Callum’s Vow: The Victorian Highlanders

by St. Clair, Ellie

  Victoria hadn’t been this happy in a long time.

  If only she knew this feeling would last.

  29

  Callum was pulling on his boots Monday morning when he heard a knock on the door downstairs. Waiting for Sarah’s cheerful good morning, it took him a moment to remember that she would have already left for the clinic. It was strange, living in the house of another woman, but she certainly was welcoming.

  Leaving Victoria sleeping in the bed, he rushed down the stairs and pulled the door open to Mrs. Johnson. After initial greetings, she held out a package to him.

  “This came for you at the boarding house,” she told him. “It’s all the way from Scotland. I hope it brings good tidings.”

  She went on her way, leaving Callum to stare at the package with some trepidation for upon it was his name and address scrawled in his father’s bold, dark handwriting.

  He found a letter opener, sat at the kitchen table, and opened the envelope with dread and anticipation rolling through his stomach.

  My son Callum,

  It has been some time since we last heard from you. I hope and pray you are getting on well in the Northwest Territories, and that you have found your cousin, my nephew, Gregor. I trust no one but you in this effort to find him and bring him home.

  On that subject, Callum, I have made a decision. I am getting on in years and my body can no longer keep with the toils it requires to maintain the prosperity of our clan. While I will remain chieftain in name, I require an able body to take on the physical tasks. Finlay has been of great help, but the people need to see the successor day in and day out. They are in need of a future chieftain and his wife. Mac McTavish has been to see me. It is time for you to be married to Kyla, or he has threatened to find another for her. As you know, the union of the clans is important for our continued resilience.

  I ask that you now come home. If you have not found Gregor by this time, I feel we must resign ourselves to the fact that we never will. As devastating as it may be to not know his fate, I do not wish to lose you as well in your quest to find him.

  I hope to be reunited with you soon.

  Your father,

  Duncan McDougall

  Callum sighed and rubbed his forehead. There was so much to explain — to his father and to Victoria. His life seemed to be split, with half of it back home in Scotland and the other here, in Qu'Appelle. Additionally, he knew he could not abandon his quest to find Gregor as his father asked. His father had only hesitantly agreed to this journey, and now that it was proving to take longer than initially anticipated, Callum knew his agreement would be weighing on his mind. Kyla… well, that was another issue entirely.

  The letter also caused him to admit to himself that perhaps he had not been as attentive to his duties as he should have been. He guiltily thought of the nights he’d spent with Victoria as his cousin suffered an unknown fate. With new resolve, he stuffed the letter in his satchel and hurried out the door to continue his countryside search.

  He had been remiss in following up on the one and only clue he had found – the torn map from the boardinghouse. He would follow the path now and see where it might lead. He steeled himself, knowing that in all likelihood it would come to nothing.

  But it wouldn’t hurt to try.

  * * *

  Victoria woke lazily, smiling to herself as she thought of all Callum had taught her the night before. Why had she ever resisted marriage? She swung her legs out of bed, not surprised to find Callum up and gone. He was an early riser, unlike herself, a night owl. While far from being the only difference between them, they seem to manage it just fine.

  She threw on a wrap and went downstairs to make tea. She poured the water over the tea to begin steeping and turned to snag one of Sarah’s amazing scones when she heard a crinkle beneath her foot. She looked down to see a piece of paper on the floor, stuck beneath the leg of the chair. She picked it up, and was struck by the strong scrawl that lined the pages. When she saw it was addressed to Callum, she told herself not to read it. She folded it, then set it on a side table for him. She poured her cup of tea, carried it to the table, and sat down with her newest novel, The Portrait of a Lady, which had originally been published as a magazine serial. Marian had told her about the book before she left, and Charlie had finally tracked down a copy for Victoria. Interestingly, it was about an American who ran away from her life to Europe.

  As good as it was though, she couldn’t get into the book. Her gaze kept flicking over to the letter that lay folded a few feet away.

  She knew she shouldn’t read it. It was Callum’s correspondence, and she should wait until he decided to share its contents with her.

  But Victoria’s curiosity had been known to get the best of her, and finally she sighed, unable to resist the temptation any longer.

  She picked up the thick parchment, her eyes flitting over the words quickly from one side of the page to the next. She knew Callum respected his father, but she also knew him well enough by now to realize that he wouldn’t give up his quest until he found what he had come here for.

  Then a name leaped out at her. Kyla. Her pulse quickened and heat rose from her toes up to her cheeks as she read about the woman’s planned role in Callum’s future. Why in God’s name had she never heard of this woman? Did Callum not think it important to mention a former betrothal to his wife? She had given him ample opportunity to tell her about any other women in his life. She’d asked time and again if there was anyone here or at home, and it was always a resounding no.

  He had lied to her. Buy why? His father said in this letter their marriage was important to unionize the clans, and she knew that would mean something to Callum, particularly if it had been a commitment he had made to his father.

  She sat there in silence for a few moments more, then calmly folded the letter back together, placed it on the table, and went upstairs to get dressed, resolved to find answers before the day was over.

