“Now, when ye feel the pain, don’t fight, just bite down on the cloth. Are ye ready?”
Eleanor nodded weakly, staring at me with pain filled eyes. I took a deep breath and grasped Eleanor’s arm, trying to ignore it when she flinched. Slowly I pushed the arm backwards. Eleanor screamed through the cloth, and tried to pull away from me, but Liam’s strong arms tightened around her waist, pulling her against his body, and his legs squeezed hers tight so that she could not move. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I slowly rotated Eleanor’s arm, trying to feel when it was properly seated, and then I felt it. I placed it in Eleanor’s lap.
“Ye have been very brave Eleanor. I have seen grown warriors put up more of a fuss than ye. Now, we have to do something like that to yer knee. Then I think the worst of it is over. Just a little more pain, then it is done”.
I scooted backwards a little, grimacing as I realised that it was the knee on the same side. It would be so much easier if it had been on the other side, I didn’t know how Eleanor would manage using a walking stick when we bandaged up her arm. Feeling another burst of anger at the dead man who was now beyond my reach, I gently placed my hands on Eleanor’s knee, feeling the bones and trying to ignore her hiss of indrawn breath. I gently probed around Eleanor’s knee, and looked up to smile at her and then at Liam as I pronounced that I did not find anything broken. I asked Eleanor to brace herself again and gently twisted the knee until Eleanor’s leg looked straight again. Eleanor groaned and tried to kick me away with her good leg, but Liam simply lifted one of his from where it was clamped around the outside of Eleanor’s leg, and laid his big heavy leg on her shapely pale one. Eleanor stiffened and looked at me, I smiled reassuringly at her.
“Eleanor, ye have no idea how many times we have had to straighten bones, whether broken or just twisted out of the joint as yers are. Do not feel embarrassed, ye are doing very well, and we are nearly done”.
Once I had satisfied myself that Eleanor’s bones were now where they should be, I held her weight to me while Liam moved away and climbed off the bed.
“I don’t know about any of ye”, he pronounced loudly, “But I need a drink after all that. It’s bad enough having to work on a warriors injuries, but when it is just a wee little thing like yerself, Eleanor, that just makes a man shake”.
Liam looked at me, and I got the message from him loud and clear. Once I was finished here, he would be waiting in Da’s solar, hopefully with another bottle of whiskey. If his nerves were stretched almost to breaking point from witnessing Eleanor’s pain, mine were broken.
Mary bustled over at this point.
“You can go now, Donald, your job is done here. Thank you, I don’t know if I could have done that, and I’m sure Bridget wouldn’t have had the strength. We can clean Eleanor up, and patch up any small injuries she has. You know you want to go and talk to the other men about this, so go”.
I stood and looked at Eleanor a little longer. The poor thing looked exhausted. And maybe a wee bit drunk. I smiled as I leaned over the bed and kissed her forehead.
“Get some sleep, Eleanor. I’ll come to bed later and we can talk tomorrow”.
I walked down the stairs, hearing the women start chattering behind me. As I had expected, I found Liam in Da’s solar. Da was pouring generous measures of drink for himself, Liam, Ian and Duncan. I was a bit aggrieved that Duncan was there, as I knew Ian would not speak freely in front of him. We talked for a while, explaining to Ian and Duncan how our search for Lachlan had been fruitless, obviously because he was here all the time, watching the keep and biding his time for when he thought Eleanor would be at her most vulnerable. I felt a bit uncomfortable as I wondered how much he had been moving around our lands. Had he been within spying distance of us when I had buried my fingers inside Eleanor, bringing her to climax as she lay on top of me? I hoped not, for Eleanor would be mortified at the thought of someone seeing us in such an intimate way, and she had been through enough of late. Duncan told Da his story, Da nodding sadly as he did.
“It is a shame that yer father forgot to value his kin above all others. While Eleanor always has a home here, and my son is clearly daft about her, I would hope that one day she and her parents are able to reconcile somewhat. It is a sad thing for a father to lose a child, especially if it was just because of his foolishness”.
