The Clan MacDougall Series (24 page)

“Ya wait until yer uncle returns Duncan! He is going to skelp ye somethin’ fierce. That is if I leave him anythin’ to skelp!” She truly thought of picking up a chair and hitting him over his foolish head. A more befitting punishment however, would be to leave him in the hands of Angus who would surely be more than angry with him.

Duncan held up a hand to protest, “Now, Isobel,” he said.

“Do not ‘now Isobel’ me young man!” She would not listen to him. “This poor lass comes to us for help and safety and ye do this to her?”

“Nothin’ happened!” Duncan roared. He had never raised his voice at Isobel before, for he knew his uncle would have killed him for showing such disrespect. She was jumping to conclusions and he had to explain to her what had happened. If she would only calm down long enough to listen, he would be able to explain that neither of them had done anything wrong. But in Isobel’s eyes, the mere fact that they had shared a bed together was bad enough.

Why was she so angry with him, he wondered? He had shared his bed with plenty of young women over the years. While Isobel had been disappointed in him over those dalliances, she had never been as angry as she was at this moment. Perhaps Aishlinn was as special and important to Isobel as she was to Duncan.

Isobel lowered her voice and glared at him. “Do ye really expect me to believe that?”

“Aye, I do! I would never take advantage of Aishlinn!”

Finally finding her voice, Aishlinn spoke up. “’Tis true Isobel!” she said pleadingly. “’Tis not what ye think.”

Isobel looked at the tears streaming down Aishlinn’s face. Did the lass cry from embarrassment at having been caught? “Go to yer room and wait for me.” Isobel tried unsuccessfully to hide the disappointment in her voice. “Go now.”

Aishlinn quickly walked around the bed to leave but paused at the doorway. “Isobel, Duncan was truly an honorable man last night. He did nothing improper and neither did I. He is like a brother to me and nothing more.” Without waiting for a response she hurried to her room.

Isobel turned to Duncan as she tried to regain some composure. She wanted very much to believe they were telling her the truth. However, the evidence at hand was quite overwhelming. Taking a deep breath while she studied Duncan closely, she asked, “Is what she says true?”

Nodding his head quickly he said, “Aye, ’tis.” He wrapped the sheet tighter around his waist. “Nothin’ improper happened.”

“Then why do I find her in yer bed this day?” she asked with her hands planted firmly on her hips. She was quite ready to skelp him the moment she detected a lie.

Exasperated, he let out a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. “’Tis the nightmares she has, Isobel. Every night she has them. She worries the soldiers will come here and find her. She worries that if and when they do, they’ll kill all of us, the people she has come to love and feel safe with.”

Isobel took a deep breath as the anger slowly began to leave her. She had not known the lass suffered so. Why had Aishlinn had not come to her with her troubles?

“I would never do anythin’ to hurt her, Isobel.” Duncan needed her to know it was God’s truth that he spoke. “She is a fine young woman and deserves no’ to be taken advantage of. I’d never do that to her.” His eyes pleaded with her to believe him.

Isobel studied him closely for a few moments and decided he told the truth. Duncan was a fine young man but she could tell from the way he spoke of Aishlinn, the way he looked at her, that he held very strong feelings for her. Perhaps respect was one of them.

“Have ye shared yer feelings with her?” she asked.

Duncan stood a bit taller before answering. “Nay. I haven’t.” As much as he would have liked to do just that, for whatever reason, he simply could not tell Aishlinn how he felt about her.

Isobel was quite relieved to hear it for she felt that Aishlinn was probably not ready for anything akin to a romance. “That is best, considerin’ all that the lass has gone through.”

“Twas my thinkin’ as well.” Certain Isobel was no longer ready to skin him alive he began to relax. “She needs time to heal,” he told her. “Aye, the bruises and welts may be long gone. But there be other wounds that take longer to heal than the body.”

Isobel released another heavy sigh as she wondered what to do with the two of them. True love could not be denied. She knew and believed that with all her heart. She could send Aishlinn to the ends of the earth and it would do no good. No amount of distance between two people who were truly in love would cause their feelings to diminish. If anything it would make them grow stronger.

“Please promise me, Duncan, that ye’ll give Aishlinn more time. She’s been through a hellish ordeal. She knows no’ who she is or what she wants from life.” Lowering her voice she asked, “Promise me ye’ll give her that?”