  * * *

  It proved to be a trying wait for the answers Victoria sought. The longer the day wore on, the more her anger peaked. She worked in the clinic, more abrupt than usual with patients, to the point where Sarah asked her whatever was the matter. But what was she supposed to say? “Oh, nothing much, I’m just going to have to return to Scotland with my husband, where I am not going to be welcomed by his father or his family, since apparently he was supposed to marry another woman that would unite their clans and improve all of their lives.”

  Sarah would be shocked. But Victoria had kept her mouth shut and now Sarah was out to have supper with Charlie, unknowingly leaving Callum unguarded to the fate that awaited him in Victoria, who was currently a ball of fury on the couch.

  The moment he walked in the door, he hesitated, his eyes searching her face. It seemed that he knew he was in trouble.

  “Victoria?” he questioned, meeting her gaze head on. “Is something the matter?”

  “I’m not sure. Tell me, Callum,” she said in a frosty tone, “when I asked you if there was a woman in your life, do you recall what you told me?”

  “The truth,” he said carefully, “that there wasn’t one.”

  “Oh?” she asked, arching an eyebrow quizzically. “No Kyla?”

  His hands flew to his pockets and then his bag, but after a moment, he dropped them in defeat. “You found the letter,” he said with a sigh as he pulled a chair from the kitchen table, flipped it around and straddled it backwards, facing her.

  “Yes, I found the letter,” she said, his nonchalance angering her even further. “And it contained some very interesting information. Information that, perhaps, my husband should have shared with me before we were actually married.”

  “In my defense,” said Callum, “I didn’t have much time. And besides—”

  “Callum!” she said, incredulously as she stood and began to pace. “I asked you plenty of times before we were married if there was another woman in your life. Now I find out that not only was there a woman, b
ut you were supposed to marry this Kyla! How are you going to marry her now that you already have a wife? Or were all those words about this being a lasting marriage and your word is your bond just words? And if you did mean it, then your father wants you to come home, and to come home now, and that means that we are both going home. Which is something that, perhaps, I should be aware of. Or do you think I should just be following you whenever, wherever, like a good little wife? This is why I never wanted to be married and why I didn’t want you to marry me, or stay married to me, if you didn’t want to be!”

  As she paused to take a breath, Callum stood, clasped her wrists, and led her back to sit on the couch. He took a seat beside her, their knees touching. Victoria was torn between wanting to push him away and have him wrap his arms around her and hold her close. “I didn’t tell you about Kyla because I’m not going to marry her. ’Tis the plan of our fathers, and while she’s interested, I never could have followed that course. My brother is in love with her.”

  “Your brother?”

  “Aye. Finlay. He’s loved her since we were children. She doesn’t seem to want anything to do with him, but that’s beside the point. I could never betray him like that.”

  “Oh. I see.”

  The pent-up fury of the day, which, she had to admit to herself, was actually hard-edged jealousy, eased with his explanation and she felt slightly ridiculous for having berated him so thoroughly without providing him the opportunity to explain.

  “And your father’s request to go home?”

  “I will not return until I find Gregor. I know I’m close,” he said insistently. “But return I must once I do. We should have spoken of it much, much sooner, but I know how much you love it here. I have to ask — will you come with me, Victoria? I would not force ye to. I never would, as much as I would hate to part from you.”

  It was the first time they had truly broached the subject, and Victoria found her heart torn. But there was only one answer.

  She nodded. “Yes, of course I’ll come with you.” She averted her gaze, hoping he couldn’t see the set of her jaw, the tightness of her shoulders, telling him what her words would not: that she would go, for she could never be parted from him, but her soul desperately ached to stay here.

  30

  Callum’s thoughts preoccupied him the next morning as he made his way down to the stable. He saddled Ansgar and then swung onto the saddle and pointed him in the direction of the barracks.

  For the first time since they were married, they hadn’t made love the night before. Victoria, feigning tiredness, had gone upstairs while he wrote a letter back to his father, telling him that his return would not be immediate, and that he would be bringing a wife back with him. He was quite pleased he would not be present when his father read his correspondence. When he finished, went upstairs and opened the door to the bedroom, Victoria had been turned to the wall, her eyes squeezed shut, but her body radiating enough tension that he knew she was awake.

  Ansgar sidestepped, a bit skittish this morning, but Callum had grown used to the spirited horse’s ways and didn’t read anything into it. A few new scents on the trail perhaps.

  Suddenly Ansgar reared up, and Callum grasped desperately at the reins to keep from being thrown off the horse. When he convinced him to land on all fours once more, he tried to settle Ansgar and dismounted to investigate what it was that had spooked him. He jumped back himself when he saw the snake on the trail. It was coiled on the path, but he could tell it was thick and seemed ready to strike. Were they common to this area? Were they poisonous? He wasn’t sure but had no desire to find out. As he started slowly backing up the horse, he heard a crack in the dry prairie grass behind him but before he could turn he felt something hard and sharp strike the side of his head. Then everything went black.

