Page 77 of Highland Sky

“What the hell has happened to ye since ye got married?” asked North. “I can see marriage makes a man lamebrained. I’ll never let that happen to me.”

“What did ye say?” asked Gavin, balancing his food on his spoon, looking up at North.

“Nothin’. I said nothin’.” North all but stuck his face in his food as if he were trying to hide.

“Yes, ye did. Ye called us lamebrained,” Cam said loud enough for everyone to hear. “Ye said all married people were lamebrained.”

Now, half the clan was staring at North, and Kellina knew there would be trouble if she didn’t intervene.

“They’re brathairs. And friends,” she told the clan. “They always talk that way to each other. They dinna mean anythin’ by it.”

“We’re family,” explained Nash. “The MacKeefes are closely-knit, and even if we talk this way it doesna mean a thing. Nothin’ can ever come between family members.”

“Speakin’ of family,” said Tomas, clearing his throat. “Kellina, where will ye and Nash be livin’ after he is accepted back into his clan?”

“With the MacKenzies,” Kellina said, at the same time that Nash said, “With the MacKeefes.”

Everyone at the table stopped talking, and looked up at them.

“Nash, this is where I belong. I canna leave,” said Kellina.

“Well, I’m no’ goin’ to leave the MacKeefes, lass,” he told her.

“So, it looks like my sister will be livin’ here while Nash will return to the MacKeefes,” said Jamie, playing with the kitten.

“Nay, they canna do that,” said Caitlin in concern. “It wouldna be right. They are married now and need to live together.”

“I agree,” said Tomas. “Nash, if ye’ll stay here with the MacKenzies, I’d like to make ye my right hand, and advisor. After all, ye are family now.”

“Nash, Storm is expectin’ ye back at the MacKeefe camp to help with the cattle again this winter,” said Cam. “Ye’ve got people there askin’ about ye. Ye have to come home.”

Nash looked up,not knowing what to say. He’d made an alliance with the MacKenzies by marrying Kellina. However, it was never stated beforehand which clan they would live with when this was all over. Nash swallowed his stew, seeing Kellina staring a hole through him. Everyone was looking at him and he didn’t know how to answer.

“Well, are ye stayin’ here with the MacKenzies?” asked Jamie. “Or are ye goin’ to take our sister away from us, too?”

“Please, dinna do that,” begged Caitlin. “We’ve already lost our parents, our cousins, and aunt and uncle. We canna lose our sister, too.”

“Well, speakin’ to the fact, Kellina may no’ really be –” Nash stopped in midsentence, hearing Tomas clear his throat. North was shaking his head, and Kellina had the look of fear in her eyes. He’d almost said aloud that she might not really be their sister but, thankfully, had stopped in time.

“What?” asked Cam. “She’s no’ really what?” Cam lifted the bowl and sucked down the last of the stew.

“Aye, what were ye goin’ to say?” asked one of the women of the clan.

“Nash,” Kellina whispered, shaking her head now.

“I was goin’ to say that she may no’ really be . . . interested in livin’ with the MacKeefes, but she might change her mind if she got to ken us.”

“Aye, that’s a guid idea,” agreed Gavin. “Ye can live with the MacKeefes for a while and then come back to the MacKenzies and stay here a spell, too. Just like Davita and I are doin’, tradin’ back and forth between places.”

“That’s no’ the same at all,” said Nash. “Ye’re tradin’ between Hermitage Castle and the MacKeefe camp in the Highlands. Ye are no’ goin’ back to live in her town.”

“Nay, but she can visit her family whenever she wants,” Gavin told him.

“Same with Yvaine,” said Cam, looking around for more stew. “She could go back to the chandler’s shop but she chooses to live with me instead.”

“Only because her memories of the shop are so horrid,” mumbled Nash under his breath.

“Ye have to choose, Kellina,” said Tomas. “I canna have ye two livin’ here sometimes, and then no’. I am chieftain now, and I will stick to my decision. Choose one place or another. Ye canna have both.”