by Hyman, F. S.
“Aye,” she agreed quietly.
Derek’s brows drew together. Had Tobias been right all those years ago? Before he could question Sine, Kyla and Sorcha ran up to them.
“Derek!” they both squealed in unison.
Derek grinned and turned toward them.
“There are the other two imps,” he said fondly.
They had grown up since last he saw them. Kyla was the oldest. At nineteen, she was tall and lithe. Her red hair matched her brother’s perfectly. Her hazel eyes were luminous and sincere. Sorcha was the second oldest at eighteen. Her hair was darker, but not as dark as Sine’s. Her blue eyes held laughter and mischief. In fact, she was the most outspoken and mischievous of the bunch.
“Derek, we have just met yer wife!” Kyla exclaimed.
“Why dinna ye tell us ye were getting married? And why werenae we invited to the wedding?” Sorcha reprimanded.
“Yer wife?” Sine blurted in surprise, staring at Derek.
“Aye, my wife.”
Sine’s face suddenly clouded over.
“I havenae met her, Derek. Why doonae ye introduce me to her?” she said, looking at him expectantly.
Derek turned toward the table where his family was sitting. Annabelle was no longer looking at him, but was laughing at something Colm said to her. He frowned. He approached the table with the girls behind him.
“There ye are, Derek,” his mother said.
“We wondered what happened to ye,” Colm uttered. He looked at Annabelle.
“Did ye now?” he asked also looking at his wife. She did not look at him.
“I see ye brought the girls with ye,” Brighid interjected. She gave him a quelling look.
“Aye. Kyla and Sorcha said that they had already met Annabelle, but Sine hadnae.”
“I wanted to meet Derek’s wife,” Sine replied.
Derek noticed that Annabelle stiffened but she did not look up.
“Sine, I would like to introduce ye to my wife, Annabelle. Annabelle, this is Sine, Tobias’ youngest sister.”
He watched as Annabelle’s head slowly turned toward them.
“I am glad to meet ye, Sine,” Annabelle said, smiling at the girl.
Sine smiled tightly back at her.
“So how came ye to be Derek’s wife? Did ye trap him into it?” Sine asked bitingly.
All conversation at the table ceased. All eyes turned toward them. Derek scowled at Sine, and suddenly realized what all of her questions were about. He was about to rebuke her, when Annabelle came to her own rescue.
Annabelle stood up and faced Sine. She was a few inches taller than Sine, so towered over her. Sine did not back down, even though Derek could see her hand twisting in her skirt. He remembered what Annabelle had done to Maura and went to step in, but Annabelle spoke.
“Are ye another one of my husband’s hures? Funny, I wouldnae have ever thought a girl as bonnie as ye would stoop so low for a mon.”
Sine gasped and her hand flew to her chest.
“Nay, I dinna trap Derek. He compromised me, not that ‘tis any of yer business. I ken that ye are carrying a torch for him, as is every other woman in Scotland. At this point, if I could change my circumstance, I would let ye have him. I realize now that I doona have the patience or will to fight for him any longer,” she said, menacingly.
Annabelle turned her attention to him.
“I willnae stand in yer way any longer, Derek. Do as ye please. I no longer care who ye bed or how often,” she turned and walked away, but not before he saw a single tear flow down her cheek.
Colm got up to follow her, but Brighid stopped him. She stared hard at her son and went after her.
“She called me a hure!” Sine protested.
“’Tis what ye deserve,” Kyla said staring angrily at her sister.
“What came over ye, Sine? Ye got what ye deserved!” Sorcha exclaimed. She turned and walked toward their mother.
“Derek,” Laird Breac called.
Derek turned to his father. His father was not happy. Laird Breac did not have to say a word. Derek understood completely. He went to look for his wife.
