Page 78 of Her Forbidden Highlander Husband

Mari nodded in agreement. “You should think it through now. You know what Liam wants, but this is your family, too. You have to be sure. It will be much harder to bring the boy into your home and then realize you’re not comfortable with such an arrangement.”

“Yes. All right. I’ll think about it seriously.” She gathered herself and stood. “I’ll be back. Will you watch after Gwennie?”

They smiled without the judgment she’d expected. Perhaps they had more faith in her than she had in herself. “Of course, take your time.”

Evelyn left the castle, planning nothing more than to go for a walk by the loch to think, but instead she found herself in the village. It didn’t take but a few questions to locate the boy Liam had thought to make their son.

He was even skinnier than he’d been the last time she’d seen him. His large green eyes had shadows under them, and his wheat-colored hair was filthy. Evelyn smiled to herself when she thought of how he offered yet a different set of features to their motley group.

Liam didn’t seem to care what their children would look like as long as they were happy and there were plenty of them.

“Hello there. Do you remember me?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Would you mind walking with me for a bit?” she asked, feeling nervous. He was just a child, one she’d known before, yet she felt she might find herself lacking.

He agreed and followed along beside her, a silent companion as she talked about how lovely the day was. But, of course, it wouldn’t be lovely to him. He’d lost his parents today. She frowned at her mistake and went about asking him questions about himself. He answered politely with short answers.

She bought them each a meat pie and handed the rest of hers over when he finished his eagerly.

“Is it good?”

“Aye.” When he smiled, she noticed one of his teeth was missing; the new one was already growing in.

“I shall get you another pie. I know what it’s like to be hungry.” She brushed a piece of hair from his face so it didn’t get into his food. He needed a wash and his clothes didn’t fit properly. She imagined Madra had done her best and her heart squeezed to think of the woman Evelyn had assumed was safe.

She hadn’t lied to the lad. She did understand hunger. When she’d been a prisoner of the McCurdys, they’d not spared a lot of food for her. “Being hungry is a horrible thing.”

When he’d finished off the third, they continued on.

“I remember your mother called you Shea.” Evelyn stopped to look at him. “I’m sorry about your mother. It must’ve been horrible. I hate that you had to see it, and I know you will miss her.”

“My father beat her until she stopped moving.” He said it as if it were nothing more than fact. As if he wasn’t personally affected by this tragedy. Already he’d found a way to protect himself by distancing himself from what happened, much as she had done. He’d need someone to help him through this. Someone he could open up to so these memories would not haunt him the way hers did. “They hanged my da.”

Evelyn rested her hand on her chest, hoping to keep her heart from breaking for this poor child.

“I understand it may be difficult, but I must say I’m glad for it, for what he did to your mother was very wrong.”

“Aye.” He nodded. “I won’t miss him at all. A right bugger he was.”

While Evelyn didn’t approve of his language, she thought it was most likely the best description for the beast.

“I imagine he hurt you as well.”

Rather than answer, the boy shrugged and looked away. His voice dropped. “I tried to help my mum, but I was too little.”

Evelyn kneeled down to his level so she could look him in the eyes. “You shouldn’t have needed to protect her. And I am sorry I didn’t come back to check on you and your mother. I’ll always regret that I didn’t. But I am proud of you, that you tried to help. You’re a very brave lad.”

If any doubts remained about whether she could stop herself from loving this little boy, they were cast aside when his bottom lip quivered and his green eyes glistened with tears he was too proud to let fall.

Shea needed someone to tell him it was fine to cry when he needed to. And she wanted to be that person. She didn’t know what would happen if her father came for her, but having one more person binding her to this place wouldn’t matter. She couldn’t save herself from the pain.

Slowly, she held out her arms. He didn’t need a verbal invitation to take the two steps to slam into her so she could wrap him in her embrace.

“Liam and I would be honored to have a brave boy like you join our family. You could be a brother to Gwennie, if you would want such a thing.”

“I would have to share my food only with my new sister?” he asked.