Highland Soldiers: The Enemy (28 page)

Glengarry leaned forward. “Listen, son.”

“Oh, ‘son’ is it now?”

“Yes. You are my son, and you’ve got to accept what goes along with that.”

Callum glared at his father.

“Callum.” Mari put her hand on his arm.

He looked at her with an angry and desperate look. Dragging her by the hand, he led her to the window. In quiet words that stuck in his throat, he said, “Mari, what has he told you?”

She looked at him with as brave a look as she could muster and said, “We’re not married.”

“Och! I have pledged my life to you, woman.”

“But not before a priest, or clergy of any kind. No matter how much we want it to be, in the eyes of the law—” 

His voice rang out. “Law be damned—and you, too, if you truly believe that!” He gripped her shoulders as tears trailed down her cheeks.

“Callum!” His father barked it out as an order, with a harshness Callum had rarely heard.

Callum let go at once and looked down at Mari. He stepped back, shaking his head. He was too shocked to voice words for a moment. “Mari?” He stumbled against a chair and sank down, burying his face in his hands. When he lifted his head, his face was void of emotion. “I went through hell for you, Mari. I took the place of your brother in prison. I walked back from that hell of a shipwreck. I lived to see you, because you are my life and my heart bides with you.”

“Callum, please.” A tear fell from her cheek.

He gripped her shoulders. “You are my wife. And you now take those words that we pledged and you say they’re not real?”

Her only answer was a helpless look from tearful eyes.

Callum’s eyes burned into Mari’s. When she could no longer bear it, she cast her eyes downward.

He glared, his wrath mounting. “So if we are not married, then what does that make you? My whore?” He abruptly arose, knocking over the chair, and stormed out of the room.

*

Hours later, Callum appeared at Nellie’s cottage. He knocked at the door and it opened. Charlie stepped outside and closed the door gently behind him, then swung back around and punched Callum in the chin. Callum took it without fighting back.

Charlie said, “How could you say that to her, you bloody maggot?”

Callum quietly asked, “Is she here?”

“If she is, you’ll not see her. Even if she would see you, I would not let her. Now go to! Back to your ivory tower, you bleedin’ fool!”

Callum gritted his teeth and glanced at the door. He could fight his way through Charlie and storm through the door, but it would only upset Mari and make matters worse. Callum turned and walked away.

*

Late into the night, Alex found Callum on a spot overlook the loch where they used to go as children to play, and then later as young men after they had gotten into mischief and needed to hide out for a while.

Callum glanced up and then back at the loch, which was lit by the nearly full moon. “Did you come to take a swing at me too?”

Alex gave a half smile. “I think Charlie did a fine enough job of it. Whatever he left undone, I’ve no doubt that you’ve finished.” He paused and looked at the path of the moon’s reflection over the loch.

“How is she?” asked Callum.

“Her heart’s broken.”

Callum looked up, visibly pained at the thought. “Charlie’s right. I am a bloody fool. She said only what Glengarry had convinced her to say. She did nothing to deserve what I said, and I dinnae deserve her.” Callum stared over the loch to the hills.

Alex sat down beside him.

Callum rubbed his face wearily and let out a deep sigh. “My father wants me to marry Aemilia.”

Alex had pieced together much of what had happened, but he had not heard Callum’s side.

Callum said, “We’re all tired. We fought for the crown, and we’d all do it again, but everyone’s weary of fighting. MacKenzies fought against us on the Covenanters’ side, and they’re tired, too. People were killed on both sides. And now there’s more tension than ever between the two clans. If we go on fighting, more lives will be lost. A marriage would bring the two clans together, and everyone would live happily ever after. It’s quite simple, really.”

“Except that you’re already married.”

With a wry sideways look, Callum said, “Well, I’d thought as much, aye.”

“And Mari? What does she think?”

Callum’s eyes shut for a moment. When he opened them, he was clenching his jaw. “I didnae give her much chance to tell me.” His anger faded to sorrow. “And now I’ve broken her heart.”

“You’ve hurt her. But it’s Glengarry who’s broken her heart.”

“And mine with it.” With a false smile, Callum said, “I thought he’d accepted me as his son.” He took a moment to regain control of his emotions. When he could speak with even tones, he said, “He just needed me for a purpose.”

