Page 7 of Unforgotten
“Aye,” Gavin rumbled. “Thank ye, Mother Shona. Sister Ella has agreed to travel north with me. We will not keep her long. I will return her to ye within two weeks at the latest.”
Mother Shona favored him with a smile, although her gaze was guarded. “I appreciate that.” The abbess’s gaze shifted to Ella then, and her smile faded. “I’m sorry to hear about yer mother. She will be in our prayers while ye are away.”
“Thank ye, Mother Shona,” Ella replied, lowering her gaze so the abbess wouldn’t see the irritation in her eyes. “Ye are most kind to allow me to go to her.”
The abbess nodded before shifting her attention back to Gavin. “It’s too late in the day for ye to start yer return journey,” she said, her tone turning brisk once more. “Ye are welcome to stay within the walls of the abbey tonight. I will have the guest house prepared for ye, and we would be delighted if ye would join us for supper this eve.”
Gavin MacNichol smiled back at the abbess, his eyes crinkling at the corners. It was the first unfiltered smile Ella had seen him give since being reunited with him, and despite that she fought the sensation, warmth suffused her. “It would be my pleasure, Mother Shona,” he replied.
3
Revelations at Supper
ELLA STEPPED INTO her cell, closing the door firmly behind her.
“Lord have mercy,” she muttered, covering her face with her hands. “Why couldn’t he stay away?”
But there wasn’t any point in agonizing overwhyGavin MacNichol had ridden two days on his own to reach the abbey, to deliver a message that could easily have been sent by courier. The fact was, he was here—a guest at the abbey. Two of the sisters were preparing the guest house right at this very moment. And later she would have to suffer through a meal in his presence.
Head still in her hands, Ella sank down onto her sleeping pallet. It was narrow, the mattress stuffed with straw, and covered by a linen sheet and rough woolen blankets. As one of the senior nuns here, she had her own cell. The postulants, novices, and younger nuns shared the dormitory across the courtyard, as she once had. This tiny, sparsely-furnished stone chamber was Ella’s refuge.
And at a moment like this, she was relieved to be able to shut herself away.
Mother Mary preserve her, it had been a shock to see him again.
She was still reeling from it. Gavin was even more handsome than she remembered. He’d lost the gaucheness of youth and even suited the harder edge he wore these days.
But the last thing Ella wanted was to travel with this man. He hadn’t even brought an escort. It was improper for them to travel together, yet the abbess seemed willing to permit it. There had been many times over the years when Mother Shona’s open-minded attitude and views had relieved Ella. The abbess made life at Kilbride a joy for the nuns who resided here. Her approach to religion, and to how a woman should behave, was a refreshing change from the ideas that Ella had grown up with.
But the abbess was being too permissive now. Of course, she didn’t realize the history that lay between Ella and Gavin.
Maybe I should tell her?
Ella swallowed hard. No—she couldn’t do that.
A bell started clanging then, the sound echoing through the abbey.
Vespers.
Ella wasn’t in the mood, but she had no choice other than to heave herself off her pallet, straighten her habit and veil, and leave the sanctuary of her cell. Crossing the courtyard outside the nuns’ lodgings, she joined the flood of black-robed figures as they all made their way to the kirk.
Around them the early evening sun had turned the hills gold. As it was late summer, night drew in slowly. After Vespers and supper, there would be time for more chores before Compline. The Sisters of Kilbride were rarely ever idle.
Ella entered the kirk.
As always, the dim interior cast a calming cloak over her. Even on the hottest day, the air in here was cool. Golden-hued light filtered in from high windows, pooling like melted butter on the flagstone floor. Rows of pillars lined the church, leading up to a raised altar, where Mother Shona had already taken her position.
Ella took her place among the orderly rows of nuns that now filled the kirk. Inhaling the heavy scent of incense, Ella sank to her knees, closing her eyes. Although she hadn’t been in the mood before, she was now grateful for Vespers. Perhaps the prayers would take her mind off the events of the past hour.
The chanting began. Solemn female voices echoed high into the vaulted ceiling of the kirk, led by Mother Shona in soothing tones. And as Ella joined in the chorus, she felt the afternoon’s tension ebb from her. Slowly her shoulders, which had gone rigid, started to relax.
Peace wrapped around her in a soft veil. The ritual always had a calming effect upon her, no matter how upset she was. She loved losing herself in it.
At first Ella concentrated on the prayers, even though she knew them so well she could have recited the words in her sleep. But as Vespers drew out, her thoughts treacherously returned to Gavin MacNichol.
She didn’t want to, but she thought back to their last meeting that day in the woods south-west of Scorrybreac Castle.
What a spoiled, foolish chit she’d once been. How she’d paced so impatiently that afternoon. Gavin had treated her like his queen during their time together. He’d never once made her wait for him, and that day his tardiness had irritated her. But it paled into nothing when he arrived and delivered his devastating news.
