A Healer for the Highlander

by TERRI BRISBIN

  ‘Was?’ Parlan drank from his cup and then grew serious. ‘Not now? Then why are you here? Robert would surely have given you leave to remain there.’

  ‘Aye, he would have. If I’d have asked for it. But, Parlan, these are dangerous times and the chieftain’s commander cannot ignore his duties to tend to a sick child.’ There it was—plain and simply put.

  ‘If Gilbert was chieftain, I would agree. ’Twould have been a risk to you and the boy to ask such a thing. But, Robert?’ Davidh shrugged then. ‘So, what happened?’ Parlan asked again.

  ‘He was doing much better. She had come up with some concoctions that seemed to work.’ Davidh drank the last of his ale and put the cup down. ‘Then his friends challenged him to climb the falls.’

  ‘Dear God, man! How is he?’ Parlan sat back in his chair and shook his head. ‘So many who try it are injured. And those are the strong ones.’

  ‘He is well, thanks to the healer. She saved him from falling from the rocks.’

  ‘Who is this woman?’

  ‘Her name is Anna Mackenzie. Her mother lived here years ago—lived there above the falls.’

  ‘The Witch?’ Parlan asked in hushed tones. ‘Her mother was The Witch of Caig Falls?’ His friend laughed aloud then. ‘So, is she one as well?’ Davidh reached over and punched his friend on the shoulder.

  ‘Nay, not a witch. Simply a healer. A woman with a son of her own, but no husband.’

  ‘That seems convenient then since you are a man with a son of his own with no wife.’

  His first reaction was to strike out at such a statement, but he held his fists on the table and glared at his friend.

  ‘Not many could say such a thing and remain upright.’ He forced out the words through clenched jaws.

  ‘Not many are willing to say what needs to be said. It has been a long time, Davidh.’

  ‘Spoken by a man who never had a wife to mourn.’

  Parlan reached over and put his hand on Davidh’s shoulder then. Leaning in so others would not hear his words, he spoke again.

  ‘And she was a fine wife to you and a good mother to Malcolm. But she is gone and you live, my friend.’ Parlan shook his head. ‘She would want you to live on.’

  He wanted to argue that point—his loyalty to Mara almost forced the words off his tongue. But it was the truth. She’d told him exactly that during those last terrible days of suffering. Davidh just did not want such a discussion now. Not when his attention needed to be centred on his chieftain and his clan.

  ‘Leave it.’

  Parlan held his cup up and a servant filled it. Though Davidh had not asked for more, his cup was filled, as well.

  ‘So, where is Colm now?’ his friend asked. ‘Now that Anna Mackenzie saved him from the rocks.’

  ‘Do not jest, Parlan. He nearly died. She could have.’

  ‘Your pardon,’ Parlan offered. ‘I asked because, in spite of the seriousness of this news, you seem...well, calm about him.’ Parlan took a mouthful of ale and swallowed it, shrugging. ‘’Tis your custom to worry and fret over the boy every moment he is out of your sight. Yet you have not mentioned him at all until I asked you.’

  His friend’s words explained exactly how he had felt ever since Mara died and Colm became his sole responsibility. Well, he’d had help from his parents and his sister, but he had been on his own with his ailing son for a long time. Neighbours had stepped in, his chieftain had been accommodating and others helped as they could.

  ‘Anna offered to keep him with her until I return.’

  Parlan just grunted then and Davidh found his silence more unnerving than his custom of bold truths. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the man he trusted more than any other. They were kin and they were friends, but Parlan could be frustrating and infuriating at the same moment when he wished to be. As he was now.

  ‘Say what you will,’ Davidh urged.

  ‘So, this woman, this healer comes to Achnacarry, treats your son and then saves his life twice more. A widow with a son. And you leave your son in her care to come here.’ Davidh nodded. ‘You are suspicious of any stranger who passes through Cameron lands. You question the presence of anyone you do not recognise. And yet you leave your son with a woman who arrived when? A few weeks ago?’

  ‘What are you saying?’

  ‘I want to know why you trust this woman and what you’re willing to do to make her stay in Achnacarry?’

  Davidh stood then and walked away from the table, ignoring the knowing laughter of his friend. He’d been given a chamber to use this night and he went there. He did not sleep much because the questions Parlan asked turned over and over in his thoughts, too.

  As he rode along the river on his way back to Achnacarry, he thought he knew what he could offer her. The boy’s father had been a Cameron and he knew that had played a part in her return to Achnacarry. By the time he reached the village, he was clear on what he could offer her.

  * * *

  Anna watched as Colm tried to follow Iain’s directions, but the boy had not the skill that her son did. Iain made it seem an easy task while Anna understood that it was not such a thing. It was no different from her own ability to create recipes from the herbs and plants and other ingredients and know that they would work for this ailment or that complaint. And yet, the younger boy did not give up easily.

  She was not worried over his ability to carve wood. The thing that pleased her was that he had regained enough strength to sit outside and try in just the three days since his father had left. He looked at her then and she smiled back at him. That he was alive was an undoubted miracle.

