“As soon as I can pack up my belongings.”
Moira looked wildly at Farlan. “Talk to her! Talk her out o’ it.”
“I am the last man, love, to talk her out o’ it.”
“Will Rory MacLeod accept her? Will he allow here there, bein’ who she is?”
Farlan thought about it. “He will no’ harm a woman, though I doubt much he will be happy wi’ the situation. Rhian, this is a difficult path ye choose. Ye will ha’ nary a friend there at MacLeod—save Leith.”
Rhian lifted her chin. “I did no’ choose the path. It chose me.”
“Destiny,” Farlan said to Moira. “Can we gainsay it?”
“I will gainsay aught that takes Rhian from me. I am losing my sister!” It came in a wail, and Moira pulled Rhian hard into her arms in a fierce hug. “Sister, say ye will change your mind.”
“I canna.” Rhian drew away—not far—and dabbed her eyes. “Mayhap wi’ me there, I can do some good. Work for peace.”
A scratch at the door interrupted them. Saerla slipped in and threw herself into a three-way embrace.
For many long moments they remained so, arms hard around each other and red heads touching. Rhian could feel the strength of it, and the pain.
“She is leaving us, Saerla!” Moira cried. “Leaving us for MacLeod.”
“Aye. Aye, I ken.”
The three of them, born but five years apart from eldest to youngest, had been together most their lives—all Saerla’s life. Losing that seemed unimaginable.
But would Rhian truly lose them?
Looking into her sisters’ faces, she said again, “We are still three. I will merely be there, and ye here.”
“How d’ye mean to go?” Moira asked. “Ye canna go alone.”
Farlan arose from the bed, wrapping the blanket around his hips as he did so. “I will tak’ her.” His gaze, warm with compassion, touched Rhian’s face.
“But Farlan, will Rory want to see ye?”
“I do no’ care if he does or if he does no’. I will ferry my sister across the loch and see her safe in Leith’s hands.”
Because he understood, Rhian thought. He alone comprehended the magnitude of what she surrendered. And what she embraced.
He had faced his destiny with courage. Could she do less?
“Thank ye,” she told Farlan with true gratitude. “I will be safe in your company.”
He nodded. “In yer own time, Rhian. Gather wha’ ye do no’ wish to leave behind and say farewell to wha’ ye must.”
“I dare no’ say any farewells, other than I ha’ done.”
Moira said, “Ye maun say farewell to Alasdair.”
“And have him try to talk me out o’ this? Nay. I will carry wha’ I truly need to tak’ wi’ me, in my heart.”
Farlan nodded. “Let me but dress m’sel’. I will meet ye at the gate.”
Rhian cast a look into each of her sisters’ faces—Moira, stark and full of pain, Saerla, broken.
She would travel across the loch, aye, to find her love. She would also leave love behind.
