Morna's Legacy 04 - Love Beyond Measure (19 page)

“Yeah, I bet it’s going to be tons of fun.”

It was a reasonable thought for a child to have, and I imagined the men who had decided on such a gathering thought very much the same thing.

As for the women, I could all but hear the internal groan of every woman in the castle, thinking that instead of “tons of fun,” it was going to be tons of work.

*

Cooper and I were greeted at the bottom of the stairs by Jeffrey, who smiled knowingly and much too wide at the sight of me.

“Hey Coop, I think Lady McMillan has a job for you if you’re willing to help.”

He immediately squirmed out of my arms. “Yeah, yeah, where is she?”

Jeffrey pointed in the direction of the kitchens. “I think she’s in that direction.”

“I bet I can find her. I think I’m gonna make a nickname for her too. Lady Mac, I think.”

At the same time that Jeffrey shook his head, I said. “Uh, no Coop. Sorry, some people don’t need nicknames.”

“Oh, come on. I bet she’d like it.”

I’m sure he was right. Still, it was too casual a name.

“No. I agree with your mother. You call her Lady McMillan. Understand?” Jeffrey stepped in to end the conversation.

“Yes, sir.” His face drooped for just a second but he lifted it quickly, smiling and shrugging his shoulders before he took off in her direction. “It was worth a shot, huh?”

Jeffrey and I laughed in unison as we watched him leave. As soon as he was out of earshot, Jeffrey turned to me, that same creepy grin on his face. “Good on you, Gracie.”

I held up both hands in question to him. “What’s with this ‘good on you’ stuff? Are you British or something? I’m pretty sure that’s like a UK thing. And don’t call me Gracie.”

He laughed. “Hmm…I don’t know, maybe it is. I’ve watched a lot of BBC in my day. Still, you get my drift. You clearly had fun last night.”

“Why would you say that? There’s no way you can tell anything by looking at me.”

“Oh yes. Yes I can. You have circles under your eyes, which means that you didn’t sleep, but your cheeks are rosy and your skin is all aglow which means you didn’t mind it.”

“That’s quite the scientific observation.”

“It is. I’m an expert.”

“Pffhh…” I made the sound as I shook my head at him, ready to change the conversation. “So where is everybody? I guess it’s time I show myself.”

“They’re all outside. You’ll like them. Cool bunch. So…after last night…I guess that means we’re staying?”

We started walking toward the outside doors together, and I turned my head to regard him skeptically. “I thought you were staying regardless?”

He smiled. “Forgive me, I am. I just misspoke. I meant to say, ‘I guess that means you’re staying?’”

“Yes, I’m staying.”

“Good.”

Just as we reached them, the grand doors of the castle swung open. Immediately, Mitsy latched onto me, sweeping me into the crowd, introducing me rather excitedly.

“There you are, Grace.” She held onto my arm but extended her neck to call after a group of women standing near the pond. “Bri, Blaire, Adelle, come meet Grace!” Three women, two of which I could have sworn were twins, all smiling, made their way to me. “This is Bri,” she pointed to the first woman bouncing a baby on her hip. “This is Blaire,” she pointed to the second woman. “I know they look like sisters, but they’re not; although, most people think they are. Long story, Eoghanan can tell you sometime. And this,” she pointed to the last woman, “is Adelle, Bri’s mother.”

I smiled, shaking all of their hands. “Nice to meet you.”

Mitsy allowed them no chance to respond, quickly yanking me toward another group of people, and so the routine continued until I had been introduced to everyone in their party.

“You’re glad to have some people about, aren’t you?”

Mitsy laughed, releasing her grip on me for the first time. “Yes. Sorry. The Conalls…we’re all family, and Bri and I have been best friends a long time. I’m just happy for all of us to be in the same place. Plus…I’m glad to have some extra hands to help with this sudden gathering.”

“Understandably so. I’ll be happy to help in any way that you need me to.”

“Thank you. And now…” she pointed in Eoghanan’s direction, “I’ll release you for a while.”

