“Here, let me.” She took the cloth from him and ran water over his back, dabbing gently at the gashes. When she had got the blood off, she helped him to the bed to lie on his stomach. Then she cleaned the wounds with whisky, stitched the worst of them, and applied basilicum powder to seal the rest of the superficial cuts.
It was almost dawn, and the sun would be up very soon. All the same, she stripped and climbed into bed with him. She couldn’t hold him because of his wounds, but she could be here.
He lay with his head turned towards her, and she finally asked the question that had been burning in her all night.
“Why?”
He sighed. “Clan fealty, lass. The boys offered the Chief an enormous insult. He had to punish it. They know better now. He did the right thing.”
“How can flogging children be the right thing?”
“They will be men soon, and they need to understand what that means. Rory understood. He took it like a man. I’m proud of him. He understood he’d done wrong. It was a better lesson than any I could have taught him. If I’d raised them better, he’d never have thought of doing it in the first place. The fault was mine.”
She stroked his face; his jaw was bristled with ginger whiskers.
“This will heal, lass, it’s nothing.”
“You will be scarred!” she said indignantly.
He shrugged and winced. “A good reminder of my fault.”
She shook her head. “Scottish madness.”
“Aye, lass. I’m sorry ye had to see that.”
She leaned up on her elbow and kissed him. “Sleep, if ye can. Is the pain bad?”
“It throbs a bit, but I’ve had worse.”
Col rose late afternoon and slung a robe over his breeches to go and pay a visit to his sons. He found Callum lying on his stomach, his chin propped on his folded arms, reading a book. Seeing Col enter the room, he went to get up, but Col stayed hem with a hand.
“I came to see how ye’re faring, lad.” He inspected Callum’s back and was relieved to only see redness and what would be slight bruising.
“It hurt like the devil at the time, now it’s just sore.” Callum eyed him. “You and Rory fared much worse.”
“Aye, well, we’re older, and more of the blame rested with us.”
“How were ye to blame, Athair? Ye didnae do it, we did.”
“I should ha’ taught ye better, lad. That’s my blame. I failed to explain the fealty ye owe to the clan chief, and what a transgression such an act would be. It just never occurred to me that ye’d take it into yer heids to do such a thing.”
“Aye, I didnae want to do it, but Rory told me I was a Jessie if I didn’t.”
“I’ll be having a word to him about that.” Col frowned, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Lad, ye’re getting old enough, I hope, to understand this. Yer grandfather had a very fixed idea of what manhood is, and if ye didn’t fit into it, then ye were nae a man to him. He thought yer uncle Merlow were nae a man because he didnae do the things yer grandfather approved of.When I was Rory’s age, I agreed with him. But I know now I was wrong, and yer grandfather was wrong.” He stopped, clearing his throat.
“Yer uncle Merlow is the best man I know. It’s a crying shame ye’ve not had more to do with him, for he would be the best role model I could offer ye. I suggest ye write to him, share yer thoughts with him. He’ll understand ye much better than me. Ye’ll find, I think, the two of ye share a lot in common.”
“Aye, I was sad when he left,” admitted Callum. “But d’ye really think he’d like to get letters from me?”
“Aye, lad, I do. It might even do ye good to go and stay with him and Hetty fer a bit, if ye want to of course?”
Callum nodded and smiled. “I’d like that. Hetty is nice.”
“She is that.” Col paused. “D’ye like Aihan?”
“Oh, Aye. Aihan is—different. Good different.” He looked down and chewed his lip. “I know ye like her, Athair. And it’s obvious she likes ye. Are ye—are ye going to marry her?”
Col jerked at this, his heart kicking up in alarm. “I can’t, Callum, she has to go home at some point. Back to China.”
