Love Beyond Compare (Book 5 of Morna’s Legacy Series)

by Claire, Bethany

  There was a soft sob from the bed followed by Cooper’s soft shh… to sooth her. I’d heard Isobel cry before, but I’d never known her to allow herself to cry in front of another. Children wielded untold power in their truth-bearing words.

  “Shh now, Isobel. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “Ach, ye dinna upset me, Cooper. Ye have done my heart more good than ye know. I am less sad than I once was, and the happiness I feel at that has made me weep.”

  “My mom cries when she’s happy too. I don’t really get it. That must be a girl thing.”

  Isobel laughed softly. I smiled, my eyes still closed while I feigned sleep.

  “Aye, we women often do. We cry when sad, happy, or even angry. ’Tis a curse.”

  “I’m sorry I woke you, Isobel. Are you ready to go back to sleep? Is it okay if I stay here with you?”

  “Ye dinna wake me, and aye to both questions. ’Tis comforting to know ye are here to watch after me. Sweetest dreams to ye, Cooper.”

  Isobel and Cooper drifted quickly but I remained awake, staring into the dwindling flames of the fire as the night melted away. The dancing light lulled me into a sort of silent meditation where I willed good wishes for all within Cagair Castle and most especially for the one dear friend who remained out in the storm.

  CHAPTER 21

  “Wake up, wake up, Aunt Jane. He’s back!”

  “Huh? Coop, what are you doing? What are you talking about?” My eyes flickered open as I fought the sleepy confusion that comes with being awakened so abruptly. I lifted my sore neck slowly, all the while trying to remember why I’d slept in a chair instead of my own bed. Then I caught sight of my empty bed and the stairways just outside the door. “Cooper, where’s Isobel? Did something happen? She should still be in bed.”

  “She’s fine, Aunt Jane, I promise. She’s feeling much better today. But Orick’s back, and he’s fine! He wasn’t really in any danger at all. Hurry, hurry, everyone is in the dining hall eating breakfast, and you’re missing it.” He ran out of the room urging me to follow with the waving of his arms.

  The good news did considerable things for my alertness. With a lifted heart, I stood and stretched before running my fingers through my hair and heading to join the others for the morning meal.

  “Orick!” I called out to him as I entered the room. Immediately he moved toward me, scooping me up into a hug strong enough to crack my sore shoulders and lift my feet at least a foot off the ground. “God, I’m glad to see you.”

  “And I ye, lass. ’Twas a cold night, but I fared well enough. Holed up with the lad who took in our horses, I did, and then spent the eve eating his wife’s cooking and visiting by the fire. There were many who were far worse off than I.”

  “We were so worried about you, but I expected you were smart enough to not try and make it back here during such a storm. How’d you get through all of the snow this morning?”

  Before he could answer, Adwen came up and smacked him hard on the arm.

  “I think ye can set her down now, Orick.”

  “Aye, I could, but I can tell it displeases ye, so I think I’ll hold onto the lass a wee bit longer. Do ye mind, Jane?”

  I laughed, leaning back to look mischievously in Adwen’s direction. I wasn’t particularly short for a woman, but I felt tiny and delicate in Orick’s long, strong arms. “I don’t mind at all. Hang on as long as you like.”

  “Aye, I will then. What did ye just ask me? How I made it here this morning? Aye, well, funny story that. I met a man in the village who traveled with a pack of dogs, ye see. He strapped them to a wooden sled, and they pulled me here before returning to their master.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No, I doona jest at all. I couldna believe it myself when the man offered the large beasts for my use.”

  Giving me a swift kiss on the cheek after glancing in Adwen’s direction to make sure he was looking, Orick set me down.

  “Well, I’m so relieved you are back safely. And it looks like the worst part of the storm has passed as well.”

  “That it has, lass. ’Tis warm enough for it to start melting as well so the bridge will be passable after a day or two.”

  Now with both feet touching the ground, I moved to the table to sit next to Isobel. I smiled at her as she spoke up in between mouthfuls of food.

