Page 73 of The Icy Highlander's Bride
Daniel caught Cameron eye. While Skye found the note humorous, Cameron understood it likely had a darker meaning.
Daniel looked away, feeling his stomach churn under his brother's gaze. "Skye, come here please."
He pushed his chair back from the table so there was space for his daughter. She rushed over to him and climbed onto his lap. Her large, round eyes were full of trust that he wondered if he deserved.
"Ye like Lana, do ye nae?"
"I love Lana!" Skye declared, and the ease with which she said it made his chest tighten.
He plastered on a smile. "Good," he said. "I'm glad ye like her."
His conversation had ground to a halt almost as soon as it had started. He tried again, straightening his back to address her with an air of practicality.
"Ye and I are family, are we nae?" he began
Skye nodded. "Us and Uncle Cam," she said, pointing at her uncle.
"Right. And family is a very special thing. Lana has a family too. Ye met some of them at the wedding."
The little girl scrunched her face as she thought this through. "I thought Lana was our family now."
"She is," Daniel agreed. He felt dizzy as she turned the conversation at right angles. Every answer he expected was replaced by a new query. "But Lana has her own family too. And she's lonely without them."
He tried hard to avoid Cameron's gaze, but his brother was staring at him.
Cameron could see where the conversation was going, and his expression was one of disappointment.
"What did ye do now?" he asked.
Daniel kept his eye on Skye, who seemed nervous. She already sensed bad news was coming.
"Well, Lana is going to go home to her family for a little while. So she can stop being lonely."
"But why must she go?" Skye asked.
"Because she needs to see her family," Daniel explained, though he would be hard-pressed to understand the real reason.
He knew Lana wanted love more than anything, but he never thought his inability to confess his love would drive her away from his castle.
"But why?"
Tears welled in Skye's eyes, and panic rose in his throat. He wasn't used to dealing with a crying little girl, and he felt lost. For a brief moment, he considered handing her over to Cameron, but he steeled himself and turned back to her.
"It's only for a short time," he said, though whether he was reassuring her or himself, he couldn't say. "She will be back with us before ye ken."
He tried to comfort her, answering each question she shot at him as she grew more and more upset. It had already been a hard day, filled with almost-kidnappings and sword fights to the death. He didn't blame the child for this outburst. But that didn't mean he knew how to solve it.
When Daniel glanced at Cameron, looking for help, he was met with a scowl. His brother shook his head, and Daniel knew that Cameron was blaming him.
Cameron believed Daniel had destroyed something good, and as he stared at his younger brother, Daniel had a sinking feeling that Cameron was right.
"She cannae go!" Suddenly, Skye pushed herself off her father's lap. He heard the clicking of her boots on the floor, and then she was running out of the dining room.
"Skye," Cameron called, standing up to follow her, but Daniel put a hand up.
"I'll go."
Choosing to leave was one of the hardest decisions Lana had made. She still wasn't sure it was right. But the searing pain she had carried with her since leaving Daniel's study was visceral and heavy. It was a heartbreak she had never known before.
