Chapter Nineteen
Joanie nervously eyed the outskirts of the village.
She had enjoyed the silence of the countryside, surrounded by trees dusted white with snow or bathed in crisp air amid open, rolling hills.
She glanced sidelong at Alec who walked beside her but did not touch her.
His face still maintained a relaxed countenance, which had made her, in turn, feel less ill at ease in his presence.
If he had altered his usual facade to make her less afraid of him, it had worked.
When they had first set out, she had been terrified at the prospect of being alone with him and his chilly gaze.
Now as she looked at the village looming closer and closer, she wished they could go around it and carry on together, just the two of them.
For the first time that day, the wind picked up. A gust of frigid air cut straight through her cloak. She lowered her head slightly to shield her face but voiced no complaint. Still, Alec whisked his own cloak from his shoulders and wrapped the heavy warmth around her.
“How did you know?” she asked, meeting his uncanny eyes and just as quickly turning away.
“’Tis a cold wind. Your cloak is inadequate. It doesn’t take a mind reader to know ye might be cold.”
She dared to look back at him, cocking a skeptical brow.
His unwavering eyes held hers. He made no further confession.
So once again she looked away, unable to hold his powerful gaze.
After a short while, she could hear sounds of village life, people shouting to each other, marketers calling out to sell their wares, children laughing.
Instead of watching the road and the village unfold, she watched him from the corner of her eyes.
Slowly, he began to transform. The relaxed set to his mouth settled once more into a hard, grim line.
He became like stone — rigid, polished, and cold — a man no one would wish to approach.
They passed the first croft where an old man sat in a chair, eying them suspiciously. Straightaway, she wanted to shrink from sight. Just then a strong hand clasped hers. Once more, Alec stepped slightly in front of her and pulled her close behind him, ever shielding her.
“I do not like crowds.”
“I ken,” he said.
“How?” she whispered.
He angled his head to the side so that he could glance down at her. For a moment, his hard facade softened. “I told ye. I can feel ye.”
Her brows came together as she considered this. “Do you mean to say you can feel what I feel?”
He nodded before looking forward again. Once more, his stony gaze stared out, his unbreachable wall fully erected.
“Is it only me or can you feel what others feel?”
The heat passing from his body into hers surged like fire for a moment. His shoulders visibly stiffened. “Everyone,” he said, his voice flat. “I feel everyone.”
She looked around at the villagers curiously. “Tell me what you feel.”
“Do you see that man pulling a wagon?”
She peered around his shoulder and saw a man straining to pull an overloaded wagon. “Yes, I see him.”
“He is angry.”
“I would be angry too,” she said, considering the weight of the load he was trying to move on his own.
“Nay, he’s not frustrated. He’s angry. The kind of anger that drives men to stupid acts.”
“What else?” she asked.
“More anger, jealousy, happiness...” He stopped short. She followed his gaze and saw a small boy peering around the side of one of the market stalls. “Fear,” Alec said.
“The little boy, you mean?”
He nodded. “Come,” he said, and gently pulled her toward the boy.
She held tightly to Alec’s hand as they wove through the busy market square to where the boy stood. When he saw their approach, his eyes widened before he turned and ran. Alec released Joanie’s hand and overtook the small boy in a just a few strides, grabbing him by the back of his tunic.
“Let me go,” the boy shouted.
Joanie watched as Alec shifted his hold from the boy’s tunic to his arm. Then Alec squatted in front of him so that they were eye to eye.
“Hush now, lad,” Alec said, his voice quiet and gentle. He masked his Scottish brogue once again to sound English. Joanie knew he did this so as not to frighten the boy. “Or whoever you are hiding from is sure to find you.”
The boy’s eyes widened like big moons ready to swallow his face. “I’m not hiding.”
“It is alright.” He looked up at Joanie and motioned for her to squat down too. “We’re not going to hurt you.”
Joanie nodded and smiled a little to try to reassure him. She knew all too well how it felt to be small, surrounded by giants, and utterly afraid. She glanced at Alec and swallowed a gasp. She had never seen his face so warm. He almost looked boyish, as if he and the lad were one and the same.
“What is it?” Alec asked, his voice almost a whisper. “What are you so worried about? I think you came here for help, but you are too afraid to ask.”
The boy’s eyes darted from Alec to Joanie, then back to Alec.
“My mum is sick,” he said, tears pooling in his eyes.
Alec reached out then and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder and closed his eyes. After a moment, his eyes flew open. “Take us to her,” he urged the child.
The boy ran away from the village toward distant woods.
Alec grabbed her hand. “Come,” he urged. “His mother is in pain. I will explain after we have tried our best to save her.”
They followed the small boy deep into the woods.
Suddenly, a cry rent the air. Pain gripped Alec.
Dropping Joanie’s hand, he raced ahead toward a thick copse of oak trees.
He could see her and feel her heartbeat.
But then another heartbeat filled him, and he realized the boy’s mother was about to have a baby.
Not wishing to alarm her, he slowed down when he passed through the trees.
The moment he locked eyes with the woman, he softened his face, imbued his eyes with warmth and said, “I will not hurt you. You’re safe.
Your son asked me and my wife to help you, and that is what we are going to do. ”
Fear pulsed through her, but then another birthing pain came on and she cried out. Alec knelt and took her hand and wrapped his arm around her, supporting her back.
“Breathe,” he said, his voice calm and low.
The woman gripped his hand. He could feel her body lean into his trustingly.
Just then the boy thundered through the trees, a stricken look on his face, with Joanie following just behind him, breathless from running.
