Forty-Four
“Ramsay! Ye had better come out an explain yerself! Ye have something that is mine!”
“Who is that man, Mother?” Katie asked, looking out of the window.
“I believe I know who it is,” Miriam said, running to get Malcolm.
“Mother! Tell me,” Katie said, wanting to run behind her mother but looked out of the window again. The man standing next to the yeller was handsome. With one last look, Katie groaned and followed Miriam.
Maddie had just rounded the corner of the castle. She was walking to the front entrance with Ramsay by her side, when she looked to her left. She inhaled sharply.
There were at least twenty massive highlanders mounted on enormous horses. They were wearing a different plaid, Maddie noticed, but she had no idea who they were.
They didn’t notice her, though.
“Ramsay! I want an audience with ye, now! Ye have kept something that is mine!”
Alarmed, Maddie rushed over to the shouting man who she believed was the laird of the group. What if these men wanted to fight her Connor? No. She had to avoid bloodshed.
“May I help you, sirs?” she asked, stepping in front of the leader’s horse. She rested her hands on her belly protectively. They were intimidating.
All of the warriors looked down at the pint-sized woman with child and inhaled collectively.
“Lord above,” the man next to the leader said.
“Sir?” she asked, looking at them skeptically. She noticed the front two men had dark hair and golden eyes.
Like her.
She felt her heart seize in her chest.
“Madeleine, step back. Come here. Now!” Connor bellowed.
Maddie looked back at Connor, confused at the tone of his voice and the hostility of his stance. He was rigid, and his hands were fisted at his sides. She looked at his face and saw his jaw was clenched. She immediately walked over to him while thinking of her father and brothers, and those two men. She couldn’t help but compare them all to herself.
When she reached Connor, he gently tugged her behind him while he remained facing forward. He flashed a threatening scowl towards Menzies and he turned around to face Maddie. He passed his hands over her- her face, shoulders, arms, and belly. She was safe and whole. Relief flooded him.
“What is the matter?” she asked, looking concernedly at him as if he’d grown ill all of the sudden.
“Maddie, please go with mother inside the castle. Wait for me there.”
“But Connor, who are those men?”
He kissed her forehead. “Maddie, please. Go inside and I shall explain it to ye. I promise.”
Maddie nodded and walked towards the castle with one last questioning backward glance. Miriam was waiting for her and she went inside along with her.
Enraged, Connor charged over to Menzies, who at seeing Connor’s face, dismounted.
“I apologize, Laird. ‘Tis that just months ago, ye mentioned that Laird Menzies would be welcome whenever he visits without prior notification of his impending travel, and-”
Connor held up his hand to stop his warrior’s explanation. “Aye, I did. I told Laird Menzies, however, that the first time he comes to meet my wife-”
“My daughter!”
There was a collective inhale from the surrounding warriors at Menzies’ angry words.
“He would need to first arrange said travel with me,” Connor growled over him as if Menzies hadn’t spoken.
“Ye didna tell me she is alive!”
“How dare ye come here unannounced. What did ye think to gain by upsetting my wife who is expecting my bairn?” Connor roared. The vein in his temple twitched.
“She’s my daughter and ye sent word to me that she died!” Menzies barked. “I had to mourn the life and death of a daughter I always wanted from the only woman I ever loved in the span of a fortnight. Then days ago, I hear that she lives! And ye’ve not told me!” “Menzies, I only found out about it myself recently,” he said calmly. It was clear to Connor that Menzies meant no harm to Maddie, and meant no disrespect to him. He understood how the laird must be feeling. Connor hurriedly told Menzies all that had transpired. “I havena had the time to let ye know.”
Menzies seemed satisfied and nodded his head in understanding. “I apologize, Ramsay. Is my daughter well?”
Connor shook his head sharply. “No. She is experiencing pains randomly. It is too early in her condition for this. It is a verra sensitive time, Menzies. I canna risk her well-being.”
“I agree, Ramsay. Perhaps ‘tis best we wait to tell her-”
They both looked up to the castle as the petite fire came out.
“Are you my father?” she yelled, asking from the castle steps.
Connor turned back to Menzies. “She is a verra intelligent woman but she isna a well-behaved lass.”
Menzies grinned. “She’s perfect.”
Connor snorted and he felt the jabbing of a finger. He rolled his eyes and Menzies stifled his laugh.
“I beg your pardon, husband?” she asked sweetly.
“Ye are my daughter,” Menzies said in awe. His eyes glided down the length of her shiny hair and moved to her eyes. Dear Lord, he could no more deny that she was his daughter than he could deny the sky was blue.
“Easy,” Connor warned. He hovered protectively over Maddie.
