Chapter 28
Cairren picked up her basket of medicinals and left her chamber, leaving her troubling thoughts in her chamber.
She found Peter, her guard for that day, and went into the village.
She checked on Catriona and Liam along with Meg and her children.
Peter informed her that word had spread that she saved Catriona and her baby’s life.
He looked over his shoulder before telling her that Father Mitchell attempted to say it was witchcraft that she’d used, but Matthew had threatened to beat the priest if he lied again.
Matthew swore it was a miracle and hard work.
Cairren noticed warmer smiles from people who had always scowled at her.
She heard fewer insults than normal, but she wasn’t willing to get her hopes up.
As they returned to the bailey, a roar reverberated against the walls.
Cairren turned toward the lists where she saw men running toward something happening in the middle of the field.
“Lady Cairren, come quick. It’s Dougal. He’s hurt his arm something horrible.
It’s nae hanging right.” Cairren didn’t recognize the man who called out to her, but she picked up her skirts and hurried onto the field.
Peter led the way, and Henry soon followed, ensuring she had a clear path to the injured man.
She found Dougal, one of the largest men she’d ever met but with a gentle soul, lying on the ground unconscious.
His arm hung at an odd angle with the bone protruding from the skin.
She pushed her way to the front of the crowd and kneeled beside him.
“There’s naught to do for that,” a deep voice rumbled behind Cairren.
“Aye. The blacksmith’ll have to take it,” another man spoke with certainty.
“He was a fine warrior.” The final comment made Cairren growl.
“If you think he will die or be maimed for life, you can bluidy well leave this field right now. I don’t need you lot breathing down my neck while I fix his arm.
Now either shut your gobs or move along.
I don’t want to hear another word.” Cairren turned to find Padraig standing beside her.
She nodded to him before removing her arisaid and folding it to place beneath Dougal’s arm. “I need whisky. Plenty of it.”
While she waited for someone to retrieve what she needed, she looked through her medicinal basket and pulled out what she would use to pack the wound once she’d set the bone.
She had bandages in the basket's bottom, so she pulled those out. She sent a warrior to chop two flat pieces of wood to use as splints. When the whisky arrived, she took a healthy swig to the hoots of several men; however, they went silent at her scathing glare. She poured some onto her hands and rubbed them together before using one of the bandages to dry them. She felt along Dougal’s arm, and as she suspected, he came alert as soon as she moved it.
She helped him hold the jug of whisky to his mouth and encouraged him to drink deeply until his eyes rolled back.
She eased his head to the ground and looked up at Padraig.
“I need three men to hold him down while I work.” Padraig nodded and pointed to two other men close to Padraig’s size.
They pinned down each of his legs while Padraig held down Dougal’s other arm.
Cairren poured whisky on the open wound.
Dougal jerked awake and failed his arm. He knocked Cairren over, but she scrambled back to grab his arm before he could do more damage.
“Hold him down,” she ordered the other men. “Dougal, this will hurt. I’m sorry. I will set this on three. One—" Cairren simultaneously pushed and pulled, and the bone slid back into place.
“Ye didna say thwee,” Dougal drawled.
“I ken, but I needed you to not tense. You would have if you thought it would happen when I said three.”
“She kicked me in the shin before she set my nose,” Padraig offered. Cairren pursed her lips but smiled.
“I’m certain you deserved it, along with it distracting you.
” Cairren offered Dougal more whisky before she packed the wound with yarrow and prepared to sew it closed.
“Dougal, I ken you live in the barracks, but I really think you should stay with your parents for a wee while. I fear you might develop a fever, and you’ll need someone to brew willow bark tea and keep an eye on you. ”
“Aye, Dougal. Ye’ll want yer mam to look after ye,” teased a man Cairren believed was named Jonathon.
“Tha thu nad asal,” Cairren muttered that he was an arse, and the men who heard howled with laughter.
“We agree wi ye, ma wady,” Dougal slurred. This only made the crowd laugh more.
“Can you help me get him up?” Cairren looked at Padraig, and he nodded. Once Dougal was on his feet and mostly upright, Padraig dismissed Henry and Peter to help Dougal to his parents’ croft, insisting that he would accompany Cairren.
“Have you been up to the battlements yet, Ren?”
Cairren shook her head as she blinked away tears. She didn’t want to weaken to Padraig, but the sound of his special pet name for her tore at her. “This didn’t seem like a wise place to come,” she answered as Padraig led her up the stairs.
“On a cloudless day, it feels as if you can see for forever.” Padraig pointed to the clear sky overhead. They walked in silence until they reached the portion of the wall walk that overlooked the loch. “Cairren, now that one of the major obstacles for us is no longer here, can we start fresh?”
Cairren pushed her hair out of her eyes as the wind lifted it.
Padraig was gazing at her with the same softness as when they used to lie in her bed and talk, learning about one another’s interests and tastes.
It felt as if that were a lifetime ago. She looked out over the fields and considered what she would say.
“What happens if she returns?” she asked at last.
“I don’t think she will. She has no reason to.”
Cairren turned her head to look at Padraig again, struggling to decide whether to tell him what she knew. “Your family wants an alliance with hers, and your brother is now a widower. Your parents might arrange their marriage.”
“Nay. Myrna would never agree. She loves me. She would never agree to marry Duncan.”
“You still believe she loves you?”
“Why else would she have fought so much for me?”
“Mayhap because she hates me and hates losing to me? Or at least that’s how she looks at it.”
“She was fighting for us. Cairren, it matters not anymore what she or I want.”
Cairren shook her head. “Want? Not wanted, but want? As in now, not the past. You’re unbelievable.” Cairren turned away and took a step, but Padraig moved around her, blocking her way.
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?” Cairren demanded.
“She was fighting for us because we loved each other. She wasn’t willing to give up on us, even if I want to move on.”
“Unwilling to give up on you?” Cairren opened her mouth to say more but snapped it shut and shook her head. “You say you want to move on. How do I know that the first time she comes back here, and mark my words she will, that you won’t go running to her like you always do?”
“Because I’m the one who sent her home, and I’ve been avoiding her for sennights.”
“It didn’t look like you were avoiding her when I walked into the Great Hall to find my husband holding her hands in front of the entire clan.
Again.” Cairren narrowed her eyes. “And you seemed awfully eager to hear what she had to say when she was speaking out against me. Somehow I doubt you’d believe me so easily if I told you the truth aboot her. ”
“What truth?”
“She and Duncan have been lovers for years,” Cairren blurted out. She stunned herself and took a step back.
“Why would you make up such a horrid lie, Cairren? You always claim that you’re honest. You want me to believe the woman I love and my brother are sneaking around behind my back.”
“The woman you love? A moment ago, it was loved. Now you’re back to being in love.
You fickle fool. I hope she comes back. I hope she marries Duncan.
And I hope you have to watch them fuck right in front of you like I did.
” Cairren spun around and ran along the battlements, uncaring of who watched her, and uncaring that Padraig didn’t follow her.