by L. L. Muir
“But why America?” she asked, blinking her eyes to dispel the tears. “Our family is here.”
I sighed. “I cannae discuss it with ye. America and places like Canada and Nova Scotia will be good places for Scots looking for new homes. Please trust me, Mairi.”
Pain flickered across her face and she squeezed my hand, hard. “I dinnae want to—to go someplace—oh!” She leaned forward with the force of her contractions. They came one on top of the other, scarcely giving her time to draw a breath.
I sent Soni a sharp look. “Is this right?” I demanded.
Soni’s attention was on Mairi, murmuring encouragingly to her as she labored. Turning back to Mairi, I let her grasp my arm as she pushed. Her nails bit into my skin, but the damage was of no importance, and I dinnae feel the pain.
Soni gently shoved the blanket aside and pushed Mairi’s shift past her knees. “Oh!” she cried, her voice ringing with excitement. “The bairn is almost here!”
Grin stretching from ear to ear, I grabbed Mairi’s hand. “Good lass! Just a wee bit more!”
She gave a hoarse bark of laughter and furrowed her brow in concentration. Her face flushed red with her exertion and she bit her lip. She groaned with the effort of it, then gave a sudden gasp of relief.
“Look!” Soni slowly raised her hands, a verra wee bairn cradled in them. A white creamy substance clung to the babe’s skin, and his face was puckered in a grimace. She held the bairn out to me.
A deep reverence stole my breath as Soni placed the babe in my arms. She grabbed a piece of linen and began wiping him down—and it was a lad. A wee lad, but perfectly made. Mairi raised up on her elbows, peering at the tiny bundle. I placed him on his ma’s belly and she stroked his head, tears in her eyes. The cord connecting him to her pulsed with life and after a minute or two, Soni took a piece of twine and bound it twice, a few inches apart. She handed me a knife, and with a slight tremor, I cut the cord in two.
I gently moved the bairn to the crook of Mairi’s elbow. She gazed at him, wonderment lighting her sweet face.
“He is so small,” she whispered.
“He came early,” I replied. “But he is a braw lad and will thrive.”
She smiled contentedly. Suddenly, her eyes jerked to mine and she gasped. I grabbed the bairn from her as she bent almost double, caught in another contraction. Rattled, I stared at Soni.
‘Twins’ she mouthed at me. I blinked. Twins?
Mairi paled and strained. Verra quickly I held another lad in my arms. His eyes squinted at me and he waved a tiny fist in the air. A light fuzz of red-gold hair dusted the crown of his head. Me—he looked just like me. I turned to Soni, tears in my eyes.
“This,” I told her, working the words around the lump clogging my throat. “This is what I came back for.”
CHAPTER 15
I lay propped on the bed next to Mairi, the bairns cradled between us. Fascinated, I watched as first one then the other nursed at her breast. They settled quickly and dozed, and Soni swaddled them, following Mairi’s directions.
Mairi peered at Soni. “Who are ye?”
Soni gave her a reassuring smile. “My name is Soncerae, and I was able to grant yer husband one last day with ye to see to yer care.”
Mairi’s eyes narrowed, troubled. “How did ye do this?”
Soni cast a quick look my way and I nodded. “I have told her I am a ghost.”
She turned back to Mairi. “I am a Muir witch, and my heart was filled years ago with the plight of a few ghosts I met as a bairn.”
Mairi flinched and crossed herself, tucking the bairns a bit closer to her. Her pale cheeks flushed. “I am sorry. I dinnae mean disrespect.”
Soni nodded. “But ye are uncomfortable with a witch in yer house. I understand. Think of me as a verra young wise woman.” Her calm manner and gentle smile seemed to relieve Mairi of some of her worry.
“I thank ye for bringing Adam here.” She turned her face to me with a mournful look. “Though I dinnae know how to let him go again.”
Pale gray light framed the door and window, and I knew dawn wasnae far off. “What shall we name the lads?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation light.
Mairi peered at the bairns, first at the one with red hair, then the one with dark. “Mayhap we could name this wee lad after my brother who died when I was a lass.”
“Ian it is,” I agreed with a smile for the memory of the lad who had garnered everyone’s heart in the short life he’d lived. “And the other?”
