“I’m a MacKinnon that is who I bloody am.”
“A MacKinnon? Then ye must be related to my husband, Ewan,” she said as she nodded her head past Bram towards the stables.
“Ewan? Yer husband?” Bram almost fell over in laughter at the woman’s statement.
“How dare ye talk to my wife that way?” Ewan asked from behind him. Bram knew his voice instantly.
Bram turned, keeping his hood up, covering his face.
“Ewan, of all people. Married to an Englishwoman. I guess ye did say there was nay a lass in all of Scotland who could tame ye.”
Ewan’s jaw dropped as Bram lowered his cloak.
“Bram!” Ewan exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around him. “Yer alive!”
“Aye, but I will nay be much longer if ye dinna loosen yer grip around my neck,” Bram choked out. Ewan released him, but kept his hand firmly on his shoulder.
“What happened to ye? Where have ye been? I thought ye were dead. Had I known, I swear I would ne’er have…,” Ewan asked.
“Tis a long story, cousin, but first I wish to see my lads and my brother and mother. I can regale all of ye wit my journey over a warm meal,” Bram said reassuring him.
“Well dinna just stand there, come inside, ye fool.”
Bram turned and headed back to his horse, where Lara was still perched, watching the joyous reunion. Holding his hand up to her, he helped her off the horse.
“Ewan, I would like ye to meet, Lara. My wife.”
The expression painted on Ewan’s face as Lara came into view went from pleasant to jaw-dropping astonishment.
“Wife? So after all this time and all the lassies ye finally found one and settled down.”
“Aye, I did.”
Colin and Connor dropped the toys they were playing with and ran in between both Ewan and Bram.
“Da?” Colin cried out.
Bram smiled down at the two teary-eyed boys. Both lads leapt from the ground and jumped into Bram’s arms. The sound of tears and laughter warmed Lara’s heart. It was delightful to witness such affection from a father to his sons. It made missing her father all the more painful, but she was glad for the short time she had with him.
Bram held Lara’s arm and followed Ewan, Jacqueline and the lads inside the keep.
Lara leaned towards him and asked, “All the lassies?” Repeating what Ewan had said. “Just how many lassies have ye shared yer bed wit?”
Bram bit his lower lip, unsure how to answer. He had lost count ages ago, but did not want to admit that little truth.
“Ah, a few,” he replied.
As they entered into the great hall, a flock of women crowded around him, calling out his name and pawing at him like they were crows pecking at their meal. Lara crossed her arms and could not believe the scene before her eyes. Bram tried to escape them but the women followed him like flies.
“Only a few?” Lara loudly asked, staring daggers at the women who swarmed around her husband.
“Ladies, some dignity, please,” Bram said, successfully pushing himself away from the group of women and moving to stand next to Lara. With a trying-to-be-innocent look plastered on his face, he twisted his lips, waiting for Lara to thrash him. Lara curled her lips and gave him that “just wait till later” look.
The group of women pouted as they saw Bram wrap his arm around Lara’s and escort her into the next room. Lara walked slowly and with dignity, hoping to appear as a threat. Inwardly, she smiled.
Bram glanced around the room expecting to see his brother sitting at the head table and his mother sitting by the fire attending to her needlework, but the room was vacant. After a few short moments, the kitchen door swung open as though blown by a furious wind. His brother Rory filled the doorframe. He looked at Bram as if he could not believe his eyes. It took only moments until he ran towards him and wrapped his younger brother in such a tight embrace that Bram could barely breathe from his grip.
With Rory’s forehead pressed to Bram’s, he said to him, “My brother has returned from the grave and has come home.” Looking into his eyes, Rory pleaded, “Why? Why did ye leave? Ye dinna have to go into battle. I had sent plenty of our men. I did no’ mean fer ye to go. Please forgive me, if ye thought any different. I ne’er would have wished fer it. No’ fer my only brother to put himself into danger. We thought ye were dead. Poor Ewan has been heavily weighed by guilt o’er it. He blamed himself, as did I. Forgive me, brother.”
Bram placed his hands on the sorrowful man’s shoulders.
“Ye have nay reason to be burdened by guilt, brother. ‘Twas no’ yer fault or doing that I left. I went on my own behalf and of my own doing. It was where I belonged, on the battlefield, no’ here. Dunakin is where ye belong. Ye are Laird of this clan, and this clan needs their leader. My only regret is that I did no’ kill enough of those bloody bastards before they rendered me unconscious,” Bram replied, ending in sarcasm.
“Well, ye are home now. Mother will be most pleased. She has mourned yer death every day since Ewan returned wit’ the news.”
“Rory, I would like ye to meet Lara, my wife. Lara, this is my brother, Laird Rory MacKinnon, Laird of Dunakin Castle.”
“Wife? Well, my lady, ye have my congratulations, and I welcome ye to the family, though I must say ye have questionable taste in men,” Rory said jokingly.
“Thank ye. But I can promise ye yer brother is a kind and honest gentlemen.”
Ewan leaned into Rory and whispered, “I knew it! She’s daft. No woman in her right mind would think of Bram as gentle!”
The two of them laughed until tears filled their eyes. Bram squeezed his brows together, creasing his forehead and stared at them angrily as they openly whispered to one another, giving him a reason to toss each one of them over his shoulder and knock them on their arse. Not that he’d ever needed a reason before.
Rory’s laughter broke. “Tonight, we will feast in honor of my brother’s return,” he announced.
Chapter 27
As Bram gave Lara a tour of the castle grounds, it looked exactly as Bram had described it. Floral tapestries hung on the walls, and the rooms smelled of fresh rushes and lilac. Wooden rockers sat before a giant hearth in the great hall with needles and unfinished blankets folded over the arm of the chair as if someone had not quite finished the stitching. And in the hearth, a roaring fire blazed, keeping the first floor of the castle warm and comforting.
Overall, the castle folk were very welcoming and very different than where she grew up at Stearns Castle. Lara was grateful for Rory’s generous hospitality and the warm greetings she received fromBram’s clansmen. With each person they passed, more and more people expressed their happiness for Bram’s return.
Every thought and assumption she had about the Highlanders, she realized, was wrong. Her only accurate preconception about them was that they were indeed tall and fierce, though they were also kind and friendly. Lara looked forward to beginning her tasks around the castle helping the women, and starting her new life here.
Excitedly, Colin and Connor helped Bram with the tour, showing Lara all of their favorite places to play and hide, as well as where they lived in the village. Lara was surprised to know that the two boys were only half-brothers, and did not live within the castle. But their homes with their mothers were close to the castle grounds, and they could see Bram whenever they wanted.
As they walked around the grounds, they entered the burial grounds of the church. A chill shook Bram causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand. Along the path next to his father was a fresh grave marked with a slab of stone - his grave. It only made sense that they would have made a grave stone for him and placed it next to his father’s since they had believed he was dead, but seeing his own stone was too surreal and it made him uncomfortable. Bram’s first task at hand would be to make sure the stone was removed until the day when it would be needed again.