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“Ye say the man ye lied to is a kind man?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied meekly.
“Mayhap he would forgive ye if he is indeed a kind man as ye say.”
“What if the lie I told betrayed the heart of the kind man?” she asked him.
Jonan was silent in thought a while before he spoke his next words. “Ye are a good woman, milady. Ye have a good heart. If this kind man ken this also, he would forgive ye,” he told her.
Though his words eased her a little, it was not enough to make her smile and move past her guilt. So, Jonan decided to be craftier.
“And if yer kind man does nae forgive ye, point him to me and I shall make him see what a kind woman ye are,” Jonan said to her.
His words made her smile for the first time that morning.
Aye! She smiles.
“I hope you do not intend to harm the man for my sake,” she asked him, knowing that he jested.
“Just a little, enough to make him see what I see,” he told her, and her face colored.
Jonan noticed that she was much more beautiful when she smiled, and he made a promise to himself that morning that he would never make her cry or sad.
“Daenae change yer face as we walk out to speak to the people. Yer smile brings me hope and will help the people. So…” He extended his hand to her, and she placed hers in his.
They emerged from the carriage together, surprised to see so many people gathered around them.He helped Amelia stand next to him.
The clan's people smiled as they waited for him to speak.
“Good mornin’ to ye, me clansmen, clanswomen, and ye wee lads and lasses,” Jonan said to them with a smile that came easily to his face.
He looked next to him, and Amelia donned an even more beautiful smile which made him smile even wider.
“I bring with me good tidings and hope,” he started. “For a long time, our fields have nae given us as much as we need. Nae family in Clan McKay is lazy. We are warriors, blacksmiths, traders, midwives, servants, hunters, and fishermen… but we are farmers first. I stand here this day to ask for yer help. The fields will bring good harvests this season—” he looked to Amelia for acknowledgment of her help “—and more hands would be needed on the fields. We need to extend our farming land,” he told them.
Many hands rose in response. Many members of the clan wanted to help out on the farms and follow Jonan's new farming strategies.
Those who raised their hands were sent to Callan to be organizedand assigned tasks. When harvest season arrived, they would get second pickings after the farmers as a reward for their assistance.
After the crowd had dispersed, Jonan and Amelia approached the farmers to speak with them.
“Are ye all well?” Jonan asked them.
“Aye, milaird,” one of the farmers answered.
“But there are two men who are nae here today,” another farmer said.
“Why are they nae here?”
“They have both succumbed to a fever, milaird,” the man said sadly.
“We should visit them,” Amelia whispered in Jonan’s ear before he could wish the sick farmers good health.
He was used to helping people by giving orders, gifts, and favors, but he rarely went to check on the sick until shesuggested it. The people adored him and regarded him as a kind clan chief, so much so that he had not considered doing anything other than what he had always done.
“I am certain the men would heal faster if they saw their clan chief in their homes,” Amelia told him.
“Aye,” he agreed with her before turning back to the farmers. “Please lead me to the house of the sick men.”