  * * *

  Four hours later, Callum still hadn’t returned. With all her nervous energy, Victoria had accomplished more in a few hours than she typically did in a few days. She had cleaned both her room and the kitchen, washed all of the dishes, and prepared the laundry. Victoria was to have today off from the doctor’s office, but now felt she would have much preferred going in and staying busy. There was too much on her mind.

  Victoria wanted to talk to Sarah, to tell her all that had transpired and that she would soon be traveling to Scotland, but she was working with Dr. Hampton and had much more important things to worry about than Victoria’s issues. Victoria finally decided she needed to talk to Callum again and would go to the barracks to find him herself.

  Feeling a walk would do her good today, she smiled at passersby through town and then set off down the usual path to the barracks, which was becoming rather familiar now. She had brought a few provisions as it did take some time to walk there and back, but it let her work off all of her nervous energy.

  She jerked back as something suddenly came bursting through the brush to stop in front of her. With a gasp, she caught hold of herself as she realized it was a riderless Ansgar. The reins were dragging off the side, and she could see burrs stuck in the horse’s side. She busied herself pulling them out as she talked gently to Ansgar, trying to calm him down. She led him back down the path to see where he had come from, her heart beating anxiously as she tried to block from her mind all the possible conclusions of what could have happened to Callum. Not too far down the path, she stumbled over a large rock. As she circled around to her other side, she gasped as she saw a small splatter of red on the side of the rock and the ground beside, and realized with much trepidation it was likely blood.

  “Ansgar, what happened?” she asked, her eyes flicking around her anxiously. The horse must have taken a trip through the bush surrounding the trail as it seemed he traveled a lot farther than the distance of the path. She began to circle the area, looking for any sign that Callum was nearby, perhaps having moved himself. All she found was crushed brush leading west.

  “Well Ansgar,” she said, patting the horse, calming him as much as herself, “how are you feeling, boy? Ready for an adventure?” After ensuring he wasn’t too agitated to continue, she gave the horse some water she found in the saddlebag, mounted him, and urged him down the newly created path.

  * * *

  The world gradually came into focus as Callum forced his eyes to open a crack. Through fuzzy lenses, he saw a wooden floor, boots walking back and forth in front of him. Voices began filtering in through his grogginess.

  “What do we do with him now?”

  “We’ve got to take him out. What else are we supposed to do?”

  “He knows too much. There’s no other option.”

  “We’re not killers, though.”

  “Only because the other bloody man won’t tell us where it is.”

  “We could use him, though.”

  “Use him how?”

  “With this cousin, as leverage.”

  “Ahhhh…..”

  “Shush, both of you. He’s coming to.”

  Callum opened his eyes all the way this time, as much as it pained him to do so.

  “What… ?”

  “Good morning, sunshine.” Alistair’s craggy face came into view, and the scent of his rancid breath wafted down to Callum’s face. Callum tried not to be sick, not only from the smell but also the stars still circling his head.

  “Ah, McDougall.” Chester’s smooth voice came from somewhere above Callum’s swimming head as he tried to sit up. “What are we going to do with you?”

  When he tried to move, Callum realized his ankles were tied together and his wrists bound behind his back. He managed to prop himself up against an old bed that was shoved into the corner of the room, giving him more dignity than he found lying below them on the floor.

  “What have you done with Gregor?” Callum demanded in a raspy voice.

  “Ah, lad, that’s not your concern,” answered Alistair. “But not to worry, you’ll be meeting up with him soon. Now have yourself a little sleep here, and soon enough you can enjoy a reunion with y
our beloved cousin.”

  Alistair and Chester exited through the door before another knock to the head sent Callum’s world swirling into black once again.

  * * *

  The path through the brush wasn’t a particularly easy one to follow. Branches slapped at Victoria’s face, scratching her through her thin summer dress. She wasn’t exactly prepared for a day-long ride through the woods, and as the sun slowly set, the air began to cool. She shivered. She should have gone back to town for help, or to Angus and his police. What had she been thinking? She had no idea her quest would lead her this far, and now she had come too far to turn around.

  She slowed Ansgar when she heard voices up ahead. They were still a ways off, but wanting to be careful, she stopped the horse, slipped from the saddle, and quietly led him back a few yards, where she tied him to a low-hanging tree branch.

  Victoria crouched low in the tall prairie grass, slowly inching her way forward. She stopped when voices began to cut clearly through the air.

  “Here’s the plan,” said an older voice she recognized distinctly as Alistair’s. “We use the cousin to get Gregor to tell us where he stashed all of the money he stole from us. Once we have the location, we keep them both — separated — until we make sure it is where he says it is. Then we come back and throw them both in the river and be done with it.”

  “Why the river?” It was Brandon, she realized, which meant Chester likely made up the third portion of the trio.

  “It does not have to be the river. I dinna care what you do with them,” said Alistair with exasperation. “But you’ll get rid of them. Can ye do that?”

  “Of course,” Brandon responded indignantly, chilling Victoria with how eager he seemed to follow through with the plan.