Page 35 of Highlander’s Lust

Sorley said, “And after yer husband died, did his lairdship then no’ ask ye to marry him?”

Fiona nodded. “Aye, he did. Me husband died, and Charlie immediately asked me to be his bride. He asked me all the time until I couldnae refuse him, and he bought me a ring to plight our troth. But then, after the auld laird’s wake, I never heard from him again.”

A few gasps at this news showed everyone was listening.

“And why did this cruel abandonment cause ye to suffer such consternation, mistress?” Sorley asked.

“Because I carry his bairn!” Fiona said in a strident voice.

A clamorous uproar greeted this statement.

Sorley shouted over it, “So, he uses clan gold to bargain for a maiden when he is already plighted to wed another woman—a woman who is carrying his bairn! He must be denounced!”

Matthew Cèampach came to stand beside Laird and Lady Brisbane with Eby next to him. They laid calming hands on the young couple’s arms, and then Farmer Matthew began to speak.

“Mistress? Mistress!” he addressed Fiona, and when he gained her attention, Matthew asked, “How far along are ye with the bairn?”

Fiona hesitated and then refused to speak. Every housewife in the hall paused. There was not a woman amongst them who would not know how far along they were with a bairn.

Matthew continued his barrage of questions. “I’ll give ye more time to think on it if ye can answer me this instead: Why did ye not ever have a bairn after lying with yer husband, the late Mister Crawford?”

Again, Mistress Fiona dithered.

Matthew gave a loud laugh. “Very well, woman, dinnae answer that either. I have sworn oaths here from fully half a dozen young men up in Inverness, who have signed admission to lying with ye before, during, an’ after yer marriage to dear auld Mister Crawford and after yer last meeting with Charlie Brisbane. What say ye to that? Would ye no’ take that as full enough proof that ye cannae carry a bairn inside ye at all, mistress? And before ye try to answer, remember that the penalty for lying under oath is for a woman to be whipped at the cart’s tail, driven through the streets, and then branded!”

Cries sounded from the benches: “Which one is the faither?” “How far gone are ye with bairn?”

Mistress Fiona Crawford had been promised by Sorley that this hearing would just be a formality and she would be rewarded richly for her efforts if she lied.

She pointed an accusing finger at the steward. “He told me to lie! I just wanted to ask Charlie for more gold to keep me mouth shut from telling his wee wife wifey about our liaison, and the steward asked me to pretend I was pledged to him and carrying the heir.”

At these words, Chieftain MacTavish delayed no longer. He stood up, walked down from the judgment dais, and unlocked the fetters around Charlie’s wrists.

He gripped Charlie’s forearm with his hand, and Charlie did the same back to him; a Highlander’s greeting to acknowledge bygones be bygones.

The villagers cheered as if they had not been asking for their laird’s banishment not so long ago.

But Jean and Charlie were oblivious to the noise. They stared into each other’s eyes, time and place forgotten and forgiven and needed no more. From now on, it would not matter where they found themselves, it would always be the two of them together against the rest of the world.