Page 15 of Bride Takes a Laird (Highland Vows & Vengeance #2)

W hen she awakened, Magnus had already left. Kendra smiled to herself in remembrance of the night she spent with Magnus in the woods. The May Day celebration was enjoyed by all and she couldn’t wait until the next celebration. She spent the morning in their bedchamber and entered the figures from the parchments that hadn’t been added. The only thing left to do was to compare the numbers to the counts Winston had given her to that of the totals in the manuscripts. She closed the volume and sighed because she had yet to figure out how to tell Magnus that she had remedied the problem for him. He was probably going to be surprised and perhaps delighted that she had handled the situation for him. She understood how pressing the matter was.

A knock came at the door and she rushed to open it. A young soldier stood on the other side.

“Milady, the gate watch asked me to deliver this message to ye.” He held out a parchment.

Kendra thanked him and took it. He turned and left, so she closed the door and peered at the parchment. Who would send a missive to her? The writing was unknown and she shuffled toward the window to better see it. Hastily, she opened the parchment and read:

My dearest Mistress Kendra, I have heard the most atrocious news that you have married a man bidden by the king. As you know, your father accepted my bride price and yet I have no bride. I request the sum which I paid returned to me posthaste. If I do not receive the coins that I gave to your father by summer’s end, I shall take the Graham manor by default. I expect to hear from you soon. ~E. Heatherington

She couldn’t catch her breath as she rasped at the words before her eyes. As she’d feared, the situation with Heatherington had escalated and she despaired to figure out a way to repay him. If only her father remembered where he’d put the coins.

Somehow, she didn’t fall to the floor in a heap as hopelessness threatened to overtake her. Her hands shook and she crumbled the missive and gripped it tightly in her hand as she paced the chamber and tried to calm down. There was nothing she could do until she found the coins.

Until then, she would consider the matter and try to figure out a way to repay the knave. Somehow, she would think of something to remedy her situation.

The midday meal was likely served and she found she could eat a bite. She hadn’t eaten all morning and now she was ravenous. Kendra wrapped her mother’s shawl around her shoulders, trying to warm and comfort herself as she made her way to the hall to eat.

When she opened the door, she almost bumped into Linet. “There you are. I wondered why you hadn’t come to see me this morn. I was just on my way to the hall for the midday meal.”

Linet appeared pretty in one of her favorite frocks, a dark blue overdress with cream embellishments along the edges of the seams. Her hair was even done in a coif. Usually, she wore her hair down. “I am sorry for being tardy, but I helped Ellen this morn prepare for the supper meal and then I went to check on your da and John. I took them bread and a jug of ale.”

So visiting John was the reason for Linet’s special care with her appearance. Kendra decided not to mention it, however. Instead, she said, “That was kind of you. How is my papa this morning?”

Her friend’s face saddened with the dip of her chin. “We haven’t talked about this but… You are aware that he is getting worse? He didn’t know who I was.”

She nodded and took a deep breath through her nose. “His memory falters. He didn’t recognize me either, when I most recently visited. Laird Hugh told me that he spoke of my mother and that he said he would soon join her. Do you think he knows he will soon die? My heart is full of woe because I cannot bear to think of losing him.”

Linet set her hand on her shoulder. “When his time comes, you will have the strength to deal with it. More than anyone, you have courage and we shall face the loss of him together.”

Kendra wrapped her arms around her friend and briefly closed her eyes. She wanted to tell her about Heatherington’s message but didn’t want to worry her friend. She was more than enough worried for them both. “I want to weep at the thought of it but you know how I detest crying. Your friendship gives me courage, Linet. My thanks.”

“Go on down to the hall and have your meal. I’ll tidy your chamber. Perhaps I’ll have a bath readied for you and will choose your most becoming gown for this night’s supper.” Linet pulled away from her and started on her tasks.

Kendra turned away and left the room. On her way down the stairs, she considered her father and decided to visit him. If she had little time left with him, she wanted to spend as much of it as she could with him. She entered the great hall and found Magnus’s father standing by the hearth.

After snatching a hard roll from the table, she approached him. “Good morn, Stan. How are you this day?”

His face was grim with a dullness in his eyes. He looked melancholy. “Good morn, lass. If ye were looking for Magnus, he left the keep earlier and I do not expect he’ll return until late this eve or mayhap even the morrow. If ye shall excuse me, I was about to take a small tray to my wife.”

Magnus’s mother had become more miserable by the day. Kendra worried about her too. “Lady Faye hasn’t come down for the midday meal?”

He sighed. “Nay, she will not leave her bedchamber now and refuses to do so. I can not get her to eat either, och I will keep trying. She has not eaten since yestermorn.”

