by Fiona Faris
Lorraine sighed.
“Ye ken that people say she ended her engagement with him?”
Lorraine didn’t have to ask who “him” was.
“People say a lot,” she said airily.
“Aye, but I wonder. If she left him, why is she jealous that he is with ye?”
“Maxwell!” she scolded. She looked at him and shook her head, not knowing where to start her statement from. “Firstly, who says she is jealous? Secondly, we are nae together.”
“Not yet,” Maxwell muttered.
Lorraine was too tired to argue. Instead, she changed the topic. “What did ye do?”
“There was a short meeting with Laird Daividh today,” he told her, “He gave us duties and we carried them out.”
“What exactly do ye do?” she asked curiously.
“I cannae tell ye, sister.”
Lorraine shook her head. “Now, we are keeping secrets, aye?” she asked but lightly. She didn’t mean to pester him.
“If the secret will save yer life, aye.”
Lorraine rolled her eyes. You could trust Maxwell to be dramatic, she smiled to herself.
When the duo arrived their small house, Mairi was up and buzzing.
“Lorraine! Darling girl, why did ye nae tell everybody?”
“Tell everybody what?” Lorraine and Maxwell asked together, and then, exchanged looks.
“Tell us about Lady Alison?” she tutted.
For one thing, it was not the sort of news that she fancied sharing. For another, Lady Alison had been mean to her. If her mother had heard, why was there a massive grin on her face?
“Ye are smiling?” Lorraine asked with an arched brow.
“Aye.”
“Why?” Lorraine was confused.
“Well, apparently, a certain laird rushed after ye. He took ye home safely like a real gentleman.”
Lorraine rolled her eyes.
“Ye make it sound like a marriage.”
Mairi’s eyes lit up hopefully and Lorraine groaned.
“No, mother, we are nae engaged.”
“But soon?”
Lorraine didn’t reply but marched into her chambers.
Sadly, Maxwell and her mother followed.
There was already a lit lantern in her room and Lorraine felt a sense of satisfaction being in her own space. She wished they would leave her alone.
“What is going on between ye and the heir, Lorraine?”
Lorraine wanted to pull out her own hair. How did she answer a question that she herself didn’t understand?
She had no idea what was going on. How did she explain that each time she saw him, her heart raced faster? How would she explain that he made her feel things she didn’t know existed? How would she explain the glorious feelings she felt when his skin touched hers? How would she explain how his lips…
“Lorraine!” her mother called again – impatient this time.
“Aye!”
“Don’t raise yer voice at me, young lady!” her mother said, getting upset.
“Mother,” Maxwell took his mother’s hand. “Maybe we should let Lorraine rest. It is late, after all!”
Mairi rested her hand against the table and was about to speak when she felt a little envelope beneath her palm. She picked it up and opened it.
“Hey, that’s mine!” she said, but Mairi ignored her.
She read the small letter, put her hands to her chest and let out a small scream.
“What is it, mother?” He took the letter from her.
“We all have an invitation from the laird of the MacDougall clan himself to attend the Laird’s Feast in the caste. When did you plan on telling us this?
“It is dated today, mother,” said Maxwell, who was still reading the letter.
Lorraine felt her frustration increase but she willed herself to be calm.
“Ye need a new dress. Oh, where will ye get enough for a beautiful dress?”
Suddenly, Lorraine felt happy about meeting Anton. His pay would allow her buy a nice outfit for the feast. However, she wouldn’t indulge her mother in any talk about the feast.
“Mother, she needs to rest,” Maxwell repeated, and Mairi sighed.
“Fine,” she said to her son, “We’ll talk about all of this bright and early tomorrow.”
Lorraine shook her head as they exited her chambers. It would be a tasking eleven days until the feast.
It took her a little while to shed herself of her clothes and wash up in the basin at the corner of her room. She slipped into her thin nightwear and climbed up into the bed and closed her eyes, willing sleep to come.
However, it didn’t. She knew that in mere hours from then, it would be noon. Noon. She was to see Daividh at the loch. The thought of being in a place alone with him made her cheek burn.
She knew dozens of men – scores of men – but none made her feel the way he made her feel. She sighed and snuggled deeper into her covers. She needed sleep, she reminded herself, and so, she closed her eyes tightly until sleep mercifully bestowed its touch on her.
Chapter Seventeen
When Lorraine woke the next morning, she couldn’t remember having fallen asleep. However, she knew what day it was; the day she would be seeing Daividh. She was nervous and she knew exactly why. However, unlike the other things that made her nervous, she knew that she would never turn down the chance to be with him.
Lorraine stepped out of her chambers hoping that her ma would either be out or be in a less chatty mood. As she drew closer to the living room, her mother’s excited tone told her that none of her wishes had been granted.