She flittered away quickly, and I made my way over to Eoghanan who, much to my surprise, gathered me up in his arms and kissed me rather thoroughly.

“Well, good morning to you, too.” I laced my fingers with his as he led me away from the crowd, back inside the castle.

“Aye, ’tis a wonderful morning. Though, I’m afraid I’ve some unfortunate news.”

Dread settled immediately in my gut. “What?”

He twirled a strand of my hair. “Doona look so worried, lass. ’Tis nothing all that bad. I’ll be away tomorrow—down to the village to fetch supplies for the gathering. I expect the lassies will need yer help here.”

“Oh, I don’t mind helping. I already told Mitsy I’d do whatever they need me to.”

“Aye, ye say that now, but ye doona yet know all the women who will be leading the charge around here tomorrow. No only me mother, but also Rhona, our head maid and a lifelong resident of this castle. And if I know the Conalls, their Mary will be anxious to take charge of something. And they’ll need her help, I’m no saying that, ’tis only that if Mary helps, then Adelle will jump in just to aggravate her.”

“Sounds like you’ve been around them a lot.”

He shook his head. “No all that much truthfully, but it doesna take verra long to see how a group of headstrong women behave when ye put them all to task on the same thing. ’Tis a powerful but frightening force.”

McMillan Territory Village

“I am pleased to see ye doing so well, cousin. The blade wound was such that only one with Morna’s powers could heal it.”

Eoghanan rode next to Eoin Conall, his cousin on his mother’s side, and shuddered thinking back on that night. Death had meant little to him then, but now he had much more to lose. The knowledge that death had been so close to him only a few months prior still made him uneasy. He couldn’t imagine never having had the chance to know Grace or her bonny son.

“Aye, I am verra glad as well. I owe the witch a great debt.”

“I doubt Morna sees it that way.”

Eoghanan nodded. “I know that she doesna, but it makes me feel no less indebted.”

“Whoa, buddy! Whoa….Whoa…are you trying to make me fall off you? ’Cause you’re doing a good job.”

Cooper’s voice from a short distance in front of him caught Eoghanan’s attention. Giving his own horse a nudge, Eoghanan rode to catch up with him. When Cooper had insisted on having his own horse, they’d given him the oldest, gentlest beast in their stables. The horse was doing nothing to dismount Cooper, barely moving at a slow trot.

Still, Cooper had both arms wrapped around his horse’s neck, his little chest pressed flat against the horse’s mane.

“Have ye no ever ridden a horse before, Cooper?”

The child lifted his head just slightly, still maintaining his tight grip on the creature’s neck.

“Of course, I haven’t. I’m a city boy. Born and raised in NYC. The only horses I’ve ever seen were pulling those buggy things for tourists.”

Eoghanan didn’t know half of what the lad meant, but he believed that he’d not seen many horses. “Would ye like to ride with me, lad?”

“No. I gotta learn if I’m gonna live here, don’t I?”

It pleased Eoghanan to no end that Cooper knew his parents planned to stay here. It made it seem more certain, more real. “Aye, ye will need to learn, but it doesna have to be today if ye doona wish it. I can teach ye back at the castle, when there are no so many others around.”

Cooper shook his head, determined to keep going. “No, I don’t care if they watch. It’ll just take me a little time to get used to it.”

“I admire yer stubbornness, Cooper. Look,” he pointed to the edge of the village in front of them. “We are almost there. I’ll ride beside ye to the village edge, where we will dismount and tie up our horses.”

“Okay,” Cooper lifted his chest, testing out his balance now that someone was there to aid in the case of a fall. “If you insist.”

*

The young witch Jinty watched with disbelieving eyes at the group of men approaching the village. She remained shaded amongst the trees. The men wouldn’t know who she was or what role she’d played in the destruction of their family. Still, better not to be seen.

She wasn’t interested in the Conalls, she knew them well enough—the tall dark headed Scot and the blonde one, both formidable as always, but utterly unimportant to her. The young boy she’d never seen before. There was only one that caught her attention, only one that sent rage rushing through her very fingertips, morphing into hatred as it settled inside her heart.