Alex said in a low voice, “As purposes go, it’s a noble one.”

“Peace? Aye, it is. Even if he must destroy lives to achieve it.”

“But your lives are not lost.”

Callum’s anger rose back to the surface. “Are you agreeing with him?”

Alex measured his words. “No. And yet, I cannot entirely disagree. Nor can you.”

Bitterness flashed in Callum’s eyes, but he reluctantly nodded. “Peace between the clans. For that, I would fight any battle and give up my life. But how can I give up Mari?”

“I dinnae ken.”

Callum said, barely able to speak, “Nor do I. I love her. How could I hurt her like that?” Frustrated, he combed his fingers through his hair as he thought of his last words to Mari. “I called her a whore.”

Alex said, “Mari told me, you bastard.”

It was a raw nerve, and Alex knew it. Callum overcame his initial reaction and said, “I deserved that.”

“You did. But, knowing Mari, she has already forgiven you.”

“She would. And that makes me feel worse.”

“As it should. But from what I heard from Nellie, what wounded her most was the thought that she’d lost you.”

“She will never lose me. I will not let her go.”

Alex stared at the pre-dawn shadows the leaves cast about them. “But the question is, how will you keep her?”

“I’ll not keep her like my mother was kept, if that’s what you mean. No, I am not going to marry the Lady Aemilia.”

“But how can you not?”

“Simple. As soon as Mari will see me again, I will take her away. I will marry her again and again, in every town from here to London, until everyone knows that we’re married, if that’s what it takes.”

“Unfortunately, it is not quite so simple.”

Callum shook his head, but Alex continued. “Glengarry and Seaforth have agreed. Plans have been made.”

“Aye, and he expects me to live as he did, with Mari as my mistress.”

They sat in silence for a long while before Callum spoke. “I always believed my mother’s version of how things were. But now I know that he did not love her in the same way she loved him. He cared. But it was not like the love I have for Mari.”

Alex quietly said, “You cannot know what goes on in a man’s mind and heart.”

“And what if I cannae? What matters is what a man does.” Callum looked at Alex. “I must see her.”

*

In the midmorning, before seeing Mari, Callum talked with his father alone.

“I cannot marry her. I belong to Mari now.”

“You’ve a duty to your clan.”

“And to my wife.”

“Unless you can produce proof of the marriage, she is not your wife.”

“She is by my word, and I will not let her go.”

“There’s no need. You just have to marry Aemilia, and after the wedding you can set Mari up in a little cottage and see her whenever you want.”

“I will not live like that.”

“It’s done all the time, and you ken it.”

“Aye, it is, but not by me.”

“You have no choice.”

Callum narrowed his eyes and looked straight at the chief. “There is always a choice. You just made the wrong one.”

The chief was furious. “Have you forgotten all I have done for you, unappreciative bastard?”

“Bastard, yes. But unappreciative? No. I have not forgotten one thing you have done over the years. I have never forgotten how you broke my mother’s heart. She loved you, but you used her for your convenience. You made her your whore. And you raised me as little more than a stable boy. I was ridiculed and attacked by every child in the clan until I fought them off one by one. Only after I’d fought every warrior here did you elevate me—and then only to serve your purpose. I fought to protect you, but I did it for her—for my mother. But she’s gone now, and I owe you nothing.”

“You little whelp. I gave you land.”

“But no name. And the land you took back.”

“Out of loyalty to the crown.”

“And what of loyalty to the woman who loved you, and to your son?”

The chief glared at Callum and said, “If this is how you repay me, then I have no son.”

“Aye? Well I never had a father, so it’s all the same to me!” Callum turned his back and stormed out, slamming the large oak door behind him.

With a face red with rage, Glengarry watched Callum leave.

Callum did not wait for Alex to arrange a meeting with Mari. Instead, he strode out of the castle and went straight to Nellie’s.

She met him with scolding. “You deserve what you get, Callum MacDonell. Mari is not one of your soldiers. You cannot talk like that to her.”

“I know. I was wrong, and I’m sorry. But if you will not tell me where she is, how can I tell her so?”