  The sun finally broke through the thick layers of clouds that had kept the morning grey and cool. Cocooned with a thick blanket, Colm faced no danger of catching a chill, so they remained there, next to the cottage. A pot of savoury soup boiled over the fire for supper and the aroma drifted on the breezes around them.

  Even taking care of the boy had not stopped her from making great progress in getting her stores of supplies in order. He had a quick mind and, once he could get up off the pallet, he liked to help her in mixing and compounding the recipes. He’d not been taught to read, as her Iain had been, but he could do his sums well and kept track of the ingredients and amounts needed as she measured and mixed.

  The other ability he had was his knowledge of all sorts of gossip about every person in the village of Achnacarry. In just these last few days, he’d told her more about his kith and kin than she’d known about the Mackenzies and she’d lived among them for more than a decade!

  ‘Mistress Mackenzie?’ She glanced at him and waited. ‘I do not think carving is something I will do well.’

  He held up the pitifully shaped creature and she could not identify it. It resembled nothing she’d ever seen or imagined. ‘Nay,’ he said, shaking his head sadly.

  ‘I think your skills lie elsewhere, Colm,’ she said, putting down the garment she was mending as the boys worked on their carvings. She stood and walked to his side. ‘Your skill at numbers is far better than mine.’

  ‘I think my father will be disappointed in that. He wishes me to be a strong warrior like he is.’

  ‘Your father will not be disappointed, Malcolm Cameron.’

  They all turned at the sound of that deep voice and found Davidh standing there watching them.

  ‘Papa!’

  Colm jumped up and ran to his father, who opened his arms to the boy. She saw the surprise and delight on Davidh’s face as his son moved so assuredly towards him, without help. He wrapped his arms around him and lifted him from his feet, all the while whispering something to him. The boy nodded or shook his head in reply to the questions he was being asked.

  Davidh’s gaze met hers and something changed in that moment between them. He looked at her differently somehow, as though he had only just realised she existed.
That was just fanciful thinking, but something was different. It made her skin feel too tight. It made her flush with heat.

  ‘Good day, mistress,’ he said as he put his son back down. ‘His improvement is unexpected, considering his condition when I left here.’

  Colm ran to her now and she placed her hands on his shoulders.

  ‘Aye, a greatly improved Colm,’ she teased. ‘But he did as you commanded and obeyed my every order. He even drank the putrid syrup without complaint.’

  ‘Aye, even that one,’ Colm admitted. Iain laughed then, for he knew that the boy had indeed complained at every dose. That could remain their secret.

  ‘How is your carving going, Iain?’ Davidh asked her son. ‘Did you finish the deer and the horse as planned?’

  ‘Aye, sir,’ Iain said. He walked over to the commander and held out those two and another he’d completed over the last days.

  ‘This is amazing,’ Davidh said. He examined the carvings closely, especially the newest one—a falcon in flight. First glancing at her, he turned to her son. ‘You have captured every feather as though it was alive.’

  Her heart swelled with pride. She could see that this man’s praise affected Iain, as well. What would Malcolm have said if he could have seen his closest friend with his son?

  It made her question her own decisions from the years past. Once she knew of Malcolm’s death, had she made a grave error in not accepting a proposal of marriage when he’d been a bairn? Should she have done so to provide a father for her growing son?

  There had been two and Anna had been tempted, but feared giving up control over her life. Neither would have been a love match, but she’d not expected that. Each one would have been for the sake of expediency and would have given her son a father. Now watching them, heads bowed together, as Davidh asked about his method and technique, Anna doubted herself.

  ‘Papa? Am I coming home with you?’ Colm asked.

  Davidh walked to where she stood and he crouched down so that his face was the same height as his son’s. She’d noticed he did that when speaking to the lads. ‘’Tis up to Mistress Mackenzie. What say you, mistress? Is my son well enough to return with me?’

  ‘If you are not opposed, I would keep him this day and night and bring him back to the village on the morrow? A few more doses of that syrup are needed to make certain—’ Colm interrupted with a gagging sound and a scrunched-up expression on his face. ‘To make certain the cough is controlled,’ she finished.

  ‘He will need to endure that whether here or at our cottage?’ Davidh asked. The hope of escaping the noxious brew disappeared and his son let out a huge and loud sigh. She nodded her answer and the boy groaned which made her and his father laugh aloud.

  ‘Are you hungry? We will be eating supper soon,’ she said to him. She wanted him to stay.

  ‘Since I have made my report to Robert on the way here, I can stay.’ Colm looked pleased by this. Even Iain seemed happy about it. And Anna knew she was.

  While Davidh spoke with both of the boys, she went inside to prepare the rest of the supper. The conversation while eating was entertaining to her, for she saw even another facet of the commander as he described his journey to Tor. Iain and Colm sat enraptured as he spoke about not only the journey there, but the castle and the weapons he had and the men who fought for The Cameron and the clan.

  * * *

  Soon, too soon, the meal was done and it was time for the commander to return to the village. She observed him out of the corner of her eye as he took his son aside and spoke to him on some serious matter. The boy did not say anything, but the sombre gaze told her he was being reprimanded.

