August arrived and brought more sunshine and heat than Muriel could ever remember in her lifetime. It also brought with it new hope for the future. For days, Muriel thought about what Ailrig had told her that day on the banks of the stream. All that matters to a child is that they are loved.

The more time she spent with Rodrick the more she began to believe he would make a good husband and an even better father. If he was willing to look beyond how the babe was conceived, then mayhap she could as well.

’Twas just after the noonin’ meal when Rodrick sought her out at the outdoor kitchen. She had just finished washing a pile of pots and pans left over from preparing the noon meal. Her hair was damp from sweating and her dress spotted with water. He didn’t seem to mind. “Fancy a walk, lass?” he said as he stood across the table.

With naught better to do, now that her chores were done, she agreed. Wiping her hands off on a drying cloth, she asked Rose for permission. “Go on with ye,” Rose said with a smile. “But be back in time to help with the evenin’ meal.”

Muriel took note of the stern expressions on several of the other women’s faces. Thus far, none had been cruel or mean to her. No one taunted her for being an unwed woman with child. Though they weren’t treating her poorly, neither were they being as warm and kind as Aggie and Rose. She could only hope that someday they might put aside whatever ill feelings they had for her.

Muriel thanked her and left with Rodrick.

They took their usual route, leaving through the big gate, and walked around the outer wall. “How was trainin’ today?” Muriel asked.

“’Twas good,” he replied. “The men, I think, are finally understandin’ which end of their swords they should use. ’Tis a small victory, but one I will gladly take.”

Muriel knew he’d been having an awful time with the men he had been training. There were days he swore ’twas like trying to teach a week-old babe how to use a spoon. “I am glad to hear things are goin’ so well,” she told him.

Rodrick grunted. “I said they had improved. I didn’t say things were goin’ well,” he told her as they continued to walk around the outer wall. Soon, she heard the sound of the men working on the keep. “Why do ye no’ help with the buildin’ of the keep?” she asked him.

“I be in charge of trainin’ the men,” he replied. “As well as in charge of men who guard our borders.”

“So ye be Ian’s second in command?” she asked.

His lips turned upward, the smile unmistakable. “Aye, I be his second in command.”

“That be a verra important thing, aye?” she asked.

“Aye, lass, it is.”

She felt proud of and for him. To be the second in command was almost as important as being the chief. Muriel knew Rodrick took his duties very seriously and was glad for it. If he took being a husband and father as seriously as his other duties, then he would indeed make a fine husband and father.

* * *

Later in the afternoon, Muriel finally met the healer and midwife of the clan. Angrabraid had to be the oldest person Muriel had ever met. With wrinkled skin, gnarled hands, and a hunch in her back, she looked ancient.

“Ye be with child,” Angrabraid said as she stood in the doorway to Muriel’s home.

“Aye,” Muriel replied, unable to take her eyes off the auld woman.

“I be Angrabraid,” the woman said. “Yer midwife.”

Muriel stammered for a moment. “’Tis good to meet ye.”

“Well, are ye goin’ to make an auld woman stand outside all the day long?”

Muriel gave a shake of her head as she allowed the woman in. How could someone this auld help deliver a babe?

Angrabraid took a quick glance at her surroundings before slowly lowering herself into a chair. “Do no’ be put off by me age,” she told Muriel. “Havin’ a babe is the most natural thing in the world. Ye will do most of the work. I am just there to see ye do it right.”

Muriel suppressed the urge to laugh. “Would ye like a bit of cider?” she asked as she crossed the floor to her small kitchen area.

“Nay,” Angrabraid replied. “I can no’ stay long. I have other women to see this day.”

Muriel put the pitcher of cider back and sat down across from the midwife.

“Do ye ken when ye’re due to have this babe?” Angrabraid asked.

While Muriel had a general idea, she was not exactly certain. “I believe in February,” she replied.

“A winter babe,” Angrabraid said as if she approved of the time of year. “Well, let us see fer certain, aye?”

* * *

Muriel’s suspicions were verified by Angrabraid. She could expect her babe to arrive in mid to late February. Silently, she prayed the babe was a girl child.

After Angrabraid left her, Muriel went to the outdoor kitchens to help begin preparing the evening meal. There were a dozen women all working diligently, slicing vegetables, preparing breads and meats, and the other dishes they would serve later that evening.

She looked for Rose and Aggie, but they were not with the other women. Cautiously, she approached the long table, pulled an apron over her head and asked one of the older women, “What would ye like me to do?”