She stared at the bairn for several long moments and tears dripped down her cheeks and onto the fresh shift Soni had helped her into after the bairns had been birthed. The moisture darkened the fabric in sad blotches and I couldnae speak. I kissed the top of her head.
“I would name this one Adam,” she finally whispered.
And I knew she finally understood.
I cradled her and the bairns in my arms, rocking gently back and forth. I sang a lullaby I had heard Mairi humming during the months she was pregnant.
Hush-a-ba, burdie, croon, croon
Hush-a-ba, burdie, croon;
The sheep are gane tae the siller wid,
An the coos are gane tae the broom, broom.
An it's braw milkin the kye, kye,
It's braw milkin the kye;
The birds are singin, the bells are ringin,
An the wild deer come gallopin by.
Hush-a-ba burdie, croon, croon,
Hush-a-ba burdie, croon,
The gaits are gane tae the mountain hie,
An they'll no be hame till noon.
My voice choked and trailed off. The light around the window had turned from dull gray to pale silver, and would soon be gold. My gaze met Soni’s.
“Are ye ready, Adam?” she asked.
“I dinnae care about Prince Charlie. I dinnae want my last memory to be of him, and no words I could speak to him will ever erase the fact I willnae see my lads grow into men.”
She nodded solemnly. “This is yer boon, then. That yer wife and bairns now have a chance at a full life.”
“Aye. `Twas all I ever wanted.” I started to rise from the bed, my limbs incredibly heavy and dense. Mairi clutched my arm.
Her gaze flew to Soni. “Dinnae take him!” she pleaded. “I cannae do this without him.”
Soni frowned. “I am sorry, Mairi. There is nothing I can do. My bargain was for a spirit, and I must take him back.”
Mairi glanced at the bairns, asleep in her arms. “If ye need a life, take mine.”
“Mairi, no!” I cried, aghast to think she would even think such a thing. “The bairns need their ma. Ye arenae thinking clearly. William will fetch his ma and ye will have all the help ye need.” I sank back onto the bed and pulled her close. “`Tis not yer time to go.”
She squirmed free and somehow I found the bairns in my arms as she sat upright. “If what ye say is true, the lads will need their da more than me in the coming days.”
I shifted wee Ian in my arms to balance the pair, and stared hard into Mairi’s stubborn eyes. “Nae, lass. Soni cannae exchange my life for yers. I have already seen my last days on earth.”
“I can,” Soni said in a clear, soft voice. “The bargain is for a life. It doesnae have to be yers.”
Mairi shot me a look of triumph stained by so much grief, it fair tore my heart from my chest. I tried to place young Adam in her arms, but she slipped from the bed to stand barefooted on the cold floor. She shuddered but gave me a piercingly sweet smile. “Ye will see them to safety. I know how much ye looked forward to their birth. Ye will make such a wonderful da.”
I shook my head, firming my face into a stern look as I gently laid the lads on the bed. “Nae. `Tis not yer time.”
She shrugged, but the pain in her heart was written in the tremble of her lips and the hollowness of her eyes. “Many women die in childbirth. `Tis not uncommon.”
“Ye willnae be one of them,” I replied firmly. “Please, Mairi. Dinnae ma
ke our parting over hard.”
She turned to Soni and lifted her chin. “I am ready.”
Her shoulders shook and I knew she resisted the urge to glance once more at the bairns.
“No!” I shouted, unheeding of the small cry from the bed as I grabbed Soni’s upper arms. “Ye willnae change the bargain.”
“`Tis well-met, Adam Gordon,” she said with a peculiar smile I dinnae understand. She tilted her head, her smile widening across her face. “Dinnae fash.”
Thunder crackled outside—no, `twas inside the cottage. I turned to Mairi, but she was already at the bedside, cuddling the mewling bairns to her breast. I put an arm protectively about her shoulders and looked up to see a man dressed in twenty-first century clothing—something I’d seen enough of at the Culloden Visitors’ Centre—standing verra close to Soni.
“Ye have had more than your share of warnings, Soncerae,” he intoned, his words intended for Soni alone.
“I gave my word, Uncle Wickham. Ye know me better,” she chided him.
“Ye are a soft-hearted lass,” he chided with a sigh. “But I can see ye havenae played this false.” He glanced at Mairi and me, his bushy eyebrows meeting in a fierce scowl. “May they use their time wisely.”
