Page 51 of Unforgotten
Gavin cast Ella a dark look. “I’m tired of hearing ye say that … I shall decide whether or not a situation is worth risking me and my men over.”
Ella held his gaze, her heart hammering now. She felt sick. Her relief at returning to Kilbride had shattered; nowhere seemed safe anymore. She had been innocent to believe MacKinnon wouldn’t come after her, wouldn’t demand the abbess hand her over.
Of course he would.
I should have killed him.
Ella clenched her hands at her sides. “No,” she growled the word. “I will go.”
“Sister Ella.” Mother Shona stepped forward and reached out, grasping her hands. “If ye leave Kilbride, I don’t mean ye to fend for yerself in the wild. Ye will need protection.” The abbess cast a look at Gavin then, her expression imploring. “Will ye take her in?”
Gavin’s face went taut. “Excuse me?”
Impatience flared in the abbess’s eyes. “Will ye wed her?”
It was Gavin’s turn to look as if he’d been struck across the face. In the meantime, Ella was so shocked that she couldn’t even speak. She merely stared at Mother Shona as if she’d lost her wits.
“I can’t wed anun,” Gavin finally rasped. “It’s forbidden.”
“Ella will no longer be part of this order,” the abbess countered. “I shall cast her out this very morning.”
“For what?” Ella gasped, horrified by the abbess’s brutality. All these years at Kilbride, and she’d thought they’d become close friends. Yet now that her precious abbey was threatened, the abbess wanted Ella gone.
Mother Shona shifted her attention back to Ella. “I will tell the other nuns that ye have broken yer vow of chastity … that ye have fallen in love with MacNichol and gone to live with him as his wife.”
A stunned silence followed these words.
Ella tore her hands from the abbess’s and drew back from her.
She knows.
Ella had been careful, all those years ago, never to utter a word about the man who’d broken her heart, the man who’d driven her to choose a life of seclusion.
But as she stared at Mother Shona, she realized that perhaps having seen Ella and Gavin interact, the abbess had guessed the truth.
“It’s a lie,” Gavin said quietly. “Ella hasn’t broken any vows.”
The abbess ignored him; instead, her attention remained upon Ella. “He doesn’t know, does he?”
Ella’s breathing hitched, and hot panic surged. She felt as if she were balancing upon a knife-edge with an abyss yawning below her. “Ye are not to say a word, Mother Shona,” she said hoarsely. “Ye promised.”
“And I will not,” the abbess replied, her gaze shadowing, “but ye should … it is time, Ella.”
Ella. Not Sister Ella. Already she was out of the fold; already cast out of the order she’d devoted her life to for so many years.
“What are ye speaking of?” Gavin asked, his voice was low, wary.
Ella didn’t look his way; she didn’t dare. Instead, she backed up, never taking her gaze from the abbess. Suddenly, her life was falling to pieces before her eyes. Everything she’d worked so hard to hide was about to be exposed. Her life was about to be shattered to pieces.
She couldn’t bear it.
With a sob, Ella turned and fled the chapter house.
Gavin watched Ella leave. But instead of following her, he turned to Mother Shona.
Their conversation had both alarmed and confused him. He felt as if he was lagging behind, grasping at snippets of details that meant nothing to him.
He needed some answers.
