Page 91 of The Groom Wore Plaid
Maggie, don’t go.
CHAPTER21
Maggie did not go to her family’s rooms, but grabbed a cloak to disguise herself. Now that word had been given to search for Kathleen, it was easy enough to take the servants’ staircase at the rear of the towerhouse and no one bothered her. Once she was in the courtyard, still awash in the gray shadows of dawn, she went to the barracks, where Gregor was being confined in his own room.
A guard nodded respectfully to her, and she was able to gesture him farther down the hall, so she could speak in private to Gregor. A little slot had been cut into the door, probably for ease of passing in trays of food, and she opened it.
When Gregor saw her, he came nearer at once, then raised both hands when she stiffened.
“I mean ye no harm, mistress, but somethin’ is terribly wrong with Kathleen.”
She almost gaped at him. “What are ye saying?”
Gregor rubbed his hands over his unshaven face. “I don’t know what to do. I know I’ve made no friend of ye, but if I send the guards, somethin’ worse will happen to Kathleen, I know it. She’s the only sister I have left, but she looked . . . wild when she came to me. Go after her, mistress. She said somethin’ crazy, that her task was complete and there would never be peace. I fear she’s goin’ to harm herself.”
“Where did she go?”
“The loch. She talked about water like it would ease her soul. Please, mistress!”
Maggie motioned to the guard to return, then ran back down the stairs and out into the courtyard. She saw that the gates remained open, that everyone still assumed that with Gregor confined, and with the wedding banquet guests going to and fro between the castle and village, there’d been no need to close down the defenses.
Maggie slipped through the gatehouse and across the stone bridge. The sun had yet to rise above the mountains, and tendrils of fog hovered over the moat and curled down the road she followed. It was an ominous sign, she thought, shivering.
She walked as quickly as she could, but it still took what had to be a quarter of an hour before she reached the loch, where the fog seemed to hover over the surface in patches.
In the distance, she saw the boat still moored, and a lone woman setting something inside. Her light reddishblond hair stuck out against the darkness of her gown. Maggie knew she couldn’t get there in time, but began to run anyway.
It was too late; Kathleen pushed away from rocky edge with an oar and began to row. By the time Maggie reached the water, Kathleen’s boat was at least twenty yards from shore, with fog draping around it. If Maggie tried to swim, she’d only sink with all the clothing she was wearing.
“Come back, Kathleen! Gregor is so worried about ye!”
To Maggie’s horror, Kathleen picked up a rock and tucked it down inside her loose bodice, wearing a satisfied and calm smile all the while. Gregor had been right about his sister’s plans. Maggie raced to the other boats, only to find holes bashed in them. Maggie had been in such a rush to confront the woman before she could get away, so worried she’d be stopped, that only Gregor knew her plans. Would he send help—and would it be on time? Once again, she’d acted without enough forethought, just as Owen had accused her.
“Kathleen, talk to me. Tell me what happened and why ye’re so angry with me.”
“I didn’t want to be angry with ye,” Kathleen said, her tone casual and almost chatty, even as she put another rock in her bodice. “Ye were just a victim of this foolish contract between two old men. At first Gregor thought we could make everyone angry with ye. I was willin’ to let him try. I even helped. Remember thatball gown during the welcomin’ banquet? Och, I knew ye’d make a bad impression in such finery.”
Maggie well remembered how she’d felt, looking so fancy when most were hardworking simple clansmen.
“But Himself—he was agog with that gown, and I was angry, even though ye were puttin’ off marriage and my plan was workin’. Ye should have been frightened off by that talisman. But then ye started diggin’ into my brother’s past, hurtin’ him. Ye started to fall in love with his lordship, and I knew ye’d eventually give in and marry him. I couldn’t have that,” she explained, her eyes wide with sincerity. “It took me some time to realize I couldn’t just kill ye—although I did try. I was so angry when ye went to my aunt. And then I realized how much better it would be if I made it look like ye killed his lordship. It would ruin ye and yer clan.”
“But why, Kathleen?” Maggie hoped by keeping her talking, someone would come by soon and be able to help. Yet the boat was drifting farther away every moment, the fog’s eerie tendrils wrapping themselves around Kathleen’s skirt now, moving higher, as if it would soon take her for its own. “Why do ye hate McCallums so much? Ye spent most of your life away from Scotland.”
Kathleen’s eyes suddenly seemed to blaze, and the hatred in her voice sent Maggie back a step. “The McCallums are the reason we lost everythin’! Ye stole my father’s cattle, made him lose our cottage, our land.”
Maggie knew what kind of a man her father hadbeen—if he’d ordered cattle thieving, it would have happened. It also could have been in retaliation for reiving by the Duffs. There was no way to know the truth. But Kathleen wouldn’t care about the truth, not anymore.
“I could have killed ye any time,” Kathleen continued, her voice back into that awful singsong sound, “but I wanted ye to suffer as ye made us suffer. Do ye ken what it’s like to see your brother lose his life’s work? Do ye ken what it’s like to be just a little girl on a big boat to America, with my mother dyin’ beside me? No one found me for hours and I laid there as she got cold, so cold.”
Her voice trailed off, and her eyes had a wild, faraway look. The boat rocked beneath her, and she flung her arms wide to steady herself.
Maggie covered her mouth with one hand, horrified by what Kathleen had suffered. It must have changed her, destroyed her.
“Kathleen, come back,” Maggie beseeched. “Let the Duffs help ye; let your brother help ye.”
“I’m done here. They’ll never trust ye now without me to blame everythin’ on. The Duffs will triumph over the McCallums.”
“Kathleen!”
