“Mayhap you misunderstood her, lass.” Daniel offered.
“Nay!” Elise said firmly. “Nora said you and Sir David and Sir William are angels sent to help us. Nora wouldn’t tell such a lie, Sir Daniel!” Elise leaned forward in search of her sister. Upon finding Nora, she became worried that she’d said something she shouldn’t have. “It wasn’t a secret, was it Nora? You didn’t say not to tell that they were angels!”
“Shush, child!” Nora told her from behind a crimson face.
“You didn’t lie, did you Nora? You said I shouldn’t be afraid of them because they’re angels.”
Nora let out a sigh of frustration. “Elise, angels come in all forms. Not all angels come down from Heaven, but God sends them to help, nonetheless.”
Elise chewed on that for a moment. “So they’re not from Heaven?”
Nora shook her head. “Nay, not from Heaven, but angels just the same.”
“So they haven’t seen our mums?” she looked positively deflated by the news.
“Mums?” Wee William asked.
“Me and Nora have the same papa, but different mums. Nora’s mum died in childbed just like my mum.”
Wee William looked down at the top of Nora’s head and his sympathy for her grew. “I’m sorry, lass,” he whispered into her hair.
“’Tis all right, William. ’Tis true that my mum died in childbed, giving birth to me. My father married John and Elise’s mum when I was about two. She was the woman who raised me, just the same as if I came from her own womb. She was a beautiful, kind woman.”
“They’re still angels, aren’t they Nora?” Elise asked hopefully, not ready yet to let the subject be dropped.
Nora cast a glance at the men around. While they might not believe they were angels, Nora certainly held them in that high regard. She felt a debt of eternal gratitude for these men.
“Aye,” Nora said boldly, sitting a bit taller in Wee William’s lap. “No matter what they might think, they are answers to many prayers. While they be a bit rough around the edges, they are angels just the same, Elise. So you needn’t be afraid of them.”
She hoped the men would pick up on her hidden meaning and would realize she had told Elise what she had in order that the child might not be afraid of them.
“I haven’t been called an angel since I was a wean, and then ’twas by me grand mum!” David said with a smile.
“We thank ye fer yer compliment, lass,” Daniel said with a similar smile.
There was much more Wee William wanted to ask but didn’t. He was curious as to how Nora came to be married to such a vile man as Horace Crawford. He left his many questions unasked as they rode along the snow covered countryside.
“Now, to answer yer question about Heaven, lass,” Daniel said to Elise. “Aye, I’ve seen Heaven with me own eyes.”
“You have?” Elise asked disbelievingly.
“Aye, lass, I have. Ye see, lass, I like to think of me home as a little Heaven on earth. Ye’ll never rest yer eyes on a more beautiful place!”
“Really?” Nora asked, still unsure if she could believe him.
“Aye,” David interjected. “Come springtime, the land comes to life, ye see. There’ll be more flowers than a man could count in ten lifetimes. And ’tis also when all the animals are born. The sheep call out to one another, the birds twitter about singing their love of their country, and everything just bursts to life.”
As the men went on talking about the beauty of their homeland, Nora felt at peace. Much like a child being told a bedtime story, she began to doze off to the soft timbre of the Highlanders voices and within a very short time, she finally succumbed to the exhaustion that had been plaguing her for the past many hours.
“Will I get to see your home sometime, Sir Daniel?” Elise asked sleepily.
“Of course ye will, lass. That be where we be headin’ right now.”
Elise sat upright at the news and pulled the fur from her head along with the hood of her cloak. Excitedly she looked up at Daniel, her smile beaming. “You’re taking us there now? You aren’t fibbing are you?”
Daniel chuckled as he returned her smile. The child was positively captivating, with her little ringlets, big blue eyes, and front tooth missing. “I’d never lie to a princess such as ye.”
“I’m no princess!” Elise said with a giggle.
“Och! Mayhap not born into a royal family, but a princess just the same,” he teased her.