A moment of confusion flashed across her face, then her eyes widened with recognition.
Immediately, she pulled out the ale from her satchel and squatted next to the woman, helping her sip the amber liquid.
Then she turned to the boy. “Fetch some water.”
Eyes wide, he ran off.
The woman closed her eyes, quiet for a moment, so Alec laid her back on the ground and started to clear away a more comfortable place for her to lie.
“But the boy said she was ill,” Joanie whispered as she pulled out one of Alec’s tunics from his satchel to swaddle the baby in when it arrived.
“He believes she is. He must not realize that she is having a baby or that pain is a natural part of childbirth.”
“I have never assisted a birth, but I am a skilled healer.”
“Are ye?” he asked, looking at her curiously.
She met his gaze. “Didn’t you know that already?”
He shook his head. “There is little I know of ye.”
“How can that be?” she asked. “I’m confused.”
He reached for her hand and held it, closing his eyes. Still, he saw nothing. “So am I.”
Joanie chewed her lip. “I do not have my herbs. There is little I can do if something goes wrong.”
Alec looked at her. “The baby’s heart is strong. Both mother and babe will be fine.”
An hour later, just as Alec promised, the woman pushed a healthy baby girl into Joanie’s awaiting arms. Her son cheered next to her. He had been very relieved when he returned with the water to know that his mother wasn’t dying, but that she was having a baby.
Joanie smiled down at the new life in her arms. Then she swaddled her and presented her to her mother. “You have a beautiful baby girl,” Joanie said.
She reached for her baby. Tears streaming down her face, she kissed the new infant all over. Then she looked at Alec and Joanie. “Bless you both.”
The woman told them her name was Alma and her son was Edgar, named after his father, who’d been flogged to death last winter for starting an uprising against his lord.
They were serfs, and Alma had been locked in the stocks for a month.
After they released her, she and Edgar had waited until nightfall and ran into the woods. They’d been running ever since.
Joanie set to work washing Alma while Alec laid out some supper of dried meat and bannock.
“Where will you stay the night?” he asked.
“Right here,” Alma said. “We are safest in the wood.”
“But you cannot light a fire to stay warm or else you risk discovery. Let me get you a room at the inn.”
Alma frowned and held her baby tighter. “No. It is too dangerous. You know what will happen if we are caught.”
Alec nodded grimly. He placed the last of the food next to her. Then he took his large, warm cloak and spread it out, covering all three.
“If you are able to walk on the morrow, go to the village of Kitwick. It is not three miles east of here.”
Alma nodded. “I know the place.”
“Go to the Raven’s Wing tavern and ask for Henry. Tell him St. Paul sent you. He will help you.”
Alma reached for Alec’s hand and pressed a kiss to it. “Bless you,” she said. “Bless your heart.”
Alec dipped his head to Alma and laid his hand on the baby’s head. Then he turned to Edgar. “Take care of them, always,” he said. Then he stood and outstretched his arm to Joanie.
“Now, I understand,” Joanie said as she followed Alec from the woods. “You are a seer. My grandmother told me about people like you. She even claimed to be touched by the Sight herself, although it was her sister who was meant to be truly gifted.”
“The sight runs in yer bloodline?” he asked, looking at her curiously, wondering if that could help explain why the stone around his neck remained warm in her presence.
“I suppose it does,” Joanie said. Then she canted her head to one side as she studied him. “So, who is Saint Paul?”
Alec raised his brow at her. “Ye caught that, did ye? Well, my brothers and I were first asked to join the cause by the Bishop Lamberton. He called us the Saints and gave us masks and swords. At his command, we robbed English nobles on the road north into Scotland. But during a heist we couldn’t use our Christian names.
And so, the bishop gave us saints’ names.
I was Saint Paul. My eldest brother, Jack, was Saint Peter.
Quinn, also older than me, was Saint Augustine. Then Rory—”
“Do you mean to say you have more brothers?”
“Two more, and a sister.”
She smiled. “I always wished for brothers and sisters. Diana became a sister to me—” her voice broke.
He stopped and turned to face her. “I’m so sorry, Joanie.”
She looked up at him. His eyes did not hold the compassion of his voice, but then she realized, they were near the village — he kept them both shielded with his unapproachable facade.
“I, too, know what it is to lose a sister,” he said softly.
“I used to have two sisters. Rosalyn, the youngest of us all, perished along with my parents when the English invaded Berwick seven years ago. His army destroyed the city, claiming the lives of thousands of Scotsmen and their families, women and children alike.”
Joanie gasped, struck by the horror of it all.
Now, it was clear to her why he had become a secret Scottish rebel.
They continued toward the village in silence, but then Joanie gave Alec a sidelong glance, a question burning in her mind could not wait.
“What did you do with the English noble’s money? ”
He kept his eyes trained forward. “It wasn’t their money. It was Scotland’s. We were just taking it back. Every coin and bauble went to the cause, rebuilding Scotland’s army and feeding those who suffered the wrath of Edward’s ambition.”
She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Mysterious and seemingly dangerous English Merchant, Randolph Tweed, was, in fact, a Scottish hero.
“It is too late to gather supplies. We will stay the night in the village and set out in the morning.”
Joanie turned toward the sun, which dipped low against the horizon, painting the thatch and stone cottages in hues of rose and amber. “Where will we sleep?”
“At the inn.”
She tripped on her own feet in her surprise. “Together?”
He caught her arm, keeping her from falling. She heard the amusement in his voice. “Aye, lass,” he said. “Together.”