Gillian hated seeing Ailsa so distraught. She couldn’t possibly have fallen in love with the man who kidnapped her. This was just Ailsa being Ailsa. Gillian just needed to help her calm down and see reason. “Ailsa, sweetling, let’s go inside. Fallon will come with us. Ye can tell us everything. Then I’ll have a bath brought up and after that ye can have a wee rest.”

With an arm still around her, Gillian guided her towards the keep. Fallon too put an arm around her as Ailsa continued to sob.

Once inside the keep, Gillian’s two oldest children, five-year-old Ian and three-year-old Adaira, along with Fallon’s two oldest, her five-year-old twins, Suisan and Cecilia, came running towards them.

A chorus of “Aunt Ailsa’s home!” was followed immediately with a barrage of questions from all of them.

“We missed ye.”

“What’s the matter?”

“What’s wrong with Aunt Ailsa?”

“Why is she crying, mama?”

“Aunt Ailsa, why are ye crying?”

“When did ye get home?”

“Mama, is Da home too?”

“Who was the man Sir Eadoin just took to the cellars?”

Fallon took control. “Wheesht, all of ye. That’s enough. Aunt Ailsa will be fine. She’s very tired and we’re taking her upstairs. She doesn’t need ye lot hammering her with questions.” Fallon called to one of the serving women, “Annie, I’m sure Peg has her hands full with the little ones at the moment. Would ye mind these four for us until we’ve seen to Ailsa?”

“Aye, Fallon, of course I will. Come to the kitchen with me, my wee darlings. Jean is baking today. She’ll give ye all a bit of dough to play with and if ye all behave like wee lairds and ladies instead of the rascals I know ye are, maybe she’ll treat ye to a sweetie.”

The three girls were instantly at her side ready to go to the kitchens, but Ian tugged on Gillian’s sleeve. “Is Da home, Mama? Can I go find him?”

“Yer da is home,” answered Gillian, “but things are in a bit of an uproar. Go with Annie now and ye can see Da soon.”

“All right, Mama.” He hung his head and followed Annie and the lassies as if he were facing a punishment instead of being taken to the kitchens for a treat.

Gillian smiled, shook her head and continued to lead a tearful Ailsa upstairs. Fallon asked another maid to ensure that both a tray of food and a bath was brought up to Ailsa’s bedchamber, before following them.

Ailsa had begun to calm a bit once they reached her chamber.

“There now,” said Gillian, “sit here on yer bed and settle yerself, then ye can tell me about everything.

“Gillie, ye have to listen to me. Please don’t let Fingal leave Lucas in the dungeon.”

Gillian sat beside Ailsa on the bed and taking her by the hands. “Nay, Ailsa. Listen to me. Lucas Grant is a braw Highland warrior. A few days in the dungeon will not cause him to crumble any more than it would Fingal or Quinn. He will be given food, water, and I’ll even make certain he has some extra blankets. Right now, the best thing ye can do for him is gain control of yerself and explain what has happened.”

Fallon sat on Ailsa’s other side and put an arm around her. “Aye, sweetling. We’ll listen to what ye have to say.”

Ailsa nodded. “Aye. I’ll tell ye the whole story…but then ye’ll understand why I love him and why ye can’t keep him in the dungeon.”

Gillian stifled a smile. Ailsa was nothing if not persistent.

There was a knock at the door and a maid entered with a tray of food and a pitcher of water for the wash stand. She was followed by additional servants bearing a tub and buckets of hot water with which to fill it.

Ailsa remained quiet until they had all gone.

Fallon stood, taking her hand and saying, “Come now and have a bath. Ye’ll feel better and then we’ll talk.”

Ailsa agreed. Once she had undressed and climbed into the hot water, she sighed and closed her eyes. “This does feel wonderful.” While she bathed, Ailsa asked about the children and the clan. She also asked how it was that Quinn and Fallon arrived at Brathanead ahead of Fingal and his other men.

When she had finished her bath, was dressed in a fresh léine, and had eaten a little, she put her hands in her lap saying, “Now, will ye hear what I have to say?”

“Aye, pet,” said Gillian.

