Page 66 of Sinbound to the Highlander
Reaching for the blanket, she draped it over her legs and went back to sleep. When she woke again, the dizziness had cleared up, but the hairpin was still gone. Frantic, she turned the room upside down searching for it. Aside from the stone necklace her father had given her, it was the most precious thing she owned.
The gift had more weight as it was her future husband who had given it to her. She had to find it. She was on her knees again, looking under the bed with her heart in her throat when someone entered the room.
“Freya!” Lady Grace’s voice was alarmed. “Did a storm run through here?”
Popping up from the floor, Freya barely got a word out when she saw what the lady was holding—the same pin. “Oh, thank goodness,” she said, reaching out for the pin. “I’ve been looking for this from the moment I woke up.”
“A servant found it in the hallway and kent it was Elspeth’s,” Lady Grace said, “It’s a beautiful design.”
“Evan gave it to me,” Freya said lovingly as she turned the pin over. “Said I had rebellious hair.”
Lady Grace laughed, “I can see why he would ken so. Freya, I hope ye’re nay carrying any guilt about this engagement to Laird Ruthven. Ye did naythin’ wrong, Elspeth did. But for ye, ye must understand love is a force onto itself. Sometimes…sometimes it takes us by surprise.”
“I ken,” Freya replied, “It haunted me for a while, but Elspeth and I talked it over, she told me it was nay me fault.”
Surprised that her daughter had done such a compassionate thing, Lady Grace smiled, “I ken she might be beginning to learn how to treat others.”
“I do too,” Freya agreed, then paused. “Ye’re nay upset that I’ll be going back to Yuletide with them, are ye?”
“Nonsense,” Lady Grace shook her head, “I’m happy ye’ve found happiness, Dear. Laird Ruthven is topsy-turvy about ye, and I ken ye are the same. I willnae lie, it feels so sudden to find ye and lose ye, but I ken I won’t be too far from ye at all. Yer home is just a hop and skip away from ours, and I wish ye years upon years of happiness.”
Moved by her mother’s kindness, Freya embraced her, “Thank ye, Lady Grace.”
“The seamstress will be here on the morrow,” Lady Grace added, “Are ye ready for a new wardrobe, Dear?”
The days blended themselves into a blurred stream of long nights and short days, fittings and cloth choices, flurries of snow, and graying skies. Winter had come on in full force, and in a short while, everything was white and frosted. When the lands were not piled high with snow from a morning snowfall, Freya dared venture out into the backlands, and look at the transformation around her.
Once, when Elspeth accompanied her out into the barren garden, she said, “Maither and Faither dinnae ken, but there is this little cliffside where ye can see the sea far out. I would like to go there with ye one day.”
Freya reached out for her, “I’d like that, but it has to be when the roads are not piled miles high with snow.”
“Maither and Faither are going to be out on the second day next week, we can go then,” Elspeth said, her tone dipping to those of a conspiracist. “We’ll be out there and back before they realize it.”
Embracing her sister, Freya was about to speak when Elspeth pulled away, “This came for ye this morning.”
Handing her a letter, Elspeth smiled, “It’s from Laird Ruthven.”
Looking at it, Freya saw his red seal and smiled. “Thank ye.”
“I’ll leave ye to it,” Elspeth slipped away.
Breaking the seal, Freya read words that she swore were from a poet. Evan must have split his chest in half and bled over the paper, as all she read were affirmations of his love for her, and his grief at seeing her go with pain in his eyes. When Evan touched on the night they had shared, and his wish to feel such ‘soul-binding’ pleasure with her again along with the joy he had felt with her, Freya had to stop and catch her breath.
Pressing the letter to her chest, she was grateful it had been sealed.
Me too, Love.
At the very end, he begged her forgiveness for upsetting her and swore never to do such again. He concluded with;Ye are half of me heart and soul, Freya. Be safe; love. I’ll be there in five days, sleet or snow.
Pressing a hand to her heart, Freya kept the burn from under her eyes to materialize into tears. Why did happiness bring tears at all? Keeping the letter close, Freya considered writing back but had no words that could match the ones Evan had given her.
She hid the letter under her pillow before going to dinner in the Great Hall, and she told Lady Grace that Evan was planning to be there in the next five days, and a delighted look sprang up on her face.
“That’s wonderful, Dear,” Lady Grace swooned. “He is committed.”
“Well, he said sleet or snow, he’d be here,” Freya admitted to her food more than her mother.
“A knight covered in snow armor,” Lady Grace tittered. “Daenae ye ken, Elspeth?”
Elspeth lifted her goblet, “As long as he doesnae freeze from the cold, he’ll be welcome.”
“Of course, he will be welcome,” Lady Grace smiled, “He is soon to be family, aye?”
“Aye,” Elspeth nodded, but her smile seemed a bit off to Freya. A bit twisted and had hints of unpleasantness, possibly sorrow.
She is probably still upset about her broken engagement. I kent we’d talked about it, what more can I do to have her forgive me? Is there somethin’ I can give her? How can I make it up to her?