Menzies approached Maddie and found he could not breathe. “Ye have my coloring, but ye look just like my Anne,” he whispered, almost painfully.
“Like mother?” she asked, half-afraid to hear anything about her mother because of the pain it would bring her.
“Yes,” Menzies said shakily.
Connor had never seen a man of such stature besieged by strong emotions at the presence of a woman. This laird, a man with enormous power, was humbled by this tiny woman. Being a bit more insightful, Connor realized that when he looked at Menzies, he was seeing a reflection of himself. So this was how he looked every time he saw his little wife.
Connor was nearly felled with laughter.
His mite of a wife had the power to make the greatest of men fall to their knees with emotion. His wife was certainly special, but he’d known this since first she’d rested her golden eyes on him.
“Menzies, join us inside,” Connor said, beginning to usher his wife towards the castle again. “Yer horses will be taken care of and yer men given food and drink. James, come. It is a hot day and my wife is verra round with child.” The stress on the word ‘verra’ was clearly purposeful. Maddie elbowed him and both Menzies and James laughed.
Once they were seated at the long table, Menzies and Connor began to share all that had transpired, as well as the truth about her mother. During the stories, Maddie cried and laughed, but by the end, she was saddened by the loss both her mother and father had suffered. She also mourned her loss at not knowing either parent.
“He was a cruel man,” she said, her yellow eyes bright from tears. “I am ashamed to have defended him. I am ashamed to have called him my father,” she whispered dejectedly.
Menzies reached over and grasped her small hands in one of his large ones. “Ye didna know, my daughter. Ye shouldna chastise yer kind, loving, and trusting heart. Fine qualities for one to have, and ye should be proud of them.”
“Really?” she asked, smiling tentatively through her tears. Menzies thought he saw her yellow eyes twinkle and squeezed her hand.
“Aye.”
Her small, tentative smile broadened into the widest and most luminous smile Menzies had seen only on one other beautiful woman during those few special months he’d spent with Anne.
“You’ll visit often, won’t you?” she asked, as they were saying their goodbyes outside later that evening. She hugged her brother and then her father. “I’ve only just met you, but I can already see that you are the father I always needed and wanted,” she said, fresh tears gathering in her eyes. She turned to James. “I feel like you are the brother I always wanted, too.”
“I feel the same, Maddie,” James said warmly.
“Storms and the devil himself couldna keep me away,” Menzies said, and then looked over to Connor. “But maybe ye’re overprotective husband could,” Menzies said laughing, and Maddie joined in.
Connor made a face and Maddie gave him a quick peck on his chin.
“Then we shall see one another soon. I look forward to getting to know you, and you, James,” she said, turning to her brother again. James nodded his head at his sister, smiled, and hugged her.
“Wait!”
They turned and saw Katie running with a bundle. She was panting by the time she reached them.
“I packed food for yer journey.”
Connor was taken aback, but Maddie was smiling. She looked up at her brother who hadn’t so much as breathed since Katie had reached them. When they’d been sitting at the table talking earlier, Maddie had noticed her brother’s eyes resting often on Katie. She’d notice Katie’s furtive glances at her brother, too, along with a subtle blush.
“Thank ye, young Katie,” Maddie’s father said.
“Aye, thank ye,” James added.
Katie smiled hesitantly and met James’ eyes. She nodded slightly and walked towards the castle again.
Maddie watched her brother watching Katie. When she disappeared, she smiled. James was still staring at the closed door.
“You’re going to have to be careful and slow with her, James, but I think you’d make a good match.”
Her brother’s eyes flew to her face in wide surprise.
Maddie laughed. “You’ve been staring at her since you arrived here.” She hugged her father and James again, and walked towards the castle. Connor remained with Menzies and James.
“I’m announcing my intent to call upon her, Connor.”
Connor’s eyes were wide now. “My sister?”
James nodded. “Aye. Are there any suitors I need to threaten?”
Connor grinned and but it slowly melted away.
“I’m nay sure that it’s a good time, James.”
Maddie’s brother studied Connor. “I have much to offer her. I-” James stopped speaking when Connor shook his head.
“It has nothing to do with ye. My sister…” Connor’s voice trailed off, and both Menzies and James waited for him to finish. “She…” Connor found it hard to continue.
“Well, what is it?”
Connor’s eyes met James’.
“She may need time, James. I canna say for certain how long, if ever. I doona know much about these things…”
James’ patience was wearing thin. “Connor, for the love of God, man, out with it.”
Connor steeled himself and met James’ eyes again. “We’ve discussed what happened to her. If ye have strict requirements of a bride, James, Katie willna be suitable for ye.” His nostrils flared as if insulted. “If that is the case, I doona want to know. There is more to a woman than that, and this is my sister we’re speaking of.”