“That is not good. Let me try. Besides, I should like to see her.” Kendra took the tray from him and headed to the lady’s bedchamber. She knocked at the door but heard nothing from within. As she leaned the tray on her hip, she opened the door and entered. “Good day, Lady Faye.” She set the tray on the end of the bed. Lady Faye sat on the bedside and gazed toward the window casement and didn’t bother to glance her way. “It looks to be a beautiful day.”

“Does it? I did not know it was midday.” Her tone implied that she was unaware that morning had passed, and nor did she care that the weather was fair.

Kendra sat in the chair that faced the bed. “Laird Stan was going to bring you food but I insisted he let me bring it. He tells me that you are not eating.”

“I am not very hungry.”

“You will make yourself ill if you don’t eat. I understand that you mourn your son. But he wouldn’t want you to sicken yourself because of your despair.” Kendra leaned forward. “You must eat.”

“What do you know about despair?”

Kendra sighed lightly. “’Tis the truth, I know much about it. My mother died when I was very young and this is all I have left of her.” She pulled the shawl tightly around her shoulders. “I cherish this shawl not because it keeps me warm but because it is like being hugged by my mother. Often, I seek its comfort and I assure you, it does ease me. I had hoped… Well, Magnus spoke so fondly of you and I thought perhaps to at least befriend you. ”

Lady Faye snorted a derisive laugh. “I doubt that, lass. Magnus is not fond of anyone, least of all, me.”

“When I first arrived, he told me that I would like you and his father and that you were both friendly. I cannot lose you when we have yet to know each other. Please, at least eat a little.”

Lady Faye lowered her gaze. “I am sorry to hear that ye lost your mother, lass. Ye have never had a motherly person care for ye?”

Kendra shook her head. “Not really and believe me, it was rather lonesome sometimes. There were very few women at our manor and I did have a friend…Linet. Her mother was kind to me too. But it has always just been me and my papa. My brother was hardly at home and I rarely saw him. I’m afraid I have little family to speak of and when Magnus told me that he had a large family, I was gladdened because you would now be my family.”

“I always wanted a daughter but God only thought to give me sons.”

“You were blessed, My Lady. Your sons care for both you and your husband.”

Lady Faye reached out and took a piece of cheese from the trencher. “I fear that I might have ruined Ned and Jake with my coddling. My two eldest sons were taken from me and put to training at such a young age. I never got to enjoy being their mother, not like I did with the two youngest.” She nibbled on the cheese. Kendra was pleased to see that she finished it and then reached for another piece.

She decided not to mention it. “A mother must bear such heartache,” Kendra said. “I hope that I can keep my babies with me as long as possible.”

“Ye and Magnus plan to have children soon?”

Kendra smiled. “We do. Before you know it, you will have a wee bairn to hold and coddle. Think of your grandchildren. I will need help and your motherly wisdom too, Lady Faye, so I cannot have you sicken yourself. Please, eat. Go outside and get some air. Return to your activity. That would please Ned, and me too.” The mention of grandchildren seemed to perk the lady up and the edges of her mouth shifted slightly upward toward her cheeks.

“I apologize, lass, for worrying ye.”

“I want to share something with you…something I have not told anyone except for Linet. Before my father and I left for the king’s castle, my father accepted coins from our neighbor as a bride price.” Kendra lowered her gaze in shame. “I prayed for a miracle to stop the marriage and then we received the order from the king. Never did I expect to marry someone as honorable as Magnus.”

“He is that,” his mother said. “Perhaps too noble.”

“I am grateful that Magnus chose me. But now the situation grows wearisome and I—”

“Now ye must return the coins to this neighbor?”

Kendra nodded. “I must because the man is nefarious and rather vindictive. If I do not return the coins by summer’s end he threatens to take our manor—my brother’s legacy—in repayment.”

“Then ’tis simple, return the coins. Have Magnus do it when he returns.”

“I…I would but I cannot find the coins. My father does not remember what he did with them and I am unsure what to do.” She explained how her father’s memory failed. “My search of my father’s possessions has yielded nothing and I have not been able to find them.”

“Oh, dear, that is quite the dilemma, lass. Well, Magnus would pay the man back his coins. Ye have only to ask him.”

Kendra shook her head. “I cannot do that and will not be beholden to my husband to repay my father’s debt.”

“Do not let the shame of that besmirch your marriage. Magnus will understand that ye had nothing to do with the transaction. He will repay your neighbor without judgment.” His mother set a comforting hand on her knee .

“I am shamed by it. My father had to put the coins somewhere and I hope to find them. Then and only then, can I right this situation. When I do, I shall return them to the knave and all will be well. I beg you to keep this to yourself until I figure out what to do.”