“Sir Daniel, you jest!”
“Nay, I do no’ jest,” he told her.
Elise rubbed her eyes, forcing herself to remain awake. She was having far too grand a time riding along on the big horse. “So, what is your home called? Does it have a name?”
“Of course it does, lass! It’s called Scotland!”
In the timespan of one heartbeat, Elise’s smile and bright eyes turned to absolute terror. A heartbeat later, she was shrieking at the top of her lungs, and large teardrops spilled from her eyes.
Nora bolted upright, thinking the child had been injured or had fallen from her horse. The men immediately pulled their horses to a stop, all eyes on the now hysterical child.
“Elise!” Nora called out. “What is wrong? Are you in pain?”
“They’re taking us to Scotland!” Elise answered between terrified sobs. “We can’t go to Scotland!” she was holding her arms out to Nora. Wee William pulled his horse alongside Daniel’s so that Nora could pull the child onto her lap.
“Hush, child! There’s nothing to be afraid of!” Nora tried soothing Elise, but to no avail.
Between hysterical sobs, Elise spoke. “They’re taking us to Scotland, Nora!” she hiccupped. “Scotland is a bad place! Papa said it was filled with ogres and monsters and the devil lives there!”
The men rolled their eyes and shook their heads in dismay. Nora pulled Elise closer to her breast as she tried to sooth her.
“Elise! Those were just stories, papa told! They’re not true, sweeting!”
Elise squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “Nay! Papa wouldn’t lie about such things! He said that Scotland was the worse place to ever go and if I ever went there, the earth would swallow me whole and I’d be stuck in Hell with the devil!”
“Elise, calm yourself, please!”
“I wanna go home! I don’t wanna go to Scotland! I don’t want to be swallowed whole! I don’t wanna go to Hell! There are bad, bad men there! And ogres! And Highlanders! And men who steal little girl’s ears!”
So it went for a very long while, with Elise in hysterics, John staring at her as if she’d lost her mind and the men looking positively perplexed and at a loss to how to calm the distraught little girl.
“Elise,” Wee William spoke in a calm tone. “Sometimes father’s tell their children stories just to frighten them or to get them to either do somethin’ or no’ to do somethin’. I think yer father was just tellin’ ye these things because he feared ye’d someday leave him.”
Elise looked up at him, her eyes were red from crying and her nose was running. She hiccupped again before asking him if he really, truly believed that.
“Aye, I do, lass! Why, when I was a boy, there was a dangerous bog not far from our home. Me mum worried that I’d go wanderin’ off someday and get lost in it. Me da didna like when me mum worried, so he told me a story to keep me close to home.”
“A story?” she asked, hiccupping once again.
“Aye, he told me that a scary beast lived in the bog, a beast so ugly, so mean, so vile that if I ever stepped one wee toe on the beast’s land, it would not only bite all me toes off, it would turn me to stone!”
“But it wasn’t true?”
Wee William smiled at her, lifted the fur that covered Nora, and pulled the child in to the warmth. “Nay, child, it wasn’t true. It was just a story to keep me from hurtin’ myself or bein’ lost.”
Elise looked at her sister as if to ask if she should believe Wee William’s story. Nora smiled down at her before giving
her a nod and a kiss to the top of her head. She used the hem of her dress to wipe the child’s face clean.
“And do ye know what me da called this terrible beast?” Wee William asked with a twinkle in his eye.
“Nay, what did he call him?”
“An Englishman!” Everyone, but John, joined in Wee William’s laughter.
John finally spoke up. “Why did you not tell me where we were going, Nora?” he was making no attempt to mask his anger. His jaw muscles where twitching.
“John, I am sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner,”
John cut her off. “Were you afraid I couldn’t handle being told the right of it? Were you afraid I’d act like a babe and throw a tantrum like Elise just did?”
