Page 56 of A Two-Faced Laird
“I wish we had,” his mother replied with a sigh. “But your father forbade it, and came up with that stupid scheme of you swapping identities. He said it would bring shame on the family if they knew Lewis had died of drink.”
Aidan nodded slowly.
“The only thing I regret is that I could not be with him at the end,” he said, sighing. “It is the only thing I find hard to forgive.”
“I am so sorry.” Eleanor’s voice was infinitely sad.
“What’s done is done, Mother.” Aidan said gently, then kissed her forehead.
Then Eleanor said something he had not expected.
“You are not marrying Fenella,” she declared firmly. “Fenella can marry your cousin Donald, and that will secure an alliance just fine. I will distract your father for a few hours until you escape.”
“Mother,” Aidan shook his head in disbelief. “You are a wonder. I have never seen this side of you before!”
Eleanor grinned. “I think you will see this side of any mother when she is fighting for her children,” she told him. “Aidan, I would kill for you. I would die for you, and so would any mother, and you will feel the same when you are a father.”
Aidan swallowed the lump in his throat and hugged Lady Findlay tightly. He could not speak for fear of bursting into tears, but in a few moments the urge went away, and he looked into her face.
“What did I do to deserve such a wonderful mother?” he whispered.
“What did I do to deserve such a wonderful son? You stepped forward when the clan needed you as an heir. You gave up your name to become someone we thought we needed. But we were wrong, my boy,” she countered, then became brisk.
“Now, we have to get you out of here. Let me think.”
She looked around the door and said something to one of the guards, then looked at Aidan, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
“Do you know the way to the healer’s room?” she asked.
“Yes. Why?” Aidan was mystified.
“Because in a moment I will have to go there,” his mother answered. “And from there you can go to the back of the stables.”
A moment later, a tray arrived with a carafe of whisky, two glasses, and a tray of oatcakes on it.
“Mother!” Aidan exclaimed. “You know I don’t drink whisky!”
“I know, but they don’t.”
She nodded towards the door where the guards were.
“Put the oatcakes in your pocket for later. You will need them, and now, get ready to carry me.”
She poured out two large glasses of whisky, then took a hefty slug of one of them. It was fiery stuff, and Eleanor immediately began to cough. Aidan swept her off her feet and shouted to the guards.
“Help! My mother is choking!”
The door swung open immediately and Aidan dashed downstairs with his mother, still coughing, to the empty healer’s room, where she made a miraculous recovery. He set her down and she kissed him.
“I have packed a wee bag for you and left it at the back of the stable,” Lady Eleanor said. “It has some of your clothes and money in it. I somehow knew as soon as I saw you that you were going to escape today. Go with my blessing and my love, Son. Lewis’s grave is in a little garden I had specially built by the loch. It has a high wall and a stout gate on it which is marked with my name. You will find the key under a big stone. Go and see him, give my love to Edina when you are settled, and send word to me.”
She was smiling at her son through shimmering tears, hoping no harm would come to her only surviving son.
“Thank you, Mother,” he whispered, “I will. I love you.”
Then, with one last hug, he crept into the back of the stables, which could not be seen from the courtyard, saddled his horse and galloped out before anyone could stop him.
He had only a few spare clothes, nothing to drink, whatever money was in the bag to spend, and half-a-dozen oatcakes to eat, but he cared nothing about any of that. He was going to see his brother, then the woman he loved.
