Page 74 of The Butterfly
Niall pinched the bridge of his nose, a pounding beginning between his eyes. “That’s how it started with me. My maw couldnae protect me forever … and ye cannae keep gettin’ in the way o’ Conall’s fists. He’ll break ye if he doesnae kill ye first.”
Evie sobbed, and a tear ran down her cheek. “He willnae come for the job. Ye ken that, though, don’t ye?”
Niall nodded. “Aye. I know he willnae. But ye and Gawain … ye can come to get away from him. Ye dinnae have to stay and put up with this sort of treatment.”
She bowed her head, sniffling and using the lapel of his coat to dry her damp face. “I cannae leave him … he’s my lawful husband. But Gawain … maybe … could he come to live in yer home? Conall doesnae want him around, anyway, and … well, he does look an awful lot like ye. Maybe some’d think he’s yer boy.”
Niall studied the woman in silence for a moment, hardly feeling the cold sinking through the layers of his clothes without the benefit of his greatcoat. His life had changed so much in the past few months, with so many changes flying at him, he hardly knew how to take them all. He had come here to find Conall, not expecting to discover a stepmother and half-brother along with him.
“Oh, but yer wife wouldnae like it,” Evie said when he did not respond. “So silly o’ me to think a fine lady would want some lowborn child comin’ into ’er home.”
“No,” he murmured. “No, Livvie would …”
She would love Gawain because he was Niall’s brother and would want to protect him, knowing what Conall was capable of.
“I would have to speak with her about it, but she’d never turn him away.”
Evie clasped her hands in front of her, eyes going wide. “Oh … I’d be so grateful. I mean, I’d miss my boy, o’ course, but if ’e could have a better life …”
Niall reached out to place a hand over both of hers. “I will return in a day or two. Can ye hold on until then?”
She nodded, now clinging to his hand with both of hers. “God bless ye, Niall. I dinnae know how a son o’ Connall turned out so well, but ye’re a good man.”
He pulled his hand free to reach into the breast pocket of his coat. In it was his purse, which contained a few guineas and folded bank notes. He extended it to Evie, who looked at it with wary eyes.
“Take it,” he urged. “Dinnae give it to Conall, or he’ll piss it away on gin. It isnae much, but it could make do for ye if ye spend it well.”
With a tight smile, she accepted the purse, exchanging it for his coat.
“Keep that, too,” he insisted. “Ye’ll freeze.”
Evie shook her head and shoved the coat into his arms. “’e willnae like it if I come back with this. This purse can be hidden.”
Niall watched with raised eyebrows as she tucked it into the bodice of her gown, where it disappeared from view. Then, she was gone, her shawl held close to her body as she dashed back to the house.
Pulling his coat back on, he waited until she had slipped back into the house before he set off for home. He wrestled with his decision all the way to Dunvar House, his mind reeling as he tried to think what Olivia would say, how they would manage to raise another child alongside Serena. The boy probably couldn’t read, so that would be the first thing he’d remedy. He’d need clothes, a place to sleep, a tutor …
By the time he walked up the front steps, he was no closer to having any of it puzzled out than he had when leaving town. All he knew was that he had been wrung dry and just wanted to find his bed and his wife. She’d help him make sense of this, help him make the right decisions when it came to Gawain.
Once home, he took the stairs two at a time and went to his room on swift feet. He found Olivia abed with a blazing fire casting a warm glow over her. She had not fallen asleep yet, the book she’d been reading resting in her lap, the scrap of lace she used to mark her place lying on the coverlet.
She smiled at him, but then grew concerned when she took in his haggard expression. “What’s the matter?”
Taking off his coat, he sat on the edge of the bed and began working at his boots. “Don’t be angry with me.”
“Why would I be angry, Niall? What did you do?”
Kicking his boots aside, he patted the mattress beside him, beckoning her to his side. His heart stuttered as he waited, the words to tell her all of it burning the inside of his mouth. Then, she was beside him, shifting close so that their bodies touched, her hand finding his. She intertwined their fingers and looked up at him expectantly.
“Whatever it is, we can sort it out together,” she assured him. “Just tell me.”
“Well,” he began. “It turns out I have a brother …”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
2 weeks later…
Dunnottar Castle