After everyone paused for a moment, I prompted Ian to tell his story. He had been silent for a while, and although it would upset him to relive some of it, he would have to get used to being asked about it. We also had not heard what happened after Lachlan had surprised them and Ian had given chase after first sending Mary for help. Ian seemed to not know where to start his story, casting glances at me while he tried to frame words, and I knew what his problem was. I leaned forward.
“Ian, I have something to say to ye.” Ian paused, staring at me as a deer might stare at a hunter. “I have to thank ye, and have nothing but praise for ye, so don’t for one moment think of today as a failure”.
“But, Donald, he hurt her. I should have stopped him before he got near her, and I failed her. I failed ye, and I failed Liam, ye both left me in charge of the women’s safety, and I was not good enough”.
I stood up and walked over to my younger brother, clapping him on the shoulder and seeing him as the man he almost was, rather than the boy he was still.
“Ian, Eleanor is alive. Mary is alive. That is all that really matters. Ye did not fail anyone today. He was older and wiser than ye, and yet ye came out the victor, and Eleanor will recover. I will be in yer debt until the day I die, and ye will come to understand that more when one day ye meet the woman that ye cannot live without”.
I sat down and poured the whiskey down my throat. I had revealed more than I intended to, but it did not matter. Apart from Duncan, these men were all my family, and I did not believe in keeping secrets from family. I prompted Ian to tell us his story.
“Well, we went out for a ride, and Eleanor was on that horse of hers”. I did not remind Ian that the horse was actually his for I knew that he did not want it, and that was not the important point in his story anyway. “That horse can run. I don’t think we have anything here that can match it. So Eleanor rode ahead, but kept turning back like she was supposed to, so she didn’t get too far in front of me. But of course, all that riding made her horse very tired. We stopped for a bite, and I went off into the bushes for some privacy from the women. I could still hear them, ye understand, I did not go far. Then the women called me back, they saw ye”, and he turned to Duncan, “riding through the gates of the keep, and didn’t think it looked like our men, so we decided to go back to investigate. We started on the way back, but slowly, because the horses were tired after their run earlier, then that man came out of hiding, he must have been watching us, and made for Eleanor, trying to grab the reins of her horse. I yelled at Mary to go for help and tried to follow, but even tired, Eleanor’s horse could run faster than mine. But he couldn’t run faster than a fresh horse, and I could see Eleanor losing the race, but couldn’t catch up. But that horse just kept going, and he had some tricks still. Whenever the two horses drew near, and Eleanor was most in danger, her horse would suddenly change course, and so they evaded capture for a long time, but I kept falling further behind. Finally Eleanor was unhorsed, but ye would have been proud of her Donald, she fought hard, and managed to delay him long enough for me to get there. I think he first wanted to drag her onto his horse, and take her away, but when they started fighting he got mad. He hit her, and twisted her arm up behind her back, and held a knife to her throat as I advanced. When I challenged him, he kicked her to the ground, and she could not get up after that. Is it bad, Donald? Is her leg broken?”
I shook my head and told Ian what I believed Eleanor’s injuries to be. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her brother get more and more tense. It was good that he cared about her, but I hoped that he took a report of what had happened here today home to her father, so that the man never forgot th
e danger he had exposed his daughter to. After my reassurance that I thought Eleanor did not have any broken bones, but that it would probably take many weeks, or even months to fully recover from her injuries, Ian continued, and I noticed his speech starting to slur. I wondered how many whiskies Da had poured for him before I got there.
“Well, it was all a blur after that. He paced around me, trying to watch to see if I would drop my guard. I remember seeing D’arcy fight, and knew what was happening. He only had a long knife, but he was waiting for my sword arm to get tired, I knew that. I don’t really remember how I came to kill him, I just did. It was shortly after that when everyone arrived and ye know the rest”. Ian tossed back another whiskey, going slightly red in the face and making an obvious effort not to cough as the alcohol burned on the way down.
Duncan spoke up then.