§
Derek watched his wife dancing with Colm. Her face was lit up and she was laughing at something Colm was saying. Derek frowned. He had gone in pursuit of her, but he had not been able to find her or his mother. He returned to the keep frustrated and angry. Angry at himself and angry with Sine. She had tried to apologize to him, but he had not been able to listen to her pleas. The pain and anger he had seen in Annabelle’s eyes still haunted him.
The music ended and he started toward Annabelle.
“She willnae talk to ye,” he heard from behind him.
His turned to face his mother. She had a frown on her face.
“Aye, she will,” he said, continuing on his way.
“There ye go forcing yer will again. Derek, just release her. Ye doona want a wife, but Laird Harold does. Why doona ye petition the king when ye get to court to grant ye a separation? Let her go back to her family and marry Laird Harold as was her plan?” his mother asked him.
Derek scowled. His mother did not know that Laird Harold was no longer alive, but even if he was not dead, Derek was not about to give Annabelle up.
“I willnae. She is my wife,” he said frowning down at her.
“Aye, but ye doona treat her as such. She doesnae deserve what she has endured from ye,” she admonished.
Derek said nothing, because he knew that she was right. Annabelle did not deserve any of the experiences she had because of him.
“Let her go, son. She deserves better.”
“And ye think she will gain better with Laird Harold?” he all but shouted.
“Aye, he will treat her far better,” she replied quietly.
Derek growled and stalked away. He walked to a refreshment table and took a mug of ale. He drank it down in one gulp. He reached for another one.
“I doona envy ye,” Jace said, coming up beside him. “Why tie yerself down to one woman when ye can have many? Ye should do as mither says. Let her go and then ye can go back to how things were before ye married.”
Derek looked at his brother, and then his eyes found Annabelle where she talked with Kyla and Sorcha. She was smiling. He should just let her go. He could go back to how things were before he found her. Eilidh would still be willing, and he had been very satisfied with her. But he suddenly realized that she was not what he wanted anymore. Neither was Maura, or any other woman. Annabelle was what he wanted, and probably what he had been searching for in all of the other women. She was strong and independent. She stood up to him and did not bow to his will. She irritated him and made him angry. She was beautiful and full of life. She made him smile, and she made him hard just thinking about her or seeing her. Derek grunted and walked out of the keep.
Chapter 22
The journey back to Dunkirk was uneventful. Although she slept next to Derek at night, Annabelle spent the day with Brighid. They left Bondlach after the wedding breakfast. Kyla and Sorcha gave her a hug and said they hoped they would see her again. Sine came up to her just before she mounted her horse.
“I wish to apologize to ye,” she said quietly.
Annabelle turned from the horse to look at the girl. She was quite beautiful, and Annabelle could see why Derek would be interested in her.
“I was jealous of ye. I still am,” Sine continued. “I always imagined Derek would be mine, even when I was a girl following him and Tobias around the keep.”
Annabelle remained silent, waiting for Sine to finish. Sine dropped her eyes and then looked over to where Derek was mounting his horse.
“He still hasnae spoken to me. He is so angry. I doona think he has ever been angry with me before, and it isnae a good experience. Kyla and Sorcha say that I should apologize to ye and not only Derek,” she finished. She looked expectantly at Annabelle.
Annabelle turned her eyes to her husband, who was looking in their direction. She could not de
cipher the look on his face. It was very intense. She turned back to Sine and smiled wanly.
“’Tis all right, Sine. All is forgiven,” she said and turned to mount her horse. She nudged the horse forward next to Brighid’s, not giving Sine a chance to respond.
Brighid told her that the men were to going to leave the day after they arrived back at Dunkirk for court. Annabelle looked back at Derek where he was riding next to Aster. It was probably good that Derek would be away from the keep for a while. She needed space to decide what she wanted to do. Maybe her father could petition the king for a separation.
