Chapter 19 #2
“Nay.” She shook her head and slipped her hand back into her pocket. Her fingers desperately reached for the wooden pawn. “Why would they do that? We have an alliance,” she said, trying to sound believable.
“Mayhap, someone ought to tell that to the Gunns.” His tongue flicked out and touched his hurt lip.
“Was my faither there, too? And how about my brathairs?” She waited with bated breath for his answer. This could be a very bad situation.
“Aye, they were. But once yer faither hit the ground from drinkin’ too much Mountain Magic, Gawl told me he’d seen ye recently and that ye hit him in the face. He wanted to pay back the favor.” He rubbed his jaw as he spoke.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Why did ye lie to me, Spring? Ye said ye went out to find Donel.”
“I did. While I was out, I came across my clan as well.”
“Donel was by the Gunns? I dinna like this at all. I dinna want him anywhere near them.”
“Nay, he wasna there. Not then.”
“What does that mean?”
She wanted more than anything to tell him about Donel and Vika, but it wasn’t her place to do so. She’d just made friends with Donel and the boy would hate her if she spilled his secret. Besides, he should be the one to tell his father and she’d yet to have the time to talk him into it.
“Spring, I am waitin’ for yer answer.” He had a fiery, angry look in his eyes.
She remained silent, pulling the wooden chess piece from her pocket and focusing on it in her hand.
“Is there somethin’ ye are tryin’ to hide from me?” His voice was straight to the point and stern.
“I’ve done nothin’ wrong,” she said. “All I did was talk with my clan.”
Shaw didn’t have time to ask her anything else because Reed walked into the kitchen with his bird on his shoulder and with an older red-haired man at his side. She looked up, surprised to see them. But not as surprised as by what the other man said and did next.
“Spring,” said the man, looking at her as if he’d seen a ghost. “It’s really ye; I ken it.”
“Excuse me?” said Spring, turning the wooden pawn over and over in her hand.
“This is Ross Douglas,” said Reed. “He’s the man that had his daughter stolen as a baby.”
“Aye. I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, studying the man’s face. She’d never seen him before and nothing felt familiar.
“Och, is that soup?” asked Reed, spying the bubbling kettle hanging over the fire. He put his bird on the table and walking toward the hearth. “I’m hungry.”
“No’ for that, ye’re no’,” mumbled Shaw.
The older man walked forward slowly, staring at Spring.
It made her feel uncomfortable and vulnerable.
She looked away. Then the pawn slipped from her hand and dropped to the ground.
She bent over to pick it up, but Ross got there first. He scooped up the wooden piece in his big palm, looking at it with wide eyes.
“Where did ye get this?” he asked.
“It’s just a toy I’ve had ever since I was a bairn,” she said. “I used to chew on it. Now I just hold it when I am upset. My mathair once told me it was the only thing that could make me stop cryin’ as a baby.”
“Ross, ye are lookin’ at the pawn like ye’ve seen a ghost,” said Shaw. “What’s the matter?”
“I have seen this before. A long, long, time ago.” Ross stood up and so did Spring. “Reed,” he said, calling him over. “Does this look familiar to ye?”
“I dinna ken. Let me see it.” Reed looked over Spring’s shoulder. “Aye. That looks just like a piece from our chessboard from when my brathairs and I were young. Ye carved it, didna ye?”
“I did,” said Ross, his eyes flashing over to Spring next. “I never could find one of the pawns and had to make another one. I always wondered what happened to it.”
“I dinna ken what ye’re talkin’ about,” said Spring, grabbing for it, but he moved his hand away. “It is mine and I’ve had it all my life. There is no way ye could have carved it.”
“There is one way to be sure,” said Ross. “I always signed every piece after I was finished craftin’ it.” He turned the piece over and tears filled his eyes. “Look,” he said, holding it out to show her. “Go ahead and tell me what that says.”
Spring bit her lip as her eyes settled on the piece. She knew there was something scratched into the wood, but never knew what it meant.
“I – I dinna want to read it. Ye do it,” she said.
“It says Ross,” Reed said, stretching his neck to see it. He took the piece out of Ross’ hand to look at it.
“Aye, it does,” said Shaw, coming over to inspect it as well. He took it from Reed and set it on the table. “Spring, ye must have kent about his name bein’ on the pawn,” said Shaw. “Why didna ye say somethin’ about it?”
Spring didn’t say a word.
“It doesna matter,” said Ross, looking at Spring like he was seeing her for the first time. “God has answered my prayers. I canna wait to tell Annalyse that we have found ye after all these years. Come to me, Spring.” He held out his arms, wanting to hold her. “Come to yer faither.”
Spring’s head started to spin. A heat engulfed her and she felt like she was going to swoon.
Her whole life came crashing down around her in that instant.
It confused her and scared her more than any battle.
How could this be true? How could her father back at the Gunn Clan have lied to her all these years?
Ross Douglas was now calling himself her father and it all felt surreal.
Suddenly, she didn’t know who she was or who she wanted to be.
This was all too much for her to accept.
She stepped away from the man and held her hands out to protect herself from him.
“Dinna touch me,” she spat, reacting like a warrior.
“I dinna ken ye. I have a faither, and I once had a mathair, but she is dead. I also have two brathairs. I am a Gunn, no’ a Douglas.
I’m a descendant of Vikings and I am a warrior.
Now leave me alone, because I dinna want anythin’ to do with ye.
No matter what ye say, I am no’ yer daughter. ”
She turned and ran up to her bedchamber, wanting to get away from everything and everyone. She needed to be alone and try to figure out who she really was after all. Because the way it looked now, everything in her life was naught but a lie!