Chapter 24
It had been three days and, still, Spring hadn’t left the bedchamber. Shaw was losing his patience with her and decided he would drag her out by her hair if he had to. Donel had arrived back at the castle with Vika this morning and the wedding was about to take place.
Shaw bolted up the stairs two at a time and banged open the door to the chamber. “Spring, get out here for the weddin’.” He stopped when he saw Spring sitting on the bed holding a parchment. Colina was next to her pointing at something.
“Shaw!” Spring threw down the parchment and jumped up.
“Hello, Da,” said Colina, rolling up the parchment and sticking it under her plaid. “I’d better hurry so I dinna miss Donel’s weddin’.”
“Just a moment, young lady.” He grabbed Colina by the shoulders as she tried to leave through the door. “What was goin’ on here?”
Colina looked back at Spring but didn’t say a word.
“It’s all right, Colina,” said Spring. “Ye may as well tell him. It’s no’ good to lie to yer faither and neither would I want ye to.”
“I’m teachin’ Spring to read,” said Colina. “She’s provin’ to be a verra fast learner.”
“Really.” His eyes darted from his daughter over to Spring and then back again. “Why dinna ye meet us down in the courtyard? We’ll be right there,” he told her.
“Aye,” said the girl heading away, skipping down the hall.
He looked at Spring, waiting for her to say something. When she didn’t, he figured he’d better talk or they’d miss the whole wedding.
“I think it’s a good thing to do. To learn to read, I mean.”
Spring wrapped her arms around herself in a hug. “Ye dinna think I’m daft because I’ve never learned?”
“On the contrary, I admire ye. I’m glad ye want to learn.”
“My faither didna think it was an important trait for a warrior to have and that’s why no one but Fergus could read in our entire clan.”
“Ye mean, Cromwell, dinna ye? Yer faither is down in the courtyard still waitin’ to talk to ye. Ye canna ignore him forever.”
“I ken.” She looked to the ground.
Shaw stepped into the room and closed the door. “Talk to me, Spring. Tell me why ye’ve been so distant these past few days.”
He thought for a moment she was going to open up to him but, like she usually did, she remained silent with a stone-like face.
Perhaps, part of her would always be a hardened warrior.
If so, he supposed he’d just have to accept it, although he would like it if she let down her guard and learned to tell him her feelings.
“We need to hurry down to the courtyard or we’re goin’ to miss Donel’s weddin’,” he told her.
“I’m no’ goin’.” She turned to look out the window. “I’ll watch it from up here.”
“Now ye are startin’ to sound like Donel before he accepted ye.” This was all he could take. He lost his temper, which probably wasn’t the best thing to do. “Ye are goin’ if I have to carry ye there over my shoulder.”
Her chin rose in defiance. Not smart to threaten a warrior.
“I told ye I’d watch the weddin’ from here. Now leave me be.” She turned back around. Shaw came up behind her, picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
“I told ye, we’re goin’ to my son’s weddin’. I’ll no’ take no for an answer,” he growled.
“Let me go! Put me down.” She struggled and kicked, but he made sure to hold her tightly so he wouldn’t drop her and hurt her or the baby. He made his way down the stairs and out to the courtyard, plopping her down in front of everyone. Most people just stared, but a few of them laughed.
“How could ye?” she asked. “If I were as crude as ye, I’d take ye down where ye stand for forcin’ me to do somethin’ I had no intention of doin’.”
“Spring, I’m so glad ye’re here,” said Ross, rushing over, hoping to get to talk to her.
“I’m leavin’,” she said. Then she stopped and spoke to Donel and Vika.
“I wish ye both the best with yer weddin’ and am sorry I am no’ able to stay.
” Turning on her heel, she ran back to her chamber.
Once inside, she closed the door and flopped face-down onto the bed.
Shaw had hurt her pride twice today. Once by knowing she was secretly learning to read and the other by humiliating her in front of everyone.
She felt terrible for not being there to support Donel on his big day but, if she stayed, she would have to talk to Ross.
That was something she wasn’t yet ready to do.
Shaw felt very upset during the wedding and couldn’t wait for it to be over.
There was a huge celebration to follow, but he needed to clear things up between him and his wife first. Music played in the great hall, and food and wine flowed freely.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, except for Ross who was very hurt that his daughter had yet to talk to him.
“I’m goin’ to go drag her out of the bedchamber and bring her down here,” Shaw said to his brother.
“Good idea,” said Leod, standing next to him with a tankard of ale in his hand. “She’s already missed the meal. Make her come down here and dance with ye. Everyone wants to see her.”
