Page 28 of Cottage in the Mist (Time After Time #3)

“Well, if Bram is to be believed, they’re all gone now,” she grimaced, starting to pace again.

“They were due to ride out this morning. But yes, he arrived after they fought the Comyns.” All of which happened over five hundred years ago, she reminded herself.

The impossibility of the entire thing made her want to scream.

“And he was sure it was the Comyns?” Jeff pressed.

“Yes.” She stopped again, frowning at him. “Frazier recognized them at Dunbrae. So there’s no question. But that isn’t reason enough to abandon me. If Bram truly cared, he’d have taken me with him.”

“Maybe Jeff’s right. Maybe his not taking you is the important bit.” Elaine reached out to touch her hand, and Lily stilled, her emotions rioting.

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Of course it does,” Mrs. Abernathy soothed. “If the man loves you, he’s not going to risk putting you in harm’s way.”

“It might seem a bit harsh by today’s standards, but we’re talking about a different time,” Jeff said. “Violence and vengeance ruled the clans in those days. It wasn’t safe for women.”

“But you let your sister go there.” She knew she was foundering. That her logic wasn’t making sense. But he’d left her, damn it. And no matter his reasons, she was the one left to pick up the pieces.

“I didn’t let my sister do anything.” Jeff’s eyes flashed in warning. “She makes her own decisions. And nothing I could have done would have stopped her. She loved Iain and that was the end of it.”

“My point exactly. It should have been my decision. And the fact that he didn’t let me make it means that he can’t possibly care about me in any meaningful way.”

“With the risk of being throttled for the sins of all my sex, I think you are missing some important points,” Jeff offered, holding his hands up to signal peace. All three women looked at him and he grimaced. “I’m just trying to help.”

“The points?” Elaine prompted.

“Love, honor and commitment.”

“Which means what? That Bram owes more to his dead father than to me?” The minute the words were out, Lily regretted them. One couldn’t choose between the people one cared about. But then again, maybe he didn’t really care about her. Maybe he hadn’t meant all that he’d said.

“It means, as Elaine and Mrs. Abernathy said, that he cared enough to let you go. He knew that dragging you into his fight could very well mean your death. I’ve been there, Lily.

I’ve seen what it can be like. Katherine was almost killed.

Then when push came to shove and we thought she was going to die, Iain let her go.

He sent her home with me. Where she could have the help she needed to recover. ”

“After which she went right back to Iain,” Elaine inserted, clearly taking Lily’s side.

“Yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that when it was important, Iain loved Katherine enough to let her go.”

“But even if you’re right,” Lily said, dropping down on a bench next to the hearth, “Bram still chose his father over me.” That was the crux of it really.

“That’s where honor comes in.” Jeff shrugged. “It was never a choice. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t fight to avenge his father. And more importantly to clear his own name. What can he possibly offer you if he doesn’t do that?”

“Himself. Alive and well. And in the same damn century as me.” She closed her hand over her chest, daring him to argue.

“He promised he’d take me with him.” She paused, closing her eyes.

The truth was that he’d only promised she had a right to her opinion.

Suddenly she saw the previous night’s triumph for what it had really been.

“Oh God, he never meant to take me at all.”

“But he didn’t want to leave you either,” Jeff said, his voice full of conviction. “When did he give you the brooch?”

Lily glanced down at the silver cat winking up from the bust of her dress. “It was there when I woke up this morning.”

“Do you ken the significance of it?” Mrs. Abernathy asked, her gaze fixed on the pin.

“It’s beautiful, but I don’t know that it has any meaning.”

“It’s a clan crest,” Elaine stated. “Macgillivray, if I had to guess.” She looked across at Mrs. Abernathy, who nodded.

“Every clan has their own crest, you see,” Mrs. Abernathy explained. “And each holding adapts it to be their own. I canna say for certain, but I’m guessing the pin belonged to Bram’s father. And for him to have left it for you…” She shrugged, her meaning clear.

“I’d rather have him.”

“But at least you know that he wanted you to have the brooch,” Elaine said.

“Commitment,” Jeff seconded. “If he didn’t care about you, Lily, he’d never given you something so precious to him.”

“Cold comfort,” she said, stubbornly clinging to her anger, even as her fingers circled the brooch, the metal cool between her fingers.

“Well, I, for one, think that rather than sitting around here rehashing what happened and what it did or didn’t mean, we’d be better off seeking more information. Knowledge, after all, is power.”

Lily frowned at Mrs. Abernathy, still battling her raging emotions. “And how do you suggest we do that?”

“Simple. We go straight to the source. At least as much as we can, given the difference in time.” She smiled, pushing out of her chair with a firm nod. “I say we pay a visit to Ridge Manor.”

“Because?” Jeff asked, also pushing to his feet.

Mrs. Abernathy smiled. “Because that’s where Bram’s gone. To Tigh an Droma , Alec Comyn’s holding.”