“Well, I suppose ye know by now that I tricked my guardsman to get away from him.” She put a hand up to stop either Gillian or Fallon from jumping on that statement. “I know. It was beyond stupid and it could have ended so badly.”

From Gillian’s point of view, it seemed to have ended pretty badly as it was.

“I didn’t believe anything could happen to me with so many people around.”

“Ye never think anything bad can happen,” said Fallon quietly.

“I know, and I’m sorry. I had been dancing with a Galbraith guardsman. He gave me a tankard of ale that must have had something in it. I became exceedingly sleepy and the next thing I knew, I was waking up on his lap, on a horse and I wasn’t in Edinburgh anymore.”  

~ * ~

As much as Ailsa had wanted to convince Gillian and Fingal not to imprison Lucas, it became clear that they were not going to listen to her. When she had professed her love for Lucas, she’d seen the look on Gillian’s face. She should have known at that moment any further argument would have been a waste of words and energy. It was going to take more than professions of undying love to get Gillian to change her mind on this.

And it was Gillian’s mind she needed to change first.

Fingal was extremely protective of their family and had been from his first moments at Brathanead. Ailsa shouldn’t have been surprised that he’d reacted as he did to someone who he thought threatened their safety. He protected what he loved.

Well, so did she and she loved Lucas. Childish behavior wasn’t going to convince them that she could make adult decisions.

So she did what Gillian had asked. She made an effort to calm down. The hot bath had helped. Although she had availed herself of the bathing room at Castle Grant when allowed to, she had missed the luxury of soaking in warm water in the privacy of her own bedchamber. By the time she was out of the bath and dressed in her own fresh clothing, she was alone with her sisters, and Duff sat beside her on the bed, she had felt in control and ready to tell her story.

She had started by admitting her own folly. There was no point trying to minimize her role in this.

“They drugged ye?” asked Fallon incredulously. “We couldn’t imagine what had happened. We were all so worried. Fingal and his men combed the castle and then Edinburgh.”

“Aye. I realized they’d drugged me as I was waking up. I don’t know how long I had been asleep but the sun was high in the sky and we had to be well away from Edinburgh. I was groggy and felt terribly sick. It took ages for my head to clear.”

“Did they hurt ye, sweetling?” asked Gillian gently.

“Nay, not really. Just rope burns where they bound me.”

“Did ye not pass other travelers on the road who could see ye were in trouble?” asked Gillian.

“Aye, we did. But each time, the Galbraith warrior who held me, wrapped his plaid around me to cover the fact that my hands were bound and threatened to kill me if I said anything. Now I realize that was probably an empty threat. If he didn’t want other travelers to see my bound hands he certainly wouldn’t want them to witness him murdering me. But as I said, I wasn’t thinking clearly. As it was growing dark, they turned westward, following the river Caron, then stopped for the night and made camp. They tied me to a tree.”

“Oh, Ailsa, how awful,” said Fallon.

“Aye, I was cold and uncomfortable, and after sleeping through the day, I didn’t figure I’d be able to sleep again, but I did. Then I woke suddenly to find a hand over my mouth. It was Lucas. He cut my bonds and escaped with me. He ran through the forest with me on his back, so we could move faster. He saved me.”

“Well, that’s debatable,” said Gillian.

“I’m surprised ye just went willingly with Lucas Grant,” said Fallon.

Ailsa sighed. She knew this next bit was rather damning, but she told them how he had misled her.

“And this is the man ye profess to love?” asked Gillian.

“The fact is, ye know as well as I do, if I had escaped him, I might have found myself in an even worse position. By getting me to go with him willingly he kept me safe. He really is a very good man.”

Fallon jumped on that. “Ailsa, he held ye captive. Good men don’t do that.”

Ailsa remained calm. “No? What do ye suppose would happen if Quinn were out hunting and chanced upon a Grant lass who had somehow wandered into our territory? What would he do? Would he lift her onto his horse and deliver her to Castle Grant?”

Gillian shook her head. “That’s not the same thing.”

“I didn’t say it was. I asked what ye think he would do—except I already know the answer.”

Fallon nodded. “Well then, ye’re right. He wouldn’t take her to Castle Grant. He’d bring her here and Fingal would decide what to do.”

