Page 11 of The Anguish of the Scottish Lairds (Clans of Mull #3)
Maitland
Maitland sat in the great hall with his son, enjoying the early-morning quiet. The wee laddie was usually the first one up, so Maeve fed him quickly, then handed him over to her husband, her eyes often still closed.
This was only fair, in Maitland’s mind. The boy was such a voracious eater that he still woke his mother up in the middle of the night to eat. Maeve deserved her sleep, so he changed the boy’s raggies and headed out into the great hall with Lia not far behind them, allowing Maeve a couple more hours of rest. He set the boy in the fabric lounger he’d fashioned in front of the hearth and got the fire going again. He’d made a small boat and packed it with furs and plaids to prop him up and keep him warm, and the lad loved it. It gave him the chance to kick his legs and watch everyone.
Cook was busy readying the morning meal in the kitchens, cooking porridge and fruit for everyone.
Other men left bairn care to the women, but not Maitland. He was young the first time he’d seen Alex Grant walking around with one of his grandbairns strapped to his chest. He especially recalled Dyna, who giggled and kicked all the way through training at the lists, though Alex did keep her a distance away from the swinging swords. Maitland had admired the way Alex raised his bairns and helped with his grandbairns, part of the reason he had agreed when Maeve suggested naming their son after her adoptive father.
Maitland let Lia keep Grant occupied while he grabbed a clean linen square and soaked it in his own bowl of porridge, then handed it to the boy to suck on. He and Lia always laughed at his face, covered with oats as he sucked and chewed on the succulent treat, his legs kicking away. Maitland had tried to give him honey one day, but Lia yelled at him.
“No honey!”
“What? Why not? I’m sure he’d love it,” Maitland had asked, surprised by the vehemence in her words.
“He probably would, but I’m telling you it’s not good for wee bairns. Not yet. Not until he can walk.”
He had discussed this with Maeve, and the two had decided that with Lia’s dedication, they would honor her wishes. Alexander would not know what he was missing, after all, so they kept the honey away.
His mother came down the stairs, floating like an angel.
“Good morn to you, Mama. How did you sleep?”
“Wonderfully, Maitland. The heather mattress is lovely. And the lad is up already?”
“I bring him out every morn with me. And Lia.”
Avelina kissed his cheek, then bent down to plant a kiss on her grandson’s forehead. “My but the laddie enjoys that porridge, does he not? He’s wearing most of it on every part of his face but his lips.” She laughed at the boy and the bairn laughed back, wrinkling his nose. “And a lovely morn to you, Lia.”
His mother had asked him about Lia, why she always followed Grant about, but Maitland had advised her to ask the lass herself. His mother had some otherworldly talents, had been the keeper of the sapphire sword for years, and had passed it on to Alex Grant to give to his great-grandson, John. She had seer talents that Maitland had never understood, but somehow, he thought she might have a special connection with Lia.
He and Maeve had discussed the similarities between Lia and Callie, the wee lass they’d met in a snowstorm before they married. She’d been several years older than Lia, but Callie had many similar characteristics. They both spoke as though they were decades old, never let anything bother them, and went about everything as if it were their primary task in life.
After all he’d learned about Lia and Magni, especially the haunting tale from Logan about how Magni had found Lia, he didn’t question. The lad had simply whispered that he’d found her as a faery under a frond in the forest. They all wondered about Lia but let her do as she wished, even staying by Grant’s side at all times. Some things were not meant for him to challenge, and this was one of them.
Maitland looked at his mother until he caught her eye, then nodded and tipped his head toward Lia, hoping she understood his meaning. No one else was around but the serving lasses, so this was a perfect time to question the girl.
“Lia, you are so wonderful with Grant,” his mother said, catching on to his meaning quickly. “How have you learned to handle bairns so well?”
Lia smiled, stopping her play with the laddie to give Avelina her full attention, handing Grant a toy to occupy him while she spoke. “Different experiences. I do adore the wee ones. Don’t you, Mistress Menzie?”
“Please call me Avelina.”
“What about Lina?” the girl asked, her brow raised in question. “It is verra much like my name. Do you not agree? Or would that be too confusing for others?”
No one had called her Lina since she arrived. Her brother Micheil did all the time, but he wasn’t here, and Logan hadn’t used it yet that she had heard. “How did you know?”
“Oh, I picked it up somewhere.” Lia smoothed her skirt as though she were the queen of the royal court.
“May I ask you a prying question, Lia?”
“Of course. As long as I may ask you the same.”
Maitland shrugged his shoulders. He faced his mother and now stood behind Lia, watching his son.
His mother replied, “All right. I’ll agree if you ask your question first.”
