“They say they are from yer old home, sir. An old lady and two women who look like the same person, but they doona talk the same. One of them talks verra strangely.”
Arran clasped the man on the shoulder more in an effort to steady himself than to gain the man’s attention. It couldn’t be true. She was gone, that painful ache in his chest a reminder of her absence every day. “Ye must be mistaken. ’Tis only two women, aye?”
“I’m no mistaken. There are three. The first two insisted I let them in right away, but I told them I wouldna do so until I spoke to ye. The third woman was verra quiet, I noticed her for that reason. See for yerself.”
The man pulled the large doors open, giving Arran no time to prepare himself for what he both hoped and dreaded he would find. He found her eyes right away, the pain, passion, and yearning there, a sure reflection of his own.
He wanted to run to her, to gather her in his arms and tell her he was sorry for sending her away, sorry that he hadn’t denied his brother and married her when he’d had the chance. He almost did just that, but was stopped by a slight hand on his back.
The touch forced his eyes to jerk away from Blaire involuntarily, and he looked to his side to find Edana.
“I dinna know that Donal had two daughters. They look remarkably similar. Are ye no going to show them inside? They’re family, aye?”
“Aye, o’course I am. Would ye go inside and have our table readied for three more? I shall escort them in at once.” Edana nodded and turned from him, and he silently chided himself for briefly forgetting the existence of his new wife.
Bri dismounted her horse quickly and came over to him, throwing her arms around his neck and smacking him lightly on the back of his head.
“It’s good to see you, but you are a damn fool, Arran. How could you go and do such a stupid, stupid thing?” She whispered it in his ear angrily, and he pulled back to explain, but she quieted him by pulling him in close once again “Don’t you dare try to explain it to me right now. We can talk about it after we eat. Go and squeeze Mary, she’s been missing you like crazy. And don’t say a word to Blaire right now. You can’t get her upset before she is forced to sit in front of Edana. You can speak with her later.”
She finally loosened her grip, and Arran stepped away. “I doona understand. How is she here? Why?” Questions coursed through his mind, questions that he knew would have to go unanswered for the moment. “What will we tell Edana? She doesna know about the spell room. No one does.”
Bri smiled at him reassuringly, but it did nothing to soothe his uneasy mind. “Don’t worry, I’ll think of something to tell her over dinner. We need to come up with a story anyway. We will have to tell it a lot. No one has seen the both of us together yet. Now, go to Mary and help her down, see her inside. Blaire and I will find our way shortly.”
Arran nodded and walked toward Mary whom he quickly helped slide off the back of the horse before yanking her up into a large embrace. He spun her around, kissing her soundly on the cheek before rearing back at the smell that rose around them. “Ye smell like an ale house, Mary. Did ye bathe in a basin of whiskey?”
The old woman flailed in his arms, and her face reddened before she responded to him, smacking him hard on the arm. He seemed to be having that effect on the Conall women this evening. Both Mary and Bri had hit him since their arrival.
“What do ye mean by that? Do ye no know me well enough to believe that I would do such a thing? Why, ye are most likely smelling yerself!”
Arran laughed and stepped away from her. “Aye, I’m sure ye are right, Mary. Now let me show ye inside to yer room where ye shall rest as long as ye are here. Ye work enough at home Mary, I want ye to do naught but breathe.”
She laughed, and Arran pulled her in close. Doing his best to avoid Blaire, he looked down while showing Mary inside.
*
A knock on the bedchamber door caused me breath to lodge in me throat, but upon hearing Bri’s voice on the other side, I breathed a deep sigh of relief. I swung the door open to be greeted with the hefty smell of meat and wine as Bri carried me dinner inside.
“Here you go. It was difficult for me to explain why I needed to bring you food when supposedly you were too ill to go to dinner. I’m sure Arran knew I was lying.”
I sat quickly, shoveling the delicious meal into my mouth as it eased my grumbling stomach. “I shouldna have come here. It was wrong of me to do so. Did ye no see the way Edana looked at him when she came outside?”
Bri crossed her arms as she stared down at me. “ No. I didn’t. I was too busy looking at how Arran couldn’t take his eyes off you.”