“No, John, I did not! I thought it best to give you time to get used to-”
He stopped her again. “Nay, you didn’t think! You could have at least asked me my opinion! I’m not a baby Nora! And ’tis been I who has been taking care of Elise for this past year, not you. ’Tis been me that’s wiped her tears and cared for her when she was sick. ’Tis been me that’s made sure she had plenty of food and shoes on her feet!”
Nora’s eyes flew open. “John! I tried, I tried many times to get to you!”
“I don’t believe you!” he spat at her.
Nora was unable to hold her temper in check. She was worn out, hungry, exhausted and cold. John may have gone through hell this past year, but she had been living in her own nightmare.
“Do you think you’re the only one with scars, John? Do you think I’ve been living a life of luxury this past year?” her words were biting, angry, and she did not care how incensed she sounded for that is how she felt.
“I’ve scars too, John! Do you not even care how my eye became blackened, John? Do you not wonder? I’ve got bruises that you cannot see for my clothes cover them. I’ve got scars too, from the hands of a man who-” she choked on the tears that seemed to have lodged in her throat. “’Twasn’t just you living a nightmare, for I lived my own!”
She wished she could slide from the horse and run, run until she had no breath left in her. She wanted to hide so none would see her guilt, her shame, and her humiliation. She wanted no one’s pity at the moment, but that is what she saw in the eyes of Daniel, David and Wee William. Embarrassed by her own behavior, she turned away and wiped her face with the fur. She hadn’t said the things she did to gain any sympathy from them. Her intent had been only to let John know that he hadn’t been the only one to suffer.
“I am sorry for my outburst,” she whispered.
Wee William had been watching her intently. His heart ached with learning she too had scars and that there were more bruises than those he could see on her face. Silently, he cursed Horace to the bowels of Hell and beyond. A large part of him wanted to hand Nora over to Daniel and David and head back to Penrith to see if Rowan and Black Richard had actually killed the man. If they hadn’t, he would do it himself.
“No worries, lass,” he whispered. “I think we need to find some shelter for the night.” Wee William looked up at the sky. Night was quickly approaching, and from the dark clouds to the north of them, it looked as though more snow was on the way.
John’s cracking voice broke through the silence. “Nora,” he said softly. “I am sorry.”
Nora cleared her throat before speaking. “I know John, and I am too. I am only doing what I must to make certain we can stay together, as a family, and not be torn apart again.” She finally looked up at him. “I couldn’t bear it again, to lose either one of you.”
John’s jaw clenched and he took a deep breath in through his nostrils. “I know you are. But are you certain we have no other choice but Scotland?” he said it as if the word had a bitter taste simply by speaking it.
“John, we truly have no where else to turn. If I could bring our father back, I would. If I could change the past two years, I would. This is the only way I know that we can be together, as a family, and not torn asunder.”
John took another cleansing breath before looking at the stoic faces of the men around him. He had to admit that these men had shown him more kindness in the past several hours than anyone had shown him in the past two years since his father’s death. But that didn’t mean he had to enjoy their company or the thought of living in Scotland of all places. He made a solemn vow that he’d go with Nora for now, but he would never call Scotland home. And as soon as he was able, he’d go back to England, where he belonged. With or without his sisters.
Six
They had been travelling far too many hours to count but finally arrived on Scottish soil without any signs of English soldiers following. Without Nora and the children, Wee William and his men would have stopped less and rode faster.
Wee William and his men had passed through this wild territory on their journey south two days ago. Now that they were in more familiar territory, Wee William, David and Daniel felt more energized and hopeful. They knew they were not far from the hunting hut they had stumbled upon earlier. God willing, they’d reach it before the snow began to fall.
Apparently, the good Lord was not inclined to allow them a snow free passage. Large, feathery snowflakes began to fall long before they reached their destination. They picked up speed as best they could and veered northeast in search of the place they’d call home for the night.
The sky had just begun to grow dark when they crested the large hill. The small hut was built into the side of the hill. It would be tight quarters, but at least they’d be warm and out of the weather.
