Chapter 22
For the next sennight, Padraig lived in a land of limbo.
He made progress with his guests each day, training with them each morning and into the early afternoon.
They gained a mutual respect between Highlander and Lowlanders.
He was sore but satisfied each day as he entered the Great Hall for the evening meal.
He avoided Myrna despite her repeated attempts to catch him alone.
His heart ached to see the hurt and confusion in her eyes, but he’d spent a great deal of time thinking about the woman he’d seen since Cairren arrived.
He didn’t want to believe that who he’d witnessed over the past two moons had lurked within Myrna all along.
He tried to convince himself that the situation proved too much for her and made her react poorly.
But as he watched her silent loathing toward Cairren and continued to hear her agree with his mother’s nasty comments, he suspected the hatefulness had always been there.
She’d just never had a reason to show it before.
He kept his distance, and it allowed him to preserve the image he clung to.
Cairren shared his chamber, and they coupled throughout the night, neither able to deny themselves or the other.
But he didn’t know where she disappeared to during the day while he and her clansmen were in the lists.
Wynda spent her days tending to Duncan, so he knew Cairren wasn’t with her.
She would smile and say she found things to do, but she never elaborated.
The only thing he was certain of was that she worked on a tapestry at her loom, which had been set up in near the window in his chamber.
She continued to refer to the room as his, so he didn’t press the matter.
But he couldn’t account for the other hours of the day until she went for walks or rides with Daniel, Alex, and Jamie.
As Padraig got to know the men better, his jealousy abated.
He understood that Alex and Jamie saw Cairren as their sister, and she was more of a daughter to Daniel.
Despite his offers, Cairren continued to take her meals at the lower table, sitting between Alex and Jamie and across from Daniel.
It was clear they guarded her, and guilt ate at him that there was a need and that they were fulfilling what should have been his role.
But it was the most lighthearted Padraig had seen Cairren since they met, and so he wouldn’t change anything for that.
Padraig made his way through the village, having checked on a croft that suffered roof damage during the last storm.
He’d spent the morning away from the lists, making rounds that Duncan couldn’t while he convalesced from the injuries Padraig gave him.
He was near the outskirts of the village when he spotted Cairren leaving Meg’s croft.
The women stood chatting in the doorway, and it shocked Padraig to see Meg offer Cairren a hug.
He hung back and watched as Cairren kissed Katie’s forehead and turned toward the keep.
He’d seen she was tempted to offer that affection the night Katie was hurt, but he knew she hadn’t dared.
She looked back once, and Meg and Katie waved, her little hand still bandaged.
When Cairren was out of sight, he went to Meg’s croft and knocked.
“Padraig, ye just missed yer wife,” Meg smiled as she shifted Katie to the other hip. He could hear her other children playing behind her.
“I ken. I saw her leaving. How’re things?”
Meg grinned. “Ye want to ken if I’ve tried to gut her.
Nay, I havenae. She’s been an angel to Katie and the other weans.
I couldnae do what she does. I have to take maself out when she tends to Katie’s hands.
I canna manage her cries. I can tell it hurts her heart, but she’s braver than me.
She’s taught the older ones how to keep Katie from putting her hands in her mouth and how to change her bandages.
Do ye ken, she’s even taught them to sing and count in French? Ma weans speaking French!”
Padraig considered how to phrase his question. “Do you feel comfortable with her in your home?”
Meg grew serious and raised her chin. “Do ye mean, do I fear she’ll dirty ma home and ma children?
Do I still fear she’s a witch? Nay, I dinna fear aught when Lady Cairren visits.
She’s teaching me to sweeten drinks to hide the taste of the medicinals I give Katie, and she’s offered me medicinals for the other weans who canna seem to stop their dribbly noses.
They taste horrid without the disguise. Now the weans drink it, and I can see them improving. She’s an angel, I tell ye.”
“Do the others treat you poorly for allowing Lady Cairren into your home?”
“The first few days, but I think they rather like listening her to sing to the weans. Other children have asked to come and listen. She never turns them down but always asks permission from me or their mams.”
“She asks permission?”
“She says they arenae her weans to do as she pleases.” Meg bit her lip.
When Padraig nodded, she invited him inside and shut the door before she continued.
“I’ve apologized several times for the unkind things I said to her and aboot her behind her back.
She offers a smile and tells me to think naught of it.
The kinder and more forgiving she is, the worse I feel.
I tried to confess to Father Mitchell, but he said her kind isnae the type of neighbor God intends us to love.
That doesnae sit well with me. Padraig, I fear he says that to many people.
He’s spreading poison and too many people are still believing him.
While her clansmen are here, people are on their best behavior, but I’m scared of what will happen when they leave. ”
“What have you heard people saying?” Padraig forced his tone to remain relaxed and to keep from fisting his hands when what he wanted was to find Father Mitchell and shake him.
“They’re believing him that she’s bewitched ye with her bed sport.
He says that’s the only way ye could have turned away from a woman as pure as Lady Myrna.
He says she has the devil in her, and that she canna be a real Christian since her mam grew up with a heretic father.
That the heresy is in her blood. I dinna ken how that can be, but people believe him because he reminds them that he’s God’s messenger on Earth. ”
“Those are dangerous ideas he’s spreading, and I won’t stand for them. Thank you for telling me, Meg.”
“But Padraig, that’s nae all. Lady Mary and Lady Myrna are agreeing with him as though his was the Gospel.”
“My mother and Lady Myrna? They’re spreading rumors?”
