The Banished Highlander
Page 19
Juliana noticed a bench off to the side, so she led the girl over to it while waving for Ruari to join them. “Have a seat, Anora.”
The lass did as she was bid and Juliana could not help but stare at her.
She did indeed look like her dear sister Joan.
How had she missed it the first time? Their eyes were different, but her smile was Joan’s, and so was her hair color.
“Do you remember how you told me you wished to know where you came from?”
Anora nodded.
“I’m here to tell you the truth. Sister Joan was your mother.”
Anora’s jaw dropped and she stood up, staring at her.
“You’re my niece, and I’m here to take you home.”
***
Two moons later, Ruari paced in their tower room, wishing there was something he could do to help his wife. Juliana was hugging the basin while Anora mopped her forehead. “Just think how wonderful ‘twill be when you hold your own bairn in your arms, Auntie.”
Juliana groaned. “I know.” She rinsed her mouth for the fourth time that day. He kissed her cheek and said, “I’ll go find some fresh water and mayhap a wee bite of bread for you.” He left the tower room in a hurry, wanting to get back to her as soon as possible. Although his heart had expanded so much he wondered how his chest could still contain it, he hated to see his wife suffer. He wished she’d get past the heaving stage.
Brin was on the floor not far from the door, playing with Heckie. He tossed a large stick across the room while the pup scampered after it, yipping at it as if it were alive.
“Heckie’s getting big, Brin. You’re doing a fine job raising him.”
The door to the courtyard opened with a bang and Neil strode inside, Aedan directly behind him. “Stop, Neil. ’Tis an order you’d be wise not to ignore.”
Aedan’s gaze shifted to Ruari, who’d already starting strolling toward the kitchens. “You’ll wish to stay and hear this.”
Ruari had no idea what was going on, but he heeded his brother, waiting to see what would happen next. Another man came in the door behind Aedan, but he stopped and waited for direction.
Neil stopped and spun on his heel, looking as if he intended to spar with Aedan, but Heckie ran over and tried to take a bite out of his ankle.
“Get the hell away from me, you wee bastard.” Neil kicked at the pup and sent him flying across the hall.
Brin chased after him with a yelp as loud as the wee pup’s.
“Neil, I’m warning you,” Aedan said. “You’ll stand there like a man and give us answers.”
Neil put his hands on his hips, glaring first at Ruari, then at the man by the door, and finally at Aedan. “Fine. Do as you wish.”
Aedan motioned to the visitor. “Ruari, this is one of the Munro guards who recently joined our clan. He felt he had some important information to share. Something that happened three years ago.”
Ruari moved closer to ensure he’d hear what was said. “Go ahead.”
The guard nodded to Aedan and Ruari, then said, “My lord and chief, ’twas three years ago when I noticed this man in front of me.” He pointed to Neil, then continued, “He was talking with a beautiful dark-haired woman on horseback. She became so angry with him that she sent her horse into a fast gallop in a field only fit for a canter. He chased her, yelling at her to stop, but she didn’t. She turned her head at one point to yell at him, but ’twas a bad time to turn. Her horse missed a log and fell on its foreleg, sending her flying. She landed poorly and broke her neck. I assisted him, getting her back on the horse so that he might return her to your castle because she was dead.”
Aedan nodded to the man. “Many thanks to you. You are excused.”
They watched as the man left, Ruari’s insides in complete turmoil. What the hell did that mean?
Finally, after the door shut, Ruari turned to Neil and whispered, “So you were the reason she fled so quickly? It wasn’t me?”
Neil’s face moved through several emotions before he settled on sadness or possibly regret. “I saw her riding so I followed her. I wanted to know why the two of you had argued.”
Aedan said, “And you upset her more. What did you say?”
“I told her Ruari was a fool. That she should have married someone like me. I didn’t mean it—the marrying me part. I was alone. The woman I loved was a nun. I wanted…”
“You wanted my brother to be as miserable as you.”
Neil didn’t say anything, just glanced at Ruari. “I lied, and I shouldn’t have. Not the first lie that’s ever been told in our clan.”
“But the consequences of your lie weigh so heavily on your conscience that you’ve done everything you can to cast blame on my brother.”
Neil didn’t say anything, just strode toward the door.
Aedan called out, “Neil! Wait.”
Neil stopped but didn’t turn around.
“You have ten minutes to gather your things. You’re banished from Cameron land.”