“I shall keep your secret, Kendra, but soon ye must confide in Magnus. He shall see it put to right.”

She reached to take her mother-in-law’s hands. “And you… Have faith that Magnus will find out what happened to Ned. He will enact vengeance if it is merited. Until then, we must go on.”

“I will think on your words,” Faye told her. “I know that Magnus is unrelenting and I believe he shall find out how Ned was killed. Go on, lass, I will finish my meal here and then I will come down after I have changed. Worry not, for ye will find the coins or Magnus will see to the repayment.”

Kendra headed for the door and smiled at Lady Faye before she left. She hastened her steps and reached the outside. With the burden of her secret released, she felt somewhat better about having told Lady Faye. In revealing her distress, she hoped to distract Lady Faye from her mourning and give her something else to focus on instead. If that didn’t work, Kendra knew, having grandchildren to anticipate and live for definitely would give Faye a reason to stay alive.

It was nice to have someone to share confidences with besides Linet. Her friend didn’t understand the severity of her situation with Heatherington. Mostly because she hadn’t shared the truth of the situation, because Kendra didn’t want her friend to worry about the possibility of her own parents being ousted by the knave.

The afternoon had grown warmer and she removed her mother’s shawl and placed it over her arm. On her way to see her father at the far end of the island, she smiled and waved to the clan’s women. Most were outside tending to tasks. A woman hung laundry on lines of rope next to her cottage. Another woman stirred a large vat set on coals near the stoop of her stone cottage. One woman scattered feed to a quietly clucking flock of chickens and hissing geese. Children raced about, shouting and laughing. People seemed happier than they had before the festival and while she wasn’t sure if it was the warmer weather bringing joy back to them, or the continued gaiety from the bonfires, she was glad to see the pall had lifted.

When she reached her father’s cottage, again, he wasn’t inside. She traipsed to the back of the fief and at the gate, she stopped before the guard. “Have you seen Laird Hugh or my father?”

“Aye, Milady, they went to the loch a while ago.”

After he gave her direction, she picked up her steps and hastened toward the copse of trees. Beneath the canopy of the high-leaved branches, she felt much cooler. As she neared the loch, the scent of water and soil engulfed her senses and she could see the brackish color of the water between the tree trunks. Kendra listened for sounds and heard men’s gruff voices a little way down the bank. She walked spryly toward them and smiled when she spotted Papa and the laird. They welcomed her.

“I have never seen any place as beautiful as this,” she said in awe when she stopped next to her father. Surrounded by woodland, the loch waters flowed leisurely along. The loch was large enough to have to take a boat to the other side and was too far to swim across. On the shore abutting the beach, branches of pine and yews swayed from the mid-afternoon breeze. Just being there sent a sense of serenity through her. “How goes the fishing?” she asked and knelt next to her father.

Laird Hugh took a tartan and set it on the ground next to where her father sat at the loch’s bank. “Take a rest, Milady, and aye, it is bonny here. We haven’t caught a single fish yet.”

“Who is the lass?” her father asked Hugh. Just as he said that her father rose and yanked his stick. A fish flew through the air and landed on the bank before him. Her father grinned and celebrated his accomplishment with a shout. “Aye, look at the size of this one, Hugh. ”

“We’ll have a good supper this night,” Hugh said.

As saddened as she was that her father had asked who she was, she was gladdened that he seemed to enjoy being at the loch. Kendra relaxed back and leaned on the palms of her hands, splayed behind her determined that she too would enjoy being in such a lovely spot.

She spent the rest of the afternoon in their company. It lightened her heart to see her father smile and enjoy himself. By the time they readied to leave and return to the fief, the men had caught four fish in all. John returned before they retreated. He’d spent the afternoon doing a spot of hunting and had used his bow to kill two hares.

Their walk to the wall was filled with enthusiastic embellishments of how large their fish were. Even though the basket Hugh held was quite heavy, the fish were only about the length of her forearm. At the wall, the guard opened the gate and greeted them. She walked them to the cottage and bid the men a good night.

Then she hurried to the main fief and hoped she wasn’t late for supper. Inside the great hall, many had gathered for the meal. She sprinted up the stairs and entered her chamber. There, she quickly washed and changed her gown. When she was ready, she rushed to the hall. Kendra didn’t see Magnus within and realized he hadn’t returned. Saddened, she took her place at the table next to Magnus’s usual chair which was vacant.

Supper was a blurred event for her as she couldn’t help but be immersed in her thoughts—what to do about Heatherington, how to win Magnus’s affection, but the most affecting, her father’s possible looming demise.