“I’m sorry to be telling ye this, and I ken I’m speaking out of turn against ma clan’s lady, but Lady Cairren doesnae deserve this.
I ken that now. I just wish I had sennights ago.
I’ve tried to break people’s belief of the rumors by sharing what she’s done, but a few people have suggested she’s bewitched me too.
I canna risk ma weans with people saying that. ”
“I understand, Meg. You’ve done the right thing telling me.
Thank you.” Padraig left and made his way back to the keep, mulling over what Meg told him.
Nothing contradicted what he knew about each of the people he heard about.
He believed Father Mitchell, his mother, and Myrna were continuing their smear campaign, and he believed Cairren was everything Meg described.
He just didn’t know what to do to stop them when the hatred outnumbered the good.
Cairren enjoyed the only pleasant week she’d had since she arrived.
She wove and visited Meg in the mornings, then she spent the afternoon with her kinsmen and Alex.
Their presence eased her fears when she was in the Great Hall, and it took her mind off the loneliness she’d experienced and that inevitably awaited her when they departed.
Padraig was attentive in and out of their bedchamber, and she even allowed herself to consider the chamber theirs despite only referring to it as his.
It surprised her that Padraig kept away from Myrna.
The woman’s glares intensified, as did her pouts when Padraig was near, so Cairren was confident that Padraig was avoiding Myrna.
She just was unconvinced it would last. She was uninterested in playing Myrna’s game of manipulation.
If Padraig cared for her, it would be because he came to that conclusion on his own.
Cairren wouldn’t pretend to be someone she wasn’t.
She left that to Myrna. With guardsmen, albeit Kennedys, finally willing to escort her, she could explore further afield.
She paid close attention to where they walked and rode, noting where she believed she could venture alone.
There was only one thing casting a shadow on Cairren’s temporary happiness.
She was worried about Wynda. She wasn’t taking her meals in the Great Hall anymore, claiming that she was busy tending Duncan or too tired and wanted to retire.
Cairren suspected the abuse had increased, and Wynda was hiding, so no one saw the aftermath.
She’d caught a head cold that passed through the keep, but she struggled to get better, the lack of food and rest wearing her body down.
Cairren offered Wynda medicinals, and it was on the morning that Wynda finally agreed that Cairren heard a loud crash as she made her way to Duncan’s chamber.
She feared he’d fallen from the bed, but when she rushed into the chamber, she found Wynda sprawled across the floor and Duncan standing over her.
“Get out, whore,” Duncan demanded.
“I will not,” Cairren entered the chamber, leaving the door open. “You struck your wife.”
“The lazy bitch is clumsy. Tripped over her own feet.”
“Then why are you standing there?”
“To help her, you simpleton. Now get out,” Duncan demanded once again.
“I came to give Wynda the medicinals I offered her. That,” Cairren pointed to the gash on Wynda’s temple. “Needs tending. It’s deep.”
“She’s fine. Leave before I throw you out.”
Cairren brandished her dirk that she’d started carrying when she arrived at court. She knew she was unlikely to overpower Duncan, but she intended to do as much damage as she could. “I’ll leave, but Wynda comes with me.”
“Fine. You can both get the bluidy hell out.”
Cairren reached out her hand, and Wynda skirted around Duncan before the women left. In Wynda’s chamber, Cairren drew a deep breath before looking at Wynda’s face. “This needs stitching.”
“Nay, just clean it, and I’ll be right as rain.”
“Nay. You won’t. It’ll get infected. I’m stitching this closed, Wynda.
” Cairren went to where she knew Wynda kept her sewing kit.
She lit a candle and passed the needle and thread through it several times before cleaning Wynda’s temple.
The women sat in silence by the arrow slit while Cairren worked.
Wynda barely flinched as Cairren passed the needle through her skin until she had ten clean sutures.
Cairren knew Wynda’s lack of reaction came from enduring many injuries at her husband’s hand. “What was he angry aboot?”
“He didn’t like what they served this morn when he broke his fast.”
“Didn’t like it? It was the same thing it always is.”
“Aye. But I suppose that’s not what he wanted.” Wynda glanced at the closed door before looking at Cairren. “You’ve delivered bairns before, haven’t you?”
“Aye. Plenty while I was still on Kennedy land.”
“I think I’m carrying again. I’ve missed my courses twice now. Could you examine me?”
“That’s wonderful news!”
“Shh! Nay, it’s not. No one can know, in case I lose the bairn again.”
“But if Duncan keeps beating you, you are likely to lose it. Wouldn’t he stop if he knew?”
“You’d think, but it’s never made a difference in the past.”
“But wouldn’t Micheil help you with this? It’s his grand bairn who might be Duncan’s heir.”
“Duncan has sworn he’ll kill me if I ever tell anyone what happens between us.”
Cairren swept an assessing look over Wynda. “Did he force you? Is that how he got you with child?”
Wynda shook her head before lowering it. “I don’t fight him anymore. It’s not worth it.”
“Och, Wynnie.” Cairren hugged her friend. “Please, let me help you get back to your people. At least to give you a chance to carry this bairn. If Myrna can claim a sickness is keeping her away from her clan, we can come up with a reason for you to return to yours.”
“I’ll think aboot it,” Wynda conceded. Five minutes later, Cairren confirmed Wynda was carrying and issued her plea again. “Aye. I want to go home now that I know for sure.”
“We’ll come up with something.” Cairren offered her another hug before she returned to Padraig’s chamber.