“Well, even though I have felt guilty every day since my Da gave over Midnight as settlement to ye, now I am glad that he did. Eleanor raised that horse from a mean little foal, and he will do things for her that he will not do for anyone else. If she had been on any other horse today, she might not be here with us now”.
On that sobering though, we all sat and stared at our whiskies. Finally Liam spoke up.
“Well, I for one am going to the stables to see what sweet treats I can find to reward that beast with. Ian, do ye want to come with me? He is still yer horse after all, even if it appears he doesn’t think so”.
I watched Ian look at Liam, then get up a bit unsteadily. I let them go alone, communicating silently with Da. Liam would be a good listener for Ian. Duncan also stood a little unsteadily.
“It has been a long day for me as well, and if it pleases ye, Laird, I would like to get some sleep now. If Eleanor is well enough to speak tomorrow, I would like to tell her what has happened with Da. It might set her mind a bit easier to know that there are a lot of people who are very sorry that they doubted her. It doesn’t change the past, but it is the best I can do. My Ma sent along a bundle of clothes too. Ye left without taking anything of hers with ye, and Ma thought she must be wearing borrowed things. They are with my horse, I will give them to ye on the morrow, I don’t think she will be needing them tonight”.
When Da and I were alone, he sat back in his chair.
“It has been a strange day altogether, Donald’.
“Yes, Da, it has”.
“So, can ye explain to me how this all happened? Ye tried to convince us that ye married the girl because she was not welcome in her own home any more, yet tonight ye acted like different man completely. Ye acted like a man who loves his wife, yet ye have only been married a few days. Is there anything ye want to tell me?”
I stared at my father, struck anew at how he didn’t seem to miss anything. Even as boys, Liam and I had often thought we had pulled a prank on someone and that no-one knew it was us, yet Da always knew. Many a time we had been unable to sit because of a thrashing, and still I didn’t know how he managed to always know what was going on in the keep.
“Well, we may only have been married a few days, but remember Eleanor was here last year. I could not forget her, Da. Everyone thinks I was very noble offering to marry her just to get her out of trouble, but I was not noble, I was selfish. I married her hoping that eventually she would come to love me as I knew I loved her”.
There, I had said it. I had never even thought the words to myself, but I had said it out loud, and to my father no less. My father smiled.
“Well, if ye love her, boy, why are ye still here talking to me?”
Eleanor
My head hurt. My shoulder hurt where Donald had pushed and shoved it, and Mary had bandaged it so that it was strapped to my chest. I think she said something about putting a sling on me in the morning, but I could not understand her because my head hurt. My side hurt where Bridget had washed a wound, I think it might have been from the horse’s hoof, but again, I could not be sure because my head hurt and I could not remember much. My neck hurt from another cut, was it from a knife? My knee was causing me agony, and not least because Mary had put a very tight bandage on it to try to stop it moving. My arse hurt from where I think I fell off my horse, but it was my head that was causing me so much misery. Why did my head hurt? I didn’t remember falling on it. After cleaning my wounds, bandaging me, and washing all the dirt off me, the women tried to put a clean shift on me, but I groaned and protested when they tried to move my arm so they gave up and just pulled the covers over my naked body. Mary had left, wanting to check on Robert, and had taken Bridget with her, saying that Bridget could spend the night in the keep instead of going home as it was getting dark now and she might be needed again anyway. Patrice sat by the fire, staying she would stay to keep me company until I fell asleep.
“Patrice”, I spoke, wondering why I was having so much difficulty forming the word.
“Call me Ma if ye want, Eleanor, otherwise Patrice will do”.
“I can’t call ye Ma, I have a Ma, but she is away”, and I started to cry. Patrice stood up and moved to the bed, shhing me gently, then looking up at something to the side of the bed.
“Donald, ye are back. And drunk too, if I’m not mistaken. Well, ye are just in time. The lass is in her cups, thanks to ye, and beginning to cry. I am going to leave her with ye. Neither of ye should feel the need to be out of bed early tomorrow morn, it has been a long day and ye both are going to have sore heads tomorrow”.