They arrived at Dunkirk without incident at about the time of the evening meal. They had eaten and she had gone to their chamber. Derek and his brothers had gone with Laird Breac to his study. When she had awakened the next morning, they were already gone. Ainsley told her that they left before first light. Annabelle was not sure if Derek had come to bed or not. If he had, he did not awaken her. So she decided to fill her time with work. She helped Ainsley with the rushes ever morning and she helped out in the kitchen whenever they needed it and around the keep. She also helped Brighid in her garden. They were planting some bluebells and thistles.
Annabelle dug a hole to put the plant in when she began remembering her conversation with Brighid before they left Bondlach. She had gone to the heather field behind the keep. She refused to let the tears flow from her eyes, although she felt them brimming her lashes. The confrontation with Sine had been too much for her to endure. It had opened her eyes to the fact that she would always have to defend her position as Derek’s wife to other women. Women he had bedded, or would. She wished that she could go back in time and never have fallen off of her horse. Then she would never had met Derek and would be married to Laird Harold. Although she did not want to be married to him either, it had to be better than the pain and anguish she felt every time she was reminded that the man she was married to was a man who had many women. Women she just could not compete with.
Annabelle had always believed herself to be a very strong woman. She had been able to endure many things that other women would not have been able to deal with. She could fight with a dirk, sew up a wound as good as any healer, and even ride better than most men. But this was an area she was finding that she was very weak. She turned when she heard someone come up behind her.
“’Tis very calming out here. I always thought so,” Brighid said as she came to stand beside her.
“Aye,” Annabelle responded in a whisper.
“When I met Breac, he was attacking my Da’s keep.”
Annabelle gasped.
“My Da would send out parties to raid the MacDougal villages. They would steal sheep and destroy some of their crops. Breac would retaliate in kind, but one such raid, one of my Da’s men went too far and raped one the villager’s daughter. As ye can imagine, Breac had been verra angry. So they attacked us one night. My Da had underestimated him and was ill prepared for the attack. Breac and his men stormed the keep with little resistance. They burned some of the cottages and took most of our cattle. My Da and his men were no match for Breac,” she smiled.
“What happened?” Annabelle asked.
“Breac was, and still is, a verra imposing mon. He towered over my Da and explained exactly why they were there. My Da laughed and said that the lass probably asked for what she got. Breac roared and raised his sword to strike my Da, but I ran up to him and grabbed his arm.”
Brighid chuckled.
“I dinnae ken what I was doing. Imagine me stopping someone as powerful as Breac, but I couldnae allow him to harm my Da,” she smiled as she remembered.
“I moved to stand in front of him as he hesitated. He had a puzzled and amused look on his face. I stood up to my full height, which only came to his chest, and I pointed my finger in his chest and demanded that he leave immediately,” she continued.
Annabelle smiled. She probably would have done the exact same thing.
“What did he say?” she asked Brighid.
“His face lost its amused expression and clouded over with anger again. He said he wouldnae leave until he felt that the villager’s daughter had been avenged. Then a strange smile came over his face. He sheathed his claymore and grabbed me. He carried me out of the keep over his shoulder like a sack of grain. I was kicking and screaming for him to put me down. My Da and brother came storming out after him, but his men held them back,” she said. Her eyes looked far in the distance as she reminisced.
“My Da yelled that he would come to rescue me and this wasnae over. I beat against Breac’s back, but he only shifted a little and threw me over his horse. Then we left without him replying to my Da’s threat,” she smirked turning to Annabelle.
“I tell ye this because my life with Breac was verra rough in the beginning. He had women at Dunkirk who he was bedding, and they expected him to continue. And he did.”
Annabelle frowned at Brighid.
“Does he still?” she asked concerned.
“Och, nay! I wouldnae be his wife if he did,” she grinned.
“I doona ken what ye are saying. How did he stop and why?”
