Chapter Thirty-Nine
Journey to the Highlands
Robbie Grant saves a woman who was about to be taken hostage on a Norse galley ship. He didn’t know her young daughters were hiding behind rocks on the beach.
Brenna helps Robbie understand Caralyn’s difficulties accepting her good fortune. Her insight shines through here.
Robbie was sitting on the front step of the keep with his head in his hands when Brenna, Quade, Brodie, Celestina, and Tomas came out to join him.
He glanced up at his sister. “Is there any change?”
“Nay, Caralyn took her up to her chamber. ‘Tis not your fault, Robbie.”
“How can you say such a thing, Brenna? ‘Tis all my fault. ‘Twould never have happened if I hadn’t made Caralyn live with me in the cottage.”
“I thought she volunteered to live with you in the cottage,” Brodie said.
“Och, ‘tis complicated. I hoped my plan would show her that she had value. She couldn’t see it living in the keep with everyone else. In her mind, she could never measure up. Clearly, ‘twas a lousy plan. She’ll never forgive me now, and looking at Gracie in that state breaks my heart.” He cradled his head in his hands once again. “What a fool I am.”
Celestina said, “Sounds like it worked perfectly to me.”
Robbie picked his head up to stare at her. “What? How did this work? Her daughter is a mess.”
Brenna spoke up. “Because her daughter retreated not long after she left. Caralyn has always seemed lost to me, as though she thinks she’s not wanted.
It didn’t help that Gracie did so well here from the start.
The wee one started talking when she wasn’t with her and Gracie started laughing when she wasn’t with her.
‘Twas the lassie’s reaction to feeling safe and free of that wretched man, but I can see how Caralyn wouldn’t see it that way.
She could easily have interpreted that as her daughters being better off without her.
But now she is learning how much she matters to them. ”
Tomas came over and grasped Robbie’s shoulder. “Let’s hope Caralyn sees it that way, aye?”