Page 11 of Wolf Heir (Highland Wolves of Old #3)

Then he said, “See you soon.” He hurried out of the kitchen, not wanting to keep Alasdair waiting. Even though they were good friends, Alasdair was a chief and needed to return to his people. And Coinneach wanted to give Aisling time to speak with her mother before she shared what was the matter.

After the meal, Aisling found her mother waiting for her at the castle's entrance, wringing her hands. They left the castle, hurried through the inner bailey, and then the outer one. Aisling was eager to learn what had been troubling her mother about Coinneach.

“We are no’ related, are we?” Aisling blurted out before they were very far from the castle. She couldn’t imagine that they would be.

“Gods no. ‘Tis much more serious than that.”

What could be more serious than that?

“I was forced to keep a secret when I was only sixteen summers. A terrible, dark secret that has eaten me up for years.”

“Until you saw Coinneach?” Ailing ventured.

“Aye.”

“He’s no’ a bad man.” Aisling would never believe that about him.

“Nay. I…I did a terrible thing, but I had no choice.”

Aisling’s mother was a truly kind-hearted woman. She devoted herself to helping deliver babies and tending to the injuries and ailments of those in need. She never spoke ill of anyone. What could her mother have possibly done that was considered wrong?

“I was…was ordered to murder a healthy bairn.” Her mother started to cry.

Aisling hugged her. “But you didna. If you had, you would have said you killed the bairn. What an evil thing to do. Who ordered you to kill a bairn?” She couldn’t imagine anything more horrible than that.

Her mother took hold of her hands. “I canna tell you. I shouldna have told you this much. I canna believe Drustan wants Coinneach to work for him.”

“The baby—was it Coinneach?” What would Coinneach have to do with any of this otherwise? He was probably the right age to have been a baby when her mother was sixteen.

“Aye, but you must tell no one.”

“I dinna understand.”

“His mother died in childbirth, and I was ordered to get rid of the baby.”

“Who ordered such a thing?”

“I canna say.”

“But you gave him to…no, you didna or you wouldna have been so shocked to see him. You didna know he lived.”

“I was young and was threatened that I would die if I didna do it, but I couldna harm him. He was a beautiful baby. I checked on him the next day, but someone had taken him in. I knew by the footprints in the soil, but I didna know who had.”

“You recognized the wolf on his shoulder.”

“Aye. I was shocked to see that he had grown into a man, that the crofters had taken him in.” Her mother wiped away tears.

“What about his da?”

“That I canna tell you.”

“Magnus and Elspeth dinna know whose baby Coinneach is,” Aisling said, astounded. She didn’t know anyone who didn’t cherish new wolf pups in the pack. How could the person who ordered the bairn to be murdered be so monstrous?

“Nay. They must have found him and taken him in as their own. You say that the boys are twins, Tamhas and Coinneach, but they are no’.

I suspected Elspeth had just recently given birth to Tamhas, and they found the baby then.

The men appear to be about the same age.

Then she would have been able to nurse both. ”

“Mayhap they were afraid of mentioning to anyone that they found the bairn.”

“And had they known, it would have been for good reason.”

Aisling pondered the matter, then said, “So why is Coinneach in danger?” She understood her mother’s concern because of the person who had threatened her with death. But how would anyone learn Coinneach wasn’t the crofters’ son? Then she thought of his birthmark.

“If anyone remembers what Hamish looked like at Coinneach’s age and sees the resemblance?”

“And the wolf head on his shoulder.”

“Only a few of us saw it.”

“In the birthing room?” Now Aisling suspected the person who had ordered her mother to get rid of the child had been helping with the birth. A woman, not a man.

But it had to be someone older than her mother at the time, most likely someone in a position of authority.

“If the mother died and had a bairn, but then the bairn disappears, wouldna that have been suspicious?” Aisling couldn’t understand how they could have deceived everyone.

“Another mother had twins and one didna live.”

“Och, so you swapped out bairns!” Aisling couldn’t help but be mortified at the idea. “But you didna give the healthy bairn to the one who had lost a twin.”

“Nay. She knew it had died. There was no sense in taking the bairn to her and saying that he had miraculously lived.”

No. There was more to it than that. The woman lost a bairn, and it would have been easy to swap out the deceased one for the live one instead of abandoning him to suffer what fate could have befallen him. He was just fortunate that Magnus and Elspeth had taken him in.

“The woman in charge of the birthing”—Aisling had no idea how that person could be so cruel so long ago—“must have ordered the bairn disposed of because she wouldn’t allow him to remain in the castle. Am I right?”

Appearing morose, her mother bit her lip and nodded, looking out at the grasses surrounding them.

So, who was the da? Someone of importance? Or someone, the most likely person, the midwife wanted for her own. Once his mate was gone, she saw a way to ingratiate herself with him so that he would become her mate.

Aisling had seen that behavior between a woman and a man before, only no bairns had been involved. The woman would have had to be older than her mother, and the da would have had to be about Tamhas’s dad’s age.

“Who is Coinneach’s real da?”

“I canna say. No’ only would the woman who forced me to take him away—I left him by the river where I knew the crofters gathered to fish—but his own da would want my head. Dinna you see? I did a terrible thing.”

