Page 105 of Sighs of the Highland Wind
“I will kill them myself if they try to take ye,” Caitrin growled, gripping her needles as though they were daggers.
“No!” Tearlach stood up and took the old woman’s arms in a tight grip. “Ye have nae idea what these men are like, Mistress. They have daggers, swords an’ muskets, an’ a wee woman like you would have nae chance against them. As well as that, they have nae hearts. I have seen them killin’ a man in cold blood, as you have. Whatever ye dae, do not try to fight them. Ye can always get more things, but he can never get your life back.”
Caitrin nodded slowly, then took the dishes away and stacked them together preparatory to washing them. She busied herself around the cottage for a while before speaking.
“Norah’ an’ I have been together for a few months an’ she has never mentioned you. Why is that? I would have thought that your name would have cropped up when we were talkin’ at least once. Ye said ye used tae be good friends.”
“I don’t think she ever forgave me for runnin’ away,” he replied, sighing. “As ye can probably see, she is refined, an’ I am not. She is well educated, an’ I am not. We never had a future together, an’ I think I always knew it, but maybe Norah clung onto her dreams longer than I did. Maybe it is the way o’ lassies.
Men always want to be big an’ strong to impress the ladies, but ladies are much softer than we are, with more tender hearts. I think I hurt her badly, an’ that is why she didnae speak to me. Or maybe she doesnae care any more. But she has always been a person who keeps her feelin’s to herself, so if she was hurt, she likely would not have said anythin’. I am very sorry that I ran away, but even if I had stayed, we would never have had a future together.”
Caitrin knew what Norah had been running away from, but she said nothing, reasoning that if Norah wanted to tell him about her flight from an unwanted marriage she would have done so herself.
“She never liked her father very much,” Caitrin remarked. “Although she didnae tell me in so many words. Whenever I asked about him she would always try an’ talk about somethin’ else.”
“Naebody liked her father very much!” Tearlach said, his voice full of derision. “He is a puffed up eejit o’ a man, always tryin’ to show how important he is. I never understood how he managed to sire a wonderful daughter like Norah.”
The old lady looked at him shrewdly. “Is it not a funny thing that she was the one who found ye, though?” she asked. “Ye havenae seen each other for years an’ ye end up here in the same place at the same time?”
Tearlach had opened his mouth to answer her when suddenly the door crashed open and Norah shot through it. She was out of breath and flushed with exertion, her hair wildly tangled, but that was not what scared Tearlach and Caitrin. Norah looked absolutely terrified.
7
They watched as she leaned on the back of a chair, taking in great gulps of air, tears caused by the strong wind streaming down her face. When she had finally regained her breath she looked up straight into Tearlach’s green eyes and realized that she could not lose him again. This man was everything to her, and even if she had to kill for him, so be it. She was still furious with him, but she knew she would forgive him. Nothing was going to separate them this time.
She had last seen him when he was a youth and she was a barely developed young woman, as yet without breasts. She had loved him then, but now that he was a man, everything that she had felt for him then had come back tenfold. This was not the infatuation of a dreamy young girl, and the man staring back at her was not the boy who had run away with fantasies of grandeur and glory.
Moreover, this was not a game played with wooden swords and catapults, but a matter of life and death, since the weapons of the enemy would be sharp and deadly. Neither the redcoats nor their enemies, the armies of Scotland, had any compassion;they could not afford to be merciful. Depending on the circumstances, anyone who rebelled against the crown would be taken back to be tried or summarily executed on the spot.
“The redcoats have found your horse, Tearlach,” she gasped. “They are going from door to door to see if anyone is hiding you, and there is a ten pound reward if anyone has information that leads to your capture.” Ten pounds did not sound like much, but it was a fortune for most poor people, and could keep their families fed for a long while.
“How do they know it is my horse?” he asked, puzzled. “It could be anyone’s.”
“Never mind the horse!” Norah growled. “We can worry about him later.”
“That is what you said last time - and look what happened!” he cried. “I have lost him - my best friend in the whole world!”
“Keep your voice down!” Norah hissed. “This horse is a chestnut stallion who answers to the name of Rory, and he has a reputation for being the fastest mount of all the rebel horses. They know he is yours, Tearlach. If he was an ordinary horse I am sure the redcoats would just have stolen him and moved on, but now that they have found him they know you are around here somewhere.”
She looked at Caitrin. “Is there anywhere we can hide him?”
The old woman frowned, and led them to a cupboard next to the fireplace where she kept her blankets. “It is not very big, but if ye squeeze in as tight as ye can then I think ye should be able to get in,” she said doubtfully.
Tearlach nodded, then climbed into the tiny space. He drew his knees up to his chin and wrapped his arms around his legs. The space was not big enough for him to straighten his neck, so he was obliged to push his face down onto his knees. He felt as though he had been tied in a very tight knot.
“We will try to see them off as quickly as possible,” Norah whispered as she shut the door of the cupboard. She pushed a chair in front of its door so that one of them could sit in it and make the cupboard very hard to see. The redcoats would have to work very hard if they wanted to find anything in Caitrin’s house.
At once, instant blackness descended on Tearlach. He was cramped, blind, and every joint in his body ached. He was more miserable than he had ever been in his life, but it would only be for a few minutes, would it not? He closed his eyes and tried to think of pleasant things, like the first time he had seen Norah again after six years.
She had turned into the kind of spectacular woman he had always known she could become, but the reality far surpassed his imaginings. She was quite simply magnificent, and now he would go to any lengths so make her his. He only hoped she felt the same way about him, but at the present moment all he wanted to do was avoid the redcoats and survive.
He tried listening for any sounds that would give him a clue as to what was going on, but all he heard was the thud of his own heartbeat. It was much faster than usual, but then he was terrified out of his wits. Then he heard the deep rumble of men’s voices, but they did not seem to be advancing any closer to him. For the first time in a very long while, he began to pray.
Norah looked around the cottage to make sure that nothing was out of place, then she and Caitrin sat down and took out their knitting. They were making hats for all the children in the village, to be given out in the autumn when temperatures began their yearly descent into winter. Caitrin did the same thing every year, since wool was abundant due to the many flocks of sheep in the area.
One of the first questions that Caitrin had asked Norah before she came to live with her was, “Can ye knit, hen?”
“Yes, I can, Caitrin. Why?” She had looked very puzzled.
