Page 84 of The Anguish of the Scottish Lairds
Just then, Sandor got up from the floor and began to run in circles, Tora doing the same but in a different direction.
“Sandor, what are you doing?” Connor asked.
“Gwandda chaseen me,” he said, giggling.
“Nay, I’m not chasing you. I need a day’s rest from all the excitement. I’m an old man now.”
Tora said, “Not you, Gwandpapa. Gwanda Alex chasing Sandor.”
Connor looked up at Dyna, who whispered, “He saw them on Ulva too. Said they watched over them.”
“They? Who?” Alasdair asked.
Tora said, “Gwanda Alex and Gwamma Maddie. Gwanda swim with Eva and Sandor. Gwamma swim with Eva and me.”
“Eva had help swimming?” Alasdair looked from one adult face to the next, but no one said anything, the two bairns running and giggling.
Connor said, “I saw no one but Eva swimming as hard as she could, both bairns tied to her torso, and she struggled, but her strokes were powerful. There was no one visible in the water with them. But please ask Maeve. She believes that Mama and Da were in the dungeon with them. Said she could smell the apples and Mama’s lavender. She found it comforting.”
“Nay, Shakie, nay!”
Alasdair, wide-eyed, asked, “Who’s chasing you now, Sandor?”
“Unca Shakie chaseen me.”
Alasdair stood and froze, watching the boy run in circles and around the hall while he called out to some figment of the lad’s imagination with his father’s name. Jake, who died longago. John Alexander Grant, nicknamed Jake by his twin brother Jamie.
“Papa?” Alasdair waited, but then Sandor stopped, looking over toward Alasdair.
Sandor pointed toward him and said, “Unca Shakie o’er dare.”
The air around Alasdair filled with the powerful smell of mint leaves, exactly what his sire had chewed every day in the early morn, and the aroma filled him with all that Jake Alexander Grant had been in a matter of moments. “Da …”
Connor stood next to him and whispered, “Aye, he’s here. Jake, you’re missed!”
Sela had tears running down her cheeks. “Connor, we’re staying. Alasdair, when you go back to get Emmalin, bring Hagen and Morgan back. Astra misses them. We’re staying wherever your parents are. And Emmalin and your bairns need to be where Jake is.”
Alasdair nodded. “We’ll return, Aunt Sela. I cannot disagree with you.” He peered up into his uncle’s eyes. “Do you believe it?”
Connor nodded slowly. “I felt him too, Alasdair. That was my brother.”
As fast as they’d gotten up, the two bairns returned to their animals in the middle of the hall, Sandor waving, “Bye, Unca Shakie.” Then he stood up and ran back over. “What, Unca Shakie?”
Alasdair froze as if he were watching his dear father. Sandor ran again then stopped in front of him and said, “Unca Shakie say come back.” Then he raced to his animals, waving goodbye to something.
Or someone. Shakie. Jake, his father.
The hall was silent as they all took in what they’d watched, but then Dyna asked, “Sandor, if Grandda Alex helped you and Grandma Maddie helped Tora, then who helped Grant?”
Sandor said, “Eva and Unca Shakie hep Gwant.”
Tora nodded but added, “And Lia.”
Connor mumbled, “We’re staying. I promised Logan I’d help him with one more chore. We made a promise to a lad, and we have to do what we can.”
Dyna asked, “To Magni?”
“Aye.” Connor got up and went to the sideboard for a quick drink of Sloan’s amber brew he’d given them.
