Page 31 of The Iron Highlander
Willow watched her for a moment, realized what she was thinking, and then laid back in bed. “I would like to rest some more now.”
“Aye, you get yer rest. I’ll have some food brought to ye myself. Once they are done in the kitchen, I’ll excuse myself, so I can come over and have breakfast with ye.”
Willow smiled. “I’d like that. I’d like that very much.”
Kate got up, and turned to the door, walking towards the corridor. Just before she could get to the door, she heard Willow sit up and retch, throwing up behind her. Kate turned around to see the floor covered in vomit, and Willow wiping her mouth as though she had just thrown up.
“I’m sorry, I’ll get that cleaned u…” Willow began, throwing up again.
Kate rushed over to her, rubbing her back as she let out the rest of the fluids inside her. Once she was done, Kate grabbed a rag and got on her knees, cleaning up the place just as Freya and Lily walked in. Kate turned around at the sound of a giggle from Lily, but as the girl made eye contact with Kate, she quickly went silent.
“Willow, are ye okay?” Freya asked.
“I’m fine, Hilda said this would happen the more I took her potion, it really knocks out everything I have in m…” Willowheaved again, almost as though she was going to throw up, but then she held herself back.
Lily covered her mouth and looked away, before turning back to Kate and helping her with the bucket. “I’m sorry about Willow, if she had not fallen sick, we would have left.”
Kate froze for a moment, hearing her sisters talking about it for the first time made her skin crawl. A shiver ran down her spine as she suddenly pictured them out in the wilderness, riding horses and struggling to find food as they made their way to the coast. It was going to be the greatest struggle they had gone through, and it would be because of her. Because Kate could not come to grasps with what she felt. At the McDonald estate, they were truly happy.
“I’m so sorry,” said Kate, feeling her voice break as she knelt on the floor. She looked to her hands, seeing the tears come. “I’m so sorry.”
Freya and the others turned to Kate, with Lily asking, “What for?”
“I was supposed to protect ye, all of ye. And I have done such a bad job. I have failed so bad, with Uncle Max, and now bringing ye here. I have been such a fool, and now, I…I kissed the Laird, and I am afraid I may have feelings for him. I have made this all so complicated, and now…”
Willow got off the bed and grabbed her shoulder, making Kate look up at her. For a moment, Kate felt glad that her sister wasgoing to comfort her. She needed the words of encouragement, and Willow was a strong voice of reason. Freya and Lily got behind her, helping her up to the bed.
“Ye’re a bampot,” said Willow.
Everyone turned around to stare at her as she sat up in bed. Freya scolded her lightly, but Willow held up a hand, stopping Freya.
“I daenae understand how ye can feel somethin’ so strongly, and yet ye deny it.”
“What I feel is nae important. I have to do what is best for ye, and this here, the Laird, there is no telling what he has done, or if it is even safe here for us.”
“It was never safe, not when we were with our parents at home. They were killed, and it was a miracle that we survived.” Willow began. “It was a miracle that we survived Uncle Max, and now we are here, and just because ye got in a bit of trouble, ye think that makes this place unsafe? Kate, we all know that is nae the reason ye want us to leave. Ye cannae get it behind ye, the idea that this family was behind the murder of our parents.”
Grear stepped into the room with a somber expression on her face. She grabbed Kate’s arm, pulling her into an embrace, staring at her face. Kate felt her head spin for a moment, trying to turn her head away, but Grear held up her face.
“Listen to yer sisters, my child,” Grear began. “We didnae have any personal relationships with yer family. There was no reason for us to want to hurt them. When yer parents were killed, we were out in the wilderness, Reuben too, along with his faither. We were fighting the Jacobites, and it was shortly after, that Reuben lost his faither.”
Kate wiped at her eyes, “How did the Laird die?”
“A poisoned blade. He killed the enemy who cut him with the blade, but he was not able to get to Hilda before the poison had spread through his body. Reuben was forced to watch his faither die in his arms, and he spent years after that training to be the new Laird of the estate, training to be a brave and powerful warrior.”
“I’m sorry,” said Kate, making her peace with the beliefs. It was the one truth which she had held on to for so long. A truth which her uncle had fed her for so long, making her hate the McDonald empire, despite never actually knowing or meeting them. It had taken everything she had to shake away the idea that they were the one’s responsible. But now, being there with them, held by Grear, and kissed by Reuben, Kate realized that she had been lied to, and there was no truth to the statement.
“If we had anything to do with it, we wouldnae have accepted ye into this family. I began loving all of ye as my own children, and what happened to ye was terrible, and I understand that ye want to leave Kate, but I promise, if ye agree to stay, we will treat ye with love and respect, and as I treat all of those who live here. Yewill be a part of this family, I assure ye,” Grear said, stroking her hair lightly.
Willow quickly spun her head, and in the process, something dropped from the far side of the bed, dropping to the ground and pouring all over the floor. Kate turned to look and realized that what she had seen was the vomit which she had just cleaned up. She looked to the side and saw the bucket she had used by the door, and peered in, seeing that it was a different bucket.
“What is that?” Kate asked, looking under the bed and then at Willow.
“What is what?” Willow asked, unable to hide the smile that was creeping up her face.
Kate bent low and touched it, realizing that it was the same thing, and she turned back to Willow, “What are ye doing?”
“Oh, no that was her bucket, the one she used to throw up into when ye were not here.” Freya quickly jumped in.