“Do ye think I’m doin’ the right thing?” asked Shaw.
“Aye, of course. If I were ye, I’d –”
“Forget it.” Shaw waved his hand in the air and headed toward the stairs.
If Leod said it was the right thing to do with a woman, then it was definitely wrong.
The man knew nothing about women and even less when it came to manners or making amends.
It was no wonder he was eight and twenty years old and had still never taken a wife.
He stopped in the corridor, running a weary hand through his hair. He had no idea what to do with Spring. Leaving her alone hadn’t worked and neither had using brute force. What other options did he have?
“There are many ways to woo a woman and I think ye’ve forgotten them all.” Nairnie stepped out of the shadows, watching him as always. The light of the torch flickered across her weathered, wrinkled skin.
“Nairnie, ye need to stop spyin’ on me.”
“I’m watchin’ over ye just as I’ve done ever since ye were a child.”
“Well, I’m no’ a child anymore, so stop it.”
“Ye need advice how to handle yer warrior wife.”
“Nay. I dinna.”
“Really?” She gave him that all-knowing look that he’d hated as a child. Nairnie could always tell when he was lying.
“All right, mayhap I do,” he said with an exasperated sigh. “Go ahead. I’m sure ye’re goin’ to tell me one way or another.”
“Do ye remember when ye were tryin’ to catch Alpina’s eye?” she asked in a crackly voice.
Shaw shrugged his shoulders. “I suppose so. Why?”
“I remember it clearly. Ye were always bringin’ her flowers or sayin’ nice things to her. Ye’d go out of yer way to make sure she was happy.”
“What’s yer point?”
“Do ye do these things for yer new wife?”
“What?” He scrunched up his face. “That’s different. We’re already married.”
That earned him another scowl as well as the evil eye from the old woman. “Ye dinna start ignorin’ a lassie once ye’ve got her. If ye want to keep her, ye need to work at it.”
“Our marriage was arranged. There’s no need for that.”
“Is that really what ye believe?”
Shaw thought about it for a minute and then shook his head. “I guess I have been treatin’ her more like a warrior than a wife lately. But that’s only because of who she is.”
“Who is she?”
“She’s a warrior. A raider and -”
“That’s who she used to be. Now she’s a wife and soon to be a mathair. Dinna ye think mayhap she’s confused? She needs someone to talk to about how she’s feelin’.”
“She doesna have emotions. Besides, I’ve tried to talk and she willna have it.”
“Perhaps she doesna ken what to say. She has emotions, but they are locked within her. Ye need to find a way to bring them out.”
“Oh, I have - on our weddin’ night,” he said, thinking about their wonderful night together and how he would like to do it again.
Nairnie reached out and slapped him on the head.
“Ow. What was that for?” He rubbed his head and scowled at her. She hadn’t done that to him since he was a boy when he and Leod collected frogs from the pond and hid them in the beds of every girl in the clan.
“She’s a woman, not a horse meant for breedin’. She’s already bairned with yer child, so remember to be extra nice to her. Her emotions might get on the tense side.”
“Ye’re tellin’ me,” he said, thinking of the fuss she’d put up and how she’d almost ruined Donel’s wedding.
“Ye need to think about things, Shaw. If ye want her to stay around and be yer wife and the mathair of yer child, ye’d better find a way to do it fast. Life has just handed her a lot of surprises. Ye should be there for her.”
“She told me to leave her alone, so I did.”
“Since when do ye ever listen to a bairned lassie? She’s hurtin’ and needs ye there for her. She’s just lost everythin’ that made her the warrior she was. Do ye ken what it must feel like to realize yer entire life has been based on a lie?”
“Nay, I suppose I dinna,” said Shaw. “I never thought of it that way. Thank ye, Nairnie.”
“Dinna stand here thankin’ me when ye have so much work to do.”
Spring paced the floor, about going mad from staying locked away in her room for so long.
She was used to the outdoors and being free.
However, it was her choice to stay here.
Besides Colina, who had dropped by once a day to teach her to read, Spring hadn’t seen anyone – except Shaw each night when he came to bed.
Even that had become awkward between them.
She’d kept him at a distance lately, not feeling like she deserved being happy in his arms.
She was no longer sure how to act. Was she a warrior or was she naught but a weak lassie who felt like crying at the drop of a gauntlet? She wasn’t sure. And to top things off, she was pregnant and had no idea how to act like a mother.
There was a knock at the door and, before she could answer, Shaw entered the room with a tray in his hands.