Eoghanan, the red-headed demon who’d taken from her the one man who could have delivered her from a life of solitude. She’d thought him dead. No one had seen the bastard McMillan brother in many moons. Clearly death had reached for him, the scar running the length of his body showed her that much, but he’d survived. Perhaps death was too much a kindness for him. He deserved to be subjected to the same lonely life he’d forced her to live.

When her beloved, Niall McMillan, had come to her the first time she’d been a young girl lost—left alone after the death of her grandmother, forced to survive with only her powers and the knowledge of herbs her grandmother had left her with. He’d given her a purpose and his heart.

One task in exchange for a life spent together—to help him gain his place as Laird. Years she’d worked for him, dutifully producing poisons, never asking questions, waiting for him to come to her, only accepting his love when he offered it.

They’d come so close to victory. Then Eoghanan had turned Baodan against Niall, and her beloved had met his death. No matter who ran the blade through him, Eoghanan was to blame. Once again, she was alone in the world—the witch in the woods, shunned until one wished bad fortune to fall upon another.

Soon, that bad fortune would reach Eoghanan. She would make sure he was as lonely as she.

She watched the group of men closely, following a short distance behind them as they made their way through the village, stopping to gather men and supplies. There would be a gathering at the castle and all were invited. It would be the perfect time to act against him, but first she needed to find his greatest weakness, the thing he loved most in the world, and rip it from him.

It would be a difficult job. The mysterious McMillan brother had no family of his own, no one had ever seen him in the company of a lass. But everyone cared about something. Jinty would find it in time.

Infectious laughter drifted from the direction she watched, and Jinty’s eye’s rested on the child once again. Eoghanan had the boy in his arms, and the look in his eyes was unmistakable. He cared for the child.

She couldn’t imagine why or what role this young boy now played in Eoghanan’s life, but there was no denying that he adored the child. He watched over him with cautious eyes, stood near him at all times. Whatever the reason, today the child was in his charge.

There was still much she would have to learn, but the gathering would be the perfect place to do so. If the child was now a permanent fixture in Eoghanan’s life, she could think of no greater revenge than to change that for him.

As Eoghanan predicted, there was plenty of chaos the next morning as the group of women—Mitsy, Kenna, Rhona, Mary, Adelle, Bri, Blaire, and myself—tried to direct everyone to specific tasks for the day. However, after a few hours of disagreements and power struggles, we all fell into a nice routine, each of us setting to our tasks with a dogged determination to have our jobs completed before the men returned.

I’d been paired with Mitsy for the day and found myself with the very easy and enjoyable task of overseeing Jeffrey, Adelle’s husband, Hew, and a handful of other men as they set up tents for the other arriving guests.

“Are you sure I’m not needed anywhere else? I feel a bit guilty, watching these guys work when all of the other women are busy working inside.”

Mitsy placed a hand on my arm to keep me from getting up. “I am absolutely sure. Believe me. Kenna, Rhona, Adelle, and Mary each have control over a quarter of the castle, which is just how they like it. They feel like they’re playing boss, but they won’t be in each other’s way. Bri is busy with baby Ellie, and I’m too hot and pregnant to do much of anything. And I don’t want to be alone, so that’s where you come in.”

“Okay, but are you sure you don’t want to hang with Bri and the baby? I could help with the work that way.”

“No,” she said the word quite urgently.

I realized that her impending motherhood had her scared to death. She didn’t want to be around babies just yet. I understood completely. I’d been much the same way.

“Okay, I’ll stay. It will all be alright, you know?” I relaxed, leaning back against the side of the castle, realizing that it was rather foolish to argue myself into more work. “It’s scary, especially when you didn’t grow up dreaming of being a mother.” She looked surprised that I would infer this about her. “I didn’t either, but I promise, you just take it one day at a time. It will be the best thing that ever happens to you.”