  “I canna tell ye how pleased my heart is to see ye here, Orick. I feel better today than I have in many moons, no matter the fall I took on the stairs. ’Tis a wonder what a happy heart may do for healing.”

  I’d never seen her with such a hearty appetite. The day before, I’d wondered if Isobel would live to see another day but, looking at her now, with the color back in her cheeks and a cough that was much less frequent than her usually deep racks of the chest, I found it difficult to believe that her fall the day before had happened at all.

  The ups and downs of Isobel’s illness were an oddity I couldn’t make sense of. Just when she seemed to be at her weakest, she would pull out of it and, for a few short days, have renewed energy followed by a brief respite from the painful cough that always accompanied her. The same had happened right before and during our travels to the castle.

  I watched her closely as we ate, looking for any sign that she felt worse than she appeared to; that perhaps she put on a brave face so that the rest of us could enjoy Orick’s safe return without worrying over her but, as the meal passed, I found nothing to make me believe that she didn’t feel remarkably better than she had the day before.

  “What are ye staring at, Jane?”

  I blinked to find Isobel’s brows pinched together as she stared at me quizzically.

  “I’m sorry. Nothing. I’m just surprised to see you doing so much better.”

  “Why would ye be surprised? All days canna be bad ones. If they were then no one would have the strength to fight against the illnesses that plague them. I had a dream last night. In it, a red-haired angel told me to no let the sickness affect my mind and heart.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Cooper’s question was a vocal expression of the skepticism plastered on each of our faces but as she answered, Isobel didn’t seem to notice.

  “That I shouldna give in to sorrow or fear, for I am no yet dead. Perhaps, I can still live past this.”

  I glanced in Gregor’s direction to see him flinch slightly, and I wanted nothing more than to reach out and comfort him. I refrained from doing so. The gesture would only draw attention that I knew he didn’t want.

  Of everyone at the table, Gregor seemed the least pleased by Isobel’s cheery outlook. I realized then just how much his own perspective had changed over the course of a few weeks. Before, it had been him who held out hope, wishing all the while that Isobel would fight, that she would believe that she could get better. Now it seemed their roles had been reversed.

  Whether it was our trip here or the presence of a child wise beyond his years, Isobel had decided to rally in whatever way she could. But as I looked at the sadness in Gregor’s eyes, I knew that her hope only broke his heart. He no longer believed her willpower to live would do her any good.

  * * *

  Shortly after breakfast, Adwen disappeared. It seemed to be a habit of his—one that I put off to a life spent traveling rather than playing laird and host to his guests. His brother, Callum, had the same tendency. I’d seen little of him since our arrival. Not that anyone minded Adwen’s absence. After the events of the previous day, we were all filthy and tired. Once we’d scarfed down a hearty Adwen-cooked breakfast, we all quickly dispersed to get clean and rest while the snow melted.

  I saw Cooper safely settled into his own bath—or at least, I made certain one was drawn for him. He refused to let me be in the room while he climbed inside. “Six year olds,” he said, “are plenty big to scrub their own toes and armpits.” I couldn’t blame him for wanting this privacy.

  Chuckling as I left him, I stepped inside my own bedchamber to find a host
of women busy changing the beddings, airing the room, and cleaning up the remnants of Isobel’s injury. Not wishing to bathe in front of them, I asked that they prepare me a tub on their way out. I would come back to bathe once they were finished. They agreed and, instead of bathing, I went in search of Adwen to fill the time.

  The door to his bedchamber was closed. As I pressed my ear against the doorway, I heard nothing. He’d slept less than any of us, and I didn’t wish to disturb him if he’d tucked away to get a nice, long nap in. But just as I started to step away, my elbow bumped into the door, creating a knocking noise loud enough to rouse a response from him.

  “Come in.”

  I reached for the handle and pushed my way in. Immediately, I threw my palms up to cover my eyes at the sight of his hands and bare feet hanging out the sides and end of the tub.

