“I doona care how much ye like the way my bum looks in jeans, I willna wear them again. As soon as I can pry them off me, I shall burn them until every last scrap has disappeared.”
“Don’t you dare! You don’t have to wear them all the time, but for God’s sake, don’t burn them! That’s the only set of modern male clothing we have. What if somebody else ever needs to go forward again?”
“We are all here now, I doona have any plans of going forward ever again.”
“Neither do I, Eoin, but seriously, quit being such a child. You’re not going to burn them. Just take them off. I’m folding them up and storing them with our clothing,” Bri demanded.Me vision no longer blurred, and me headache already receded. I slipped into a dark corner of the room to change without Eoin seeing, and I joined in agreement with Bri. “She is right, Eoin. I doona know why ye would want to burn them. I would love to stay in me jeans forever. I doona wish to go back to wearing me old clothes at all.”
Bri smiled in my direction as she extended a dress for me to slip on in replacement of my modern clothes. “Don’t worry. You can still wear them some. Sometimes I sneak down here just to put them on. If we can ever get Eoin and Arran to leave us alone in the castle, we will put them on and just strut around all day and shock the bejeezus out of every person we see. It will be such great fun!”
I laughed, twisting to the side so that Bri could help me with the laces. “Aye, I look forward to the day. I hope me hair grows fast. Being back here, it suddenly feels too short.”
“Doona worry about that, lass. It is no that short, but as to the clothing, ye both would be fools to do such a thing. If the wrong people were to see ye dressed in such a way, they’d have ye burnt for witchcraft, and they wouldna all together be lying. Now, let’s go and make our return known.” Eoin turned and left, leaving Bri and me alone in the small spell room.
Bri turned to follow her husband, but I reached out and placed a hand on her arm to stop her. “Bri, do ye think Arran will be pleased that I am here? I’m quite nervous to see him.” She reached up and squeezed me hand.
“I really think he will. Don’t be nervous. We will look for Mary and my mother first. I don’t expect Arran will be in the castle anyhow. He spends most of his time either in the stables with Kip or drinking in the village.”
Taking a deep breath, I followed her out of the spell room. Nerves were senseless. I knew they would do nothing to change the outcome of whatever reunion was about to occur.
*
The room grew warm as Eoin, Bri, Adelle, Mary, and meself sat surrounding the work table in Mary’s kitchen. That’s where we’d found Adelle and Mary, and the excitement of their welcome had quickly become a muddled chaos by everyone seeming to speak at once.
Eventually we’d sat together, each person eager to hear a different set of news. I feigned attention for most of the time as I anxiously awaited the answer to one question I was too afraid to ask meself.
When Eoin finally said it out loud, my entire body went numb pricked with a thousand pins, at Mary’s response.
“He isna here, Eoin. All of Kinnaird’s clansmen have left, and his former territory shall now be known as a Conall territory as well. He is laird there now, and he has married Edana.”
“What?” Bri’s voice questioned her, her voice shrill and panicked as she glanced at me uncomfortably.
“Aye. I’m afraid ’tis true. They left here only a few nights ago.” Mary cast her eyes downward.
I could tell that she was not pleased by the news she had to share with us. I was helpless in discerning me own feelings, the excited hope and bright future I’d been imagining suddenly dying like the candle I found meself staring in to. At least he wasn’t here to tell me this himself. The words from his mouth would have felt like rejection all over again. Perhaps now I could simply leave, return home to me father whom I was sure would be more than happy to marry me off to another man of his choosing.
“Why didn’t you stop him?” Bri changed the direction of her words and was now addressing her mother.
“There was nothing we could do, Bri. You made us swear not to tell him where’d you actually gone. We couldn’t give him a good reason not to marry her without telling him what the two of you were up to.”
“I don’t care. That was the one reason good enough to break your promise.” Bri looked as if she was on the brink of tears herself.
Wanting to stop her, I let the one question at the forefront of me own mind slip out. “Does he love her?”
Silence rewarded me question as I watched Adelle and Mary share knowing glances with one another, both unsure of how to give me an answer.
“No.” Bri answered, but both Mary and Adelle nodded in agreement.