“Alasdair, why doona we see him to Mae’s inn, allow him to rest a while and then speak to him? He canna wish to speak of any of this just now. Look at him.”
Glancing over at me for the first time since we began the ride back to Conall territory, the stranger gave me a thankful, shy smile before turning to speak to Alasdair.
“Aye, forgive me, but the lass is right. My arm aches and I’m weary. If ye will see me to somewhere that I may rest for the night, I will answer anything ye wish to ask me come morning. I’ve little in means, but I’ll find some way to repay yer kindness.”
Alasdair nodded and ashamedly looked down.
“There is nothing to repay. O’course ye doona wish to talk. Forgive my rudeness. Can ye reach inside the pack to yer left? I believe there’s a strong ale within that will surely help with the pain. Every drop inside is yers.”
My brows lifted as I leaned forward and looked over at my brother in surprise. Alasdair hated ale. I’d only seen him drink it in front of our father. Even then, he only did so to prevent Father’s teasing.
Alasdair could see what I was thinking right away.
“’Tis not mine. Rab stowed it away.”
Jerry started in on the ale as if it were his first drink of water after we freed him.
He would be sick with drink by the time we reached Conall territory.
* * *
Alasdair and I returned to Mae’s inn before the sun rose the next day. Wayward travelers were common in Scotland. While this wasn’t the first time someone in my family had offered help to one of them, Jerry piqued my interest more than most.
It wasn’t just his short hair and the oddity of the predicament we’d found him in that intrigued me—there was a familiarity about his eyes that I couldn’t quite place.
Even drunk, Jerry had remained kind and courteous to us both, and I suspected that it was this that made Alasdair as eager as me to check on him the next day. Accustomed to men growing boisterous and misbehaving after drinking, the man’s ability to maintain his dignity impressed my brother greatly. I’d even heard him speak to Kip about hiring the man on as the new stable hand if he was in need of work.
When we arrived at the inn, Mae was already busy at work in the kitchen, though no guests were down from their rooms yet.
“Is he awake?”
She nodded and answered my brother in a whisper.
“Aye, I believe so. I heard movement from within his room before I came down.”
Following my brother, I stood back and waited while Alasdair ensured that Jerry was indeed awake and decent. When we walked inside, he looked as if he’d been expecting us for some time.
Alasdair wasted no time before asking his first question.
“Before the friendship between ye and my family continues, I must make certain that ye are not a man of ill-gotten means. Are ye a thief? Are ye on the run from anyone?”
I knew Alasdair didn’t believe this man was any sort of criminal, but his question didn’t surprise me. Alasdair was fiercely protective of the land that would one day be his and the people who lived on it.
“No, I survive by honest work and honest work alone. I held work at Creedrich Castle for the last year as a messenger for the laird. While I know that the circumstances in which ye found me doona speak to my talents, I know Scotland’s land as if it were all my own.”
“Are ye on an errand for the laird now? Were ye meant to deliver a message when ye fell?”
Jerry’s beard made it difficult to discern much emotion from his expression, but I thought anger flashed in his eyes.
“No. I no longer offer my services to the laird of Creedrich territory. The man killed the…my…”
He hesitated and Alasdair pressed him.
“Yer what, lad?”
“My wife.”
For the first time since meeting Jerry, I suspected him of lying. The word didn’t flow from his mouth naturally. Instead his gaze dropped to the floor, and the word wife seemed to trip out of his mouth as if it had been pushed outward. The words hadn’t been easy for him to say.
