Page 38 of The Iron Highlander
“Kate, just wait.”
“Nae, Reuben. Yer maither is in that tent, and she almost died, because of me. If I had gone ahead and married him as he had said, I would have found a way to keep my sisters safe as the Lady of the estate. I would have done something. Instead, I allowed my own selfishness to fester. I put these girls through so much, and I have endangered yer life, and now, Lily is missing. This is all my fault, and there is no way ye can tell me otherwise.”
“We are nae certain that this is Sweeney, it could be some…”
A servant rushed up to Hudson and Reuben turned around at once. Kate stared at the man as he held the torch overhead, looking at their faces as he tried to recognize the Laird before he made a curt nod. “Laird Reuben, as Hudson had requested, welooked around the estate, and to the south, we found some horse prints in the mud. Four horses, heading north.”
Kate felt a shiver as she heard it. North, back the direction they had come, back towards Max and his madness. The horsemen had taken Lily, and now that Max had her, he had a bargaining card in his hands, and there was no telling what he had in mind for Lily. It was nothing good, Kate knew that for sure.
“We also found broken glass from a bottle that looked like it was used to start the fire. We think they broke the window off, and threw the bottle in. It was just our bad luck that it landed by our oil. However, since they waited until we went to get water, they have been watching for a while, and they picked a perfect time to pull this off,” said the servant.
“Then it is certain,” said Hudson. “We were attacked by the Laird to the North, Max Sweeney of the McGowan estate.”
The night was hell, and while Kate and her sisters were given a bed to sleep in, it was a single one for all three of them. Kate could not sleep, however, she paced back and forth, thinking of how she was the reason behind it all. It was all her fault; the reason Freya and Willow were sleeping out in the open with bugs feasting on them. She looked back at them as they slept, swearing that she would take care of them.
Unable to sleep, she walked over to Grear’s tent and found that Hilda had dozed off on the chair where she sat. Kate used ablanket to cover the older woman, before she turned back to Grear who laid in the bed. She had not woken the entire time, and for a moment, Kate entertained the thought that she might never wake from it. She felt the tear forming in her eye as she realized that this was her fault as well.
“Ye daenae have to look so scared, I’ll live, Kate.”
Kate gasped as she realized that Grear had spoken. She turned to look at Grear, but the woman shushed her. “But she should take a look at ye.”
“I’m fine Kate, I daenae want to answer questions now, I just want to rest.”
“Ye should, I’m sorry for waking ye,” said Kate, getting up.
“Stay, I heard about what happened to Lily, and my son told me what ye said, and how…” Grear paused, her voice weakened as she tried to save her strength. “How ye blame yerself for all of this.”
“If I had…If I was brave enough to stay back and take on Max, I wouldnae be in this situation, Grear.”
“Kate, everything that happens, it does for a reason. Coming here was yer fate, meeting me, and my son, that was destiny, and there was nothing ye could do to stop it. The same way that there is nothing ye can do to stop whatever comes next. But ye need tounderstand that ye are in control, as long as you believe that ye are, ye will be able to make fate bend yer way.”
“Grear, this is more than fate and destiny, this is the life of my sister, and our home, our freedoms.”
“I understand Katherine, I do,” Grear said, shutting her eyes. “My sister was killed by her own husband when I was about yer age. When she allowed herself to be forced into a marriage which she did not love the vengeful man. She believed it would be best for her family, it would take away the shame of her being unmarried, and it would make sure that she was taken care of. In the end, she died, was killed by the Englishman, and he married again. We mourned her, just as any other funeral, and there was nothing we could do.”
“I didnae know that…I’m, I’m sorry.”
“I daenae need ye to be sorry, Kate, I need ye to be strong, stronger than my sister. Ye must take fate into yer hands. Listen to yer own heart, and believe in yerself. Only ye can take true control of things, and when ye do this, I assure ye, everything will be fine, Kate. It might not be as ye would want it, but in the end, it will all be fine, I promise.”
Grear reached up, and wiped a tear from Kate’s cheek before falling asleep once again.
Chapter 19
Kate’s lungsfilled with the smoke blown out of the house by a night wind. She watched as some of the servants managed to head back into the house, looking to recover whatever they could to make the night outside more bearable.
It was a fair amount of work, dangerous work, but it had to be done. There was food that had to be preserved, and anything else that could be salvaged as well. Some others went back to the stream to get water again, as they had used most of what they had gotten to put out the fire.
She watched as Reuben and Hudson oversaw everything from a distance, giving off orders to the servants before joining them in the work. They headed off to a tree which was still smoldering from the flames. Reuben and Hudson went to work with an axe, trying to bring down the tree.
Kate stared at the castle and realized that it had been badly damaged. The beautiful home of the McDonalds now had its entrance and entire south side a darkened mess.
She walked into the building, through the corridors, going straight for their bedroom. She found the door open and began taking in the little personal effects
Max wanted an heir, and he had threatened to take Freya if Kate had not complied. Perhaps it was Freya his men had come for, but since they could not see her, they took who they found. Kate did not want to imagine it, but Max was sick enough to consider bedding Lily. He was a madman who cared little about anyone else. Kate felt the tears on her cheeks as she packed, knowing that she had failed to do the one task which her mother had left her to do.
None of her sisters were worth her uncle. Willow was a strong brave woman who was not scared to be herself. She knew what she wanted and she was willing to take risks to get it. She did not allow herself to be confined by the expectations of others, and acted as she pleased. She also farted in her sleep, which usually made Kate and Freya groan, but they had grown used to the girl, and they loved her for it.
Kate was going to do something about it.
