Page 74 of Highland Sky

“Kellina, can I take the kitten over and show it to the rest of the children?” asked Jamie, cradling the cat in his arms.

“Of course, ye can,” she answered, putting her arm around her sister.

“I’ve missed ye,” said Caitlin, as soon as all the others had left.

Kellina laughed. “I was only gone for one day,” she pointed out.

“It seemed like one year, I swear it did. I was afraid ye were never comin’ back – like Mathair and Da, and Lorna and the girls.” Caitlin looked so sad. “Or like Uncle Ciaran. I think I miss him the most of all.”

“Caitlin,” said Kellina, wanting to tell the whole truth about their parents and Ciaran to her sister. “There is somethin’ I want to say to ye.”

“What is it?” asked Caitlin, looking up with wide eyes. “Is somethin’ wrong?” She looked so scared, and Kellina didn’t want her to feel this way.

Several clansmen walked by, carrying things for the roof repair.

“We’re makin’ haggis,” called out one of the women who was stirring a pot at a nearby fire.

“It’ll be a celebration of Kellina and Nash’s homecomin’,” called out another woman.

“I’ll get some wine,” said a young boy, running to find it.

“Let’s walk,” said Kellina, not wanting the others around her to hear her horrible story.

“All right.” Caitlin took Kellina’s hand. “We can go up the hill and visit Mathair and Da, as well as our cousins, and aunt and uncle.”

“Well, if ye’d like,” said Kellina, seeing how much it meant to her sister. They climbed the hill together, stopping for a moment at their parents’ graves, before Caitlin walked right over to Ciaran’s resting place, and sat down on the grass.

“Sit,” she said, patting the ground with her hand, waiting for Kellina. “Can ye smell all the heather in bloom? It’s lovely.”

Kellina sat next to her sister, wondering how to tell her everything she needed to know. She had just decided to tell Caitlin first that Ciaran might be her father, when Caitlin bent over and kissed the ground where the chieftain was buried.

“I miss him the most of all, dinna ye?” asked Caitlin. “I often wished he was my real faither.”

“Well I – I miss all of our clansmembers who have died,” Kellina answered.

“I miss Uncle Ciaran more than our parents, since I was too young to remember them before they died. Our aunt and uncle were always parents to Jamie and me.”

“Caitlin, dinna say that,” Kellina scolded.

“Ye ken it’s true.”

“Well, the chieftain isna yer uncle or yer faither,” snapped Kellina. “We called him Uncle, but he wasna related to . . . ye at all.”

“Sister, why are ye soundin’ so harsh? Uncle was never anythin’ but kind to us after our parents died. He was especially nice to ye and even called ye Daughter sometimes. That should mean somethin’ to ye.”

“Ye have no idea,” Kellina mumbled under her breath.

“What is it ye wanted to tell me? I’m sure ye’d like to hear it, too, Uncle, wouldna ye?” Caitlin spoke to the grave, running a gentle hand over the ground.

How in heaven’s name could Kellina tell her any of this now?

“Caitlin, would ye still love me . . . even if I wasna yer sister?”

Caitlin laughed. “Dinna be silly! Ye are my sister. And if ye werena, I wouldna love ye.”

“Y-ye wouldna?” Kellina’s heart was breaking now. This wasn’t at all what she wanted to hear.

“Nay. If ye werena my sister, I wouldna ken ye,” Caitlin explained. “So how could I love someone I dinna even ken?”