Page 51 of The Highlander's Twisted Deal
“I’m grateful for what ye have done,” he persisted. “This isnae yer fault. It isnae.”
“And yet, I am being punished.”
“Ye arenae being punished. I willnae make ye suffer because of me, I swear it. Look, ye can stay in Keep McAdair as long as ye like. We’ll put about some plausible story about the betrothal breaking off, one that doesnae put either of us in a bad light, and ye can stay and work as a healer. How does that sound?”
She only stared at him and said nothing. Somewhat desperately, Callum rooted in his pocket for the pouch he’d carried around all day. It was heavy and jingled with each step.
He pulled it out, the coins clinking against each other, making it clear what was inside. He held out the pouch at arm’s length.
“Here is yer money. The full amount we agreed upon and then some more to provide for Niamh and Elsie. Whether ye choose to stay or leave, this is yers, Ava. Ye earned this. It’s yers.”
There was a long, taut silence between them. Ava stared at him, unblinking, and kept her arms tightly folded. She made no motion to reach for the money. After a few tense moments, when Callum’s arm started to ache with the weight of the pouch, he gently set it down on a nearby table.
“I ken ye are angry with me,” he said quietly. “And I deserve it. I’m a thoughtless man but nae a bad one. I wish ye all the happiness, Ava. I owe ye a great deal, and I willnae forget that. Stay or go, but take me goodwill with ye. I wish… I wish things could have been different. But they arenae, and I have a duty to many people. I wish ye the best, Ava. All the best. Maybe one day ye can find someone who…”
The words caught in his throat, and he swallowed them back, shaking his head. He forced himself to meet her gaze. She still hadn’t blinked or moved even an inch.
Biting his lip, Callum turned his back and hurried out of the room, closing the door behind him.
He didn’t dare linger in the hallway in case he burst back into her room, dropped down on his knees, and begged her to take him back. He kept his back straight, his shoulders back, his head held high, and strode all the way down the hallway, not looking back even once.
* * *
Ava listened to Callum’s unfaltering steps retreat down the hallway. She fought an irrational desire to run after him. In the silence, she heard the wind screeching around the Keep and rain battering the stone relentlessly. She’d watched the Keep locals prepare against the storm a few hours earlier, packing up tents and stalls and anything else that might be swept away by the rain or wind. The Keep gates were battened shut, and whoever could come inside the Keep to take shelter had done so.
The rest of them had huddled down inside their thatched huts, she assumed, and hoped for the best.
Ava imagined walking out into the storm, without a cloak or plaid, and simply never coming back. Then, the wind howled again, and she shivered.
She glanced down at the pouch of money he’d left on the table. The pouch was secured by a drawstring, but she could see the outline of gold coins bulging against the worn, old leather. There was enough gold there to buy a house and a plot of land and then have plenty left over for food and luxuries. He’d kept his word, then. She hadn’t even had to pretend to be his betrothed for very long. She should be pleased. It had worked out well.
Ava picked up the pouch in one shaking hand. It was so large and heavy that she couldn’t even wrap her fingers around it.
I have never earned so much before.
Rage bubbled up inside her like a boiling crock splashing up.
With a strangled cry, Ava hurled the money pouch at the wall. The old leather split, scattering coins everywhere, and the remains of the pouch and the money bounced down to the ground. Spilled gold pooled on the rug in front of the fire, light glinting against the coins.
Ava felt sick.
She wanted to scream and cry, to march right back into the feasting room and throw his money back in his face. She wanted to fling her arms around him and kiss him until he kissed her back like he had before.
She could do neither of those things, and she was nothing if not practical.
Standing for around five or ten minutes, breathing deeply like she instructed women in labor to breathe, Ava was composed enough to turn her back to the spilled gold and march right out of her room and down the hall to her mother’s room.
* * *
Niamh and Elsie were still in the feasting room, and there was no way Ava was going to go down to fetch them and risk running into Callum.
Perhaps he’s stuffing his face with his family.Talking and laughing as if nothing is happening. Maybe he’s forgotten me already.
Tears of rage and misery welled up in her eyes, and she angrily dashed them away. She would stay calm and cool when they came back.
And then, when Niamh opened the door and saw Ava waiting for her and asked, “Oh, me wee lass, what’s wrong?” Ava immediately forgot how composed she wanted to be and promptly burst into tears.
“So, that’s the whole story, then?” Niamh murmured about half an hour later. Elsie sat on a stool nearby, her face white and pinched.