“Aye, I so promise.” It was what he had been trying to do all along.

Isobel took a moment to regain her composure before she entered Aishlinn’s room. She found Aishlinn standing near the open windows with a shawl wrapped tightly around her shoulders and she looked positively miserable.

Isobel quietly closed the door and sat on the stool near the fireplace. She had been angrier with Duncan than she had been with Aishlinn, for she understood far too well how being in love with someone often interfered with one’s good decision making abilities. Aishlinn had grown up without a mother and Isobel was certain that Broc had offered very little in the way of guidance when it came to matters of the heart.

“Come here lass,” she said, holding her arms open wide.

Aishlinn rushed to Isobel’s open arms and sank to her knees. She could not hold back the deluge of tears as she rested her head upon Isobel’s lap. The thought of Isobel being angry with her was unbearably painful as well as frightening. She would never want to do anything that would cause Isobel to send her away.

“Duncan did nothing wrong, Isobel!” No matter how much she wished that he had. She sobbed as she wiped the tears from her cheeks with the palms of her hands.

Isobel smiled as she stroked Aishlinn’s hair. “’Tis all right, lass. I spoke with Duncan and I am sorry for flyin’ into such a fierce rage. I have only yer best interests in my heart.”

Och! How she wished she could share with her the reasons why she felt so protective. Isobel wondered if she wouldn’t lose her mind before Angus returned.

Remaining silent, save for the tears and sniffles, Aishlinn closed her eyes. If her mother had lived, how completely different her life might have been. She would not feel so lost and confused right now and her heart, she was sure, would not be breaking.

“Why dinna ye tell me of the bad dreams, Aishlinn?” Isobel asked quietly.

“I wanted not to bother you. You have so many duties and responsibilities,” Aishlinn said. “My problems aren’t as important as others.”

Isobel lifted Aishlinn’s chin and looked into her eyes. “But Aishlinn, yer not a problem or a bother. Yer very important to me, lass.” For a fleeting moment she was quite tempted to tell her why.

“I am?” she asked very surprised to hear it.

“Aye, ye are!” Isobel said.

Aishlinn could not fathom it. “But how? I’ve only been here a short time.”

A warm smile came to Isobel’s face. “Does a mother need years to know her children in order to love them?” She wiped tears away from Aishlinn’s face. “Nay, she loves them the moment they are born or come to her. I loved Duncan, Findley and Richard from the day they came to live with us. I needed not days or months or years to know them. They were lads who had lost their families, just as ye’ve lost yers. They were good lads who needed to be loved and protected.” It had been easy for Isobel to love all the children she and Angus had fostered.

Aishlinn was perplexed. She was not a bairn or a small child. She was nearly a grown woman. Should that not make a difference? It made no sense to her how Isobel could love her so readily and with such ease. “But I be not a bairn nor a child.”

“Nay, yer not. But are ye no’ lost? Are ye no’ orphaned with no family of yer own?”

Indeed, she was.

“It is not difficult for me to love ye as if ye were my own, Aishlinn. Yer a sweet and fine young woman with a good heart and spirit. What is there about ye no’ to love?”

“Why then, could not my family, the people who raised me, love me?” she whispered.

Did it all just boil down to the fact that her stepfather and brothers were just mean and cruel people? She had blamed herself all those years. Had she been prettier or better or worked harder then perhaps someday they would love her. Time and again they proved her wrong.

She realized in that quiet moment with Isobel that it had mattered not what she did, how hard she had worked or tried to please the men who had raised her. It never would have been enough. It would not have changed who they truly were—mean, selfish, angry men. Black Richard had been right. Why should she believe those who were mean and harsh to her over those who were decent and kindhearted?

“I know no’ why some people are mean and selfish, Aishlinn. I think some just have poisoned hearts and minds. Unfortunately, ye were surrounded by them for too long a time.”

She smoothed Aishlinn’s hair with her hand and thought on how she should broach the next topic at hand. “How long have ye had these strong feelings towards Duncan?”

Aishlinn bolted upright, her face burned crimson. Had her feelings for him been that obvious?

