Chapter 9 #2
Calum clenched his teeth. He didn’t like hearing this from anyone, least of all Iain, whom he knew to be observant, fair, and at his wife’s behest, occasionally meddling. “I’ve been giving her time.”
“’Tis noble of ye.”
Noble? Calum didn’t think of himself that way. But there was no sarcasm in Iain’s tone. He meant it. Calum nodded, accepting the compliment.
“But time is exactly what ye may be running out of,” Iain continued.
“Think on that, and on what ye want from her. For her, as well as for yerself, Calum. If she is accosted, I’ll have to act.
If I receive a betrothal offer for her, ye ken I will have to consider it, and give Ella the choice of whether to accept it or no’. ”
Calum stared at the wall behind Iain’s head, unable to find words.
He didn’t know what Iain’s warning made him feel.
Fear? Surely not. Dismay, possibly. Urgency?
If Iain’s goal was to make him uneasy, it worked.
But why try to force him to make a decision now, after all he’d been through?
This conversation did have the feel of Annie’s work.
Perhaps she’d heard about their kiss from Muireall or even directly from Ella, as well as the argument and hard feelings that came after it.
Though they’d done well together saving the lads, they hadn’t spent much time together since then.
Did that also have something to do with this?
Was Iain’s characterization true, that they’d never be more than friends? The idea made Calum’s belly ache.
“Very well,” Iain said, relenting when Calum didn’t respond. “Go and think on what I’ve said.”
Calum nodded again, stood, and left, closing the solar door behind him. He took a few paces toward the great hall, then changed his mind. He needed to think, but on his own. He couldn’t deal with Iain’s meddling right now.
He went to the herbal to check on Euan. Muireall would be there. Perhaps she could help him decide what to do about what Iain told him. A woman’s perspective. Almost Ella’s. Muireall knew her best.
Muireall sat with her sleeping husband when Calum arrived.
“How is he?” He asked softly, reluctant to disturb his friend.
“Resting well,” Muireall said, rising to join him at the door to the herbal. “The healer will decide in a day or two about moving him back to our chamber. For now, she wants to keep him close in case he develops a fever.”
“And Georgie? How are he and the lads now they’re back?”
“Iain had a stern talk with the lot of them about leaving without permission or any adults to escort them. They could have died…” Her voice choked, and she took a breath. “But they didna. Thanks to ye finding them.”
“And thanks to Georgie keeping his head and making a safe place for them to pass the night, though I’m glad in the end, they didna need it.”
“Iain congratulated them on the things they did right and said he’s adding direction finding to their training, starting immediately. And he told them that they’re all confined to the keep until we’re certain the raiders are out of the area.”
“That could be weeks,” Calum pointed out, feeling sorry for the lads, especially after the way he’d been confined, though for very different reasons.
“Aye, it could. I dinna think the men with Euan are certain they got all the raiders ye found. Or that they’re the only ones still out there.”
Calum hung his head. “I regret that I wasna there to help defend him,” Calum told her.
Muireall shook her head. “Ye are no’ to blame. He was outnumbered and unlucky. Thankfully, our men got him back quickly and the Brodie healer is excellent at her craft. He will recover, if slowly. Regaining his strength and full use of his arm will come, but with pain.”
Calum studied the sleeping man. His best friend looked wan and tired even as he rested. Had he looked the same before he woke up after Harlaw? Did Ella sit with him as Muireall now did with Euan, worrying and wondering if the healer’s assurances would come to pass?
Seeing what Muireall was going through made him feel like his rejection of Ella’s help had been even more unfair to her than he’d suspected.
Possibly, he had saved her hours of worry, watching him sleep, waiting for his next breath, and wondering if he would ever see with two eyes and be able to fight to protect her like the warrior he used to be.
But Ella was enough like Muireall that he now saw she would not have wanted to be anywhere else but with him.
Even as Janet, risking his ire, she did what she thought best for him.
He’d been an arse.
He took Muireall’s hand and squeezed it gently. “If there is aught ye need, aught I can do, ye have only to ask.”
She gave him a tired smile that did not quite reach her eyes. “I ken it. Thank ye, Calum. Euan will be grateful, too.”
Calum pursed his lips, unsure what to say. This was not the time to seek her advice. But she had given him clarity without his asking. Instead of answering, he dropped her hand, nodded and took his leave.
Two days later, after the healer cleaned his wound and stitched it closed, she agreed to let Euan move from the herbal to his own bed.
His and Muireall’s. Just getting him up the stairs exhausted him, even with Kenneth and two of Mhairi’s lads to help.
Ella sat for an hour with Muireall while her husband slept, silently lending support and companionship she knew Muireall needed while Georgie was on the training ground with Iain and Kenneth and the other lads.
All the fears that plagued Calum while his eyes were covered now weighed heavily on her friend—and his.
And where was Calum? She didn’t think he’d visited Euan in the herbal.
Muireall would have told her if he’d come during her absences.
His absence was out of character for him and his friendship with Euan.
His best friend and partner was injured. Where had he been?
But Calum arrived as Ella left Euan and Muireall’s chamber. She nodded to him as they passed each other in the doorway, but he only glanced at her before stepping inside.
Annoyed at his slight, she paused outside the door after Calum entered, unsure of his mood, and concerned that his arrival would disturb Euan’s rest. But Calum stood, silently, regarding his friend, a frown knitting his brow.
“I thought he’d be better by now,” he said so softly that Ella nearly missed it.
After a glance at Ella, Muireall greeted him in a low voice. “Ye can see he is resting,” she told Calum. “Much as ye did while ye recovered. ’Tis best if ye dinna wake him.” She kept her gaze on Calum and waited for his reply.
