Such a turn of events. She hadn’t believed, after what Hamish had attempted, that the McCrieffs and the Lochmores would ever ally with each other. Some of the animosity had also been eased by Paiden’s recovery and easy manner.
So true as well, Hamish’s lack of recovery took the sting out of revenge. The Chief was ravaged with the illness now. There was nothing left to take of him. As for Mary, she hadbeen manipulated in Hamish’s games and was forgiven, but even so...
Even with Ailsa’s marriage and Rory and her father holding council together, there was an underlying animosity that lingered. Old bitter memories and Hamish’s plots had made true cuts in her clan.
It hurt her in a way she didn’t think possible. Her clan...wasn’t her clan. If they didn’t accept Rory as her husband as she was beginning to accept him, then what would be their future or their children’s?
Because as much opposition as Rory incurred on McCrieff land, it didn’t appear as if Rory was accepted by his family on Lochmore land either. She didn’t dare guess what his life had been like before now. Rory and his father barely spoke. And for her?
Chief Lochmore hadn’t acknowledged her until Rory almost demanded him to. Not overtly, and the words exchanged were outwardly polite, but there was a rigidity between the father and son she didn’t understand. It was as if Rory expected Finley to criticise or disparage her. He hadn’t. Rory’s father only nodded his head, as she had seen Rory do to him, then ignored her.
As a child, she’d been told of the Great Feud. She mourned, as a child would mourn, for thebaby who died. If that child had lived, he might have changed the fate of the clans. Changed the fate of her and Rory. Now they were married, but in a clan that might be divided for ever.
And yet if they hadn’t taken the step to marry, there’d be no chance at all for the clans to make amends, to stop the skirmishes and reeving and killing.
It seemed that Rory was of the same mind. Yet, while she wanted to improve clan relations because she was a healer, Rory wanted to repair clan relations as if he had something to prove.
Which hadn’t made any sense at all until now. What did he, a born leader, have to prove? Once the shock of Hamish’s deceit had sunk in, he’d risen to the challenge and worked tirelessly with her father. People naturally followed him.
Seeing how deep McCrieff deceit went, he could have just thrown it all aside. Left her and her clan to return to Lochmores. Being married to his enemy clan didn’t mean he would be loyal and yet he had stayed. He had spent time with her father, with the McCrieffs. Spent time with Mary until she was certain of his forgiveness.
Spent time with her. Over the past fortnight, she’d shared with him her herbal plantings. She’d brought Rhona’s journals up to their room to show him the beautiful illustrations. Her sisterswere no longer kept away from him and, no matter what tricks were played, he still could tell them apart.
With Paiden recovering, his humour shining through, she saw a different side to Rory. He laughed more and sometimes seemed content with her family. Her father’s good nature, her sisters’ constant chatter, the fact she now willingly went in to his arms.
How could she not, when he revealed more every day? Which made her ask herself again, could she love him? And was it possible Rory cared for her?
Too soon to ask such questions, not with her secret still being kept. Yet, as much guilt as she felt for not telling him of Rhona’s story she also felt that Rory, too, held something back, something she didn’t quite understand, something dark that drove him.
She wondered what it was. Now following the two Lochmores through the sparse line of trees and seeing the village and Lochmore Castle loom over the next hill, she was beginning to understand. Beginning to know her husband and it broke her heart. His wasn’t a cheerful home.
On and on they wove through the village; greetings were called out and sheep scattered. The village was immaculate. Not a roof neededthatching, the roads were well gravelled and cobbled. Ditches ran along the side for refuse and run off. She’d longed for such industry and efficiency for McCrieff, but Hamish’s greed and missed opportunities depleted coffers that would have been better spent on the Clan than on one bitter man who was never satisfied.
Adjusting her skirts from the saddle, she gazed at the dark flock of birds dotting the clear blue sky. Here she was riding to her husband’s home to visit with his family and she was wishing a man on his death bed ill will. If the Fates could hear her now, they’d heap more mischief upon her. She carried enough grief and burden without welcoming any more and she crossed herself to ward off any ill omens heading their way.
Closer to the castle’s gates and the roads narrowed. Rory no longer rode side by side with his father, who surged on ahead to visit with tenants who ran up to greet him. It allowed her to move closer to Rory since her own palfrey was so much smaller.
‘Are you well?’ Rory asked.
The ride across their lands had been brief; Rory couldn’t mean her physical health, but she wasn’t prepared to tell him her turbulentthoughts and worries. ‘Your home is very impressive, Rory.’
The gentle light in his gaze dimmed and he turned his head to look at everything but his home. ‘It’s a...fine roof and walls. My mother ensured it so.’
The immense stone castle and stronghold ahead was more than stone and mortar. It had been built to impress and intimidate. She knew his parents’ marriage had been arranged for political and financial gain. Perhaps those types of alliances were what created such lofty residences. Her own parents had married for love.
It was not lost on her that her own marriage had been arranged and, though she had done it from her heart, Rory had, in truth, done it for political gain. Seeing Lochmore’s castle, she wondered if he would want his own home to intimidate and impress. Perhaps he envisaged no warmth between himself and the children she prayed they’d have.
After all this time, she had shared her past and they had addressed the present, but by some tacit agreement they had not talked of the future. Maybe she was cowardly; maybe they both knew how tenuous their future was.
Maybe he didn’t imagine a future. She didn’t know. Her husband was complex and intriguing,and just when she thought she understood him, she realised she didn’t. ‘You must have spent hours playing hide and seek in such rooms.’
Foolish remark. Rory was an only child. While no castle room could be truly empty, he didn’t have what she had with her own siblings—
‘Not so much hide and seek,’ he said, his tone contemplative. ‘Among us boys, it was more hide and hide some more. Paiden was a handful even then, forever stealing loaves of bread or, if it was available, dried fruit from the kitchens. You’d think on such lands, we’d easily get lost.’
‘Except you were clever.’
‘We had some good places. Behind the chapel, the crypt, the...passageway to the water. But I think he liked getting caught.’
