knelt before him and took his gnarled hands in hers while Iain poured three glasses of whiskey. “Rory has been arrested, Grandfather.”
His fingers jerked in hers. “Those damn bloody English. What charges have they thought up now?”
She squeezed his fingers lightly. “It’s not like that. Rory admitted to killing Donaldson and the other soldiers.”
He yanked his hands from hers and put them on the arms of the chair as if to rise. But the strength went out of him and he slumped back into the chair, hanging his head and rubbing his eyes. Iain squeezed his shoulder. “Why?” Graham asked in a scratchy voice.
“He said he was tired of the English forcing their authority on us. He wanted them gone from Scotland.”
Graham raised his head with fire in his eyes. “So the big numpty thought he could kill them one by one? Is the lad daft?”
“I don’t know what was going on in his head.”
Graham looked over at Iain. “So ye didn’t kill the bastard Donaldson?”
“No, sir.”
“But yet ye said ye did it. Why?”
“To save Cait.”
Graham’s jaw worked for a bit. “Ye love her that much?”
“I do.”
Graham looked at her. “And ye love him, too?”
“More than anything.”
He nodded. The lines in his face appeared more stark than when they’d first walked in. His once proud shoulders were bowed.
“I’m sorry, Grandfather.”
He jerked his head up. “For what?”
“For Rory.”
Iain cleared his throat. “There is some good news. They’re taking him to England, and I will hire the best man to represent him. Hopefully, we can get the charges dropped and Rory released.”
Graham shifted his attention to Iain. “And what if he really did do this? Then what?”
“Then he will be convicted.”
“And hanged,” Graham said, his face paling. “My God. I had no idea. I don’t like the English any more than the next Scot, but I would never condone this type of killing.”
“You are free to stay here for as long as you want,” Iain said.
Graham straightened his shoulders. “Nay. I need to get back to my own clan before word spreads. Rory was well liked, and it will be a blow to our people.” He pushed up from the chair and looked at Cait with watery eyes.
“I’ll come to ye when I can,” she said softly.
“I know ye will, lass.” He glared at Iain. “Ye take care of her. She’s all I have left in this world, ye know.”
Iain stepped up next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “She’s all I have in this world, too.”
Graham looked at the two of them, his gaze flitting back and forth and finally landing on Iain. “Give me a few days and then come to me. We’ll discuss yer thoughts on working with the English for the betterment of Scotland. I’m no’ convinced it can happen, but I’ll listen.”
Iain nodded. “I’ll come by in a few days and bring Cait with me, too.”
Graham nodded and walked out, a little more stooped, his steps a little slower.
—
After Cait and Iain watched Graham ride away, Cait broke down and cried. To her surprise, MacGregor followed Graham and said he would stay with him for a bit. Could it be that her grandfathers were finally coming to like each other? How sad that it had taken a tragedy for such a thing to happen.
She and Iain walked back into the house, where Brice and Eleanor and Maggie and Colin were waiting for them. Brice had pulled out the whiskey and they all had a drink, even the women.
“Whatever you need,” Eleanor said to Cait in her soft voice, “you just ask.” Maggie nodded and raised her glass in salute.
“Thank ye,” Cait said, overly warmed by these new friendships.
It seemed like so long ago that she was alone in her cottage and liking it that way.
Now she couldn’t imagine such a thing. She had friends.
Something she’d never thought she’d have again.
Two women who liked her and wanted to be in her company.
She wanted that as well, which was more shocking.
She looked over at Iain, and her heart filled with a love that she’d long denied herself. John wouldn’t be upset. He would be surprised but not upset. Iain was right. John wouldn’t have wanted her to wither away on the edge of nowhere alone, hurt and grieving the rest of her life.
Iain caught her eye and grinned at her. He made his way to her, took her hand, and raised it to his swollen and bruised lips. “We’ll wed when the bruises go away,” he said softly.
She grinned. “Why then?”
“So no one thinks we beat each other on the way to the wedding.” He frowned. “How long do bruises take to heal?”
“Ten days or so.”
He groaned. “That long?”
Behind him, Sutherland laughed and clapped him on the back, making Iain wince. “Ye waited this long, mate, ye can wait a bit longer.”
“I’m no’ so sure of that.” MacLean rocked back on his heels and wiggled his eyebrows at Iain. Maggie slapped him on the shoulder and rolled her eyes. They all laughed.
It was a bright point, a memory that Cait would cherish when the dark times came.
Because they were coming. Cait had no idea what the future held for Scotland or the proud Scottish people who had inhabited this land for centuries.
Certainly there would be some changes ahead for them; she only hoped they would realize that compromise was the only way to survive.
She of all people knew that compromise was difficult, but if she could do it, then her fellow Scots could as well.
Only then would they be able to live in peace.
But Iain was right. There would be darkness and there would be light, and she was comfortable with that as long as she weathered it with Iain by her side and the Sutherlands and MacLeans as her friends.
Iain put his arm around her and she leaned in to his strength. “Thank ye,” she said.
“For what?”
She shrugged, having a hard time putting her feelings into words.
“For everything. For forcing me out of my cottage and into the real world. For being with me when I told my grandfather about Rory. For admitting to the murder of Donaldson when ye hadn’t done it.
For…loving me even when I’m at my most unlovable. ”
He squeezed her shoulder. “I’d do anything for you, Cait. Even love you when you’re at your most unlovable. I promised you a lifetime, and that’s exactly what I’m going to give you.”