Page 42 of The Guardian's Bride
“Ye’re not MacDuff!” He began to shut the gate.
“Wat Johnston! It is me.” Aedan removed his helmet.
“Hah, Aedan, is it! Come in!”
Aedan ushered Rowena through the gate and into the bailey within the palisade, then grasped Wat’s hand. “Where is Sir Brian?”
“Here, but leaving for the Rock soon. It is good you came now and not later.”
Rowena glanced about. They stood in a modest bailey yard fronting a two-story fieldstone house; a stable hunkered on one side and outbuildings crammed along the palisade elsewhere. The compound sat high on the hill, so the windows would command a far vista all around, from the river to the distant sea before and land behind.
“Aedan!” A woman rushed toward them, green skirts flowing around her. She was small and plump, with round cheeks framed in a wrapped veil, and a big cheerful smile as she held out her arms to greet him.
“Lady Ellen!” He kissed her cheek. “I am sorry to arrive without notice. I was hoping to find you and your husband at home.”
“You are lucky to catch Brian here. He is leaving for the Rock today and may be gone for weeks. I sent one of the grooms to tell him you are here. And this is—?” She turned to Rowena, brown eyes sparkling.
“Lady Ellen—Lady Rowena Keith. I am escorting Lady Rowena home to Kincraig by way of Fife. I hope we are not interrupting your day.”
“You are always welcome here! Lady Rowena, it is good to meet you.”
“Aedan!” The man striding toward them was lanky with wavy red-gold hair, a reddish beard, and a smile as bright as Lady Ellen’s. “Good to see you! I heard you got caught again. Did they let you go, the fools? What is this English kit you wear?” He clapped Aedan’s shoulder in the red surcoat.
“Took this off a fellow at Yester, where I was stuck for a bit. But here I am and heartier for it. Sir Brian Lauder of The Bass, baron and worthy knight—this is Lady Rowena Keith of Kincraig.”
“Ah, my lady, welcome to Tyningham. Keiths of Kincraig, is it? Your father and mine were allies over the years,” Brian Lauder said. “In fact, years back, Sir Robert arranged a marriage between my brother and your sister Margaret. Sadly, my brother did not survive to join your family. I trust your sister is well?”
“She is, thank you. Recently she married Sir Duncan Campbell of Brechlinn.”
“The justiciar? Good man. And how is your brother Henry? Still in Selkirk?”
“He is well also, and deputy sheriff there.”
“Excellent. We need loyal men there. Come in. Aedan, we have much to talk about. After our midday meal I am off to the Rock. You are welcome to sail with me if you like.”
“I hoped for an invitation,” MacDuff said as they walked toward the house.
“Sail?” Rowena asked, as Lady Ellen took her arm.
“We can visithere in my solar until the meal is ready,” Lady Ellen said as she sat with Rowena in a small room off the main hall. The house was not large, its raftered ceilings low over whitewashed walls in rooms made cozy with curtains and cushions and embroidered hangings. The lady’s solar was fitted with seats beneath windows of painted glass and open shutters. A little black dog slept by the hearth, and Rowena noticed baskets in the center of the room filled with books, wooden document boxes, leather boots, rolled garments, and other items.
“We are packing,” the lady explained. “Tyningham is our home much of the year, though Sir Brian often goes out to the castle on Bass Rock. I will go there in a few days, after one of my daughters arrives to visit. The Rock is such a drafty place, and I dislike sailing back and forth, as we must do for supplies and such. The castle is garrisoned by Scots, so it is more like afortress, and the seabirds are so noisy! I prefer being here, but I want to be with my husband when I can.”
“Of course. Where is Bass Rock?” Rowena sat at the lady’s invitation.
“Just off the coast. It is a great rocky island that was granted to the Lauders by an earlier king of Scots. Do you know of it?”
“I do. I heard it has a fortress, but I thought it was a prison, not a lord’s castle.”
“Both now.” Ellen sighed. “My husband inherited it, but Robert Bruce has sent some English prisoners there. Brian keeps watch over them. May I ask how you come to be traveling with Sir Aedan?” The lady smiled and took up a small embroidery frame as she spoke, fingers flashing a needle and red thread in and out.
“A long story,” Rowena said. “I should apologize. We arrived suddenly and you are so busy here. And so kind to show us hospitality.”
“Aedan MacDuff is like a brother to Brian Lauder. Aedan fostered here for a few years as a lad, and later, he married Brian’s sister. But I suppose you know that.”
That surprised her. “I know he is a widower with a son, but he has shared little more than that. I did not know he fostered here.” So his wife had been Sir Brian’s sister, she thought, which made Brian Lauder an uncle to Aedan’s son as well. They were like family to Aedan, and she was glad of that.
“They have known each other twenty years and more. Lady Alisoun died shortly after her son was born, alas. It still saddens me, and reminds me to be grateful for my son and daughters. The girls are recently married and our son is a new knight riding with the English to fulfill his pledge.”