And with those strange words, he was gone. Soni lifted her arms and I waited for the stroke to fall. I brought to mind the feel of Mairi in my arms, of the soft touch of the bairns’ skin and their peaceful faces—the last things I would know in this world.
Mairi set the bairns down. “Take me,” she demanded quietly, wobbling a bit on her feet.
I picked her up with little effort and set her next to the bairns. “Mairi Gordon, I willnae stand for this.” Turning to Soni, I frowned. “I swear I will haunt yer every step should ye take my wife in my place, Soncerae.”
Soni rolled her eyes, making vague waving movements with her hands. I stared at the bruising apparent on one slender arm. She caught my gaze and flipped her hands to her sides, and the sleeves of her shirt fell to her wrists.
“What happened, lass?” I asked, curiosity overtaking my wariness.
“Nothing to concern yerself with,” she answered crisply. “`Twill be right as rain in a few days. I do, however, have others to see to. With 67 more of ye to deal with, I dinnae have time to linger.” She cast a look at the twins, and a look of intense longing crossed her face before she schooled it to a more serene façade. “`Tis time to say good-bye.”
“Ye cannae take him,” Mairi cried. “He is my life.” She glanced at Ian and Adam, then back at Soni. “I would rather ye give them the da they deserve.”
Soni sighed. “Mairi, I willnae be taking yer good man.”
Mairi gasped, and I gaped at Soni.
She turned her gentle gaze on Mairi. “Ye have shown a pure unselfishness in yer love for him, as he has for ye. `Twas an unspoken part of the bargain. He is now free to stay here, and though I would caution him against warning those here of things to come, today marks the day of the Battle of Culloden, and much will be revealed verra soon.”
I could scarce take in all Soni said. At the mention of the battle, a strange unease settled over me, and Pol rose slowly to her feet, a mournful howl sliding from her lips. Coldness crept over me, as it had not long after the battle had begun and my life’s blood stained the moor.
I was fading, becoming the ghost again.
Her other words struck me. I was free to stay. “How?” I asked, bewildered at the unexpected boon.
Soni laughed. “Give me a hug, then tend yer pretty wife and bairns, Adam. I’ve a few more bargains to arrange.”
Excitement built in me as the enormity of my future dawned on me. “Will the others be so fortunate?” As happy as I was, I wanted each of my brethren to be as lucky.
Soni lifted her eyebrows. “Some will, others will choose a different path. But yers is now laid before ye. Will ye accept it?”
I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her into the air as I spun her about. “Yes!” I shouted. With another whoop, I set her back on her feet, puzzled at her frailness the full robe had concealed. Her eyes met mine, bidding me say nothing. Something was wrong, but she would not be telling me of it.
“Thank ye, Soni. No matter yer uncle doesnae seem to like whatever ye have done for us, ye have my deepest regard and thanks.”
She motioned to my family. “Take good care of them, Adam. Raise them to see the good in others and to be strong and honorable Scotsmen. No matter where ye decide to live, never let them forget their heritage.”
“Aye,” I said. “They will never forget.” I stared at her. “Nor will I.”
Green mist slipped from beneath her feet and billowed gently upward. It quickly enveloped Soni and in another breath, she was gone.
Emptiness settled over the room. There was no sound except for the precious breathing of my small family.
Mairi looked at me. “What must we do to stay alive, Adam?”
As the sun brightened in the sky, I racked my brain for all I knew of the days and months to come. `Twas clear Mairi and the bairns couldnae travel verra far for several days—mayhap even a few weeks. As she recovered from childbirth and the bairns gained weight, I knew my goodsister would care for her. I, myself, could remain hidden until `twas time for us to move my precious family to a new land. A new place where we would not be hunted for our part in the war. A new land where the lads could grow to manhood with—God willing—both their ma and da to care for them.
A place where we would do more than stay alive—a place where together we would love, and live.
THE END
About the author:
Cathy MacRae firmly believes in living happily ever after, no matter if doing so seems elusive at first. She pens her Scottish romances in the foothills of the Arbuckle Mountains, whilst planning her next trip to Scotland.
You can meet her on her website www.cathymacraeauthor.com where she chats with other authors and sometimes shares the funny stories of the four-footed members of her family. Be sure and friend her on facebook, and if you tweet, follow her at @CMacRaeAuthor.
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