Page 108 of Hold Fast

Blair turned, his nose coming to a sharp point in profile. “Aye,” he said over his shoulder. “I believed we could come to an understanding.”

“What about Giffard?” Una asked.

“I plan to give Giffard his due. At long last,” he replied, his eyebrows slamming down. Una didn’t miss the tightening of his hand around his sword hilt. “In fact, it will be my second act as laird, after this bit of diplomacy. Be well.”

CHAPTER50

Una whipped around in Ewan’s arms. “Ewan, my God. Am I dreaming?”

“Nay. But you’ve been living a nightmare these last days. Let’s get you home.”

Ewan pulled her close into his side. The trees were mostly bare and the moon shone brightly between the reaching branches. They walked in silence. Ewan heard the muffled steps of the men behind him and the light breeze that shook the bare trees. Just beyond the river, young Ian joined them. After showing them the tunnel, Ewan had instructed the boy to stay out of sight. He trotted alongside Una, glancing at her frequently.

Una kept up, but Ewan could see her losing strength as they neared the clearing where his men waited. He bent down and scooped her into his arms, ignoring her protests. She didn’t protest long, resting her head on his chest, threading one hand around his back and gripping his leine as if that contact was the only thing holding her to him.

As they entered the clearing, David and Fergus approached. Having witnessed all, Ian retold the story of Joan’s disguise with great excitement, and for a moment, it seemed that everyone was talking at once. Ewan quieted the commotion with some difficulty, and after Una’s father was satisfied that she was unscathed, Ewan lifted her onto Calman’s back and climbed up behind her, settling her in his lap. He bundled her in blankets as the night was unseasonably cold. In a moment, she was asleep.

Ewan instructed David to ride in front and lead the column. He would ride in the middle of the group. As they picked a careful way along the path through the woods, Ewan kept looking at Una. She slept heavily, her body motionless in his arms as the shadows of trees swept across her face. Worry clenched his stomach like a fist. The sooner he got her home and warm, the better. The men were exhausted. He was exhausted. How Una had remained on her feet for so long was beyond him. But they couldn’t afford to stop for the night.

And so they rode into the silent midnight. Ewan finally felt his body begin to relax. He had just reached down to pat Calman’s flank when a sharp cry broke the silence.

CHAPTER51

In an instant, Ewan’s heart began beating at a fierce pace. It couldn’t be happening now. Not when he had just gotten her back safely. He felt a gush of liquid against his thigh, and his heart threatened to stop beating altogether.

“Una, are you bleeding, mo cridhe?”

“My waters have broken,” she panted.

How was he supposed to care for her like this in the middle of the woods in the dark of night? Shelter. They needed shelter. Up ahead, he knew, they would find the cave where he and Una had stayed the first night he’d met her. That night felt like a lifetime ago. The cave was small and hardly suitable for a woman in her condition, but he didn’t know what else to do.

“Una,” he rasped. “The cave. We will go to the cave.”

“Nay,” she groaned, adjusting herself on his lap. “We keep going.”

“Una. Be reasonable, Una. We must—”

“Wemustlisten to the only person here who has any knowledge about birthing bairns, and that is me,” she snapped. “We keep going. It will be hours yet, and I dinnae want to have this babe in a cave, no matter how pleasant my last stay there was.”

“But—”

“But nothing, Ewan,” she said and then groaned loudly. “You havenae listened to a word I’ve said about this babe thus far, but you’ll listen to me now. I willnae have this baby in that cave. If you insist on stopping, I’ll walk home.”

He was as annoyed as he was terrified. But the word “home” sent a tiny shiver of joy through him.

“Verra well, mo cridhe,” he said softly, reaching for her hand. She took it, gripping it tightly. “We are at your command. What shall we do?”

Una closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Send a man ahead to the keep. Tell Fenella we will need water boiling and clean linens, and make sure that Fiona has my kit ready. More clean linens”—she broke off on a groan—“on the bed.”

Ewan squeezed her hand and shouted for a man to deliver the message. It was the only task she’d given him, all he could do. There was nothing else but to watch, his stomach in knots, as she labored in his lap on horseback. He offered words of encouragement and praised her, rubbing her back and letting her grip his hand so hard that his fingers felt in danger of breaking.

The night stretched on endlessly with Una’s groans becoming louder and less controlled. His nerves became more and more frayed as their journey—and Una’s labor—progressed. He tried to stamp the intrusive thoughts that loomed at the edges of his mind—memories of his mother, of her childbed, of— Nay.Not every story has the same ending,he told himself.

By the time they saw the walls of the keep rising from a late afternoon fog, Una was weeping. Ewan had tried multiple times to get her to eat, but she refused. He was bone-weary from his terror and lack of sleep, but he could not imagine how exhausted she must be. Halfway between the forest and the wall, Una wailed. “Ewan,” she sobbed, “I need Father Brian. Send someone ahead and bring him to the keep.”

Ewan clenched his jaw. He wanted to shout at her that she did not need a priest because she was not going to die. Shecouldn’tdie. Not when he’d just found her again. Not when they had only gotten started. But he could refuse her nothing.

The column of men had thinned significantly as people split off and made for their own homes. Ahead, he saw Ian riding behind Fergus, David beside them.