like this.’ A single tear trickled from the corner of her left eye and he wanted to reach out and wipe it away. He stepped back instead. ‘I will take whatever days your treatments give him. The rest is in the Almighty’s hands.’
She walked past him then and he heard the soft groan as she did so. Watching her, he noticed the signs of discomfort or pain in the way she walked now.
‘Mistress Mackenzie, are you yourself in need of a healer?’
She laughed then and the sound of it made his heart beat faster.
‘Aye, I think I might. Do you know one?’
‘Old Ranald is good if you need anything hacked away.’ The jesting relieved the tension in him.
‘Nay, not that. I just need to walk a bit after crouching and bending for so long. I will not keep you from your duties, Commander.’
‘Come,’ he said, motioning with his hand ahead of him. ‘I am not expected back for some time yet and I can show you the rest of the village if you have not walked it yourself.’
‘I would like that,’ she said, following him to the road, then walking at his side.
They walked along that main road and Davidh pointed out the important places of their village—the smithy she knew, but the baker, the miller near the stream and the weavers she did not. Word had spread about her and many came out to greet her. Some she called by name which surprised him at first, but she told him that she had seen them just a short while before his arrival.
Davidh guided her as far as the stream that led north to the river that connected Loch Arkaig to Loch Lochy. To reach the falls and her cottage she would follow the river to the mouth of Loch Arkaig, cross the small bridge there and head around to the northern side of the river. The river that rushed over the falls fed back into the River Arkaig. The most surprising thing about the walk was that Davidh found it easy to talk to her. Giving her bits of gossip and explaining the connections between this person and that one continued as they made their way back to the smithy.
‘You did not show me where you live.’
He had not time to ponder her curiosity, for a man came running towards them, shouting out his name. Only then did Davidh realise he’d lost all sense of time as he’d walked with Anna. Robert expected him after the noon meal to meet with the steward and Davidh had forgotten all about it.
He could blame it on the sight of his son, sitting outside for the first time in weeks. He could and that would have been part of it. The other part was that he’d been enjoying himself too much and, for that short time, he’d forgotten his duty. He’d forgotten his duty.
Davidh nodded at the messenger and faced Anna.
‘I must go.’ She nodded. ‘Will you be back on the morrow?’
‘I will be back in a few days. There is so much to do before I will have enough to help those in the village.’
He wanted to argue with her, but he could not now. Any anger or frustration he felt was his own fault, so he took his leave with a hurried word of gratitude. Davidh cursed silently first, with every step he ran to the smithy to claim his horse and then with every stride of his horse after he mounted and as he rode to the keep.
Never in his life, never since taking command, had he ever forgotten to carry out a task or duty or responsibility. Never. Not even when Colm suffered the worst of his affliction.
But this young woman arrived, bringing help to his son and appealing to him more than any woman before or since Mara, and he allowed her to distract him. From his duty.
This could not happen again.
Three days passed and Davidh found the sense of distraction growing. Anna had not returned to the village since their encounter which saw him running off to the keep. Though Robert said nothing about his lateness that day, others whispered. And not all of the comments were meant in jest. With things still unsettled among the various factions in the Cameron clan, the last thing he needed to be was less than attentive and less than consistent in his duties.
When the last chief’s perfidy and betrayal had been uncovered, the clan broke apart. Gilbert’s supporters fled, unwilling to wait for their own guilt to be exposed and to pay for their part in his sins. Though Robert was the legitimate, pragmatic and reasonable choice to replace him, some elders and others well respected in the clan wondered if the man who’d served in silence to protect his own secrets could be trusted to lead them now.
Robert’s choices and decisions since taking the high chair were closely watched and examined for weakness or ill judgement. That included his own selection of who to command the warriors while Struan took over as steward. In the months since, and with the support of the powerful chief of the Chattan Confederation, Robert had made progress in re-establishing trust in the treaty that had been put in place between them.
Still, the laird did not need his commander to look unprepared or unready to train and manage all the warriors of the Cameron clan. For the last three days, Davidh had thrown himself into his duties. Knowing that Colm was improving, he remained at the keep from morning until dark.
He worked with his men in the training yard, he assigned guards and others to do needed repairs to the buildings in the castle and elsewhere. Though they might not have wanted to do it, such work strengthened them and their endurance and was a useful way of accomplishing both.
And no matter how exhausted he felt himself, thoughts of the green-eyed healer kept him from sleep. Like some callow youth who’d never had experience with a woman, his mind turned her words and every action over and over again, keeping him from rest. So, on the fourth morning after their walk, Davidh decided to seek her out. With Colm healthier than he’d been for months, he believed the boy could make the journey out to the falls. If he tired too quickly or easily, Davidh would turn back.
With the ready excuse of a lack of those leaves for making the vapours and some coin to pay for her supplies in hand, he walked to Suisan’s to retrieve his son. Not ten paces from the door of his house, he almost slammed into a woman walking towards him.
‘Good day and my pardon, Lilias,’ he said as he grabbed his neighbour to keep her from falling. ‘I did not see you there.’
‘Good day, Davidh,’ Lilias said. She regained her balance and he released his hold. ‘Ye seem to be in a hurry this day. Is something wrong with the boy?’
Though he did not have time to waste if he wanted to get to the falls and back before dark, Davidh did not wish to be rude to a woman who had stepped in many times to help him care for his son.
‘Nay, Colm is doing well,’ he said. Smiling then at the thought of how well he was, Davidh nodded. ‘There has been some improvement of late. But,’ he said, gazing past her towards the smithy, ‘I am taking him to the healer now.’
‘Everyone has been expecting her to return here,’ Lilias said. ‘Is it wise to take him so far?’
There was an unfamiliar glint in Lilias’s gaze and Davidh could not tell if the woman was questioning his judgement or just curious. He shrugged.
‘That is another reason
