Highland Chieftain (Book 5)

Chapter 43

AN - Just the epilogue to go now. I apologise for how long this book has taken. Since I started it, I have been through some very dark moments myself, and in those times writing has been the last thing on my mind. The epilogue, however, will give you a clue as to who the next book will be about. Enjoy, Az x

Chapter 43

The wind was gentle upon her face as the small tendrils of hair curled around her as they escaped her braid. A stone sat within her stomach. Looking up at the Keep as the Bailey bustled around her it was as if she were invisible once more. A speck in the woven time fabric which she knew other would join and depart from in their own time. Her time, however, had come. For she was a MacKay no longer. Nay, she now belonged to a new clan, which awaited her thread to join its tapestry. Her voice to join its melody.

This Keep held many a dark memory for Larena, but it was also where she had grown, learnt and had become who she was today. She had been through many a change, she knew that, knew she had completed some comprehensible actions, but at the end of if...she had found the man she had always mean to be with. The one who had waited for her even when she had thought him lost to her.

The bustle around her distracted her from the stone before her. The shrieks of children as they ran between the working adults. People whom she had known her entire life and yet only recently has started to see the real person within. She only hoped that the rumours of her life would not making starting her new life in a new clan too difficult. But however hard it was, she knew that this time nothing could knock her as Kendrick would be on her side.

Smiling when he glanced in her direction, she turned to make sure the straps of her saddle were tight enough. He was never far away. In the seven nights since their marriage she had only to turn her head and Kendrick would be in her line of sight. He had confessed on this second night that he was afraid if he moved too far away she would disappear and he would be waking from a dream and into a nightmare.

Checking the last buckle a large, warm, familiar hand covered her own. "I think that it was secure enough the last four times you checked. I do not think it has loosened since." She let him remove her hand from the straps and turned her around to face him. Looking up without any hesitation, her breath was still taken upon the sight of him before her. He leant in to kiss her chastely upon the lips, before he blocked her from view and leaned into her ear. "Larena, are you well? Do you need to stay longer? What can I do to make this easier for you?"

She was already shaking her head at the thought of staying. Pushing him back a little, in order to make sure he could see her certainty, she kissed his cheek as he pulled back. Cupping his beloved face in her hands, she smiled serenely up at him. Stroking at the slight scruff which he had not shaved that morning. The bristly hairs scratching at her hands and yet it was an intimacy no one else could have with him.

"Nay, Kendrick, I am just a little melancholy to be leaving this part of my life. But the bigger part of me is excited to start our life together. And to do that we need to be in your clan." Her voice was a whisper, but he heard every word she said.

Shaking his head now, he took her hand from his cheek and kissed her palm. "Nay, Larena, it is not my clan, it is now our clan."

"I have a new family to join, to learn about and to take charge of, if the missive from your father was anything to go by." The letter had arrived two days before. Kendrick having stalled their departure due to the headache which had taken over him after his accident. His father, however, had made it very clear that Kendrick was needed as his father's health was worse than anyone in Clan MacKay was aware of. Kendrick had had to go back to his clan the day before their wedding to deal with a conflict which had arisen. The missive had stated that the woman who had been chatelaine to the clan, who had looked after the servants of the Keep and the books, had befallen the 'terrible accident of humanity'. In plain words she had had a bad birth and the healer had warned her not to work or strain herself for at least a month after the birth. Therefore Larena was needed to take her place as the woman of the clan. The one to deal with the servants matters, whilst Kendrick took over the main duties of Laird, whilst his father took a bigger step back now Kendrick was 'finally married and ready to continue on the family line.'

They had talked on the latter. Kendrick had even cried for both their pain at the loss they had suffered. It had both shocked and heartened her to see such a man broken by the knowledge that they had lost a part of themselves in such a way. But they were stronger now, and Kendrick already planned to gather all the healers in the Highland's if that is what it took to make sure the next bairn was hail and healthy upon its birth.

She still could not rid herself of the thoughts that she was the reason it had happened, but she was starting to accept that it may not happen again in the future. She had to accept that as awful as it was, women went through these events and came out the other side all the world over. She was determined to be among the number who made it to the other side. And with the man in front of her, she was most certain that she could make it.

"Well, then, I believe it is time to give your final farewells. Though I promise it will not be forever. I was here so often as a child, I am most certain we will have many trips here with our children in tow." With a quick kiss, he released her, a hollow in her chest filling once more with the touch. "I will make the final arrangements and give you some time."

Kendrick called over to Iain about some provisions and left her beside her mare. With a steadying breath she looked upon the Bailey, and those bustling here and there, going about their daily life. Yet directly to her left Aislinn and Camdyn were waiting patiently for her to notice their presence. For the first time in her life, she saw Camdyn look what could only be described as uncomfortable. Yet he stepped forward as soon as she looked upon them.

"Larena," He took her hands within his own. "We may never have been the brother and sister we were supposed to be, we may never treated each other as we always should have. But I wondered, before you leave, if you could forgive my actions, words and thoughts about you. And know that I do love you. You are my sister for better or worse and that is a bond that I have not always respected. Though I hope to make amends for that in the future." With trembling hands, she sent propriety to the wind and threw her arms around his strong shoulders.

The storm of emotion held back, her words still shaken with the force of it. "There is nothing to forgive, as my actions caused the breach. I can only hope you forgive me, and allow me to return in the future."

Warm breath in her ear, "Larena, you are always welcome here, and if Kendrick ever causes you harm, then I am here to tear him limb from limb."

With a wet laugh, she released him and turned to Aislinn. "I do apologise for my first treatment of you Aislinn. You are a fine lady of this Keep and I can only hope to be half as good as you are." Holding herself back, she could not take a rejection from a female at this point.

The worry was for naught. In seconds she was engulfed in the arms of the sweetly perfumed Aislinn. Her scent a lavender profusion which was a welcome relief from the odours of the Bailey. "Larena, I think that you will be twice the lady I am. And you will always be welcome in Clan MacKay. But I need you to know, I hold no ill will for anything we have said or done in the past. We shall go from this moment forward." Kissing each other on the cheek to seal the pact, they separated.

"I am afraid, I need take my bride and whisk her away now." A hand landed on her waist and she knew it was ushering her forward, whilst anchoring her in the present. "Though I assure you, Cam, we will venture back this way next spring." Clasping hands the two shook on it.

Cam looked between them both. "I believe we will have to make a visit come fall. It has been years since I stepped into your Keep, yet you seem to treat mine as a second home." The smiles took any sting from the words and within minutes Larena was sat upon her mare ready to depart to a life she at one point had thought would never happen. Her husband swung upon his stallion beside her, the picture of everything that she had dreamed of for many a long night.

"Shall we be off, Larena?" His smile lit up the void which had been in her life for so long now. The darkness may always be there, but she now had Kendrick, and his light will never let it consume her again.

"Aye, Kendrick, we shall."