“But my head is sore now”, I wailed, clutching at Patrice. Patrice seemed to know what to do, but then she patted my hand.
“Donald is here, dear. He will look after ye. Ye can cry on his shoulders if ye like, they’re broad enough, I should know”. The horrible woman actually hummed as she walked out and shut the door behind her. Donald spoke then.
“I have to get up for a moment, love. I want to bolt the door so no-one comes in too early and wakes us up.”
He took his wonderful warmth away, leaving me feeling bereft and alone. I sobbed and sniffed, but when Donald slid back into the bed and rolled over to hug me – he could not gather me into his arms because I was sore all over – I stopped crying and turned to check with my eyes what my bare skin was telling me. Donald was as naked as I was.
I ran one hand over his chest. I only had one good hand, the other one was strapped to my chest. I sniffed loudly to clear away the last of the moisture from my crying spell and exclaimed.
“Well, this is more like it. I’ve been waiting for ye for three days. Ye promised to come back to bed and wake me up, and ye didn’t. Instead I had to run away from Lachlan, and I fell off my horse, and now my knee hurts, and poor Ian had to kill him, and now my head hurts too”.
I cried anew at all the injustice, and Donald didn’t know how to comfort me. He could not pull me into his arms, and when he tried to curl up to my side, I flinched from that injury too. He tried to shush me but I just kept crying, unable to stop. Finally Donald’s hand gently clasped my one exposed breast – the other was strapped under my arm – and gently squeezed. I stopped crying as I tried to work out what he was doing to me. It felt like a string went directly from my breast to my private parts, and when Donald massaged my breast, it tugged at something deep inside of me. I gasped.
“Do ye like that?” Donald asked softly and I nodded. “Can I do a bit more?”
I begged Donald to do more, in fact I think I begged him to do what he did the other day. I felt completely wanton, and tried to widen my legs so that his hand would have easy access, but gasped as I felt my knee protest.
“Eleanor, stop moving so carelessly. Ye have a mess of injuries, and ye might hurt yerself more. If ye want me to keep touching ye, let me do it, I will be gentle. Ye had two full cups of whiskey remember, and if ye aren’t used to it, that is quite a lot.
I opened an eye to look at him.
“Am I drunk? Is that why my head hurts?”
Donald laughed softly as he loomed over me, propped up on one elbow.
“Yes, probably.
Ye will curse me tomorrow for getting that whiskey into ye, but I had to do it”.
I looked up at him. Maybe it was the whiskey, maybe it was the emotion of the day, maybe it was because I had made my decision several days ago. Maybe it was because of the letter he had written to me which I had secreted in a trunk at the foot of my bed, and would take out to run my hands over each night before I went to sleep. I didn’t know what was making me feel so rash, but I didn’t care. I wetted my lips with my tongue, not missing Donald’s eyes following my tongue’s progress and then I pleaded with him.
“Make love to me Donald. I could have died today without knowing what ye feel like inside me, and I don’t want to wait any more”.
Donald stared at me for a moment, then flung himself down on his back, his hand over his eyes.
“Och, Eleanor, yer timing is atrocious. Any other night, but tonight? Ye only have one arm, and one leg, I would hurt ye for sure and I won’t do it”.
I raised my head a little off the pillow and looked down at myself. The bedcovers had fallen to my waist, but I could see bandages on my body. He must be repulsed by me, I thought, and started to cry again. All those times that Donald had wanted me, and I had pushed him away, and now I wanted him, and it seemed he had lost interest.
“Stop it Eleanor, why are ye crying? I didn’t say we would never do it, just not tonight, not until ye heal a little”.
I snuffled again, looking at him.
“Really? Ye mean, ye aren’t repulsed by me?’
In answer, Donald’s head lowered to mine, and he ran his lips gently over mine before deepening the kiss, invading my mouth with his tongue and running his hand over my breast before moving down to stoke my mound. I groaned into his mouth and tried to widen my legs, gasping again as I hurt my knee anew. Donald broke the kiss.
Memories of a Highlander Page 11
