Chapter Twenty-Four #2
Her father’s voice came out in a dead serious tone his children had all learned to dread.
This time Elizabeth silently applauded. “I know she’s here, you bastard,” he bellowed, stepping closer to MacTear.
“Release her now or the battle will commence. I just sent for five hundred more warriors to add to the two hundred I brought with me.” Elizabeth knew one of his usual tactics was to overstate his numbers, but she suspected he probably had sent for more warriors.
MacTear’s hands came up, his palms facing her father. “Alex, your worry has turned you daft. I swear to you she’s not here.” The courtyard was the quietest it had been yet, MacTear’s entire clan waiting for her father’s response.
Elizabeth leaned out the window as far as she could and bellowed, “Papa! Papa! I’m here! Please! He has me locked in the tower.”
Her father looked up at her, but the crowd remained quiet. “There’s confirmation of your lie. I’ll ask you one more time, MacTear. Release my daughter, or face my wrath.”
“Go home, Grant. The priest has already married us. She’s mine now.”
“Nay, he’s lying, Papa. Never! Never will I marry him.” Her voice carried across the courtyard.
The next sound to meet her ears was of all the Grant warriors unsheathing their swords at once. “One to one, MacTear. I challenge you for my daughter. Here and now. You have one minute to choose your weapon.”
The crowd began to stir, and MacTear pulled his sword out as he jumped off the platform.
But rather than meet the challenge like a man, he attempted to move away.
Her father pursued him, of course, and MacTear pretended he wouldn’t fight back.
He practically dropped to his knees—then brought his sword up, aimed straight at Alex’s midsection.
Elizabeth screamed.
It was happening again, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
Chapter Twenty
A daughter’s love for her father never fades, but eventually a younger man enters the picture. And there’s plenty of saving to go around.
Lizzie paced inside, listening to the battle sounds, which had steadily dissipated. Daw and Phil were peeking out the door, keeping her abreast of everything. “My father? Is he still standing?”
Daw turned around, grinning. “Shite, no one could stop him. Why are you worried? The battle is mostly over.”
“Do you see Gil anywhere?”
“Aye,” Phil said. “He was just up on the battlements. He stopped three of MacTear’s men from pouring boiling oil on your sire.”
“Boiling oil? On my sire?” That was it. She couldn’t wait any longer. She pushed past the two, shoving the door open, and charged through the courtyard, grateful she had trews on instead of a gown.
The men were so tall, she couldn’t see over many of them, but the Grant warriors recognized her and opened a path up for her straight to her father. “Papa! Papa!”
She ran toward him, tears blurring her vision as she finally reached him. He stood by the gates, giving orders to his men. “Papa!”
Her father opened his arms to her, and she launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck and blubbering unlike she’d ever done before. “I was so frightened watching you fight.”
Once she was a wee bit calmer, he set her feet back on the ground and checked her over. “Did he harm you, lass? Any of them?”
“Nay, Papa. I’m fine.”
He set his finger under her chin, lifting her face so he could take a closer look. “Where did you get the cuts on your face then?”
“Cuts? Oh, must be from when I escaped last eve. I ran through the forest and couldn’t see in the dark, so I got caught by the brambles. Are there that many?”
Her father just arched his brow at her, and she scowled, wondering why Gil hadn’t said anything.
“Papa, have you seen Gil? Is he hale?”
“Aye, he’s over there giving a couple of fools a battering with his fists.
Even with a slice in his leg that nearly cut it in two, he’s still able to handle two men by himself.
I guess he’ll be able to protect my daughter, should he choose to ask for your hand, Lizzie.
” He put particular emphasis on the nickname, which she’d asked everyone in the family to stop using when she was ten summers.
“He’s the only one I allow to call me that, Papa,” she said, lifting her brow.
“Don’t I know it. I remember when you said we all had to stop calling you that. It switched to Eliza and then Liz and then none.” He crossed his arms and looked down at her with such emotion it nearly choked her up.
“I love you, Papa. I don’t like watching you fight.”
“Your mother has coddled you in that respect, but I’m quite proud of you for escaping. How did you get out of the tower? ’Tis a long drop, lass.”
“I was on the second floor. I waited until dark and then tied the ropes from the canopy together, climbed out the window, and went out the back wall. I wasn’t going to marry him, Papa. Gil is to be my husband.”
