Thirty-Five
“Not good enough! Higher!” Connor yelled.
His bare chest glistened with sweat as he lifted up a heavy stone. He squinted seeing the progress of the work.
The three longest months of his life had passed by like a bad, haunting nightmare.
Connor worked everyday since, alongside his men. He exerted himself just as hard, if not harder than they did. He spent half his days working on the structure, and the other half was spent training with his men. His muscles benefitted from his new physical regimen. Maura noticed and tried many times to persuade him into her bed. He had had enough of it a week ago. Maura pushed him too far.
“Nay!” he spat, standing up. Connor drank long from his cup. He looked at her and wondered how he had ever been attracted to her. She was unattractive, immoral, and deceitful.
Maura threw herself in his arms. His red-rimmed eyes looked down at her with unveiled disgust. How had she remained here? Hadn’t he ordered her to leave long, long ago?
“Do not mourn her. Ye were happy with me before she came into yer life. She’s not worth it, Connor! She was insignificant. She’s in purgatory, burning! She was-”
He took her by the throat and hauled her up against the stoned-wall of the great room. His eyes were hard.
“I made a vow once never to strike a woman, Maura, but I’m not above breaking it. I will not tolerate insolent remarks about my wife. Get the hell out of here. If I had the energy, I would see ye packed and moved out of my land, but ye’re too insignificant for the task.”
Top lip curling in disgust, Connor snarled his words. The frost of them matched the winter of his eyes. After a long pause, he strode to his bedroom.
Maura had never seen him so upset. She shivered, and walked back to her cottage to pack her satchel. For the first time since Maddie had come, and now gone, she knew that she would never be welcomed in Connor’s bed again.
He’d lost his heart to Madeleine when he’d met her and now that she’d died, his chest was empty without so much as a thump. That much was obvious to Maura, and for anyone else to see.
Connor’s loud voice boomed as he surveyed the structure.
“‘Tis almost finished. Up! Lift it up and place it higher!” Connor directed as they lifted up a heavy stone.
Malcolm and Miriam looked down from a window at the keep.
“He never stops, Malcolm.”
“Ye were right. ‘Twas a good decision nay to tell him of the bairn,” Malcolm remarked sadly.
“What good would it have done, Malcolm, for he had already lost Maddie? What good would have come from him knowing he had lost his bairn as well?”
“Aye, I see the wisdom in that choice. His grip on sanity had been loose, and knowledge of the bairn would have most certainly tipped him beyond reason.”
“Ye can see why initially I thought it wasna possible for Maddie to take her life. She was expecting, Malcolm, and she was elated. She couldna have been happier. She wouldna have taken her life or that of the baby’s,” Miriam said, grabbing his arm.
“She mentioned in the letter that she was taking their most precious gift, Miriam. I have a feeling that when she found out the truth, she felt as if even ye and Katie had been deceitful.”
Miriam turned away in anger.
“That was beyond deceitful, Malcolm, and well ye know it! It was unforgivable to use an innocent girl like Maddie. I know ye tried to persuade them to not pursue with that action. I also understand Kiel and Iain felt differently after they got to know Maddie. Oh, the pain that she must have endured alone when she found out the truth!” Miriam said in a shaky voice. “Katie and I spared Connor a lecture because of the enormity of his guilt. He has learned a dear lesson, Malcolm. This vengeance was wrong and I canna fault Maddie if she believed that Katie and I had a part in it.”
Shortly after the burial ceremony, Malcolm had informed her and Katie of the full truth. He had told them the facts behind Katie’s violation, Maddie’s true father, and the plan to bring Maddie here for vengeance.
Malcolm walked over to Miriam and placed a hand on the small of her back and brought her in for a hug.
“Now ye see why I felt so strongly that she had not taken her life!” Miriam repeated, her voice muffled against his chest.
“Aye, I see yer point, Miriam. What else are we to believe, however, with the situation as it is? Only her cloak was found and the letter. What other conclusions could we draw from that?”
Miriam nodded, “I know.”
They turned back to look outside the window and continued to watch their son punish himself day in and day out.
“He wears her ring around his neck on a thin leather strap,” she said sadly.
“Aye. It’s to keep a piece of her closer to his heart. I heard him say it to himself one day,” Malcolm said as she looked up to him in surprise.
Connor isolated himself from his family. He didn’t speak to anyone unless they spoke to him. He became a worse form of his older self, before Maddie had come into their lives. Miriam attempted many times to pack Maddie’s belongings and each time he had vehemently refused. The room was kept the same as she had left it.
Every night, he sat in front of the hearth in the great room, spirits in one hand and her letter clutched in the other. He must have read it at least five times a night and sometimes read it aloud, laughing like a madman.
It was painful for his family to watch. He didn’t want anyone’s help. His hurt was on display for all to see.
Miriam and Malcolm watched as Connor hauled a stone above his shoulders, growling loudly.
“That’s it for today. On with training,” he shouted. The men groaned in response as Connor’s determined steps propelled him forward.