Highland Dream (Book 1)

Chapter 37

“Fyfa’s grandmother, Gilbarta, had an interesting tale to tell. She can give you more on that than I can. I hardly believe it myself. All I can truly tell you is that through some act of fate, Suisan and Toren claimed you as their own. No one questioned it as you were claimed by the Laird but most of the elders at the time knew you were not their true son. Where you had come from no one could say. But Gilbarta knows. More than knows. She says she hails from the same place as you, only place seems to be a more moveable term within her story.

I’m not sure if I can fully believe the tale she tells. But one thing is certain. You have always been special. Meant for things greater than they appear here. You were not of Suisan’s flesh but she loved you as such. You were adopted into the family, as Aislinn was adopted out of it. You are not brother and sister, never have been and never will be. That is how I am so certain you are supposed to be together.” She clutched his arm and that was when he realised he had moved closer to her through her speech.

“Why would he say she was?” He could not bring himself to call the man father anymore. The man may have once tried, but in the end he had been a trainer and nothing more. There was a sense within him that he needed to find the truth from this.

“Oh Camdyn. What reason does he ever need to put you down? It used to hurt my heart to see the disappointment within you, how you felt you could never please him. Now I realise why. Can you not see? It is himself he is punishing. He thought he had the perfect plan. A son to inherit and a son to be second. A good plan. But in the process he lost a daughter and a son, in the space of a few months. The next daughter he receives he tries his hardest to make up for anything he sees he has done wrong. Only in the process, he creates a different problem in Larena. Don’t hate him Camdyn.”

Her hand cupped the side of his face in an affectionate move her did not receive often from Isla. “Pity him, a man close to the end, who thinks that he has finally lost control by admitting what he has done. Therefore tries to regain that control by any means possible. And even if it is at the cost of the happiness of someone else.”

She stood then and straightened her shoulders. The Isla he knew and feared was back, and he gave the smallest of smiles in response. “Now, I have a wedding to plan, and you have a betrothed to talk with.” A pointed look around his shoulder. Turning his head he saw her there in the dark corner shadow of the cottage. She was trying to give them privacy, while at the same time being there for him, when she felt he was in need. His heart gave a sudden thump. He felt such relief that he did not give her up. She was still his on the fundamental level he had grown to need as much as any other part of himself.

He tugged Isla into an embrace. “Your wedding? Well I think Aislinn may have something to say about that.” Chuckling despite the tension still in the air, he let her go. Knowing she understood how he felt.

She patter her hair back into her perfect braid and gave him a haughty look. “Yes Camdyn, my wedding, I helped raise you. That girl is too sweet to naysay me on this. I will be making sure this is a wedding they will be speaking of for generations.” Head held high, she brushed past him. He saw her stop and whisper with Aislinn for a moment before moving off. As Aislinn watched Isla around the corner he could not see. He turned back to look out over the forest in the distance. The sun was still beating down, though weakly, the warmth trying with all it’s might to reach them.

He felt rather than heard Aislinn come to stand beside him. Giving her a few moments, he was surprised when she summoned up the courage to reach out and interlock their fingers. Without saying a word he knew she understood. How he did not know.

“How much did you hear?” He stared out at two lonely birds still taking flight in the distance. When many had already left this land for warmer climes.

“Not much. I know you are not who they say you are. That your father is not the Laird.” He knew that she did not think less of him for that. Vika or Larena would have left at the first sign of his drop in status, even if it was only his perceived loss. Aislinn saw nothing wrong with him and that helped him not to drop into a cycle of self-loathing.

“Isla said there was someone I could speak to if I wanted to know the truth. I don’t know if I can.” He did not want to mention what her life could have been like, how different it could have been. The love she could have felt. It was a guilt that gnawed at him, but he felt, in this case, he was protecting her with withholding the knowledge.

“If you can’t talk to this person…then possibly…well.” She had caught his attention, she did not stutter and act this uncertain when it was just the two of them. While he found it endearing he also knew that he had to follow this, find out what she knew.

“Aislinn?” He turned and caught her face within his hands. “Now,” he smiled, “tell me.”

She appeared incredibly nervous. “What would you say if I told you I could see things? Things that had already happened, or had not yet come to pass.” She took a peek up at him, seeing him, and not able to tell anything of what he thought on the matter. And time seemed to slow down as she waited for his answer.