He gave her another odd look, then leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “I guess I’ll have to finally let you go, daughter, but I’ll always love you. You knew we’d come, didn’t you?”
“Aye, but I thought I was in England.”
Her father drawled, “So did I.”
Gil appeared behind her father with Loki and Thorn next to him. She shifted, ready to run to him, but he shook his head. The longing in his eyes told her that he had only held back out of respect for her father, so she listened.
Her father turned around. “Who do I have to thank for stopping the pot of boiling oil from pouring on my head?”
Loki and Thorn both pointed at Gil.
“Stone from his slinger hit one of them right between the eyes,” Thorn said.
Gil added, “Loki must have heard me because he took out the second one.”
“My thanks to both of you.” Then he narrowed his attention on Gil. “You met someone from your past over there in the corner?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Elizabeth finally returns home, ready to declare her love,
but Alex asserts his rights as a father.
The Grant war whoop echoed out over the land as Jake and Connor arrived with more Grant guards.
The worst was finally over.
They arranged to have Magnus escort MacTear to the magistrate, along with some of his men.
The rest would be settled under Grant guards until word came back from Edinburgh.
Gil settled Lizzie on his horse, then mounted behind her.
Before the horse could take a single step, Alex Grant came bounding up next to them on his warhorse.
He held his hand out to his daughter. “Sorry, Gil, but this honor still belongs to me.” Then he gave his daughter a look she’d never seen, one of a vulnerable man. “Elizabeth, I feared I’d lost you, one way or the other. Do an old man a favor.”
“Oh, Papa, you’ll make me cry.”
Gil didn’t hesitate. He lifted Elizabeth, his strong, capable hands wrapped around her waist, and settled her in front of her father.
They rode back, Jamie, Jake, and Connor in the lead, with Alex, Loki, Thorn, and Gil behind them. About ten score of warriors took up the rear of the group. It was a ride of joy and celebration, though it would take them a couple of hours to reach the castle.
When they were far enough from the others not to be overheard, her father said, “Now I’d like to hear just exactly what this lad means to you. I’m going to lose you to him, am I not?”
Elizabeth’s eyes misted immediately. “Nay, Papa. You’ll never lose me.
Gil and I have been together for about six or seven moons.
We spent time together at Castle Curanta, and it just happened.
Seeing how hard he works, his patience with the bairns, his sense of humor…
I just fell for him.” She turned around to look up at her sire.
“Papa, he reminds me of you, honorable and strong, gentle and loving, yet a fine warrior. You know Loki considers him one of his best warriors. ’Tis how he ended up in Edinburgh. ”
“Lass, I understand young love as I remember it verra well, but why have you not shared this with your mother and me? Why hasn’t he done the right thing and asked me for your hand?”
“Papa, ’tis all my fault. I wouldn’t let him. He wanted to, but we both are happy where we are. He feels devoted to Loki and some of the bairns there. And I…I…”
She turned around and leaned back against her sire, unable to say the words. Grateful the mood was boisterous enough so no one could overhear their conversation, she fought back tears, swallowing hard.
“Lass, tell me how it was your fault, please?”
She turned sideways to try to explain it to him.
“Papa, I was afraid to leave you. The thought of leaving Grant Castle…it broke my heart.” Her tears started and she couldn’t stop them.
“I had to stay behind when you were hurt. Mama always hides everything from me, and I never know the truth of what is happening to you or Jake or Jamie or Connor. The only way I find out is if I’m there.
I didn’t think I could leave you and Mama, but… ”
“But?”
She peeked back over her shoulder at him.
“But after all this, I’m not sure anymore.
I need to be with Gil, wherever we live.
I love him, and I was so scared for him when he was hurt.
When I arrived in Edinburgh, I thought he would die.
And then I was attacked, and I woke up in a room in this castle.
I knew not if he lived or died. Even when I looked out of the tower, I wasn’t sure if he was alive because he wasn’t with you.
I was so frightened. But I need him, I need to be with him all the time.
I’m sorry, Papa, but now I know what I want, and it’s Gil. ”
“You know what’s happened?”
“Nay, Papa. I’m more confused than ever. Everything has turned upside-down on me. My simple, orderly life has become a world of chaos, and I don’t know where to go from here.”
Pride shone in his eyes. “What’s happened is my wee lassie has grown up to be a woman. You know what’s in your heart, you just have to reach for it.”
“I do love him so.”