  “Is everybody in this castle bathing at the exact same time? Someone is busy heating an ass-load of water. Who just says ‘come in’ when they’re in the bathtub?”

  “Jane.” He laughed loudly as water splashed onto the ground. He pulled his feet into the tub as I hesitantly removed my hands and stepped toward the side of the tub so I could see his face. “I’m sorry, lass. I thought ye were one of the castle lassies who prepared the bath.”

  I kept my eyes away from what sat below the surface of the water, but I was helplessly unable to keep myself from looking at everything that lay outside it.

  Every inch of him seemed to glisten with water droplets, making it clear that he’d submerged his entire body beneath the water’s surface more than once. His hair looked darker, his muscles even more defined than I’m sure they did when they were dry. I had to glance continually up at the wall behind him to keep from lingering on his bare chest. It didn’t do any good. He knew I stared.

  “Would ye like to join me, Jane? ’Tis no a lot of room, but I think ye could sit atop me just fine.”

  I laughed, the giggle coming out choked and breathy. It did nothing to help fortify the resolve of my answer. “Absolutely not. Are you mad? And do you usually just let the ‘castle lassies’ come in and out of your bedchamber while you’re bathing?”

  He didn’t hesitate. “Aye, o’course I do.”

  “Okay, whatever. Please, finish your bath. I’ll leave you be.”

  I stepped toward the door, shielding the side of my face to prevent myself from taking a dangerous glance at what lay beneath the water. He jerked my hand away, grasping onto it as I walked by him, effectively sending my line of vision straight down into the water.

  “Oh, holy crap, Adwen! What did you do that for?”

  I looked up at him, but his face gave way to no sense of embarrassment. “Why are ye here, Jane?”

  He still held onto my hand. I kept my eyes locked on his face as I answered.

  “You just kept yourself pretty absent yesterday. I was just checking on you—making sure you were okay. That’s what friends do. They check on one another.”

  “Ach, doona tell me ye want to be my friend one more time, Jane. No matter how many times ye say it, I willna believe ye. I doona understand ye, lass. One moment ye are warm and open and the next chilly and closed.”

  I pulled my hand from his, stepping backward so he couldn’t grasp onto it again.

  “I’m not chilly, just sensible. There’s no point to any of this.”

  “No point, lass? There is no point in this fight ye put on yerself, for ’tis no a fight with me. Ye please me, Jane. And aye, I can be yer friend, but I also wish to be yer lover. I willna deny nor apologize for it.”

  “That’s the thing, Adwen. I don’t want a ‘lover.’ There’s no reason, no point, in throwing myself into something so meaningless.”

  “Ach, there is plenty of reason and meaning for it, lass. I could remind ye of it, if only ye’d let me.”

  There was another knock on Adwen’s door, followed by his swift invitation to enter.

  I shifted uncomfortably as Cooper appeared in the doorway, completely unsure of how to explain my presence in his room while he bathed. Luckily, Cooper gave me no chance to explain.

  “Aunt Jane? What are you doing in here? Can’t you just give anybody some privacy? I mean, if I’m six and I can bathe by myself, I’m pretty sure Adwen can too. I’m sure it’s embarrassing for him, you standing in here watching him to make sure he cleans between his toes.”

  I ignored most of what he’d said to ask him what he was doing here. He seemed to think it quite obvious.

  “I came here to ask Adwen where you were. I never thought you’d be watching him bathe, though. You’re not his mom or his aunt, Aunt Jane. I think maybe you should just let him be.”

  “Right. You’re right, of course.” I waved a hand in Adwen’s direction, a gesture meant to make him stop the little shake of his shoulders as he stifled his laughter. It only made them shake harder. “What did you need me for, Coop?”

  “As you can see, I’m all clean and bathed. And now I need to talk to you right away. It’s very important.” He turned, calling after me as he walked out the door. “Come on, Aunt Jane. Right away.”

  As soon as Cooper was out of earshot, Adwen burst into unbridled laughter, shaking until I shook my head, frustrated and annoyed as I turned to leave the room. Only then did he gather the strength to stop his laughter and speak.