“You were forced to.” She didn’t see her mother in a bad way.

“I’ve thought about it over the years, and maybe if I’d been stronger, less afraid of my own shadow, I could have spoken to his da. But important people surrounded him, and the woman who told me to get rid of the bairn was watching me. I couldna approach him.”

Aisling wondered how she would have handled the situation at her mother's age. She thought she would have told the midwife that she would do it, but then taken the baby straight to the da and told him his son had survived.

But what if he didn’t believe her? She could see her mother’s dilemma.

“So you are saying the midwife would recognize Coinneach as his bairn if she saw his birthmark?”

“Aye. And he was shirtless when he was fighting in the inner bailey.”

Aisling loved to see Coinneach shirtless, his beautiful, glistening muscles exposed. She loved his birthmark, distinguishing him from any other man she’d ever met.

“But”—Aisling suspected—“the woman in question wouldna have come out to watch the fighting?”

“Nay. She abhors seeing such a thing.”

But it was all right to kill a newly born baby.

“His da wouldna know about it.” Not if he hadn’t seen the bairn, Aisling thought.

Now Aisling didn’t know what to do. She’d been eager to learn the truth, but not half-truths.

She wanted to tell Coinneach, but would it only hurt him?

Would he be angry that Magnus and Elspeth hadn’t told him the truth about how they had found him?

Or want to take revenge against the midwife? And her mother?

“You see why I didna want to tell you about it? You canna mention this to Coinneach. His parents, though not his birth parents, have loved him like a mother and a da, and telling him the truth will only hurt him.”

“Surely, the midwife no longer holds any power over you. You’ve been the midwife for years.”

“Nay, love. She has great power.”

“How? Does she have many friends and family who would do her bidding?” Aisling asked.

“Something like that.”

Not much family and many friends. Aisling tried to think of who had that much power and blurted out, “Morag!”

“Shh, never say her name.”

“Ohmigoddess, she married the Chief. Hamish is Coinneach’s da.”

Her mother wiped away tears. “I knew I could never keep the truth from you forever.”

“No matter how much you wanted to keep the secret, you needed to tell someone.”

“You canna tell Coinneach. He will make his way in the world on his own.”

“Unlike Morag’s son, Rupert. Morag spoils him rotten. But he’s still the chief’s son, if no’ his first.”

Her mother didn’t respond, her eyes downcast.

“Dinna tell me, Rupert isna Hamish’s son.”

“I didna tell you that.”

“But he isna, is he?”

Her mother shook her head.

“Whose then?”

“She had a roll in the hay with a stable hand, then she claimed Rupert was Hamish’s.

But I had witnessed her entering the barn, and, curious, I peeked in to see what they were doing.

I caught them in the act, but they never saw me.

They were too busy…well, you know. Hamish never realized the lie, though he’d been away at the time, battling another clan. ”

“Och, then Coinneach is the legitimate heir.”

“Coinneach is a farm boy. Naught more. You dinna know the danger ahead for the three of us, maybe even Tamhas and his parents if…if Morag learns that Coinneach is Hamish’s son and believes they know of it.”

“Except for you, no one could prove he is Hamish’s son,” Aisling said morosely. Rupert had tried to kiss her repeatedly, and she’d fought off his advances. She’d gotten a black eye from him the last time for denying him. She would love to see Coinneach put him in his place.

“Morag has too much to lose if Hamish learns of it,” her mother said. “She willna let that happen.”

Aisling was glad her mother told her what it was all about, but she was torn about telling Coinneach. How would he feel if he learned Aisling had known the truth and hadn’t shared it with him? Mates couldn’t keep secrets from each other, not of that magnitude.

Morag should be found guilty of what she had done. Aisling just hoped her mother wouldn’t have to pay for her part in the crime.

“What about Rupert? Does he know who his true da is? Wait, does Morag even love Hamish? Does she love Rupert’s da?”

“If you look at Rupert and his dad, you can see the similarities. They both have finer features, red hair, the same long faces, and green eyes. I’ve never seen them together so I don’t know if Rupert knows who his da is.”

“Coinneach looks like Hamish,” Aisling suddenly said.

“Aye, though unless anyone made the connection, they would think he was only a crofter. I’ve seen Morag speaking to Osmond. I’m sure others have seen them together. I dinna know if they are still lovers. But I dinna think she and Hamish love each other like he loved Orla.”

Which made it even more terrible that Hamish hadn’t had his son to raise after his mate had died.

“I canna force you no’ to talk to Coinneach about any of this, but the more who know about it, the more dangerous it is for all of us. I know you plan to see Coinneach. Just take care of what you say. I must return to the castle.” Then her mother hugged her.

Aisling lingered in her mother's arms, her grip tightening as if to shield Aisling from some unseen threat. When they finally broke apart, her mother hurried down the path through the meadow without a backward glance.

A knot formed in Aisling's stomach at the thought of meeting Coinneach—whose mere mention usually quickened her pulse.

As she approached the croft, she spotted him crossing the meadow with his familiar smile. Her chest tightened. She inhaled sharply, blinked back tears, and broke into a run toward him.