Fraser laughed and turned away, but Laird Gilchrist stopped him.
“Wait a moment,” he said. “I forgot something.”
Fraser raised his eyebrows in a question.
“Thank you, Fraser,” the laird said. “I will make sure you are suitably rewarded for everything you have done for me and my family. Ask anything you wish from now on, and if it is in my power, I will give it to you.”
Fraser was stunned. “Thank ye, M’Laird,” he said faintly, and fled.
17
Evanna was sitting drinking a cup of warm ale in the kitchen of the tavern while she looked out of the window at the pouring rain, her thoughts muddled and her eyes staring into space. Fraser had promised that he would come back to her, but what had happened to that promise? He had obviously had no intention of keeping it since she had seen neither hide nor hair of him, and neither had anyone else. He knew she could read, yet he had not even sent a note. There was, of course, a possibility that she could hardly bear to contemplate. He might be in prison, or worse. However, she could not just walk into Burntstane Castle and ask someone.
Her father, who was having one of his brief but sadly less frequent lucid spells, was less careful but direct. He sat down beside her and looked into her face, then put his hand on hers on the table. “What is it, hen?” he asked gently. “Ye look so sad.”
Evanna looked at his dear face. Today his green eyes were clear and focused, and he was the father she had known from years ago before creeping old age had gradually eroded his mind.
She forced a smile onto her face. “Nothin’, Da. I am just a bit tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.”
This was a lie and Bruce Mulholland knew it. Evanna was a champion sleeper, and he had often teased her about it.
He shook his head. “I do not believe that,” he said firmly. “Ye are tellin’ me lies, an’ it is no’ like ye. Now tell me the truth, lass. What is the matter?”
Evanna put her hands over her face and gave a great sigh. “I love him, Da,” she murmured. “I love Fraser McLachlan. He is everythin’ to me. He promised…he promised solemnly that he would come back, and if he does no’, I will lose faith in every man I ever meet from now on. I thought I had found the one I would love for my whole life, but it seems that a’ men are faithless—except ye, of course, Da.” Her voice was bitter, and tears were gathering in her dark green eyes. “But there is something even worse, Da. What if he is dead?”
Bruce pulled her into his embrace and held her there for a long time while she sobbed and held on to him, feeling as safe as she had when she was a child and she had gone to him with a skinned knee or a bruise. Somehow, he had always made things better, and he could still do so but only on the days when his mind was not wandering back to the past or away on flights of fancy. However, today he was fine, and when Evanna looked up into his dear face, he smiled at her reassuringly.
“Ye know, when I was young, yer mother an’ I waited a long time for each other,” he told her, sighing. “I can see her now, my Bettie. Funny, her hair was fair an’ she had beautiful brown eyes, but ye have none o’ her colorin’. I can see her in yer face, though, in the shape o’ yer eyes, yer mouth.
“An’ I can see her expressions on yer face as well, my lovely daughter. Ye have the same way o’ screwin’ up yer face when ye don’t like somethin’, an’ ye have her beautiful smile that lights up yer whole face. When she died, I thought my world had ended, but ye know what, Evanna?”
She shook her head. “No, Da. Tell me.”
“I managed to get through it,” he answered. “It was hard, I will no’ deny it, an’ there were days when I did not think I could do it, but I did.”
“Did ye never want tae marry again, Da?” Evanna asked curiously. “Was there never anybody else?”
“Aye, there were a few,” he admitted. “Yer mother always told me that if anythin’ happened tae her, I must find somebody else. It was no’ because o’ her that I did no’ marry again. There was one lady I really cared for, but her parents did not like me. I was sad but no’ brokenhearted, though, an’ after that, I did not really care anymore. I was happy on my own, an’ I still am. I have my lovely daughter tae care for, an’ she looks after me too.”
“The lady ye cared for,” Evanna said thoughtfully, “were ye no’ badly hurt by her?”
He shrugged. “At the time, but I got over it, as ye will, Evanna.”
“It does not feel that way, Da,” she sighed. “I thought he was a good man.”
“Ye will have good days an’ bad days,” he told her. “Find somethin’ tae stop ye thinkin’ about him. I used tae work a lot, an’ I had pals. We went fishin’, we sometimes went tae the seaside an’ took ye wi’ us. Lexie was a great help.”
“What would I have done without her?” Evanna mused. “I cannot remember a time when there was no Lexie. How did she come tae us? I have asked her, but she will never tell me.”
Bruce sighed, frowning. “I needed help tae run the place, but it did no’ seem that I could find anyone around here who could help me. Then I found her. She was workin’ as a field hand on Jamison’s farm, an’ even then she was a big strappin’ woman.
“I wondered how she could be workin’ on Jamieson’s land because when she brought me my ale, I could tell that she was an’ educated woman, but at the same time, she had nay airs an’ graces about her. I asked her how she came tae be there but she said she did not wish tae discuss it. She told me later about being a nun. I nearly laughed at her fancy words! Then I asked her how she would feel about maybe comin’ tae help me tae run my tavern. Well, she looked as if I had just given her a present, especially when she saw ye! She came tae us three days later an’ has been here ever since, as ye know. Ye were only three then.”
“Did ye never want tae marry her, Da?” Evanna asked curiously. “Ye spent so much time taegether, and she is no’ bad-lookin’.” Evanna watched her father’s face carefully as he answered.
Bruce laughed and shook his head. “There was never a spark between us, if ye know what I mean, hen. But I did ask her once when you were just a wee lassie, thinkin’ it might be good for us.” He smiled at the memory. “She was very gentle when she refused. She told me I was a wonderful man, but she had never planned tae marry. She told me she thought o’ the tavern as her home an’ ye an’ me as her family, but she thought if we married it would spoil a’ that, an’ she told me she had never wanted children. I had no’ even thought about any more bairns. Ye were enough for me.”
Evanna nodded. “I love her, whether she is my stepmother or not,” she whispered, smiling.