Page 10 of When a Highlander Vows
“Are ye ready, dear?” The grandmother’s voice called from the other side.
“Aye, Mrs. McDougall!” Caitlin called, trying her best to walk to the door when it opened.
“Och, Lass, ye must call me Lottie.” She took Caitlin’s arm without Caitlin needing to ask for the help. As soon as they stepped out of her chamber and shut the door, Lottie began chatting quickly. “Downstairs, ye will meet Archie’s wife and child as well as the Castle healer, Paige. Me grandson ye already ken, of course.”
The old woman chuckled as if her words gave her some great entertainment. Caitlin didn’t say anything about that but allowed herself to be led. The castle was not what she’d expected at all.
It was large and stony and sometimes there was a slight chill in the air or a dampness, but when they got close to the main hall, she could feel the delicious heat coming from the room. Smells of cooked meat and hot bread filled the air, and her stomach growled. Despite the gray shadowy shape it had always appeared to her, the castle felt cozy and welcoming.
“Here we are, love,” Lottie said, and Caitlin could hear voices as they approached the center of the main hall.
She cleared her throat, trying to remember what to say to new people when Lottie spoke.
“Here we are. Everyone this is Miss Caitlin MacLennan, come to live with us as me companion.”
She pulled Caitlin closer to the table, so now she could see everyone’s faces a little more clearly. Lottie held out her hand to each person at the table, speaking cheerfully.
“Archie, you know, of course. This is his wife Sarah, and their son, Colin.” Caitlin smiled warmly at the young, dark-haired woman, and her dark-haired, very young son, only about four years old, who looked up at her with his mother’s eyes.
She nodded at them. “Lovely to meet ye.”
“And here is Paige McFarlane, the youngest healer ever to work on McDougall land and in the Castle.” Caitlin turned to face this young woman but was met with a cold, stiff smile.
Paige had reddish hair, full lips, and sharp, almond-shaped eyes that looked at her with suspicion. All the same, she gave Paige a smile and nod.
“Good to meet ye.”
“Sit, sit, and eat. All ye must be starved.” Lottie showed her to a seat next to the laird, and Lottie found her seat across from her.
On her right side sat Sarah, and she was relieved it was not the pinch-faced Paige who was still eyeing her from across the table as if worried Caitlin might do something strange. It was the same look many young women gave Caitlin at times, whenever she could see them up close, and she was never sure what it meant. But she was certain it was not a friendly look.
Food had already been served, and wine poured, so everyone began to eat, meat being passed from plate to plate, until Caitlin’s was full of steaming, hot food. She ate demurely, afraid that it would be unseemly to dive into her food as one truly starved. But she hadn’t eaten since that morning before the laird had arrived to turn her world on its head.
“Ye must be tired. It is a long journey from the village to here. I have done it a few times,” the woman called Sarah said.
Caitlin turned to be faced with a warm, kindly smile. “Och, aye, I am tired but very happy to be eatin’. Were ye visitin’ someone in the village?”
“I have an old relative there, aye, but sometimes, I go with Archie on a few of his errands for the Laird, and we pass through from time to time.”
“I am nae old enough to go yet, but I will soon,” Colin said from the other side of his mother.
Caitlin laughed, leaning her head to the side to see him. “I see. Well, that sounds like a wonderful adventure. I say, only the bravest can travel such a distance.”
She happened to glance at the laird who was eyeing her with a narrowed, suspicious look. Clearing her throat, she turned away, wondering if she’d said the wrong thing, but Sarah seemed pleased, and she ruffled Colin’s hair.
“Aye, and so one day when you are old enough and brave enough, ye too will dae the journey with yer faither.”
Colin grinned, and Sarah leaned down to whisper something to him. Caitlin cut into her meat and took a bite, listening to the others’ muffled conversation.
Suddenly, and sharply, Paige said, “And why have ye come to join us here, Miss MacLennan?”
6
Caitlin was taken aback by such abruptness. It was not often she ate a meal with so many people at once, and she felt her hands shake a little at being so addressed.
Swallowing, she glanced at Lottie quickly before she said, “I was asked to come.” It seemed a feeble sort of excuse then.
Briefly, she wondered if the young healer was to be betrothed to the laird and thus found the arrival of a new young woman irritating.