  He needed to be, for he had placed himself in grave danger. She understood the playfulness of lads his age and their need to challenge themselves and each other...within bounds. Since he had been trying to honour his word to his father and to protect Anna, she found it difficult to be too angry with him. And she was glad that his father, and not she, would have to take him to task for his actions. When Davidh patted his son’s shoulder and nodded to him, Anna waited for his approach.

  ‘His friends have been punished for their part, so I needed him to understand his part in it.’

  ‘He is just a boy,’ she said.

  ‘Aye. I did plenty of foolhardy things at his age, but none put others in danger as he did.’

  ‘Are you certain of that?’ she asked. Malcolm, her Malcolm, had told her stories about their antics and excursions—especially the ones they never revealed to anyone else.

  ‘Why?’ he asked. He smiled then, a wonderful mix of male guilt, boyish anticipation and lack of fear. ‘What did Colm tell you?’

  ‘He spoke of everyone else in the village and clan, but little of you.’ She laughed at the way he frowned, as though disappointed not to be the centre of his son’s words. ‘I just know lads well enough to know you must have done some bad things when you were growing up.’ She did not want to think about the person who’d revealed their secrets right now.

  ‘I was a challenge to my mother,’ he admitted.

  ‘Colm seems to understand the seriousness of what he did.’

  ‘Aye.’

  He stared at her then without speaking, his dark eyes bright and intense from across the small space. She sensed that he wished to speak to her about something else.

  ‘Before I go back to the village, I would speak to you about a matter...of importance to both of us.’

  Chapter Ten

  Her stomach tightened then and a tiny bead of sweat suddenly tracked down her back as she followed Davidh out of the cottage. His tone neither threatened nor insulted her, so she could not think of a reason to be afraid of this encounter.

  And yet she was very afraid.

  Had he discovered the truth about her son? She thought not, for he would have reacted differently to her jibe about his own childhood if he knew her connection to Malcolm. Davidh stopped a short distance from the cottage and faced her. He stared off behind her and she realised he was as nervous as she!

  ‘When you said that Iain is a Cameron, I understood that he must be part of the reason for your return here. I mean, that you brought the boy back here to meet his kin.’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘I even understand why you kept his presence here a secret. It is not always safe for a woman alone.’ Davidh took a step closer. Anna clutched her hands together to keep them from shaking. ‘So, I have an offer for you.’

  ‘Offer?’

  ‘Proposal.’

  ‘Proposal?’

  He shook his head then and laughed. ‘This is more trying than I thought it would be.’ Her face must have given away what kind of offer she thought he was presenting. ‘Nay, not an offer like that.’

  ‘So...?’

  ‘I told you I wanted to do something to show my gratitude for your help with Colm. I have asked Robert—’

  ‘You discussed my son with the laird?’ This was not good, she could feel that to her bones. This was too much attention paid to Iain too quickly.

  ‘He is the leader of our clan. He is responsible for the welfare of every Cameron.’ He gave her an incredulous glance and she realised that he had complete and utter faith in his chieftain to do the right thing for his people. ‘We know it is not what you had planned, but I wondered if you would consider moving into my house in the village?’

  ‘Your house?’ This was yet as clear as a muddy lake to her.

  ‘You could use it as your own—it is large enough to do your work in the main room and there are two other chambers. You could have use of it.’

  ‘And you will live where?’

  He let out a loud breath and shrugged. ‘Let me begin this again.’ He pointed at the stool she’d left there earlier and she sat.

  ‘Robert has always offered me a chamber in the keep for me and my son. But, sin
ce I have the house in the village, I have always preferred that Colm live there. Now, though, if you would like, you could have use of it and we would move to the keep.’

  ‘Should Colm not stay in his own home?’ she asked. Anna appreciated his offer and it was tempting, but not at the cost of putting a boy, a sick boy, out of his own home.

  ‘We can speak more on that. I suggested this because it would be a way to introduce Iain to his kin and kith.’

  ‘You would do this? Offer your house to us?’

  ‘You gave me back my son when he should have died, Anna. Twice—thrice if we count your original treatments. ’Tis the least I can do for you and your son.’ She stood, but he motioned for her to stay.

  ‘I have spoken to Robert of Iain’s skill with knife and wood and he suggested that the boy could apprentice with the carpenters in the stables, the keep and the kitchen.’

  ‘A house. A place in the village. A skill and work. That is what you are offering me?’

  Then he gazed at her and, even in the growing shadows, she saw that strange unfamiliar glimmer she’d witnessed there a short while ago. It was as though he wanted to say more, or say something else, but did not. But there was the promise that he would say it...soon. Her body shivered in awareness that the promise was not simply words, but more.

  ‘Aye.’

  One word, spoken in a husky voice filled with hope and promise and...desire? Anna shook herself free of this foolish direction of thought.

  ‘I must think on this before I give my answer.’

  He nodded and she thought him done speaking until he stepped closer and lowered his voice.

  ‘There is another reason for moving down to the village.’ Now his tone was one of his position—commander, protector, confidant of the chieftain. ‘The outlaws appear to be using the river and lochs to move between their attacks. A woman alone here much of the time would be...at risk.’

  And a choice target—she understood the words he did not say. She shivered then, at the threats that had faced her mother before her and her now.