James’ arm sliced through the air. “What the fuck are ye speaking of, man?”
Connor closed his eyes. Menzies’ eyes lit with recollection, remembering what Connor had told them months ago.
“He’s speaking of her rape, James.”
Connor’s eyes opened, and James turned to his father.
“Aye,” Connor said tightly.
James’ breathing became erratic. His fists were rocks next to his side.
“Ye forgot. I see that it bothers ye. As I said-”
“Ye. Know. Nothing,” James said through clenched teeth. “It matters little to me other than serving to enflame the hatred that burns in my blood, screaming for vengeance. Did ye discover which of the bastards did it?” he demanded.
Connor exhaled. “Iain killed him, but I have a feeling the others were involved as well. I had planned to return and rid the land of-”
“Nay,” James growled, cutting him off.
“The right belongs to us, now, too,” Menzies added. His stance was rigid and his eyes had grown cold. “That bastard Wynton lied about Anne, and made my daughter suffer at his hands. I will kill him.”
“And I her brothers, who were no better to her than Wynton. I will kill them for what they did to Katie.”
Connor looked at them for long moments and began nodding slowly. “Alright. I’ll leave them for ye.”
James’ nod was curt. “Afterwards, I will come to call upon Katie.”
Connor’s eyes widened. James smiled.
“Did ye think that would turn me away?” James shook his head. He grew serious again. “I will make them ache a hundred times over for what they made my future wife suffer.”
Connor considered James for a long moment and nodded, appeased.
“Then we shall be seeing more of ye both.”
The men bid their farewells, and Connor stood with Maddie on the top steps. She watched her newly found father and brother leave through the gates.
“Ye need yer rest,” Connor said, as he picked her up in his arms when she began to sag against him. She tried to stifle a yawn, but wasn’t successful. She gave him a wicked grin and he looked at her suspiciously.
“What is my hellfire wife concocting now?” he asked smiling down at her, despite his efforts to feign wariness.
She giggled. “I am not quite so tired as to be able to sleep now, Husband.”
“I see.”
Her smile widened. “I was thinking that perhaps you could make me a bit more tired, hmmm?” she asked and laughed when he began walking faster.
The castle heard the trail of her giggles as Connor fled to their chamber. Once there, he made sweet and slow love to his precious wife.
After they’d loved several times, Connor held her tightly against him. When he heard her laugh unprovoked, Connor looked at her.
“What is it?” he asked, helpless to stop his own lips from mimicking her smiling ones.
“I have everything I’ve ever wanted.”
“Oh?” he asked curiously.
“Yes, and who’d have thought I would have gotten it all because of vengeful and covetous, but handsome, lairds.”
“Lairds?” he asked.
“You and my father.”
“Hmmm,” he said, now biting her neck. She laughed.
“Both of you kidnapped women with the intent of ransoming them, but fell in love during the schemes. Because of this, I have a real family. I have you, your wonderful family, and now my father and James. Though I know I would have loved my mother and am sad that I never knew her, Miriam is a wonderful mother to me. She understands my feelings since she lost her mother as I did.” She paused and sighed when he bit her chin. She placed her hands on either side of his face and smiled into his beautiful eyes. “And I have you and our bairn,” she said, placing both their hands on her stomach. The baby kicked then and they shared an intimate smile. Connor leaned down and kissed her belly.
“I love ye, Maddie. I am the fortunate one. Without ye, I would have never experienced love. I would have continued through life bitter and short-tempered, never stopping to notice the sun’s warmth or the color of flowers in the spring. And with the addition of our bairn, we’ll have an amazing life.”
“Our bairns. We’ll have more than just this child.”
He shook his head. “I am grateful for this child, Maddie, but my life, my verra breath, was over when I thought ye had died. I am nothing without ye. Though I love children and will adore and love our bairn, I canna risk yer life again.”
She smiled at him and said, “Women have babes all the time, several in fact, and do quite well during their labors. They move on to lead good long lives.”
Connor grunted dismissively and Maddie grinned. She kissed him impulsively. She would work on him in the years to come. They would be having more bairns, he just didn’t know it yet.
“You’ve saved me, Connor.” She laughed when he made a face. “Yes, I know. I thought I was damned because my birth had caused my mother’s death. I thought that to be saved, I would need to work myself hard.”
He kissed her lingeringly and sweetly on the lips.
“Now I’ve been saved and it is all because of you,” she said, running her hand down his head. “I love you, Connor. Ye are my savior,” she whispered with such earnest, her voice shook.
“As ye are my savior, Maddie. I love ye.”
And he proceeded to show her just how much he did.