Page 12 of Highland Crown
The old woman started to say something, but then she stopped short. Her head cocked toward the door. Immediately, she was up and moving. Pushing open a shutter a crack, she peered through and motioned to Isabella to stay quiet.
“Habbie the Ranter’s got his cart down on the strand,” she hissed.
Isabella took an involuntary step back. The fire in the hearth blocked her retreat. “Who is this Habbie?”
“A low, troublemaking cur. The same one that came looking for salvage afore.”
“Will he come this way?”
“He might.”
Anger unexpectedly sparked up within Isabella. She’d been through this before. Trapped in their house. Soldiers breaking in at every door. Archibald had died in her arms. And while they were in hiding, word had come that the protesters they’d been ministering to had either died or been dragged off to the horrors of Bridewell Prison. She couldn’t save them, and she couldn’t protect them. Isabella had never seen herself as a fighter—in the physical sense—but right now, she was ready to pick up Jean’s cudgel and swing it at the head of the first person who tried to force his way into this cottage.
“He’s coming. Hide.”
“Where?” Isabella asked as the woman started to unlatch the door.
“Through there,” she said, pointing to the leather hide hanging low on the wall. “It’s just a wee space for keeping my wood dry. Take him with ye. I’ll try to keep this one outside, but I might not have a say in the matter.”
Jean went out and pulled the door closed behind her.
Isabella’s hands shook as she darted toward the wall. Pulling the stiff skin aside, she stuck her head into a dark space that she’d barely be able to stand in. She quickly shoved driftwood aside to make room, but in the end, the space was barely large enough for one person to hide. It would have to do. She hurried back to the wounded man’s side.
“Help me,” she whispered, prodding him. “I need you to wake up.”
She received only a low moan in response. She had no time. Casting aside the blanket, she lifted one booted leg off the cot and then the other. Going behind him, she raised his head and slipped her arms around his chest. He was too heavy.
“I’m sorry.” She gathered her strength. “This won’t do your injuries much good, I’m afraid.”
Pulling with all her might, she managed to tip him off the cot.
Isabella froze at the sound of a gruff voice.
“Oy, Auld Jean. Fine day after such a wild blow, wouldn’t ye say?”
“So yer out for a stroll in the weather, Habbie?” Jean replied in a scoffing tone. “Are we going to make these daily visits, then?”
They had to be standing right outside the door. Taking hold of her patient’s boots, Isabella dragged him toward the hiding place.
“Don’t care for my company, auld woman?”
“When did I ever?”
Isabella paused to catch her breath. Jean asked about the events of the night, and Habbie told her that none of the longboats landed nearby. He was out looking for anything else that might have washed in with the tide.
She pulled the wounded man again, and he groaned softly as his head bumped along the stone floor. As she backed through the low opening, she banged her own head hard on the lintel.
Crawling through, she managed to haul most of his body into the space. Why did he have to be so tall and broad? When she had no more room to pull, she climbed back over him, heaved his shoulders up, and forced him through the opening. He was moaning low, and Isabella held him in a sitting position, breathing hard. She hoped she hadn’t torn his stitches loose in moving him.
“All right, Habbie. Out with it,” Jean said to her visitor in a scolding tone. “What’re ye doing down here?”
“I told ye, I’m out looking for anything from the wreck. What little there is, the lads are sorting it up at the kirk.”
Isabella’s patient wouldn’t stay upright. There was nothing she could prop his back against. Bracing herself, she shoved him in another inch or two. If anyone stepped inside the cottage now, she’d be in plain view.
“Nothing washed ashore on the beach here, as ye can see. So ye can just be on yer way.”
“Now that ye mention it, there’s marks in the sand leading right to yer door. Something was dragged up here since the storm.”
