“You figure it out,” Aihan said, rising and gathering up his plate and empty mug.
“Thank ye, Hana.” He grabbed her hand and kissed it. She smiled at him and touched his cheek. Rising on tiptoe, she kissed it and went back to the house, leaving him feeling insensibly better.
Chapter Sixteen
Rory didn’t come home for dinner, which alarmed Col. So he went looking for him and found him at the MacPhersons’. He thanked Toby’s parents for feeding him and hauled him off home. He was afraid Rory would make a scene, but hadn’t bargained on the powerful effect of keeping up appearances in front of his peers.
Rory came with him docilly enough. As they walked back to the house, Col said, “I know why ye did it, lad. The escutcheon means a great deal to ye and it does to me as well, but if ye’d heard his anguish, lad—he thought ye’d destroyed his memories of yer mam. Did ye really mean to hurt him that much?”
He watched his son’s face as Rory looked down. It was almost dark by now, but there was enough light to see his expression. It was stony. “Aye, I did. He did the same to me! Just that I don’t squeal about it like a stuck piglet!”
“He’s yer little brother, Rory! Ye’ve a responsibility to look after him.”
“Fook! I’m sick of hearing that! I’ve had that all my life. Ye’re a fine one to talk about responsibility!” Rory’s look of contempt hit Col in the chest.
He closed his eyes a moment and let out a breath trying to ease the pain. After a bit of a struggle he said, “Ye’re right, and I owe ye an apology fer that. I was so stricken with grief?—”
“And ye think we weren’t?” snapped Rory, kicking a stone viciously with his boot.
“I wasn’t thinking at all, lad. I’m sorry.”
“Bit late now,” muttered Rory.
Col swallowed this in silence.
“I used to think ye were a god, when I were a wee lad. Ye could do nae wrong in my eyes,” said Rory.
“Aye, I used to feel the same way about my father, until I realised he wasn’t.” Col shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry ye had to discover I have feet of clay so early, lad. The fact is we’re all human and make mistakes. Sometimes ones we deeply regret. I cannae undo the past as much as I might want to. But I do regret losing sight of ye in the wake of yer mam’s death. But losing her and yer baby sister—” He stopped, swallowing the lump in his throat. “I didnae know how to go on, and that’s the truth. I was weak and I’m sorry. More than I can say.”
Rory stumped on a bit in silence. “Grandpa said ye were weak as piss to lose yer head over a woman so.”
“Yer grandpa was a sour old curmudgeon who never fell in love,” snapped Col.
“He did, actually. Her name was Daisy McMahon, and she played him false. He said women always play ye false and not to trust them. Is that true?”
“Nae it isn’t, yer mam never played me false, nor I her. We loved each other, Rory. Whatever I’ve done or not done in my life, I’ll never regret falling in love with yer mam, she was the grandest woman.”
Rory nodded thoughtfully as they skirted the front of the house to enter the courtyard via the rear of the stable. Col stopped at the entrance and clapped Rory on the shoulder andsqueezed. Rory looked at him a moment, nodded, and headed into the house.
Col remained standing there a few minutes and was surprised to find tears on his cheeks. He scrubbed them away and cleared his throat, heading into the house to fetch the dogs for their evening walk.
Over two hours later, he was in the act of pouring water into the bowl in his room prior to washing and shaving when a strange high-pitched shriek that cracked in the middle made him splash water all over the place. He put down the ewer, wrenched his bedroom door open, and burst into the corridor to see Aihan emerge, tying her robe on, and Fergus appear at the top of stairs, puffing.
“Rory’s room,” said Aihan with a nod.
What the fook now?Col headed down the corridor past the stairs to Rory’s room and banged on the door. “Rory?” A muffled sound from the other side of the door and the sound of something crashing. Col’s heart accelerated in alarm. Then the sound of the key turning in the lock. Col shoved the door wide and took in the sight of his son swaying in front of him, his lips swollen and turning blue, his breathing laboured. The room was a mess, which was nothing unusual for Rory, but the crashing sound had been the clothes pole falling over.
“Rory, what the fook?” asked Col in alarm.
“Adder!” he rasped. “It bit me! It’s loose in here somewhere.” He collapsed on these words and Col caught him. He lifted him up and turned, finding Fergus, Willy, and Callum in the doorway. “Out of the way and find the bloody snake!” he barked.
Callum was white as a sheet seeing his brother lying still in Cols arms.
“Is he dead?”
“Nae, but he might be if we don’t do something!” said Col, striding past him to his own bedchamber where he laid Rory down on the bed. Aihan appeared at his side.
“Tie off the wound,” she said.