“I’d be happy to,” Lia replied. “If you had one wish, what would it be, my lady?”
“That’s an easy one to answer. I would wish that no harm would come to my son, his wife, and their son until Alexander was of marrying age.”
Lia tipped her head. “Hmmm. I must reflect on that as it could be considered three wishes. But while I do that, please ask your question, my lady Avelina.”
Without hesitation, she asked, “Why do you stay by my grandson’s side?”
“Because it’s my duty.”
“Who gave you this duty, lass?”
“The universe. I sleep at night, and that’s how I learn of my duties. Where my time can be best spent. It’s most difficult to explain. First it was Magni, then Tora, Rowan, and Magni. Then Thane. Now it is your grandson. I have other smaller tasks to accomplish, but I always have a focus. Does it please you that he is one of my duties?”
“I think so.”
“Why would you doubt this? You have special talents, as well.”
“Because I fear it means there could be danger coming to him. Is there? Is that why you are here, Lia? Is my grandson in danger?”
Maitland took a step forward, afraid to hear her answer. But he convinced himself that no matter what, he had many people who would help him. He wasn’t alone in a dungeon. He was in a strong castle with a curtain wall that was nearly two horses thick, and he was surrounded by the best swordsmen in all the land. And archers. So many strong ones. Alasdair, Broc, Connor, Logan, Derric, Dyna, Gwyneth, Eli, and Alaric, plus countless guards. And the MacVeys, the Rankins, and the MacQuaries were but a short distance away.
Yet something still bothered him. Four bairns had already been kidnapped. Would it happen again? He couldn’t help but wonder if that was why Lia was here.
That fear ate at his insides all day long. Every time he looked at Grant in Maeve’s arms, he was nearly ripped in two by the fear of losing either one of them. He knew that pain well because he’d been through it and almost didn’t survive it before.
He and Nesta had been traveling back to visit her parents on Drummond land when they’d been captured by the English and thrown into a dungeon. Unfortunately, they’d been thrown into two separate cells. He’d listened to his wife’s cries of pain that night, thinking she was being beaten, but it had been a wee lass named Callie who had informed him that Nesta had delivered their bairn in the cell. She’d cried from the pain of bearing the child, not from any beatings. But their child had been born dead, something that couldn’t be helped.
For many years, Maitland had carried the guilt of their deaths with him, thinking he should have been able to break free of his restraints so he could have saved them. But Callie, the guiding angel who had revealed herself to Maeve and Maitland, had said that there was naught he could have done. And she’d told him it was time to marry Maeve so their son could be born.
He’d never survive it if any such thing happened again. The pain of it still gripped him on occasion, much as he tried to fight it.
Lia did something that surprised him more than anything else she could have done. She pushed a stool over next to his mother, then turned back to him and took him by the hand, a movement that was a bit ridiculous, but he allowed it, the girl leading him over to the stool, pointing for him to sit. She glanced over at his son, but he was happily chewing on his snack, his legs still kicking.
Maitland sat as requested, his arms touching his mother’s side. Lia leaned forward and cupped Maitland’s cheeks with her tiny hands. In a quiet, soothing voice, she said, “I need you to listen carefully to me, Maitland Menzie. I am here to protect your son from any harm, and I wish to tell you that I have been granted special powers to see that it happens. I cannot explain it all to you, but I am charged to bring the heavens down to protect him if I must. And Nesta is standing behind me to inform you that we will not lose him and for you to stop worrying so. She says that Callie assures you the same. Trust me, even when the skies are darker than you have ever seen them before, the light will prevail.”
She stood back and lifted her arms over her head, a green aura surrounding her. She smiled and tipped her head to bask in the light.
Immediately, Maitland’s mind jumped to when he had fallen for Maeve. They’d met Callie in the snow. Lia reminded him of Callie, and Maeve had been with him when Callie appeared in front of them later, angel wings and all. She’d said the universe had sent her to them. Callie had been the one who told them they would have a son together, and that he would be quite special.
Had the universe sent them Lia?
A voice on the staircase interrupted them and Lia’s aura fell away.
Lia turned back to Grant, finding another toy for him, acting as if nothing had happened. How grateful Maitland was to have his mother next to him, so he had another witness to Lia’s words.
The person on the staircase was his father, who’d seen and heard enough. But even his father wasn’t prepared for what he found when he reached the group.
Maitland sat on the stool and cried giant tears, ones that choked him.
Nesta was the name of his first wife. Was she that close to him now?
His mother leaned over and kissed his tears, whispering, “Maitland, you must trust in the heavens and the universe. She’s just like Callie was not so long ago. You’re not going to lose him.”