“I owe ye both an apology,” he said. “I’ve been reluctant to help Euan after the fuss I made while under the healer’s care,” Calum admitted in a voice as soft as Muireall’s, “but he’s my best friend.
I would never abandon him—or ye, lass—but I have to admit it took me a while to get past my own reluctance. ”
“Ye went through a long and difficult healing,” Muireall told him. “’Tis understandable that ye would hesitate to spend much time in the herbal. Now that he’s up here, ye can visit more often.”
“Ye give me too much grace, lass. I can be as selfish and as proud as any man. More than most. But Euan will get better. I will do all I can to help.”
Ella noticed Euan stirring and faded back from the door so he wouldn’t spot her beyond Calum. What would Calum think to know she was back here, listening to every word he said?
“There isna much either of us can do but get through what has befallen us,” Euan muttered, clearly having heard at least some of what Calum said to Muireall. “Yer eye may never be the same. My arm may never be as strong, or as fast and battle-ready. We are what we have become, aye?”
Calum shook his head, stepped forward, and placed a hand on Euan’s good shoulder. “Come on, man. We canna let this destroy us. We will do the work and regain what we once had. Together. I will help ye, just as ye helped me.”
Ella’s heart lifted to hear a note of optimism in his voice, even if it was only for Euan’s sake. She hoped he believed what he was telling his friend. Helping Euan would help him, too.
Should she go back into the chamber? If apologizing to Muireall and speaking to Euan helped improve Calum’s mood and his acceptance of what he must overcome, how would he react to her presence?
Would he apologize to her for how he’d treated her?
They’d seemed much like the way they used to be while searching for the lads.
More comfortable with each other. Easier, companionable.
But since they’d been back and Euan had been injured, it seemed the distance between them widened again.
She’d been busy helping Mhairi and Muireall.
But she had reason to hope. The four of them were close as friends until Calum’s injury.
The last few days convinced her they could be again.
She could ignore how he’d dismissed her presence when he arrived a few minutes ago.
At that moment, his thoughts had been clearly focused on his friend, full of concern that Euan was not sitting up, but slept on like one dead, or nearly so.
She would do as Muireall had done and give him at least that much grace.
Resolved, she moved to the doorway. When she stepped back into the chamber, as if she’d gone away and returned, Euan’s gaze cut to her, alerting Calum.
He turned, and for the first time since they’d returned from bringing home the lost lads, he gave her an honest smile, one that softened and reached his eyes, as though he finally realized, now that he saw a similar situation with his friend, why she had done for him what she did.
And the forgiveness he’d proffered earlier with a generous helping of reluctance now seemed genuine. But could she count on it to last?
Four days later, Calum was happy to see Euan out of his chamber as he slowly approached Calum and Kenneth at their table in the great hall. “’Tis about time ye joined us,” Calum told him as he sat down with a sigh.
“Aye,” Kenneth added, “ye’ve been abed long enough. Ye have much to do.”
“Dinna remind me,” Euan said, frowning. “But this binding of the healer’s prevents most anything I would like to do, including starting to train again.”
“All in good time,” Calum told him, doubting he yet had the strength to walk to the training ground, much less to lift a blade. “Take it from one who kens well the healer’s mind. She willna let ye do more damage to that arm in yer haste to recover from yer injury.”
“Which brings me to a conundrum of mine,” Euan said, his gaze on Kenneth. “I canna do the job Iain gave me to do. Someone must take over training the younger lads.” He shifted to study Calum. “Someone like ye.”
“Me?” Calum’s gaze shifted to Kenneth. Why not him or one of the other warriors? “I’m only just approved to begin training with blades myself. How can I do that for anyone else?”
“Aye, ye,” Kenneth said, ignoring his question. “Euan, ’tis a good idea.” He turned to Calum. “While ye train the lads, ye’ll also be training yerself, aye?”
“Will I? Or will I end up battered by lads barely out of swaddling because I still canna see as well as I should on my left side.”
“And what will ye do to compensate for that, I wonder?” Euan grinned. “Aye, a brilliant idea.”
Calum frowned as he thought about Euan’s idea.
Despite how his friend looked after coming downstairs, Calum could see that he was regaining a good deal of his strength and energy.
Muireall had already complained that it made him restless and quarrelsome.
But Calum took it as a good sign that he was thinking about his responsibilities to the clan and how to meet them.
And still thinking about how to help Calum progress.
“I’ll do it,” he said, “so long as ye stay nearby to observe and help train. And to keep the wee monsters from doing too much damage to me, not to mention to each other.”
Kenneth nodded. “Then we have a plan with several good outcomes. Iain will be pleased to hear about this.
Calum pursed his lips. All he needed was Iain observing the training in time for him to mess something up. “Why no’ give this idea a few days to see how it goes before getting the laird involved, aye?”
“Verra well, I willna say anything to him,” Kenneth promised. “But ye ken he’s likely to be where he can see what’s happening. Or someone else will tell him. Ye dinna have more than a day or so to decide how ye want to do this.”
It took less time than that for Calum to realize he enjoyed both the training and the zest the young lads gave to everything they were asked to do.
He demonstrated techniques for the lads to repeat, much as he’d been taught at that same age.
Euan sat nearby, watching and offering suggestions.
Kenneth dropped by for a few minutes, but apparently liked what he saw and went on his way.
Calum was in no real danger from the wooden swords the younger lads used—he gained a few bruises at worst. But he also found that trying to pay attention to what all the lads were doing all the time made him use his eyes more fully and within days, his reflexes were stronger and faster, his peripheral vision sharper, and he noticed improvements in himself all around.
Now if he could only say the same for his relationship with Ella.