Tentatively she stepped out. The first thing she noticed were the several bouquets of flowers.
“Flowers?” she asked, confused, “Did someone send ye flowers, Ma?”
“A good mornin’ to ye, too,” her mother said, but it was good-naturedly.
“Good mornin’, Ma,” Lorraine said, and since she seemed less pushy than the night before, she placed a kiss on her ma’s cheeks.
“Where is Maxwell?”
“He’s coming,” her ma said, “Do ye ken who these are for?”
“Ye?”
“Nay, silly. This morn, about twenty and five people sent ye invites to their family feasts.”
“Me?” she asked bewildered, “Why?” Her mother passed her a knowing look and she sighed. “Oh.”
“Is it nae exciting? Would ye believe that there is one from the Vicar’s wife?”
Lorraine said nothing. She wondered how her mother would react if she told her that she had no plans to visit anyone. Days ago, when she had been weird and wearing breeches, none had cared about her and now? Their attempt to associate with her upset her. She wished her da had been alive, she had not a doubt that he would see things the way she did.
“Lorraine?” her mother called.
“Ma,” she said as calmly as she could, “I am nae attending any feast. I want those letters thrown out!”
Her ma blinked her eyes as though she didn’t hear her.
“What?’ Mairi asked her daughter.
“I am not going to any feast. Not any,” she said firmly, “Before all of this, I did nae attend feasts. People did nae like me. They talked about me and when me da died, none showed up. Why would I want to feast with them?”
“Ye should nae keep grudges, Lorraine. People are shallow. ’Tis all that they can see that they judge based on. They are wrong but we should nae keep grudges.”
“Keep grudges?” she yelled without realizing that she was yelling, “’Tis nae a grudge if I do nae keep grudges because I remember how I was treated.”
“Ye are changin’ me words, child,” Mairi said, angry as well, “Do ye think ’tis wise nae to ken anyone?”
“A man with no friends doesnae need to fear betrayal.”
Maxwell stepped in at that moment. “What on earth is going on here?” he asked them both.
However, Lorraine was done with the conversation. She rushed out of the room a
nd prepared to leave the house. Then, she rode for Anton’s manor.
Chapter Eighteen
Daividh walked along the walls of the castle with a smile on his face. It wasn’t a smile that he could control. It wasn’t one that he knew he wore on his face. Its source was in his thoughts, happy thoughts about Lorraine. It was hard not to think about her. Everywhere he looked, he imagined her to be there.
It was an odd feeling for the heir; he had had many women before the daughter of the castle healer, and yet, the images of her plagued his mind all day long and even his dreams.
“Daividh!” He heard his name being called from behind him. It was Glenn. He knew his friend’s voice anywhere.
Glenn had a sheepish smile on his face as he hurried over. Daividh wasn’t so eager to ask what it was about. He knew Glenn and knew also that the only things that excited his friend were alcohol and women. Since it was still early in the morning, Daividh presumed it was a woman.
Glenn threw his arm over Daividh’s shoulder when he came to him and the two men walked the castle grounds. In the past few days, they had not had any attacks on the MacDougall family. It had seemed as though their mysterious enemy had gone silent.
“How was yer night?” Daividh asked Glenn, expecting tales about a harlot he might have picked up at a tavern or one of the many women who had been present at his Manor.
“It was lonely, me friend.”
“Why so? Whatever happened to the many harlots in the many taverns in these lands who fancy you, being in the inner circle of the MacDougall family?” Daividh asked his friend. He could not believe that Glenn would not have had a woman in his bed from the night before.
Glenn shrugged nonchalantly. “I did nae fancy sleepin’ with a harlot. Perhaps me heart has been stolen by another.”
“Words I never thought I would never hear before I die. I feel you jest, me friend. For years, nay woman has been good enough for ye. There has been nay woman who could make ye dream.”
“Dream? Dreams are for men who have nay wars to fight. Dreams are for men who sleep in their beds while other men fight in the battle for freedom, and for glory,” Glenn replied in his larger than life tone.
Daividh felt slightly attacked by his friend’s words for he did indeed dream. Every night, he dreamt of Lorraine and every moment, he hoped that he would be with her once again. Every moment, he hoped that some inspiration would fall onto him and he would be able to make her laugh, for her laughter always warmed his heart.
“So ye are nae smitten by a woman?”
“I ken nae,” Glenn replied.
Daividh shrugged and the two men walked still. However, Glenn was never one to hold onto silence long. Daividh always feared that silence was one way to kill the Scot.
“How about ye? How was yer night?” Glenn asked him.
“It was the same as the other nights before it,” Daividh lied, for he knew his friend would not understand him.
