Page 74 of The Wrong Bride
When he came downstairs for supper, the great hall was more crowded than normal, which surprised him. His mother and sister sat at the dais with Dermot and Alasdair, but Riona was still absent. He went to talk to his sister about that, and realized that his mother looked positively ashen.
“Mother, are ye well?” he asked, frowning. “Perhaps ye should retire and a tray could be brought up.”
She shook her head, bloodless lips pressed together. “I will be fine.”
Hugh glanced at Maggie, and though she gave a little shrug, he thought her gaze darted away from his a little faster than necessary.
“I’ve not seen Riona all afternoon.” He looked around. “Come to think of it, I’ve not seen Samuel either.”
It didn’t even occur to him that Riona might have run off. He no longer believed she could do it.
“Samuel accompanied Riona into the village,” Maggie said.
“She went to see Mrs. Ross?” he asked.
“I—I’m not certain.”
Again, she didn’t meet his eyes.
“Maggie, what is going on?”
But then the double doors at the rear of the great hall opened, and Riona and Samuel appeared. They weren’t alone. A young woman clutched Riona’s arm in fright, then lifted her chin as she moved farther into the hall. The woman was familiar, but he’d been gone a long time, and couldn’t quite place her.
His mother gasped and came to her feet as if she’d seen a ghost. But she turned away from the girl to grab Hugh’s arm. “I need to speak. I need to speak to everyone.”
As if people had suspected entertainment, heads turned toward the dais and conversations died to murmurs.
“Mother,” Hugh began.
“Nay, I must speak.”
With those words, her voice rang out, and the murmurs chilled to absolute silence. Riona, the woman, and Samuel froze on the far side of the hall and remained silent. Hugh saw Riona and Maggie exchange a confused glance, leading him to believe that even they didn’t know what his mother was up to.
“I need the people of my clan to hear and believe the truth,” Lady McCallum said in a loud voice.
Hugh tensed, ready to stop her and demand to hear in private what she planned before she said it. But Maggie grabbed his sleeve and shook her head.
“The late chief of the McCallums, my husband, was a cruel man. All of ye knew it, and many of ye suffered. There was little I could do.”
Hugh fisted his hands. People were just starting to forget what had happened, to trust him as theman he’d become. And his mother was bringing it all up again.
“But he’s dead now, and I can tell the truth without fear that the consequences will be visited upon my children. I took them away when they were young, I protected them, but I didn’t protect your children.”
Her voice broke, her head bowed, and Hugh saw a tear slide down Maggie’s cheek.
After a moment, Lady McCallum continued. “My husband liked young women and made . . . advances. It was an ugly, cruel thing. I didn’t know that he’d taken a fancy to Agnes McCallum until it was too late, and the girl was . . . with child.”
Hugh felt the same shock that was mirrored in the faces of his clansmen. Why had his mother, who’d kept this ugly secret all these years, decided to speak up? And then he noticed again the woman Riona had brought, and realized why he knew her—her sister had killed herself several years ago, a rare tragedy. Just seeing her had made his mother speak the truth, publicly, for the first time. Had the dead woman been his father’s victim as well? Had Riona discovered this and brought the sister here just to see what his mother would do?
And then Hugh saw Brendan standing at the back of the hall, eyes wide, mouth grim. Hugh didn’t know whether he should interrupt and protect the boy from whatever Lady McCallum would reveal, or let him hear the truth at last.
“I was at that man’s mercy,” his mother said in a quiet voice that everyone strained to hear. “I was able to escape, to get my children away, but not far enough. I could never speak out for fear of what he might do to me or the children, but now—he’s dead. My words are too little, too late, I know, but I needed the truth to be known. My husband fathered a bastard, young Brendan, and I hope ye’ll be kind to him, for it’s not his fault—nor is it the fault of my son, who begged to help Agnes by marrying her, but was forbidden.”
Lady McCallum sank back into her chair as if her legs would no longer support her. She covered her face with her hands, and Maggie leaned to speak to her. But Hugh could only see Brendan, who now pushed past Riona and ran from the great hall. Everyone was speaking at once—Alasdair was trying to ask him something; Dermot leaned close as if he needed to be a part of it.
Hugh put up both hands. “I can’t discuss this now. Brendan heard it all.”
He left the dais and pushed through the crowd. People tried to talk to him, but he politely put them off. He reached Riona at the great double doors, where twilight had descended over the mountains like a purple curtain.