Muriel could not remember the woman’s name, but thus far, she had been one of the few who hadn’t looked at her with scorn. “Ye can clean these,” she said as she placed a big bowl of carrots on the table. “The water be over there,” she said with a nod over her shoulder.

Muriel smiled and headed toward the buckets of water. There were two younger women standing near the buckets and they looked at her with nothing less than disdain. Her stomach tightened ever so slightly but she pushed the discomfort aside. Just show them ye be a good woman, she told herself. Let them get to know ye better.

A feast was held that evening in honor of Frederick and Aggie Mackintosh, for they would be leaving on the morrow. While Rose tried to keep an air of happiness about her, Muriel suspected she was quite sad. Rose’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Muriel and Rodrick ate at one of the crowded low tables with a group of warriors. They were not at all a talkative group of men. Mayhap ’twas because she was the only woman at the table and they were silent out of respect. But the rest of the gathering room was filled with lively, talkative sorts. Many people walked by the high table to tell them they would miss Frederick and Aggie.

As soon as Rodrick noticed Muriel was done eating, he rose from the table. “Fancy a walk, lass?”

She could not help but smile at his invitation, even though ’twas the same invitation he had been giving her for weeks. “I would like that,” she replied warmly.

Someone at the table grunted, whilst another snorted. There was no mistaking the thinly veiled hostility coming from the men. Muriel felt her face grow hot with embarrassment. Rodrick gave each man a look of warning that turned them mute.

They hadn’t taken but a few steps from the table when the formerly mute men began to talk in hushed whispers. Muriel felt Rodrick grow tense as she watched his smile turn to a scowl. His reaction was brief, however, and soon he was leading her through the doors and into the cool night air.

Muriel waited until they were a good distance from the keep before she made mention of what had just taken place. “Your men,” she began, choosing her words carefully. “They do no’ like me much, do they?”

Rodrick continued to scowl. “Ignore them lass. They be naught but fools.”

“Will they ever accept me as one of their own?” she asked.

“It matters no’,” he replied. “I accept ye, as does Rose.”

But it did matter. She did not want to live the rest of her life as an outcast. “Mayhap, if they knew the truth, that I be no’ unmarried and with child by me own choosin’, they might think differently of me.” The last thing she wanted was to have everyone in the keep know that she had been raped. ’Twas not a discussion she wanted to have with anyone, let alone complete strangers. She was filled with too much shame to do that.

“They will eventually come around, lass,” Rodrick told her as they walked through the wide gates. Mayhap ‘twas cowardice that kept him from telling her the truth about her brother. Believing it best for now to have her believe the clan’s reaction to her was due to her unwed state, he remained mute. Later, after the babe was born, he would tell her the truth.

Muriel knew he was only trying to make her feel better, but it didn’t work. While she appreciated the fact that Rodrick, Rose, and Aggie had accepted her, it somehow didn’t seem to be enough. She wasn’t naive enough to believe the entire clan would want to be her friend, but she needed more than just a handful of people willing to claim such.

For the rest of their walk, Muriel and Rodrick were quiet as each were lost in their own thoughts. After only one trip around the outer walls, Muriel wanted nothing more than to go back to her hut and sleep. ‘Twasn’t just that she was tired, her heart also felt heavy. She could sense that something weighed on Rodrick’s mind, but he was unwilling to share it. “I fear I be verra tired,” she told him as they neared the gate.

Rodrick said nothing as he gently guided her through. As they went, Muriel saw three men standing together, passing a flagon of something.

“I do no’ care what ye say,” one of the men was speaking rather loudly. “Her brother was a traitor.”

Muriel felt Rodrick grow tense once again as his back straightened and his face grew dark.

“But that does no’ mean she be a traitor,” another man said as he took the flagon and drank from it.

“I say we give the lass a chance.”

Muriel came to an abrupt stop and listened. In her heart, she knew they were talking about her.

“Come, Muriel,” Rodrick whispered as he tried to pull her along.

“Charles McFarland was a traitorous bastard,” the third man said. “I will wager ye, his sister be one as well.”

Stunned, Muriel looked into Rodrick’s eyes. “They lie,” she managed to murmur.

From the pained expression in Rodrick’s eyes, she knew the truth at once.

* * *

Rodrick felt as though he had been kicked in the gut. “Muriel,” he stammered. “Let me explain.”

