Page 31 of Lost with a Scot
“I confess, I do like him very much.”
The sitting room door opened. A maid brought in a tea tray and set it down beside Joanna’s chair. Joanna poured three cups and handed one to Anna and one to Lydia.
“It seems I’ve missed quite a tale. Would you tell me everything?” Joanna asked.
Over the next half hour, Anna told Joanna all that she remembered. Some new memories had come back during the coach ride too, which added to what she could share.
“I remember traveling with my parents by coach all over the countryside, visiting people. I wish I could remember more about my parents. My father had dark hair, and my mother, she looked like me in coloring. And there was a little boy... He...” Suddenly her mind filled with joy at the new kernel of knowledge. “He was mytwinbrother.” She strained but remembered nothing more.
Lydia patted her knee. “Don’t fret, Anna. It will come back.”
“I hope so.” She thought of the smiling faces of her parents and the mischievous grin of her brother. The memories held such happiness, even though she couldn’t recall much more than brief images.
I have a family...
Somewhere out there, she had people who loved her. Anna would find a way back to them. She had to, because at the back of her mind was a growing sense of terrible dread that had no explanation.
CHAPTER8
“Shall we walk?” Brock asked Aiden.
Aiden knew by his brother’s tone that he wanted to do more than simply walk with him.
Brodie joined them as they left the castle and stepped out into the sunlight. The three brothers moved toward the loch. Despite the fact that Aiden knew a lecture or a warning was likely coming, he took the time to enjoy being with his brothers. They’d made a home of these lands now that their father was dead, and so much had changed for the better. None of them spoke until they reached the water’s edge.
“Speak yer mind, brother.” Aiden could almost feel the weight of his brother’s thoughts on his shoulders.
Brock looked out over the water of the loch. “This woman... What is she to ye? Another wounded creature ye need to heal? Or is she something more?”
Aiden rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and crouched by the water’s edge to pick up a smooth skipping stone. After quiet contemplation of the water’s surface, he artfully tossed the stone. It bounced as light as air upon the water several times before dropping beneath the surface and vanishing.
Neither Brock nor Brodie pushed him for an answer. They had been together too long for them to ever pressure one another into giving answers before they were ready. He knew that once he spoke, he would be telling them that Anna was his, and he expected they would push back, arguing that it was too soon to know that about a woman he’d just met.
“Anna is my fate. I canna explain to ye how I ken this, but it’s true.”
Brock placed a hand on his shoulder. “I ken that ye’ve always been gifted in ways Brodie and I are not.”
“Ye mean ye think I’m different,” Aiden replied, trying to ignore the sting of those words.
“Ye were too young to remember our mother sharing stories of our grandmother,” Brock said. “Even Brodie might not remember that.”
Aiden waited for Brock to continue. It wasn’t often that Brock spoke of those old days when their mother and grandmother had still been alive. Aiden often wished he could have known what it was like to have a sense of his family, of the generations upon generations living closely together and sharing their lives. His father had been a master at isolating them from his mother’s family and the tenants who lived on the land.
Brock’s smile was wistful, and his gaze turned distant. “Our grandmother was of the old ways. She wore silver to ward off the vengeful and jealous eyes of the old gods. They say animals of every kind came to her when she called and that she wasn’t ever fully a part of this world. She was gifted. Different. Anddifferentwas good. She healed the livestock of our clan, could sense when the weather would change, and inspired compassion and understanding in everyone she met. She was a beacon of fire lit in the dark for all those who became lost.” Brock squeezed Aiden’s shoulder. “I worry that ye may mistake a lost woman’s need for light in the dark as love. That is all.”
Had Aiden never heard the Romani Traveller’s prophecy or had those dreams about Anna, he might have been tempted to agree with Brock. It was easy to confuse caring and compassion with affection, but he felt so much more for Anna.
“I understand, Brock, I do. But sometimes the light in the darkislove.” As he said this, an ancient pain glimmered in Brock’s eyes. It was a look of loss and heartbreak, but Aiden couldn’t understand why.
“Very well, then. Just promise me ye will court the lass properly if ye care about her. Show her the countryside and our people. Show her yer true self. She deserves to love ye as we do.”
Aiden smiled. He would do that. He would show Anna everything he loved and let down the barriers he’d always kept up to protect himself.
“And if ye marry her, we’ll hold the ceremony in the old kirk. Mother would have wanted that. I missed my chance, and so did Brodie.”
“Aye, brother.” Aiden chuckled at Brock’s mother-henning.
Brock lightly pushed Aiden’s shoulder. “Well, off with ye, then. Go rescue yer woman from our wives before she has her ears talked off.”
