Page 16 of Sinbound to the Highlander
“And now we arenae sure what to do… or ken,” Mister Crushom said slowly.
Evan, though still reeling from the revelation of the lady’s barrenness, could suspect what they were afraid of, but took a chance to ask, “Are ye worried ye would be punished?”
“Aye,” Mister Crushom said while rubbing his face with a weathered hand. “Matilda died years ago, so I ken she cannae be penalized for this crime…but will we be?”
“I highly doubt it,” Evan replied. “I’d rather ken they would be delighted to see her alive instead of dead as they had kent. If ye would like, I can carry ye all to the castle in on the morrow so ye can all speak about it. I have hope, though, that they will nay hold ye to blame for the theft.”
“Are ye sure?” Missus Crushom was wringing a rag in her hands. “I still fear that they will want to punish us, somehow.”
“The Laird and Lady are very nice people,” Evan replied, “I daenae ken they have an unjust or unkind bone in their bodies. Please, just come with me on the morrow so that we can have this sorted?”
Mister Crushom moved to stand behind his wife and lay his hand on her shoulders, and she instantly relaxed. She twisted her head to look at him and lifted her hand to rest on his.
“At this point, Me Laird,” Mister Crushom said. “I dinnae see any way around it,” he nodded, “We’ll be there on the morrow. May I ask, though, how did ye come across Freya at all?”
Smiling, Evan replied, “I was in a meadow sleepin’ when Miss Crushom came to see if I had taken a bad fall, if I was ill or dead,” sneaking a look at Freya, whose cheeks were pink, he continued. “I had just come from the Lobhdain castle ye see, and I was afraid that Miss Milleson had come after me when I saw yer daughter’s face. I ken, it was very foolish at the time, but ye have to see, I was flummoxed.”
“I made the mistake of callin’ her Miss Milleson’s given name, and she corrected me,” Evan added. “She told me who she was and where she lived. I couldnae leave such a troublin’ matter unsolved, so I asked her to speak with ye.”
“She came to see if ye were dead?” Missus Crushom tutted, “ ‘Tis just like her but, Freya, werenea ye at all concerned if ye might be harmed?”
“But Maither,” Freya protested, “What was I supposed to do? Ye ken that I just couldnae leave him there. I had even planned to call some of the men from the village to help me if he was dead.”
“Thankfully, I am nae,” Evan said while holding in his amusement. Freya sounded so flustered and annoyed that it was genuinely adorable to him. He stood, and bowed, “I must be on my way, but I will be back early for ye all. And Miss Crushom, thank ye for yer…er….nay-quite help, I suppose.”
“Ye’re nay-quite welcome, Me Laird,” Freya quipped, teasingly.
From the startled look in her mother’s eyes, it was a quip he felt Freya would be paying for later, but he loved her sense of humor.
“I bid ye all good night,” Evan said before stepping out into the night air. Mister Crushom came to the porch to say his goodbye and safe journey, which Evan took with pleasure.
He could find his way to the castle easily from the crossroads, hoping his mother had not sent out a search party for him. As he neared the road to his home, he wondered if his mother would believe him that he had possibly found Miss Milleson’s missing sister.
Even thinking about it, it felt somewhat impossible. If Evan had not seen the lass with his own eyes, he would have never believed it. What if he had not taken that ride into the countryside, would he have ever met Freya? Would he have seen her wide, innocent eyes, or hear her laugh? Visualizing her face, he wondered if she had been scorned or excluded for her face. Many people still held unto the ridiculous belief that women with blemished faces were witches.
He had barely entered the circle of the front courtyard, lit by torches, when a few armed guards were about to ride out. He stopped then, knowing why they were being sent out—for him.
“Halt!” he shouted. “I’m here.”
The riders came to a stop, and Evan had a few words with them before dismissing them back to their duties. He gave his horse over to a pageboy and went inside. He took the stairs to his mother’s room and found her in her dressing gown.
“Evan,” she said in relief. “I wasnae sure if ye’d been harmed or taken—”
“I ken, Maither,” he said while settling into a chair, “But I have a reason for being so late. Ye ken, I went to Laird Lobhdain this morn to speak with Miss Milleson again.”
“Aye,” she said, wrapping the lapels of her dressing gown a little tighter around her chest. “What of it?”
He passed a hand through his hair, wondering how to tell this to his mother delicately. Pulling up all the emotions he had felt in the past few days by making the courtship work with Laird Lobhdain’s daughter, he poured them all out to her. Telling her, that though, he found Elspeth to be beautiful and smart; he also found her to be selfish and have an uncaring attitude to her servants.
“I daenae ken if I can marry her, Maither, she’s a child in a woman’s body. I ken about the commitment I made and the bond that has started to bind our clans together, but I feel that I would be giving up more than I would gain.”
At this point, I’ll take the most sensible option for me people; me happiness can wait.
His words from mere days ago had come back to haunt him, and his stomach felt hollow. Sagging into his seat, Evan prepared himself for her reply.
Quietly, she looked at him, and her exhale was long, “I understand, Son, but ye cannae be too hasty in breakin’ off this connection as we are nearly at war. I can only tell ye to ken through this carefully, and make sure ye approach this tactfully, so ye dinnae alienate them from making other connections with us,” she then paused, and rubbed the base of her neck. “Now, tell me what else is botherin’ ye.”
A slow smile began to spread, before he told her about meeting Miss Crushom and how identical she looked to his betrothed, Miss Milleson. He recounted how he had coaxed her into taking him to her parents—who though shocked—spoke to him about the extraordinary circumstances of Freya’s life with them.
