Chapter 31
Chapter
Thirty-One
" Y e have a gentle hand, miss," Cullen Ross whispered through the pain. "I thank ye, kindly."
Alix finished tying off the fresh bandage at the wound at his leg. There was no sign of festering and the muscle beneath the skin had only been nicked. It was healing well, but it would take time before the leg was of use to him again.
"Ye must take care not to open the wound again," she said what she had repeated dozens of times the past days, knowing full well that some would mind her words while others would ignore them, and she would be forced to close wounds again, or worse...
"I'll not lose the leg?"
"Not if ye do as I say."
A faint smile. "Ye have a fine spirit, like my daughter... if she had lived to be a woman grown." He took a slow, deep breath, eyes slowly opening.
"Ye are well enough, miss?"
She knew what lay behind the words, what she had heard or sensed these past days as their kinsmen returned and word spread of the attack at Lechlede--the brutality of it, seen in the injured and dead, the bloody carnage the one called Blackwood had left. And the other wounds not as easily seen.
She could not enter the stables or walk the hall without a look or glance, or a gentle word, including the chieftain and her mistress.
"Well enough," she said, forcing the words past painful memories.
"If I'd known... " Cullen Ross added. "I'd have kilt the man meself."
She laid a hand at his shoulder. "Then, ye might be dead as well when the chieftain has great need of all his kinsmen. Tis a thing that canna be undone."
"No," he gently replied, covering her hand with his.
"But ye have the life God gave ye."
His voice broke. "Tis more than me daughter, and the others."
"Ye must rest," she reminded him. "Give yer body time to heal ."
She gathered her basket of herbal balms and potions, straightening against the pain in her back from bending over hour after hour, one day into the next...
"Let me give a hand."
Alix looked up. Eben McGinley smiled hesitantly.
"I came to assist Brian at the forge with so many repairs to be done. Father is minding the shop, aye?" He looked around the stables.
"So many wounded. But with yer skill and Maisel... "
Alix shook her head, the loss sharp and deep. "Maisel was taken by the fire."
"What of yer grandmother?"
"She is well enough."
He walked with her as she left the stable, the air sharp, the snow muddied under foot.
Eben fell into step beside her. "Ye look well."
"Aye," she replied with mild annoyance.
"What I mean is... "
She stopped and turned on him. "What do ye mean, Eben? What is it yer tryin' to say?"
"It's just that... "
"Spit it out, and let me be on me way. There is work to be done, as you well know it."
He reached out a hand and wrapped it around her arm.
"Aw, Alix. Ye know how I feel about you... How I've always felt since we were bairns... " he looked around.
"Tis not the place in the middle of the yard. I would speak with ye in private."
"Whatever it is, ye can say it here."
"It's... well," he cursed in the Gaelic, looked around to see if anyone was about, then took a deep breath.
"After what happened, when the English came. I know how ye suffered for it." He cursed again, staring down at his boots as if the words were to be found there. He eventually looked up.
"I just want ye to know it makes no difference to me what the Englishman did. I would have ye anyway to wife, Alix. No matter."
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He would have her anyway? As if he was doing her some favor.
But she didn't laugh, or cry. She simply turned on her heel and headed for the steps to the hall. He followed her.
"Wait! Alix!" He caught up with her at the top of the steps.
"I didna mean it the way it sounded."
"Just how did ye mean it, Eben? It makes no difference to ye? I suppose ye think that I should be grateful to ye?"
"Well... "
"I thank ye kindly, and no thank ye!" She turned toward the door.
"Wait! Alix!"
She turned on him then jabbing a finger at his chest as if she could drive her point home and make him understand.
"I have no need of yer pity, Eben McGinley," she'd thought long and hard about all of it, about what the chieftain told her, and her mistress.
"What happened, happened. I canna undo it, but I can make me own choices and decisions on how I will live me life, and I wilna go abegging for a husband!"
That single word caught at her throat and threatened to bring tears. She straightened her back and lifted her chin.
"Ye are a good mon. I am certain ye will find yerself a suitable wife. But tis not me. Do ye hear me, once and for all?"
She turned then and pushed open the great door at the hall. She would have run headlong into James Fraser and a half dozen of his kinsmen if he hadn't reached out and steadied her. He looked past her to Eben McGinley.
Eben had the good sense to take a step back. He looked as if he wished the stones would open up and swallow him.
"McGinley," James addressed him.
He knew the lad, and his father as well, their skills highly valued. He also knew of young McGinley's care for the young woman he considered to be as his own family. He waved his men on ahead.
"I am told you have been sent to assist Brian until he has recovered from his injuries." He glanced from Alix to the young man who looked as if he'd swallowed a toad.
"Is there some matter you would speak to me about?"
Eben swallowed hard and nodded. He glanced at Alix, then straightened his shoulders.
"I would speak to ye on a matter of marriage."
James' brows lifted slightly. "Such matters are usually heard at hall meeting."
Alix listened, temper rising at his boldness, that he would approach their chieftain in spite of the answer she had given him.
"Aye," Eben replied. "I know well enough, but with the attack it might be some time before we would have hall meeting, and I would see the matter done... to spare Alix any disgrace." He rushed on.
"She must have someone to protect her."
Disgrace? Protect her? She was tempted to take the blade she always carried and show him who needed protection!
As if he sensed her reaction, James Fraser's hand tightened over her arm.
"She has the protection of the clan and myself," James replied. He looked at her then.
"Has she spoken on the matter?"
Alix felt the weight of his gaze, the question that went unasked... and of the hand fast vows that had been spoken. That he would wait for her answer reassured her when such things were usually spoken of between men.
"She has, but I think she doesna think clearly on the matter."
It was wrong to speak out of turn, but she refused to be spoken of as if she was a horse or a goat, something to be bartered with no choice in the matter. Eben had gone around her, thinking to take his cause up with their chieftain. She was having none of it.
"Yer are a liar and a horse's arse, Eben McGinley. I gave ye me answer."
"Yer answer," he flung back at her. "Not the chieftain's. Ye should be grateful that I would have ye, or that any mon would have ye. Most wouldna be willing to take on the leavings of the English bastard!"
"Take care, MacGinley," James warned.
She looked at Eben so that there would be no mistaking her meaning.
"Ye are no' a man at all," she told him. "But a whining child in long pants. I wouldna have ye if came to me with a pocketful of gold coins!"
Eben stood open mouthed. "Tis not right for her to speak on it. She doesna know her own mind," he replied. "I have made her an honest offer ."
"And it appears she has given an honest answer," James told him, then added.
"There is much work to be done at the stables, McGinley. Best see to it." The warning was unspoken, but still there.
Eben backed down the steps, then turned and stalked toward the stables.
"There will be others," James said gently as they watched him go. "Our kinsmen think highly of ye, lass."
She shook her head. Anger had served her well with Eben. But the chieftain's words slipped beneath the anger.
"I can take care of meself as I always have, and I'll not be a bother to ye or any other."