Page 62 of The Runaway Bride and the Highlander
Bram was calling her name, but he sounded so very far away. The trees and fields and men all started to spin, and as her knees gave way beneath her, Skylar fell into blackness once more.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-ONE
The room was dull, and lying flat on her back, all Skylar could see was the ceiling. But she knew it was not her bedchamber. She was not lying in a large four-poster bed, and there were no wooden beams above her like her own bedchamber had. Turning to look about her, she realized where they had brought her. She was in Kendrick’s room.
After discovering her whereabouts, the next thing Skylar noticed was Katherine sitting beside her bed on a chair. The poor maid was fast asleep, and Skylar wondered how long she had been there. More to the point, how long had Skylar herself been there?
“Hello,” Kendrick’s voice came from the other side of her.
Skylar turned to look at him. The old man smiled sadly at her. “Katherine hasnae left yer side since they brought ye in here. The poor girl has been run off her feet, what with looking after ye and then the other injured men who returned.”
Only in that second did everything come flooding back to her. “Maxwell?” she cried, remembering how much blood had poured from the wound in his chest.
Kendrick looked at her sadly and shook his head.
Skylar’s face crumpled then, and tears welled in her eyes. “He is dead,” she stated.
Kendrick shook his head again. “Nae, Skylar. He isnae dead. But, I cannae promise that he will be with us for long either. The injury was very bad, and he lost a lot of blood.”
“I want tae see him,” she said, pushing herself up from the bed, only to feel shooting pains throughout her body and a dizziness that made the room spin wildly. “Och, my goodness,” she gasped.
“Now, my dear child,” Kendrick said, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder and laying her back down. “Ye have injuries o’ yer own. Ye took quite a few bad knocks tae the head. Ye have bruising all over yer body, and I’m afraid that eye,” he pointed to her right eye, the eye that had always been colored lighter blue than the other, “is going tae take some time tae heal. “I think, if I am nae mistaken, there is a little bone damage beneath the skin.”
Tentatively, Skylar brought her hand up to her eye and touched the puffy flesh of her face. It was sore to the touch, and at the feel of it, she remembered clearly Johnson’s men punching her violently as she fought not to be taken away.
“It’s badly bruised right now,” he continued, “but that will settle in a few days. Yer other injuries may take a little longer.”
As he had been talking, Skylar could feel the pain of her other injuries. Parts of her back were very sore, as was her head. When she blinked, it stung as the taut skin across the swollen flesh moved.
“Here, let me help ye sit up a little,” Kendrick offered. He gave her his arm to grip onto and then gently pulled her forward, fixing the pillows behind her. Skylar used the small amount of strength she had left to shuffle herself further back into the bed. Once she was a little more upright, Kendrick handed her a cup that had been sat on the table beside her.
She took the cup and looked warily at him over the rim of it.
Raising his two hands in surrender, he smiled. “‘Tis only water, my child.”
When she had quenched her thirst, their quiet conversation continued, for neither of them wanted to disturb Katherine.
“Tell me,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her. “Was the laird getting badly injured what ye saw in yer vision?”
“Aye.” Skylar nodded but quickly stopped when the movement caused her so much pain she winced.
“Easy now,” he said gently.
“Aye,” she said again, now keeping her head firmly still. “It happened exactly how I saw it in the vision. But clearly, nae matter what I did tae try and change it, it happened anyway,” she said bitterly.
“Fascinating,” Kendrick replied. “I couldnae imagine what that must be like. That is certainly some gift ye have, Skylar.”
Skylar looked at the older man as though he had quite lost his mind. How could he say such a thing after what had occurred? Did he not realize the weight this gift lay upon her shoulders?
Perhaps he did not. How could he, for she had never told anyone of the burden she was left to carry after seeing a person’s future? She was certain on this occasion that she could change what was going to happen, and yet, no matter how hard she had tried, it was as though she had no power to stop it.
“It doesnae feel like a gift,” Skylar grumbled. “Sometimes, when the visions are o’ good things, which I can assure ye are few and far between, it does feel like a blessing. But for the most part, I always see the dire things that are going tae occur. And as I have told ye before, they are hardly ever clear enough for me tae help those whose future I have witnessed. Truly,” she said in a more agitated state, “what is the point o’ knowing what is going tae happen, if I cannae do anything tae stop it?”
Kendrick shrugged lightly. “Sometimes, we cannae change what fate has decided is going tae occur.”
“I dinnae believe that,” Skylar said firmly. “I refuse tae believe that our entire lives are already written and that nothing we do can change it.”
She would not believe that, for if that truly was the case, then where was a man or woman’s free will? If every choice had already been written, then surely, it was not a choice at all.