“Exactly,” said Ailsa. “And Fingal would see that she was well-cared for, but he’d ransom her.” She looked from one sister to the other and neither could deny it. “Well, Lucas didn’t find me wandering on Grant land. He went out of his way to save me from the Galbraiths. And as far as that goes, he risked his life for me doing it. If they had awakened before he had freed me, they would have killed him. Ye know they would have.”

“But he lied to ye, to get ye to go with him to Castle Grant,” said Fallon.

“He didn’t exactly lie. I’ll admit he misled me, but he had good reasons. Tell me this, if Quinn had found that Grant lass in our territory and taken her prisoner, how would he have done it? How would he have gotten her to Brathanead?”

“He wouldn’t have lied,” said Fallon, firmly.

“Nay, he probably wouldn’t have. However, if she didn’t go with him quietly, he would have had to bind her, but it would have only been for a few hours at most. Ye know I wouldn’t have gone quietly and that was probably instantly clear to Lucas.”

Her sisters both chuckled at that, and she grinned. “So, ye see, he’d have had to keep me bound for days. Would that have been better than tricking me?”

“Nay,” said Gillian a bit grudgingly. “Ye’re right, that would have been terrible for ye.”

“And he did keep me safe on the journey.” She told them about how he had gone without food for her, and how he’d cared for her after her accident. “Even at Castle Grant he made sure I was well treated. I was allowed out of my chamber during the day as long as he was guarding me.”

Gillian seized on that “But the point is, he was guarding ye because ye were a captive being held for ransom, not because he loved ye.”

“Nay, ye’re wrong Gillian. It might have started that way, but love changes things. So much so that in the end, he defied his brother, spirited me out of Castle Grant last night and brought me home because he loves me. And I love him.”

“Ailsa, I’m sorry but ye fall in love—”

“—more often that we change the rushes,” Ailsa finished her sentence. “But this is different Gillian.”

“Ye say that every time.”

“I know, but this really is different. I swear to ye it is.”

“Nay, sweetling. I’m sure ye think ye love him. Ye think he rescued ye and he took care of ye, but he had a selfish reason for doing that.”

“Gillian, I know ye believe that, and I understand why ye do, but please don’t judge what I’m telling ye now, with what ye believe to be true from the past. I’ll admit, until I met Lucas Grant, I never really understood what it meant to truly love someone. But I do understand now, I do love him and he loves me too. Ye once told me that love exists as much in the ordinary as the extraordinary and that ye can feel the strongest love in the littlest of gestures. Ye said it was built on things like friendship, respect, selflessness, and devotion, but that until I actually felt it, I’d never fully comprehend it.” She looked intently at her sister. “I do now. He knew he’d be taken prisoner once we arrived. I begged him to leave me outside the village and go back to Castle Grant until I could talk to ye and Fingal, but he refused. I even suggested that we handfast and runaway somewhere.”

“Oh, Ailsa, ye didn’t,” said Fallon.

“I did. But he knows how much I love ye both and how it would kill me to leave ye. He wanted to do this the right way, by seeking Fingal’s permission. That seems like selflessness, respect and devotion to me.”

Gillian nodded. “You make a fair point.”

“So ye’ll convince Fingal to let us marry?”

“I will think about everything ye’ve told me and discuss it with Fingal.”

Ailsa nodded. She wasn’t going to get more than that right now and it was enough to start with. “Thank ye, Gillian.”

“Ye’re welcome. Now, Sweetling, ye’re tired and ye’ve been through an awful ordeal. I want ye to rest for a while.”

Ailsa was exhausted but she couldn’t rest knowing Lucas was locked in a cell. “I will rest, but I want ye to do something for me.”

“What is it?”

“I hate the idea of Lucas being alone in the dungeon after he did so much to keep me comfortable and relatively happy at Castle Grant. Would ye at least let Duff stay with him? He likes dogs as much as I do and that way he won’t be alone.”

“My sweet sister, ye are so soft-hearted.” Gillian glanced at Duff. “But it’s unlikely he’ll leave yer side.”

“If he won’t go, I won’t force him. But I think he will. I think he knows Lucas is important to me. If I can’t do what Lucas did for me and secure his freedom, it will make me feel a little better to know he isn’t alone.”