Chapter 20

Ailis washappy to follow Duncan back out to the courtyard, and even happier to find the carriage ready and waiting, guarded by a number of Muir soldiers. She was exhausted from the emotions and the stress of the day.

She expected Duncan to return to his horse, but he climbed into the carriage with her and Lily. She shot him a questioning look, and he settled himself back into the seat.

"I'll nae be takin' any chances with either of ye. Til we're back in Castle Muir, I'll nae be leavin' yer side."

Ailis nodded, unable to find anything to say. She had a number of questions, but she wasn't sure how to ask any of them, or even if she should. Her head was still spinning from what she'd learned.

Lily's mother was Duncan's sister, not his wife. On the one hand, it made her hopeful, because it wasn't the ghost of some long-dead love of his life she was fighting. But it also pained her, because she wasn't sure why he'd force both of them to go through so much heartbreak if he wasn't mourning a lost lover.

She knew now why Duncan had been worried about them being outside, and particularly about Lily's safety outside the castle walls, and she understood. What she didn't understand was why he'd refused to tell her the truth. Had she known, she would have been more careful with her own safety and the child's.

She also had to wonder whether he'd saved her because he cared for her, or saved her because she happened to be with Lily. Would he have bothered if Lily hadn't been kidnapped?

She wanted to believe he would have, but the way he'd acted made her doubt it, in spite of her determination to think more kindly of him.

It was all so confusing and frustrating, but she didn't want to air her feelings on the road, in the midst of a group of soldiers, or in front of Lily. The poor bairn had endured quite enough, and Ailis was worried that, despite her best efforts, some of what had been said might have reached the child's ears.

Duncan, for his part, seemed no more eager to discuss things than she was. He sat quietly, scanning the lands around them for any signs of danger. Lily sat between them, her head on her father's lap, worn out from the stress and the fright she'd dealt with that day.

Ailis wished she could fall asleep as well, but she was too nervous and still too awake and alert. Her wrists ached from the rope that had bound her, and her shoulders were sore from the tension of being so long on guard.

The miles rolled past, and Ailis contented herself with watching the landscape pass by, veiled under the deepening shadows of dusk. She was nearly lulled to sleep when a quiet, childish voice startled her back into full awareness.

"Faither?"

Her heart leaped as Lily looked up, her young face filled with confusion and sadness as she voiced the one question Ailis had hoped she wouldn't think to ask.

"Is it true? Ye're nae really me faither?"

* * *

For one brief second after Lily spoke, Duncan was tempted to lie. To tell her that everything Scott Ferguson had said had been a falsehood, or even tell her she'd heard wrong.

The next second, he dismissed the idea. He'd hidden the truth for long enough. Even if the events of the day hadn't happened, Lily was getting to that age where she'd started to wonder about her mother. To lie now would be to pile falsehood on falsehood, and create a tower of lies that would eventually come crashing down and destroy them all.

Besides, Ailis had heard everything. She would know if he lied to the child, and any trust or respect she might still harbor for him would vanish. A lie, tempting as it was after so long hiding the truth, would only lose him both his betrothed and his child in the end.

He sighed. "'Tis partially true."

He gathered Lily into his lap and held her close as he spoke. "In the most basic sense of the word, and by blood, I'm nae yer faither. Yer maither was me younger sister, Daisy, and yer sire by blood was a member of Clan Fraser, our enemies, and the men who took ye today."

He took another breath and cupped her chin. "That bein' said, little love, yer maither's last action was to give ye to me, to get ye safe out of the fire that claimed her life. And the last wish she had was for me to raise ye well and make sure ye were safe and happy. And in askin' that of me, she made me yer faither in every way that counts."

"Really?"

"Aye, for bein' a faither or havin' a child is about more than blood, or so it ought to be, as far as I'm concerned. From the day ye were placed in me arms and I carried ye out of our burning home, ye were me daughter, heart and soul. And until death takes me, that'll be true."

"Oh." Lily thought about it. "Is it like when Donnie the guard married a lass who'd been married afore? I heard the cooks talkin' about it once."

"Somethin' like that, aye."

"All right."

Duncan hesitated, but now that Lily's fears were addressed, he needed to ask some questions of his own. He hadn't seen any injuries on her when he arrived, but that didn't mean she hadn't been hurt or frightened.

"Lily, did the man who took ye hurt ye in any way? Or scare ye badly?"

"Nae really." Lily scrunched up her nose. "I was a little scared when they brought me to the strange place and threw me into that little room. But then Ailis came!" Her whole face lit up. "Ailis took good care of me! She gave me hugs and made me feel better. She sat with me, and we talked about nice things, like games and sweets, and puppy names… Oh, and, Ailis!"

Duncan watched, bemused, as his now wide-awake daughter bounced up in his arms and wiggled around to look at the third passenger in the carriage.

"Ailis, when ye told me to think of nice things… I thought and thought, and I did it!"

"Did what, ye little rascal?"

"I came up with names for all the puppies! Three girl names and two boy names!"

"Ye did? Well done!" Ailis smiled warmly.

"Aye! And I want to call me favorite puppy Moonspot, ‘cause she's got a white ear!"

"Ye'll have to ask yer faither about that, love."

Duncan was about to tell Lily about his earlier plans to give her a puppy of her own, which she could certainly name Moonspot if she wanted, when the carriage rolled through the gates of Castle Muir.

They'd scarcely cleared the walls before a tall, feminine figure raced over and all but dragged Ailis out of the carriage. "Och, lass, ye're all right! Thank God. I was fairly worried, and havin' to leave yer safety to that brute of a laird who had the audacity to claim ye were his betrothed didnae help at all."

He'd spent the whole trip wondering how he was going to broach the subject, once they were in the privacy of his study, or somewhere similarly quiet.

He'd completely forgotten about meeting her friends on the road, or the fact that he'd sent them on to Castle Muir to wait for their return. He'd certainly neglected to tell Ailis they were here. She must have been worried that they were still waiting for her.

It was all he could do not to groan and bang his head against the wall of the carriage, and Jack's smugly grinning face didn't help.

The way things were going, he might need to write a letter to get to spend any time with his betrothed.