Chapter Twenty-Eight #3
“Nay,” he said firmly. “I dunna want it. I dunna deserve it. Uncle Andrew will make a fine chieftain. But not me.”
Hamlin frowned. “But it is yer legacy, Brody,” he said. “It belongs tae ye.”
Brody continued to shake his head. “Hamlin, I’ll ask ye a question and I want ye tae answer truthfully. Is the village at peace now?”
“Aye.”
“Are the people happy?”
“Aye, for the most part.”
“And they respect Uncle Andrew as the chieftain?”
“They do. Very much.”
“Then I’ve no right tae disrupt that,” Brody said, raising his voice. “I came home tae see my da and make peace, not insert myself where I havena been for over two years. Let Uncle Andrew be the chieftain. He has earned it. Me… I’ve not earned anything. Let things lie.”
Hamlin looked at Dougal and Ramsey, who weren’t quite sure how to react. “Brody,” Hamlin said. “Ye canna legitimately refuse yer inheritance. It belongs only tae ye.”
“I can refuse it if I’m dead,” Brody said. “Ye said yerself that everyone thought I was dead. Well, let them keep thinking that. There’s no reason for me tae return tae Ledmore and upset everyone’s lives. Ye’ll not tell anyone that ye’ve seen me, do ye hear? I’m dead tae ye, too.”
Hamlin could see what he was doing even if Dougal and Ramsey couldn’t.
The man knew that returning after a long absence and assuming his legal rights would only shake up Clan McKay.
He was sacrificing his legacy for the sake of peace in the clan.
And perhaps, because he truly didn’t feel worthy of it, too.
It was a difficult choice that only a man of honor would have made.
“Are ye sure that’s what ye want, Brody?” he asked.
Brody looked at Lilia for the first time since sitting down at the table. A smile played on her lips as she returned his gaze, a smile of warmth and love and encouragement.
“’Tis yer decision,” she said softly. “I’ll stand by ye no matter what ye do.”
He gave her a gentle squeeze, mulling over the situation, his options, his wants. “I promised ye a home,” he said. “Latheron Tower is a fine home.”
“Is it what ye want?”
He thought on that. “Would ye be angry if I said I wanted tae return tae The Cal?”
She shook her head. “Of course not,” she said. “Yer friends are there. A new life is there. ’Tis a grand thing tae have a place like that wanting for ye.”
Her reasoning made his decision for him. Brody turned to his cousins.
“Aye,” he said firmly. “It’s what I want. Please dunna tell Uncle Andrew that ye saw me. He doesna need that burden on him; ’tis difficult enough tae be the chieftain. Let him think what my da thought… that I’m dead and buried somewhere. It’ll be easier that way.”
Hamlin was grieved by the decision, but he understood. “Ye realize that when my da passes on, I’ll become the chieftain.”
“And a fine one ye’ll be, Hamlin. I know ye’ll make me proud. But do something for me, please.”
“Whatever ye want.”
“Where is my da buried?”
“In the little churchyard next tae St. John’s Church,” he said. “Ye can see it from Latheron.”
Brody knew the church well. He’d spent a good deal of time there as a child, having his knuckles rapped by the priests because he wouldn’t pay attention to their teachings. Reaching out, he took Hamlin’s hand.
“When ye return home, will ye go tae my father’s grave and tell him that ye found me?
” he asked, his voice cracking. “Will ye tell him that I’m happy?
Tell him I’ve married a woman who has shown me what it means tae love.
Tell him… tell him that I know he’d be proud of the man I’ve become and that I love him very much. Will ye do that for me?”
Hamlin’s eyes filled with tears. “I will,” he said. “He was always proud of ye, Brody. Did ye not know that?”
Brody was struggling with his composure again. “I wish I could have heard him tell me,” he said. “I wish I could have earned it. He deserved better than I gave him, Hamlin. I’ll spend the rest of my life living the way I think he would have wanted me tae.”
Hamlin sniffled, giving Brody’s hand a squeeze before releasing him so he could wipe his face. “Dougal,” he said gruffly. “Make yerself useful. Go get us some warmed wine. We’ll make it a night of celebrating the return of a brother.”
As Dougal and Ramsey went to gather the requested drink, Lilia stood up from Brody’s lap.
“I’ll leave ye with yer menfolk,” she said to Brody. “I’m a little tired, anyway. I wouldna be very good conversation.”
Brody smiled at her, appreciating the fact that she wanted to give him time alone with his cousins. Time to speak on things to soothe his soul, to bring closure to a part of his life that needed it. He kissed her hands.
“I’ll join ye later,” he said.
She patted him on the cheek as she turned to Hamlin. “It was very nice tae meet ye, Hamlin,” she said. “Mayhap we will see each other again someday.”
“I hope so, Lady McKay,” Hamlin said.
With a final smile to her husband, Lilia retreated to their chamber, giving her husband the private time with his cousins that he so badly needed.
Running into them at the tavern had been fortuitous in so many ways; it had been cathartic to Brody in a sense.
Perhaps Hamlin told him something he didn’t want to hear with the death of his father but, in the end, it put Brody on a different path.
A path to a new life.
The Ludus Caledonia was a large part of that new life, a place where Brody could start fresh and new, where there was no past hounding him.
Only a future that would unlock his potential.
Lilia didn’t care about a home of their own that he had promised her, at least not now.
She was content to return with him to the Ludus Caledonia, a place she knew very well.
The past month had given her a good perspective on what had happened at Hawkhill and why.
Brody had convinced her that she wouldn’t be punished for killing Colly in self-defense because he was quite certain Laird Currie would not allow it.
That gave her the confidence to return with Brody to the Ludus Caledonia, knowing that, come what may, he would protect her from harm.
He would protect her from anything Lady Currie could throw at her.
Brody was not only the Highland Protector – he was her Protector, too.
A giant among men.
As Lilia finally found rest on the mattresses on the floor, feeling the delicious heat from the brazier, her thoughts turned to the future and what would come for her and Brody.
For whatever happened, it would be with Brody by her side, for all time.
She’d been married to the man for nearly a month and, already, it seemed as if they had always been together.
She couldn’t imagine her life without him.
Had Lilia not taken that shortcut in Edinburgh and suffered the attack of sausage thieves, she would never have met the man who had come to be her purpose for living. That defeated wretch of a man she had shown kindness to had been an angel in disguise.
Brody had called her his angel, once, and he continued to call her that to this day. But the truth was that he was her savior.
Her love.
When Lilia finally drifted off to sleep, it was with dreams of the Ludus Caledonia.
Dreams of home.