Nellie gave him an admonishing look, and then nodded her head toward the meadow. “She saw you coming and went for a walk. She does not want to see you.”

Callum took hold of Nellie’s shoulders and planted a kiss on her cheek. She tried to look stern, but it melted to worry as he turned and started to run.

Mari was picking wildflowers when she saw Callum coming. Gripping the flowers like a closely held shield, she watched him approach.

Callum slowed down to a walk, afraid she might run if he approached her too quickly.

“I was a brute and a damned fool to speak to you so.”

“Aye, you were,” Mari said softly. She lifted her eyes to meet his. “I’ve never known you to be either.”

“Lass.” He reached for her hand, but she moved it only slightly from him, but enough to cause him to drop his hand to his side. Her withdrawal wounded him deeply. He looked at her with the eyes of a broken man and spoke in a low voice. “It was the thought of losing you. I could not—I cannot bear it.” He swallowed and looked off to the distance, unable to speak. When emotion overcame him, he looked away to hide it from her. When he was able to speak, he said, “Have I lost you already?”

The light touch of her hand on his shoulder was all the he needed to spin around and sweep her into a strong embrace. They clung to each other. Mari sobbed herself to exhaustion.

“I cannot bear to lose you,” he said as he clutched her against him.

“I dinnae ken how to leave you,” she whispered. “But if we do not part, there will be a clan war.”

A moan escaped from his throat as he leaned down to kiss her. “You are my wife.”

They sat, half concealed by tall grasses, beside one another. Callum circled his arm about Mari’s shoulder as she rested against his broad chest. Mari spoke first. “You have a duty.”

“My first duty is to you.”

“And how happy could I be if by putting me first, a clan war broke out? Lives would be lost. They are your friends and your loved ones. Your duty is to them as well.”

“I will not let you go.”

“Callum, I will never leave you. I vowed it once before, and I meant it.” She looked plainly at him.

He met her gaze, and knew what she was thinking. “No.”

“Callum, listen. Let me bide here. I dinnae care about anything but to be with you.”

“No, Mari. I will not have you live like my mother. I saw what it did to her.”

“It’s the only way.”

“No.”

Resigned to her fate, she stopped arguing with him. One look and she knew that he saw she was right.

“No, Mari,” he said, but his words were futile. He held her in his arms as all around them the grasses yielded to the cool evening breezes.

Duncan came home from the sea. His parents lived in a small cottage near Nellie’s. They told him all the news of the castle. Callum was to be married? And what of Mari? No one seemed to know what would become of her, and yet she was still there. This news surprised him and half filled him with hope. He had not thought to see Mari and Callum here. She was staying at Nellie’s, they told him.

After he’d finished the midday meal his mother had prepared, Duncan went for a walk straight to Nellie’s. Mari was bringing in a pail of milk when she saw him. Setting it down, she ran to him and threw her arms about him. He could not help but return the embrace.

“Nellie’s having a wee lie down. She tires easily lately. I worry about her,” said Mari. She picked up the milk pail, but Duncan took it from her and carried it into the cottage. As he set it down, Nellie sharply inhaled and then settled to sleep. Mari grasped Duncan’s hand and led him outside. “Let’s go for a walk. I want to hear everything that has happened to you.”

They walked holding hands through the grass and along a path into the trees. Mari laughed at something he said and her hand slipped away as she brushed hair away from her face. Duncan forced a smile, feeling its loss. When they came to a fallen log, they sat down. It was easy to talk, but he had no desire to entertain her with stories of the sea and port cities.

“What has happened?” he asked, suddenly serious.

Mari’s expression dissolved and her eyes filled with tears. “So you’ve heard?”

“Not from you.”

“Aye, well, there is not much to tell, is there?” Mari glanced at him and then looked away, into the shadows of trees.

Duncan waited, content to be with her.

Mari said, “Callum’s father has claimed him as his own and taken him in. He never spoke of it much, but he longed for it deeply. Now he has a home, and a place he belongs.”

“And you by his side?”

Sad eye settled on his. “Not beside him, but not far away.” She could not hold his gaze. As she cast her eyes down, a tear dropped to her chest and soaked into the cloth.