Her eyes were filled with horror as she took a step back. “Nay,” she exclaimed. “They lie!”

He took her by her elbow and began to lead her toward her hut. “I will explain it to ye,” he told her. “But let us go to yer hut first.”

She yanked her arm from his grasp. “Tell me now,” she said angrily. Standing her ground, she crossed her arms over her chest and waited.

Rodrick raked a hand through his hair as he tried staring her down. “’Tis a conversation best had alone.”

“Why do those men think me brother a traitor?” she demanded.

Rodrick thought back to Ian’s words of warning. Ye best tell her before someone else does. Oh, how he regretted his decision now, to keep the painful truth from Muriel. “Yer brother was a traitor,” he was trying to be calm and rational, but ’twas not easy, considering the look of murderous rage she was giving him.

“Ye lie!” she cried. “How could ye rescue me if me brother was a traitor?” she asked. “Why did ye no’ just leave me to rot?”

He wasn’t about to tell her about the haunting dreams he had suffered from weeks ago. Dreams that disappeared the same day he rescued her from Skye. “Because ’twas the right thing to do,” he told her.

“The right—” she paused and shook her head. “I do no’ believe ye. No’ any of ye!” She spun around and ran toward her hut. Rodrick was right behind her.

* * *

Muriel ran as fast as her legs would take her, but Rodrick was faster. Before she could slam the door in his face, he was rushing over the threshold. “Ye must calm yerself down and listen!” he shouted.

Muriel scurried away and stood with her back pressed against the wall. “I will no’ calm down!” she yelled back.

“Aye, ye will,” he told her as he stood just inches away. “Charles did betray this clan. Every last member.”

Before she could scratch out his eyes, he grabbed her wrists and held them tightly. “But he did it fer ye!”

Stunned, she looked up at him, awash in confusion and hurt. “What?”

Rodrick took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Instead of comin’ to me, his friend, he sided with the Bowie chief. He did it fer ye, to try and earn enough coin to get ye released from Kathryn McCabe-MacDonald.”

Her brow furrowed into a knot of confusion. “I do no’ understand.”

“’Twas all a plot to take over the Mackintosh and McLaren clan. It was a plan a long while in the makin’.”

Muriel shook her head in disbelief. “Why would Charles do such a thing?” she asked, unable to find a clear answer.

Rodrick didn’t understand it either. “He did what he thought was best in order to get ye back.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked at him for any signs at all that he was not speaking the truth. But there were none.

How could Charles have done such a thing? “Why did ye no’ tell me this sooner?” she asked.

He expelled a quick breath of frustration. “I did no’ want to cause ye any more pain.”

How could she find fault in that? From the first time she had met him, he had done nothing but try to protect her, to keep her safe. But this? This secret? “Ye should have told me,” she said. “Now I understand the people here do no’ care that I be unwed and with child. They are upset because they think me brother a traitor.”

“I be sorry, Muriel. I should have told ye sooner.”

She studied him closely for a long moment. “I do no’ fault ye fer yer decision,” she told him truthfully. “I be tired now. I think ye should leave.”

Although she was not angry with him, she was angry at this new turn of events. Thankfully, he did not argue with her. He bid her good night before quitting the hut.

* * *

Muriel did not sleep well at all that night. Her mind was kept far too busy with the disturbing news about her brother. Charles had betrayed this clan. He had done it for her.

Angrily, she tossed and turned most of the night. How could he have done such a thing? Why did he not go to Rodrick, who was supposedly his friend, and ask for his help? She supposed she would never have the answer to that burning question. She could live to be one hundred years old and never have an answer.

But what of Rodrick and her plans to marry him?

Everything the man did was motivated by his strong sense of honor. Of doing the right thing or protecting those in need.

Aye, those were fine qualities. What woman wouldn’t want a man such as he?

But what of the rest of the clan? Would they ever be able to trust her? Would they ever be able to look at her without thinking of Charles? Could she live the rest of her life amongst the people her brother had betrayed?

It didn’t matter to them why he had betrayed them. The fact still was and would always remain the same: he had done the one unforgivable thing.

And what of this child growing in her belly? What kind of life would she have, labeled the niece of a traitor? This babe’s future was already bleak at best. Add Charles’s actions to the mix and Muriel could see no hope at all for her future.

Before dawn, Muriel came to a decision. A decision that would most certainly hurt Rodrick. But for the first time in weeks, she finally made a decision for her child.

She needed to leave this clan.