Page 116 of Highlanders for the Holidays
“I never said ye would find the seer on your journey.”
“Ye did,” he said.
She sat down beside him and patted his shoulder. “What I said was that ye would find the lassyouneed, Roderick. Lily is meant to be your wife.”
That was not how he remembered it, but she was right that Lily was the lass he needed.
“Why did ye not tell me all this from the start?” he said. “I would have done things differently if I’d known Lily was meant to be my wife.”
“Hmmph,” his grandmother snorted. “If you’d known it, ye would have made things even worse than ye have.”
It was true that he had been desperate to avoid marriage.
“Though Lily is no’ much of a seer,” his grandmother said, “she is also the lass the clan needs.”
“To hell with what the clan needs,” he muttered, and rubbed his hands over his face.
“The Sightwas verra strong in your mother,” she said. “Ye carry her blood.”
If his grandmother could not tell him something useful, he wished she would be quiet so he could think.
“The gift rarely shows itself in the men of our family,” she continued. “But it comes out in you when Lily needs ye most. ’Tis why ye found her on that hillside.”
Ach, what was she droning on about? He didn’t haveThe Sight.
“The child born of your blood and a true love will have a powerful gift that surpasses even mine,” she said.“’Tis not Lily, but the daughter the two of ye will have together, who is destined to become a great seer of our clan.”
Roderick had barely been listening to her rambling, but he jolted upright when her words penetrated his thoughts. “What did ye say?”
“I saw it in a vision as clear as the nose on my face,” she said, laying her finger against the side of her nose. “Your daughter will take my place and serve our clan through difficult times and for many, many years.”
“Lily and I will have a child together?” The notion sent a burst of joy through him. “A daughter?”
Roderick imagined a wee girl with red hair as bright as the sun and startling green eyes.
“Aye, and several other bairns as well—if ye don’t lose the mother.” His grandmother gave him a sharp slap on the back of his head. “The vision is fading, so you’d best win her back.”
He kissed his grandmother’s cheek and got up to go after Lily. At the door he paused.
“Lily must not know of this,” he said. “If I’m to have any chance at all of persuading her to stay and be my wife, she cannot learn of it.”
His grandmother raised her hands and shook her head, but he was intent on this. The last thing he needed was for Lily to believe he had any motive for keeping her here other than that he loved her.
“Lily must never learn that your vision was of our child, and not her, becoming the seer.”
“’Tis too late,” his grandmother said. “The lass already knows. She’s listening at the door.”
* * *
Lily felt solight that her feet seemed to barely touch the ground as she raced back to the cottage. Not even the cold drizzle that had started to fall could dampen her spirits. She had decided to trust her heart and marry Roderick.
When she reached the cottage, she heard voices inside, including the deep tones that played on her heartstrings.
Old habits die hard. Listening at doors had helped her avoid getting caught in her family’s criminal schemes and other dangers in the city. Before she realized what she was doing, she paused to listen.
“Lily must not know of this…”
Lily sucked in her breath. What was Roderick keeping from her? She tried to persuade herself that she had misunderstood as she pressed her ear against the door. Though she did not understand all the words, the few she did were damning.