Epilogue
About seven months later
Ruari held his new son in his arms, cradling his head and neck carefully as Juliana had taught him. He carried him over to his mother, seated by the big hearth with a plaid settled in her lap.
“Let me hold the wee one. He’s such a handsome lad, is he not?” She held her arms up to the wee laddie.
“Aye, he is, Mama. I’ll arrange him for you.”
He set the babe in her lap, standing next to her to make sure she held him tightly enough. Juliana sat nearby, Anora next to her. Jennie and Aedan sat across from them in two chairs, while their three bairns had settled on the floor in front of the hearth.
“What shall we name him, Mama?” Ruari asked. He and Juliana had discussed possible names, but hadn’t come up with any final decision, though they had a couple of favorites.
“I’m not sure. What think you, Aedan?”
“Dawy? Ludan?”
“Nay,” Tara and Riley said in unison.
Jennie said, “What do you think, Juliana? You’re his mother.”
“I like Coll,” she suggested.
He knew Coll to be one of her favorites, and he liked it, too.
His mother said, “Nay, not quite right.” She glanced down at the sleeping bairn, rubbing the palm of her hand carefully across his bald head. “Do you think his hair is red?”
“What about Ross? Or Mirren?” Brin asked.
They tossed about many names without settling on any one in particular, when finally his mother said rather loudly, “I have it!”
“What?” Jennie asked.
“Ruari, he looks like a Ruari.”
The entire hall burst into laughter, but all Ruari could do was lean down and kiss his mother. “I think ’tis perfect, Mama. We’ll call him Coll Ruari.”
The End
Dear Reader,
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NOVELS BY KEIRA MONTCLAIR
THE BAND OF COUSINS
HIGHLAND VENGEANCE
HIGHLAND ABDUCTION
HIGHLAND RETRIBUTION
HIGHLAND LIES
HIGHLAND FORTITUDE
HIGHLAND RESILIENCE
HIGHLAND DEVOTION
HIGHLAND BRAWN
HIGHLAND YULETIDE MAGIC
THE CLAN GRANT SERIES
#1-RESCUED BY A HIGHLANDER-Alex and Maddie
#2-HEALING A HIGHLANDER’S HEART-Brenna and Quade
#3-LOVE LETTERS FROM LARGS-Brodie and Celestina
&
nbsp; #4-JOURNEY TO THE HIGHLANDS-Robbie and Caralyn
#5-HIGHLAND SPARKS-Logan and Gwyneth
#6-MY DESPERATE HIGHLANDER-Micheil and Diana
#7-THE BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE HIGHLANDS-Jennie and Aedan
#8- HIGHLAND HARMONY-Avelina and Drew
THE HIGHLAND CLAN
LOKI-Book One
TORRIAN-Book Two
LILY-Book Three
JAKE-Book Four
ASHLYN-Book Five
MOLLY-Book Six
JAMIE AND GRACIE- Book Seven
SORCHA-Book Eight
KYLA-Book Nine
BETHIA-Book Ten
LOKI’S CHRISTMAS STORY-Book Eleven
THE SOULMATE CHRONICLES
#1-TRUSTING A HIGHLANDER
THE SUMMERHILL SERIES- CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
#1-ONE SUMMERHILL DAY
#2-A FRESH START FOR TWO
#3-THREE REASONS TO LOVE
OTHER NOVELS
FALLING FOR THE CHIEFTAIN-Book Three in Enchanted Falls Trilogy
THE BANISHED HIGHLANDER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Keira Montclair is the pen name of an author who lives in Florida with her husband. She loves to write fast-paced, emotional romance, especially with children as secondary characters in her stories.
She has worked as a registered nurse in pediatrics and recovery room nursing. Teaching is another of her loves, and she has taught both high school mathematics and practical nursing.
Now she loves to spend her time writing, but there isn’t enough time to write everything she wants! Her Highlander Clan Grant series, comprising of eight standalone novels, is a reader favorite. Her third series, The Highland Clan, set twenty years after the Clan Grant series, focuses on the Grant/Ramsay descendants. She also has a contemporary series set in The Finger Lakes of Western New York.
Her latest series, The Band of Cousins, stems from The Highland Clan but is a stand-alone series.
Contact her through her website, www.keiramontclair.com.
The Banished Highlander
Copyright © 2019 by Keira Montclair
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereinafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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