“It matters not what my feelings are for him; he thinks of me only as a sister, nothing more.” No matter how badly she would have liked it to be otherwise, Aishlinn knew there was no possibility of a future with Duncan.

Isobel tilted her head a bit. “Are ye certain of that, Aishlinn?”

“Aye, I am.” The thought of Duncan having any romantic thoughts towards her was as ridiculous as putting trews on a pig. “He truly looks after me as a brother does a sister,” she said. “Why, just yesterday he gave me good advice on men.”

“Oh, he did, did he?” Isobel found that notion quite amusing. “And what, pray tell, is this advice he gave to ye?”

“He bade me to promise him that before I agree to allow anyone to court me, I’ll come to him first. He can tell me if they be good and kind men.” She lowered her voice as if to share a well-known secret among women. “And not the kind only after one thing.”

Isobel had to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing. What a rake her Duncan was turning out to be! Isobel knew it would matter not what kind of man might take a fancy to the young lass, for none would be good enough. She knew that Duncan was very much in love with this sweet young lady. It was merely his way of keeping her from falling in love with someone else.

“Is that not what brothers do for sisters?” Aishlinn asked naively.

“I suppose some do,” Isobel said. But she knew ’twas also something a brash young man would do to keep a young lady he fancied to himself. She decided it best, for the moment at least, to not explain it further to her.

Isobel put her hands upon Aishlinn’s shoulders. “Now, we’ll not worry on the matter any longer,” she said as she stood. “I think it be time to teach ye some of the finer things a lady ought to know.” She studied Aishlinn for a moment. Such a beautiful young woman she was. ’Twas her eyes though, those deep dark green eyes, that Isobel sometimes found painful to look into.

“Do ye ken how to weave, lass?” she asked.

Aishlinn stood and shook her head. “Nay. My mother was very good at it but I never had the chance to learn.”

Isobel swallowed hard at the mention of the lass’ mother. “Would ye like to learn?”

Aishlinn’s eyes grew wide with anticipation. “Oh yes! Very much!”

“Good. I’ll teach ye to weave and to sew properly. Come to my chambers after ye’ve eaten and we’ll start straight away.”

Aishlinn flung her arms around Isobel and hugged her tightly. “Thank you, Isobel!” she said as she tried hard not to cry again. What few memories she had left of her mother told her she and Isobel were very much alike. Both were kind, dignified and sweet. She wondered for a moment if it would be disrespectful to her mother’s memory to think of Isobel in that manner, as a mother figure.

Aishlinn dressed quickly and ran to the kitchens to eat before racing to Isobel’s private chambers. Quite excited to begin to learn to weave, she tapped gently on the door before Isobel opened it. Her chin nearly hit the floor when she entered the room for it was filled nearly top to bottom with books!

Aishlinn had only seen one book in her life. It was the Bible the priest read at the funerals. In the lowlands, they were not allowed such things as to own books. It was considered a blasphemy against God, the church and the King to teach girl children to read, and only a very few of the boys were educated beyond spelling their own names. Reading, owning books, that was a right held only by the privileged and powerful English.

Isobel watched Aishlinn closely for a long moment as she watched the young woman’s eyes grow wide with awe.

Aishlinn stood frozen as she soaked it all in. A massive fireplace nearly as big as the one in the gathering room took up most of one wall. A shield with two crossed broadswords hung over the dark mantle. A large trestle table flanked by benches stood in the center of the room. Soft and luxurious rugs were scattered across the floor.

And the books! Hundreds of books sat on heavy wooden shelves tucked into nearly every crook and cranny and dozens more sat atop the table. Aishlinn took no notice of the looms that sat in front of the tall windows, for it was the books that captured her attention and heart.

“Aishlinn, what are ye thinking?” Isobel asked curiously.

“You have books,” she said breathlessly.

“Aye, we do,” Isobel said, realizing the lass could not read. Isobel knew all too well the opinions the English held on educating girls. “Ya dunna read, do ye, lass?” Knowing the answer beforehand.

“Nay!” Aishlinn said, shocked at such a notion. “’Tis considered a blasphemy for a girl to read!”

Disgusted at those people who refused to educate their children, Isobel huffed. “People with power like to keep their people ignorant. They do it only so they may hold more power over them. Heaven forbid a body should have an intelligent, independent thought! Especially a female!”