“Annabelle, as I was trying to tell ye before. Love stopped him. I made him love me, just as I told ye to make Derek fall in love with ye. After I had been at Dunkirk for a while, because my Da never came for me, I dinna expect he would, I realized that I had fallen for the brute. He acted like I was just another one of his conquests until one day I got wise and made him jealous. I became friends with one of his closest retainers and spent a lot of time with him. Breac dinna like it, but what could he do? He had treated me like nothing up until then. But soon his feelings for me began to change.”
“But I doona see that happening with Derek. I canna compete with the women he beds and I am already married to him.”
“Ye can compete, Annabelle. Ye have what they doona. Ye doona fall all over Derek or take whatever he dishes to ye. Ye stand up to him, and doona think he doesnae notice. He does. Sine is a verra young girl with an infatuation. Doona let that interfere with yer feelings. Ye love Derek,” Brighid replied.
“How did ye ken it?” Annabelle asked in surprise.
“Because ye have the same look in yer eyes as I did.”
“Derek doesnae love me. He never will. Why would he when he can have any woman he wants?”
“Because he doesnae want them anymore. He just doesnae ken it yet. Breac told me that he sees a lot of himself in Derek. So that means that Derek will change just as Breac did,” Brighid said and put an arm around Annabelle.
“Come. Let us go to the keep and ye can help me finish packing.”
Annabelle allowed Brighid to lead her back to the keep. She wondered if Brighid was right about Derek. Did she dare hope?
“’Tis the last one,” Brighid said, bringing Annabelle back to the present.
They both stood up and walked back to the keep.
“’Tis almost time for the evening meal. Why doona ye go and get a bath and rest. I will put away our tools,” Brighid said taking the tools to a little hut not far from the keep.
Annabelle nodded and went inside a side door that led to the kitchen. She grabbed an apple from the pile on a table and headed up the back stairs to the chamber she would share with Derek. She passed Megan on the way up and asked her to send someone with hot water for her bath. When she reached the chamber, she crossed over to the window. She looked out over the heather in a field. If she leaned out, she could look to the right and see a sheep pasture. Derek’s chamber was completely different than her chamber back at Kinloch. She remembered waking up here not so long ago. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since then, when it had only been several weeks. She could vaguely remember thinking she had been dreaming when Derek had made love to her that first time. The time he compromised her, and, subsequently, forced her into marriage. She took a bite of her apple and sighed. She noticed that her appetite had increased since returning to Dunkirk. And in the mornings, she felt nauseous when s
he rose from bed too fast.
She turned when Megan entered the room with the other servants who carried the water for her bath.
“Do ye need help with yer bath?” Megan asked as the last bucket was poured into the tub.
“Nay,” Annabelle smiled. Megan nodded and left the room.
Annabelle finished her apple and set it aside to take to the compost heap later. She stripped out of her clothes and sank into the warm water. She sighed as the water surrounded her like a warm blanket. She let her head fall back against the tub and closed her eyes. It had been two weeks since the men had left for court. She found that although she and Derek were not on the best of terms, she missed him considerably. She wondered if he missed her as well, or if he was glad of some time away.
Annabelle reached for the soap that Megan left near the tub. She lathered her arms and legs. Then she washed her torso. After she rinsed the soap from her body, she lathered her hair. She grabbed the pitcher of water left next to the tub on the floor and poured it over her head to rinse the soap away. She stood and wrapped the drying cloth around her and stepped out of the tub. She went to a chest and pulled out one the arisaids Megan found for her. It was a pale yellow. Although she was very grateful, she would be glad when she could put on her own clothes. When they returned from Bondlach, there still had been no response to Derek’s message to her parents. She was beginning to worry. She hoped the messenger made it to Kinloch without incident. Maybe she would send another message herself.
She pulled the arisaid over her head and smoothed it into place. She walked back to the window. She reached up and covered her mouth to stifle a yawn. She was tired all of a sudden. She thought she had time for a short nap before the evening meal was served. She turned toward the bed and lay down on her side facing the window. As her eyes drifted close, her thoughts again shifted toward her husband. She wished things could be different between them.
