Page 42 of A Two-Faced Laird
“This is madness!” he cried, wading towards the shore again.
“Coward!” Aidan and Edina shouted in unison.
Lewis turned to them furiously. “You can stay in there and die of cold,” he said as he walked out of the water. “I would like to live a bit longer.”
He dried himself off and changed into his now dirty but dry clothes.
Aidan turned to Edina, shaking with cold. “Go on, then,” he said. His lips were turning blue, his teeth were chattering, but his eyes were twinkling. “Your turn to get out.”
“I am not getting out till you do,” she said stubbornly.
The cold was burning her, her teeth were rattling, and she was quaking uncontrollably, but she would not give up. She would not go first.
Aidan tried to hold out a bit longer, but could only last another two minutes, for which Edina was extremely grateful, since she was not sure how much longer she could have stayed in the icy water. Winning a dare was one thing, dying because of it was quite another! She followed him quickly, and after shouting a few jibes about how weak boys were, she ran up the hill to the castle.
There they were roundly scolded by their parents and each of them was sent for a hot bath. They appeared for dinner looking quite unrepentant, even though they were made to apologise and promise never to do such a thing again.
Of course, they all swore they would never be so naughty again—until the next time.
Edina’s backside was sore from sitting on the hard floor, but she was determined to wait for as long as was necessary before she gave up. Her tummy was beginning to rumble, but fortunately, she had been gifted with a superlative amount of willpower. Half an hour later, however, she was beginning to feel weak, and decided to rap on the door one last time before admitting defeat. She had distracted herself with funny memories from her childhood for most of the time, but reality was marching back.
“Aidan!” she yelled. “Aidan! Come out of there. Please. I am so sorry. We both loved him. Please come out and let us comfort each other.”
However, there was still a deafening silence from inside the room, and Edina decided to give up. She had been beaten, at least for the time being.
Just then, she heard heavy footsteps coming along the passage, and she turned around to see Laird Findlay marching towards her, looking furious.
“What are you doing here?” he asked rudely.
His anger fired Edina’s own.
“Am I not allowed to be here, M’Laird?” she asked him frostily, glaring at him.
The Laird glared at her but said nothing. Instead, he turned his attention to the door, rattling the handle as Edina had done, but it stayed firmly shut.
“He has wedged something under the handle, I think,” she said, trying to be helpful.
The Laird turned to give her a venomous look.
“Did I ask you to speak?” he barked. “Go back to your orphans and mind your own business!”
Edina was fuming. If he had been anyone else, she would have fired back at him and given him a piece of her mind, but she could not disrespect the Laird. She and her parents needed a roof over their heads, after all. Besides, he was usually a very pleasant person, and this was extremely odd behaviour on his part. She hurried away, leaving Aidan to his fate.
As soon asEdina passed out of sight, the Laird clenched his hand into a fist and smashed it into the door so hard that it shuddered on its hinges.
“Get out here, or I will break the door down!” he yelled furiously.
“Why do you not just use the keys like everyone else?” came Aidan’s sarcastic voice from inside the room. “Or perhaps you should try saying ‘please,’ Father. You will be amazed at how many doors that little word opens.”
“Do not speak to me like that,” the Laird roared.
“Then I will not speak to you at all, Father,” his son’s voice retorted.
There was silence. Inside the room, Aidan had been processing what Edina had told him. His brother? Dead? He could hardly believe it, yet now it all made sense. He had not actually seen him since he left for the sanatorium. Apparently there was an unusually strong tide that night, and he had to leave quickly to catch his boat for whichever destination the Laird was sending his eldest son to. That was the last time Aidan had seen his brother.
His heart was broken. Lewis had been his friend, his confidant, his playmate—his everything. He had also been the obedient one who followed his father’s orders and respected his decisions, whereas Aidan was the wayward one who questioned everything.
Aidan’s grief now turned to anger. How could his parents have let him labour under this misapprehension for all this time? Why had they not told him? He could hardly believe they had been so cruel.
