Page 35 of Desire of a Highlander

He felt a stirring of pride. His people had built this. Widows. Runaways. Former soldiers. Farmers. Craftsmen. People who had lost everything but who had come together to forge something new. They were more his people than Clan Campbell had ever been. This afternoon he would need to check the waymeets, see if anyone else had come to seek help.

Ye are a long way from home and traveling further every moment. Yet the balance needs ye, Ronan Campbell, more than ye could know.

Thinking of the waymeet made him remember the last time he’d been there and his strange encounter with Irene MacAskill. With the memory came a set of uncomfortable questions. Who was she? And how come Elodie had arrived only a short while later? Coincidence?

Someone will come who will help ye carry the burdens life has given ye, if ye have the courage to let them.

Voices drifted through the crisp morning air, someone shouting about a missing goat and someone answering that the blasted thing had gotten into their turnips again.

The voices banished all thoughts of Irene MacAskill and Ronan smiled faintly. Ah. Normality.

“Let’s go,” he said to Bran and Skye. “It’s first light. Time to start work.”

Indeed, when he returned, he found a dozen or so people gathered by the old barn at the northern end of the village with more arriving carrying tools, baskets and coils of rope. Elodie stood beside Faye in the middle of a tremendous yawn. He smiled to himself. The woman could organize an entire settlement before breakfast but apparently waking up early remained a challenge.

He walked over to the group and the questions began.

“Should we start with the timber?”

“Or maybe the roof?”

“When are we repairing the cottages?”

Ronan nodded at Elodie. “Take yer instructions from Elodie. She’s in charge.”

Elodie blinked in surprise. “I...I am?”

“Remember our conversation about common sense? I think we are in need of yer gift for it.”

“Oh. Right. Okay.” She cleared her throat and stepped forward. “Our first priority is the roof on the barn,” she announced, pointing towards the building. “It can house four families once it’s repaired and I don’t think it will take too long. We need teams for repairs to the joists and thatching. I also want two people checking the walls for structural damage.”

The villagers glanced at each other uncertainly and then looked at Ronan.

He folded his arms across his chest. “Ye heard her. Do as she says.”

Elodie gave him a grateful nod then began reading out names, assigning them to different tasks as efficiently as any chamberlain in a great house. It was clear she was used to organizing people. Faye claimed that her clothing and jewelry marked her out as a noblewoman and the fact that she could read and write and her ability to organize a household supported that assumption.

But Ronan wondered. She was unlike any noblewoman he’d ever met. In fact, she was unlike anyone he’d ever met, noble or not.

Within moments everyone had been given a task and the crowd began to disperse to begin work. Ronan walked over to Elodie. “And what task did ye have in mind for me, oh great leader of mine?”

She looked him up and down critically. “You? Hmm. Let’s see. What talents can you bring to the team?”

He held out his hands. “I’ve been told I’m half decent with a hammer.”

She nodded. “A very valuable skill. But what I really need from you is to keep them all in line.”

He snorted. “Ask for the impossible why dinna ye?”

She laughed and together they went to inspect the old barn. It had clearly seen better days. The roof sagged in several places and patches of missing thatch exposed dark rafters beneath. It had been this way for years, since before Ronan had arrived and had been gradually decaying over the years.

Elodie studied the building critically. “The old thatch needs to come off first. I’ll go up and start removing it.”

“No,” Ronan said.

She looked at him in surprise. “No?”

“Ye stay on the ground. I’ll go up and do it.”