Page 33 of When a Highlander Vows (Enemies to Lovers #1)

33

W hen morning came, Lucas practically leaped from his bed, feeling well rested, and he did not eat before he left in search of the healer. A few of the villagers were able to direct him well enough, and he soon found himself standing outside of the largest hut in the small village with all sorts of interesting smells emanating from the door. He reached up with a fist and banged loudly on the door. In response, he heard a clanging from behind it.

“Is the healer in?” he called with impatience.

He was hungry, and he wanted to get the first village’s task completed as quickly as possible so that he would be able to ask a few more healers in the space of one day.

“Aye!” a scratchy voice called, and soon the large door opened, and the various smells coming from the doorway only intensified.

Lucas grimaced, but he stepped inside when the old man turned to let him through.

“What is this? A young man to see me?” the old man asked with a smile, showing his few broken teeth. “I assume it is a love potion ye’d like, or perhaps a potion to help strengthen yer…resolve, in yer bedchamber?”

“What? Nay, nay,” Lucas said, waving a hand in the air, frustrated. “I want somethin’ else entirely.” Clearing his throat, he looked around at the oddly furnished room.

It was one large room, but there were little compartments or alcoves with cushions and curtains, as if places for patients to rest. The smells were of herbs and tinctures he knew, and yet there was a smell of rotting meat in the air as well. It made Lucas feel ill.

“I am come for information. I am Laird McDougall, and I have an interest in what ye may ken about an eyeglass of sorts.”

“An eyeglass?” the old man said, lifting a brow and shuffling away with his humped back to continue grinding herbs at a long table.

“I daenae ken what ye call it, but somethin’, like a tool of some sort that ye put near the eye which could help a person see more clearly.”

“Och,” the old man nodded, his mouth opening wider, revealing even more broken teeth. “I ken just what ye mean.”

“Ye dae?!” Lucas asked excitedly, a smile growing on his face. “Where might I acquire one?”

“It is an odd request. I have never seen any meself, only heard about them.” The old man paused in his grinding and pinned Lucas with a glare. “Ye are a lucky lad, for a peddler has only come round yesterday, selling any number of wares relatin’ to the body and the mind. Ye might be able to find him and ask him for what ye seek.”

Lucas could feel his heart rushing in a new, frenzied beat. He was close without even realizing it. He had hardly ridden fifty miles and yet he was soon to find what he so desperately sought.

“And which direction did he go?” Lucas asked, turning his body to leave as soon as he received his answer.

“North, I think. Young man, a brown cap of sorts. Couldnae tell the colors of his kilt. Left yesterday eve. Ye may be able to catch him if ye ride hard and fast.”

“Thank ye!” Lucas called, and out of the healer’s hut and hurried back to the tavern’s stables.

He saddled Searbas himself, unable to wait, and in a matter of minutes, they were racing toward the north, and Lucas’ heart was in his throat.

Soon, I will have them soon, and she will see that I love her. That I love her more than meself.

Lucas’ pace did not falter, even though the realization struck him hard in the chest. Love? He had not known that he loved her. Only that he desired her. That he wanted some of her lightness for himself. That he wanted to be near her, to protect her, to make her happy.

Perhaps, then, that is what love truly is.

He tested the feeling, looking through his heart for the first time in a long time, and he realized it was true. He loved her. He was so in love with her that he could hardly think or act in the way he used to act. His whole life had spun around on its axis and changed. Everything was different now. Instead of the bleak, lonely future he’d always envisioned for himself, he saw something more. He saw smiles, laughter, beauty. And happiness. And most importantly, he saw acceptance at long last.

That realization only made him ride faster and harder, and a few minutes later he spotted the peddler, just as the healer had described. When he spotted the young man, a large pack on his back walking northward to a new village, a laugh bubbled up from his chest, into his throat and out. He was a lucky lad, indeed.

“Ye there!” he called, and the man turned around, confused, watching as a waving, crazed Lucas rode up to him, Searbas nearly frothing at the mouth.

“Aye?” the man asked, squinting up at him, and Lucas grinned as he jumped down from his horse.

“Ye could be the very one who could change me life, Lad, if only ye will help me. I will pay any price, and dae anythin’, for what I ask of ye will bring me the love of me life.”

At breakfast that morning, Caitlin was finally relaxed in front of her old companion. All or mostly all had been revealed yesterday, and it was a slight relief that Lottie knew the truth, at least from Caitlin’s side of things. She’d been embarrassed to speak of everything, but she had kept some details to herself. There had been no need for Lottie to know about the time Lucas stayed in her bed, the way his mouth had moved over her bare chest, bodice undone. And yet, she was still certain that Lottie knew all, especially if Sarah had known.

But she had revealed some of her heart to the old woman, and Lottie had clasped her tightly against her large bosom.

“Ye are a wonderful, bonny lass. Ye are just the kind of woman I would want for me grandson. He has changed so much since ye arrived. Ye have brought such a lightness with ye, Caitlin. I saw it as soon as I met ye that night, arrivin’ from yer village. I kenned that ye would be the right one.”

Caitlin wasn’t sure why, but she’d cried, and Lottie had embraced her and whispered to her in a soothing tone just like a mother would. But fear still resided in her heart. There was still the matter of Lucas feeling the same way. And she wasn’t yet certain. When they swam together, it had felt like they were closer than friends, but he had not touched her like earlier that day.

Ye fool! Ye asked him nae to!

She had not, in fact, asked him not to. But deep in her heart, she really wished that instead he would not run away, but his touch would mean that he wanted to stay. Forever, in fact. The realization of her love made her feel excited and afraid. Lottie was so certain that it would all work out in the end. But in Caitlin’s experience, she didn’t really have many happy endings.

“Why are ye nae eatin’, Lass? Ye should be happy! Thrilled, even! Once me grandson returns, I am certain he will stop at whatever he is playin’ at, and he will make ye a fine proposal. Think of it—ye as the Lady of Clan McDougall.” Lottie sighed, looking off into the distance, but Caitlin frowned.

“Lottie, ye shouldnae hope so much for that. We still daenae ken exactly. He is kind tae me, very kind.”

Lottie lifted a brow and crossed her arms. “He’s been more than kind as we both ken,” she said, and Caitlin blushed.

“Aye, but I daenae want me hopes to rise, ye see. In me life, things daenae always work out. Things havenae ended well.”

“Och,” Lottie said, reaching over to pat Caitlin’s hand. She had the nod of an older, wiser woman. “Listen to me now, Lass. I understand ye perfectly, as does Lucas. We have had a dark past, he and I. Me husband was as cruel as the devil and violent too. I couldnae count the lashes he put upon me back or me son’s.”

Caitlin swallowed. She had had a difficult time in her life, losing everyone she loved, but her parents and brother had always been loving and kind. There was never any violence between them, and she realized just how grateful for that she was. She had never been touched with anger. It was only fate that had stolen her sight, and only because life was not a fair thing.

“I am sorry, Lottie. I ken.” She nodded, and Lottie smiled.

“Daenae think I mean to scold ye, Lass. I only mean to say that it would be fair enough for me too nae to believe that somethin’ good can still happen. All ye have tae dae is wait and see.”

With another encouraging smile, Lottie squeezed her hand and began to eat.

“Remember, dear, there are still good things in the world. Ye are proof of it.”