David and John saw to the horses, giving them shelter in the small barn. Dusting snow from their furs and clothing, Daniel and Wee William took Nora and Elise into the tiny mud hut. It was one large room, with a small table and two chairs that sat against one wall. Wee William was more than relieved to find a good stack of wood piled against the wall near the brazier.
They set blankets and furs around the brazier. Nora and Elise stayed huddled together, shivering and exhausted while the men started the fire. Within no time, the chill in the air was replaced by gloriously warm heat and the bits of snow that still clung to their clothes began to melt. Little puddles of melted snow dotted the floor.
They ate a simple meal of bannocks, cheese and more dried figs. Nora wouldn’t allow Elise to eat too many of the figs for fear they’d spend the following day finding one tree after another.
Once their stomachs were full and their bodies finally began to thaw, John fell asleep sitting up while Elise dozed peacefully on Nora’s lap. Wee William took the worn out, sleeping child from Nora and tucked her into a pallet nearby then covered her with a warm fur. Nora gently nudged John and helped him into a spot next to Elise.
Once the children were settled, Nora went back to her spot by the fire. Wee William opened up the fur he had draped around himself and offered her to join him. She eyed him peculiarly for a moment.
A sweet smile came to William’s lips. “Lass, yer exhausted beyond words. Come sit by the fire and warm yerself.”
She hesitated for a moment before deciding warmth was more important than any required social etiquette. She was, after all, a widow now. Protocol be damned. She was cold.
Nora settled herself in next to Wee William, amazed at the amount of heat his body offered. She wondered for a moment if he didn’t have a fever.
Wee William draped the fur around her shoulders and resisted allowing his arm the same good fortune. They sat quietly, staring at the flames in the brazier, lost for a time, in their own thoughts.
“When should we arrive at your home, William?” Nora asked, yawning wide and rubbing her tired eyes.
“It depends on the weather, lass. If we’re lucky, I’d say in four days.”
Nora nodded and took in a slow, deep, cleansing breath and yawned again. Her eyelids were heavy with fatigue, her rear end sore from hours and hours of riding, and every muscle in her body ached. She stretched her back a bit and winced from a sharp pain that shot down her leg.
She didn’t know if she would survive four more days on the back of a horse.
“I fear yer not used to being atop a horse anymore than yer brother,” Wee William said, noting the slight painful expression on her face whenever she moved.
She giggled softly in agreement. “Aye, that is true. Until today, I’d only been on a horse one other time in my life, and that was many years ago and just a short ride. But I’m not complaining! I’m sure I’ll get used to it after a time.”
She imagined it would take years to get used to it. Riding looked far easier than it actually was. She was determined not to complain or otherwise make their journey north uncomfortable with grievances.
Wee William smiled at her as he retrieved a flask from inside his cloak. He removed the lid before handing it to Nora.
She raised a curious brow. “What is it?” she asked speculatively.
“A wee bit of the chief’s best, lass. It’ll help ease yer aches and allow ye to sleep.”
“And what, pray tell, is the chief’s best?” She asked as she stared at the flask.
Daniel and David laughed softly, enjoying the look of uncertainty on Nora’s face. “It be the best whiskey in all the land, lass,” David told her.
Nora’s sleepy eyes widened with more uncertainty. “I’ve never drank whiskey before,” she told them. “I’ve heard it’s quite strong.”
“Aye, that it is lass. But it’ll cure what ails ye.” Wee William said, offering her the flask again.
At home Nora would have brewed tea to help settle her nerves and ease her aches. She doubted these Highlanders were in possession of any of the strappings necessary to make tea.
For a moment, she wondered what Horace would think of her sitting here with all these wild looking men, being treated with kindness and dignity, wrapped up in a fur sitting next to the biggest man she’d ever laid eyes on, while she considered taking a sip of whiskey. She hoped he was rolling around in his grave.
Throwing all caution to the wind, she accepted the offered flask and took a deep drink.
Wee William's Woman, Book Three of the Clan MacDougall Series Page 7
