Page 101 of The Splendor of Fire
The glow of a single candle wavered at the table. She froze. Léo sat, his head bowed, his hair fisted in his hands. Beside him, still dressed in her chemise, white hair plaited down her back, Isobel listened, her hand on his large shoulder. “You need to tell her, Léo. She should know.”
Moira tried to decide if she should announce herself or keep listening. Even if she wanted to announce herself, she couldn’t. Was this the secret he was keeping from her?
“How would you tell someone that their father isn’t their father? I can’t. If she doesn’t know it will destroy her.”
“It may be why she still doesn’t trust you. Perhaps if you tell her how much her father wanted you to take care of her, she would listen. You have to.”
“What am I supposed to say? He said he loved her as if she were his own. But whose is she? She’ll want answers. No, I can’t crush her. It’s better left unsaid.”
Moira was frozen in disbelief. The words of her father that Léo had kept secret…but he’d kept it from her to save her from hurting. Her hand came to her heart, her chest heaving.Oh Léo, I know he’s not my real father. I’m the one keeping a secret from you.
“But he charged you to protect her and help her find her family.”
“She doesn’t want me to protect her, Isobel. She wants to protect herself. To make her own decisions, even if they hurt me.”
Hurt?She wasn’t trying to hurt him.
“Now Son, don’t give up hope.”
“It’s no use. She’s everything to me, Isobel.” His voice broke and broke her heart in two. “But to her, I’m not enough.”
Yes he was. After everything she’d done to help him, how could he feel this way?
Isobel wrapped an arm around his broad shoulders. “That’s not true. I see the way she looks at you. I know she loves you.”
“I know she cares for me, but she’s flying away from me. All I can offer is to be my wife and mother to Gabriel. But she doesn’t want to be held back.”
Isobel’s voice wavered with confusion. “What else could she want?”
The Shield. Flying through trees, working on missions.She loved him, but why must she give up the missions God had given her the talents to complete? Why couldn’t she have both?
He gave a wet sniff and she realized he was crying. “More than what I can offer. I have to think about Gabriel. He needs a mother who’s constant, not in and out of his life, or who may not come home at all. He’s already lost one mother.”
Isobel rubbed his back, clearly not understanding his meaning. “Lad, it’ll be all right.”
In her heart, Moira knew he was right. What kind of mother went on nighttime raids and shot flaming arrows? What kind of mother would risk not coming home to her children? And yet…that was the wife and mother she would be.
“How?”
Isobel blew out a breath. “I dinnae ken. Niall will’nae let her go.”
“I need to accept that it’s over. We won’t be together. But I can’t stomach watching her fly away.”
No, Léo. Unexpectedly, the chains around her heart clattered to the ground and her stomach clenched. They must be together. It had to work out in the end, didn’t it? It couldn’t be over. They had to figure out a way.
“Son, it’ll be all right. You’ll love again.”
Walking backward toward the kitchen door, Moira opened it and closed it again, announcing that she was there. Movement sounded on the other side of the wall and she walked into the kitchen, looking at Léo’s back, his head still hanging, his hair still in his hands. Heart pounding, she took a step toward him.
Isobel stepped into her path. “Moira, love. Good morning.”
Moira nodded and signed good morning, taking a step toward Léo. Isobel sidestepped between her and Léo, a protective look in her eye, and rested her hand on the back of his shoulder. “Is there something you need?”
Moira shook her head and moved to walk around her, but Isobel moved into her path again.
“If there’s nothing you want, lass, perhaps you can wait in my room. We’re having a private chat.”
Of all the people she expected to challenge her to a fight, she didn’t expect sweet Isobel. Moira eyed the kitchen and knew she could easily get around the auld woman, but a congested sniff from behind her hunched back made Moira reconsider.
