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She felt it a good time to inquire about Angus. She tried to keep calm. “And how is Angus faring with all the preparations?” Liam didn’t seem to notice her hesitance at asking about him, and his expression was solemn.
“He’s in a bad way, Mistress.” Charlotte felt her heart tighten.
“What do you mean?”
“Och, I mean, he just has a lot on his mind. Ever since ye left, he’s been in a dark mood, barely speaking tae any of us. His mind is solely on his work, but it drains him so. Each day, he seems tae get worse. I fear that he will drain himself of energy.”
Charlotte tried to keep the guilt from tearing her apart. “I see. I am sorry for it. It is a large task to try and save a clan.”
“Aye, but we try our best tae help. I’m sorry ye had tae leave in such a rush. Ye are much missed.”
Charlotte blushed. “Yes, I am sorry for my rush. It wasn’t ill-intended. I simply needed to leave; my father wished it so.”
Liam nodded but said nothing more. Charlotte continued, “Well, we mustn’t keep you. You are busy men and must do your tasks.”
Liam nodded to both of them. “Aye, we must be getting on. Oh, afore I forget, here is a letter from Mrs. MacLean.”
Charlotte grasped it gratefully. “Oh, I am so glad. Thank you, Liam.”
He nodded shyly, “Well, I hope to see ye again, Charlotte, in the next weeks. And ye as well, Miss Darling.”
He bowed lower to her, and Elizabeth’s mouth parted slightly. At a squeeze from Charlotte’s arm, she nodded slightly, and her lips turned up into a small smile.
The men walked off into the forest, and Charlotte and Elizabeth continued on, a smile playing across Charlotte’s lips as she waited to hear what Elizabeth had to say. They were silent for a few moments before Elizabeth breathed, “I have never seen a man so large. And strong.”
Charlotte threw her head back and laughed. “Ah, Elizabeth, I know exactly how you feel. I think that we will be very good friends.”
* * *
Despite his fatigue, Angus headed out to the farms with his men to begin to distribute the bundles to the sick patients. Despite the necessity, he was dreading seeing them. He didn’t know what he would feel when he saw his own people suffering, without a healer there to help them, and without a solution.
Perhaps the new foods would help. As he and his men began to heave them into carts to take around the island, Angus looked inside one of the bundles. Potatoes, carrots, apples, and cabbage filled the sack nearly to the top. It was a veritable feast. He was touched at the kind gesture. Charlotte did not have to do this, but she did so anyway, even after the way they’d left things. She left in a huff of anger, but she still cared enough about the people of the island. He knew that her patients meant a lot to her.
There were ten homes that held sick occupants. There would be more than enough of these foods to feed the whole island a few times over, but he would first start distributing to the sick homes. And he would have to begin with David. From snippets of conversation that he overhead from Charlotte, he knew that David was the illest of everyone, and his mother, Breya, was beside herself with fear of his impending death. Mrs. MacLean had also told him that David had cut himself, and now the wound was not healing, but rather oozing, refusing to close up.
They hitched the horses to the carts, and Angus sat at the front of one of them, and one of his other men controlled the other. They agreed to split up, traveling around the island. Each of them had the names of those who were ill, and they would only give a few vegetables and fruits to each of them to distribute evenly. Angus hit the reins, getting the horse to start. It was a long time since he had driven a cart behind a horse rather than ride. Mrs. MacLean had told him that he didn’t need to do this job, but he wanted to.
He needed to be involved in every aspect of the clan’s development as a laird would be. He didn’t want to leave any important duties to someone else when it was a job specifically given to him. Besides, he had needed to get out of the Castle after he’d read the letter. What did it mean? Why would Calum have specifically asked Charlotte to help out?
He knew they were happy to have her stay and keep working as she was, but was there more to it? The letter made it seem so, and he felt a sneaking suspicion that it was because Calum didn’t trust him to handle it alone. Yet another reason why he was dead set on taking care of this task. He’d been at a loss as to what to do for the ill villagers, but now Charlotte had given him some direction. He supposed that Calum was right to ask her to help him, even if it stung, knowing that his brother didn’t trust him.
He seemed to be failing at every turn during his time as interim laird, and now he felt weak and overcome with all he must do. Despite having eaten his fill that morning, his head had not ceased hurting him, and he could feel a dull ache in all of his muscles. Lifting the bundles into the cart had winded him. That and the aches he felt, he attributed to the constant sword lessons he’d been taking up as a way to forget Charlotte.
But the weakness began to get worse as he rode towards David’s small home. It was like he was in a fog and was trying to claw his way through the mist. But it was a clear, beautiful day just like the one before. He shook his head as his vision started to get fuzzy. He grasped onto the reins tighter, hoping that would help steady him as the horse moved slowly along the dirt path towards the village. But it would not lessen. It persisted, and a few times, he nearly toppled over the side of the cart.
He soon arrived at David’s door, and with slight trouble, he jumped down from the cart bench to the ground to move around to the backside of the cart. He was going to carry a partial sack to Breya’s door with instructions. He reached up to grab it, but then everything began to get blurry, and the colors swam before his eyes. He fell backward onto the ground with a soft thump.
