Page 28 of Wild Highland Rose
Marjory put her sewing down and rose slowly, trying to steady herself on shaking legs. "Well, I suppose I'd best get it over with then."
Fingal moved forward, taking her arm, giving her needed support. "Have ye seen Ewen about?"
"Nay, I've no' seen him all morning." And not because she hadn't tried. She'd looked for him everywhere, but to no avail. She prayed that he hadn't picked today to go wandering in the woods. All she needed was to have to inform Torcall Cameron that his addled son had disappeared.
Fingal interrupted her thoughts. "Marjory, we've got to send someone to find him. If we canna produce him?—"
"I know. But, unfortunately, producing him may have exactly the same effect. There's no telling how Torcall will react once he learns his son's mind is no' what it once was."
"There's nothing wrong with the lad's thinking, Marjory. 'Tis only that his memories are gone."
Marjory felt her eyebrows raise in surprise. Fingal's hatred for the Camerons was only surpassed by her own. "You almost sound as if you're defending the man."
Fingal looked uncomfortable. "I'll no' pretend I understand him, but I dinna think in his present state he would purposely put us in a dangerous position."
"That's no' enough and well you know it." It wasn't Ewen she was afraid of. "When Torcall finds out that his boy isna quit right, he'll no' take it peacefully. And if Allen goes on about how the accident was no' as it seemed, I guarantee Torcall will act."
"Then we'll just have to convince him otherwise."
"And how, pray, do you imagine we'll do that?"
"I've no notion." Fingal shrugged. "But two days ago I'd have never thought that Ewen would protect you from his brother. Strange things are afoot, Marjory, and mayhap the tide is finally turning in our favor."
"You're placing a lot of faith in Ewen's change."
"Aye, that I am. But I trust my instincts, and right now for whatever reason, Ewen appears to be willing to play his part in helping to keep the peace. And if that's so then all he has to do is convince his father he's well. That done, perhaps the old man will head back to Tyndrum and leave us in peace."
"A noble thought. But not one I'd want to stake my life on. Besides you're forgetting one important fact."
Fingal lifted bushy eyebrows in question.
"Ewen may yet get his memories back. And seeing Torcall might just be the key."
"Tellme everything you know about Ewen's family." Cameron stood at the edge of the lake, idly skipping stones across its glassy surface. He had already safely positioned Grania on a nearby log.
"There's no' much to tell, really." She paused. "The truth is I dinna know much about the Camerons, save that they're enemies of the Macphersons. It began long before I came to Crannag Mhór."
Cameron stopped in mid-throw. "I thought you were born in this valley?"
"I was," Grania said, "but my home was always on the far side of the loch. So I dinna interact much in the affairs of those that lived in the tower."
"Until, they took you in." Cameron swung around to look at Grania sitting calmly on her perch.
"Aye, when my husband died."
"So, what do you know about the Camerons?"
"Well, I do know that Torcall was imprisoned for a number of years. At Cluny, another Macpherson stronghold."
"I know that already. Marjory told me."
"She did?" Grania's voice rose slightly.
Cameron fought the urge to explain further. Marjory had spoken to him in confidence, the least he could do was honor her trust in him, fleeting though it may have been. "Yes, she did, but she didn't know why. Allen said something about his mother being killed. Is that it?"
"Could be. 'Tis an awful tale. The story goes that he was out riding with his wife Cait, yer mother, and they came across a party of reivers. Macphersons they were. Anyway, they tried tooutrun the invaders, but couldna, and in the process Torcall was captured."
"What happened to Cait? Was she captured, too?"
