Page 37 of Highlander's Wild Lass
“Brave fools,” Celestia muttered. “Like all men.”
“Celestia, Da is nae a fool.”
Celestia carefully grabbed a bushel of white primrose and remained silent.
“What is on yer mind, lass?” Brannan asked, busying himself with braiding together two pieces of flower and some string. “Ye have been short with me ever since ye came back from the distillery.”
She eyed Auralia cautiously and slipped a look at her father. “Jacob showed us the other customer list.”
“Oh,” Brannan said firmly. “I was goin’ to tell ye about that sooner or later.”
“Sooner would have been better, then I could have understood why Mr. Koll was so keen.”
“Ryder Koll doesnae ken ofthatlist, trust me,” Brannan told her. “If he did, he wouldnae be after our customers, he would have me in gaol.”
“Prison? Yer willin’ to risk yer freedom to avoid a silly little excise tax?”
Auralia was doing her best to keep her head down and focus on the wreath she was constructing, but her eyes kept wandering from Celestia to their father.
“Aye, Celestia. I would.”
“Why, ye had children to think about and Ma when she was alive!”
Brannan brought his fist down onto the table, quieting Celestia. “Yer maither ken about the underground list. In fact, she acquired most of those customers herself.”
“What?” Celestia murmured. “Maither helped ye?”
His grave look broke and a small sad smile tugged at his lips. “When King James was usurped by that outlander William…well, yer maither and I felt that only God could judge and remove a monarch.”
“The divine right of kings?” Auralia questioned.
Brannan nodded. “Aye, William may have been king, but he was nae my king nor Scotland’s.”
“So,” Celestia said, “Ye and Ma were Jacobites?”
“Yer maither was a proud one too. We both aided in the uprising in 1689.”
Celestia couldn’t believe her ears. Her mother, the sweetest, kindest god-fearing woman she knew had been a Jacobite. Had been political and had helped the uprisings that exploded across the nation when James II was ousted.
“What did ye’s do to help?” Auralia asked cautiously.
“Smuggled mostly, supplies and weapons and such,” Brannan said with a shrug and continued fastening flowers together as if the topic of conversation was ordinary. “People, sometimes, who needed to escape the English.”
“Oh.” It was all Celestia could get herself to say.
“I’m sorry for not tellin’ ye earlier. But most of our customers are above brow—we’ve been playin’ both sides for a long time. As much as I want to see a Catholic king on the throne, we must be prepared for both.”
Celestia nodded, still unsure how to feel.
“And we must keep a very keen eye out now, with Queen Anne dead set on unifyin’ our countries.”
Celestia let out a long breath. “I’ve heard talks about Scotland and England becomin’ one in the village.”
“Aye,” Auralia said, “me too, and they daenae seem so happy about it either.”
Brannan ran a finger over his brow. “Why would they be? England wants to take away our sovereignty to run Scotland ourselves.” He sighed. “But on the other hand, unifyin’ with England promises new trade routes with English colonies, which will open up more business for us. Which is why—”
“We play both sides,” Celestia said, nodding, finally understanding why the other list existed. Though she felt uncomfortable at the prospect of breaking the law.