  “Ye heard the lad, Jane. Leave me be, lassie. I can clean my own toes and crevices.”

  CHAPTER 22

  When he left, Cooper made no mention of just where exactly I was supposed to meet him ‘right away,’ but it didn’t take long for me to find him. He sat up in the tower, easily the most beautiful and majestic spot in the whole castle. It was the same place Adwen and I were the moment we heard Cooper’s scream after Isobel’s fall, but I pushed thoughts of that terror away, allowing the beauty of the room to sweep over me as I went to sit next to him on a small stone bench beneath one of the room’s many windows.

  “Do you feel okay, Aunt Jane?”

  I nodded, reaching out to squeeze one of his little knees gently. “Yes, I feel fine—a little dirty. I’m ready for my bath, but fine. Why do you ask?”

  “I meant does your back or bottom hurt where you’re sitting? I need you to be all okay and comfy in your seat so you’ll pay attention.”

  Cooper was skilled at many things, the greatest being his ability to draw the curiosity right out of you until you were just about ready to lose your mind. I was nearly there.

  “Yes. I am very comfy, and you have my utmost attention. Spill.”

  “You know how Isobel said she had a dream last night?”

  I nodded, watching his eyes carefully. He wasn’t a nervous child, but I could tell by the tiniest twitch of his eyes that he was nervous now. “Yes. What about it?”

  “Well, I had a dream too, and it reminded me of something I meant to tell you before, but with what happened I just forgot. But I remember now.”

  “Well, what was the dream, Coop?”

  He always did this. He would start to tell you whatever he meant to, but then would force you to listen to him ramble for five minutes before anything he said made any real sense.

  “The dream doesn’t matter. What matters is this—I think there is a way we can help Isobel.”

  “Oh?” We’d all spent our fair share of time trying to think of ways we could help Isobel—it came as no surprise to me that Cooper had done the same. “Perhaps, there is a way we could get her some pain relief of some sort, but we can’t do anything for her until the snow melts. You know that, right?”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about, Aunt Jane. Have you seen the ghosts?”

  A chill shot through me, making every inch of me cold and shaky. Even in the twenty-first century, there’d been whisperings of the hauntings at Cagair Castle, but I was sure I’d never mentioned them to Cooper. The day Kathleen and I had started work on the place, the man who gave us the keys warned us of the spirits that supposedly roamed the castle’s stairways and corridors. It had fri
ghtened me so much at the time that I all but begged Kathleen to allow me to sell my half of the deed. She’d managed to talk me down, however, and after spending the first week in the castle without incident, I’d decided to dismiss the castle’s ghostly reputation as a baseless rumor. Still, even the mere mention of the supernatural made me uncomfortable.

  I believed in ghosts. How could I not believe in almost anything after being born in a time centuries ahead of that in which I lived now? But even so, the supernatural terrified me. Ghosts, witches, time travel—all of it made me more uncomfortable than the thought of having my who-ha waxed in public. And although I’d never seen a ghost, I’d been in places on more than one occasion where I thought I felt one’s presence. I expected the only reason I’d never seen one was because they could somehow sense my terror and knew that if they stepped out of the shadows, I’d most likely pee my pants and then die.

  “No, Coop. I definitely have not. What ghosts? Why? Have you seen any?”

  He shook his head, disappointed. “No, I wish though, but I heard Adwen and Orick talking about them in front of me, but you see, they said something very strange.”

  “What’s that?” I tried to keep the fear hidden from my voice.

  “They were talking about the ghosts’ clothes, and it sounded like the stuff you used to wear. I don’t think they’re ghosts.”

  That’s all I needed to hear to take a grateful breath as some of the tension left me. Not that it was good that anything uninvited or quite possibly un-alive was wondering around the castle, but as long as it wasn’t ghosts, I was fine.

  “If they’re not ghosts, then what are they?”

  “Real people, of course. Just from our time. I think maybe there’s a portal.”