“Hmm,” Glenn hummed with a suspicious look on his face, “What about the maiden, Lorraine? How goes the bet with her? Have ye lain with her?”
Glenn hugged himself, imitating a woman. “Have ye fondled her bosom? Have ye seen her nakedness?”
Daividh felt his fist clench as did his teeth in his mouth, in fury. He disliked the way Glenn simply spoke about her as though she was just any woman or a harlot.
“Ye are angry,” Glenn noticed.
“I do nae wish to speak about this with ye,” Daividh replied curtly.
But Glenn wasn’t one to listen to words he did not want. His curiosity was so piqued that he wanted to know everything that his friend had done with the simple girl.
“What? Ye have given up? The peasant is so difficult that even ye who is of royal blood cannae get her to succumb?”
Daividh’s fury flashed across his face as he turned back to face Glenn. “She is nay peasant. And if ye call her that one more time, I shall strike ye down with a sword!”
Daividh knew he had spoken out of turn when Glenn moved away from him with a look of shock on his face.
“Ye would strike me down for a woman?” Glenn asked Daividh.
“I did nae mean it so. I just do nae wish to speak about her. The bet is over and I would prefer that we speak about it no more. What was our wager?” Daividh asked, hoping his question would deter further conversation.
“Never mind it,” Glenn replied.
“I apologize. I must have been in a terrible mood. I am prepared to pay the wager of our bet,” Daividh replied, trying to mend the fence he had just broken with his best friend.
“We need nae speak of a stupid bet. We are grown men and we need nae play such childish games,” Glenn said.
Daividh nodded also. He could not read the fury off his friend’s face for he was not a very sensitive man. He believed Glenn the moment he had told him that all was forgiveness. What followed between the two of them was an awkward silence before a maid approached the two of them.
“Laird, yer father summons ye,” the maid said to Daividh.
Daividh turned to Glenn. “I must go now.”
Glenn nodded his understanding and the two of them parted ways.
Daividh followed the maid up the stairs of the castle to the balcony where his father stood, staring at the houses and lands beyond the gates of the castle. His father had been deep in thought about a thing and Daividh knew that he was about to learn of it.
“Good mornin’, Father,” Daividh announced his presence.
Naomhan looked back at his son with an odd smile on his face. Daividh suddenly became wary of it. Up until that moment, he had thought up different reasons why his father might have summoned him, but seeing the smile, he knew he was wrong on all counts.
“You may leave us,” Naomhan said to the maid, who obeyed immediately before he turned to his son, “Come, come, we must speak.”
“Whatever is the matter, Father?” Daividh asked as he came to his father’s side.
Both men were much more alike than they some days wanted to admit to themselves for they argued a lot. They were both tall and huge men who knew of the act of war.
“A rumour came to me ears this mornin’ and I wished to ask ye about it. If ye tell me that it is nae the truth, then I shall dismiss it.”
Daividh was still clueless about what his father wanted to speak to him about. He could not think of a rumour that could have spread about him, but it was the way with rumours. One never truly knew how they came to be or if they were the truth even.
“Then tell me, Father.”
Naomhan turned to his son with the same knowing smile on his face. “They tell me that ye were out in the night with a woman yesterday. Is she someone I ken of?” Naomhan asked his son.
Daividh sighed a breath of relief as he heard his father’s words. It wasn’t anything grave. It was just news about him being with Lorraine. He knew news of the two of them would have gone out but he did not know it would have gotten to his father’s ears.
“The rumours are true, Father. I did go out with a woman yesterday to a feast at Glenn’s manor. He insisted that I come with someone lest I would have been a sour sight.”
Naomhan did not believe his son. “So the woman was just yer escort to the feast?”
“Aye, Father,” Daividh answered, trying to put up his most disinterested face.
His father, much like Glenn, would not have understood the way he felt towards Lorraine. They would have called him weak without giving it much thought.
“Are ye sure that ye do nae fancy this woman more than as a feast escort?”
“Aye, Father, she is just a friend to me,” Daividh answered.
“I found out that she comes to the castle a few times. Her mother is a healer. I would advise that ye do nae play with the poor girl’s feelings if that is yer aim.”
“She is just a friend, Father,” Daividh answered. However, he could still tell that his father did not believe his words. He wondered what else his father knew and wasn’t tellin
g him.
“Shall I be excused now, Father?” he asked with a bow.
“Aye.” Daividh turned around and started to leave when his father spoke again. “Ye are heir to the title of Laird MacDougall. A laird is a man who follows his own truth and fights for his people. Also, it is his responsibility to choose a bride worthy of the people, for she even would rule along him. She would bear him sons also who would become heirs themselves to the title of Laird MacDougall,” Naomhan said.
