Chapter 16

"We will take ye to the edge o' the marshes," Davie said firmly. "Ye can sit down there for a while, Tearlach."

Tearlach nodded, then grimaced as the two men pulled him to his feet again. When they reached the soggy grass they set him down gently and moved away so that he and Norah could speak quietly on their own for a moment or two.

"I have been so thoughtless, Norah," he said again. He fell back onto the grass and grimaced again, gritting his teeth in anguish. "Not only about this, but about somethin' that concerns you too. These past weeks I have been thinkin' about nobody but myself, an' I am so ashamed."

Norah looked at him fearfully. "Tearlach, what are you talking about?" she asked, mystified. "If you mean you are ashamed for involving me in this situation, remember that I wanted to be involved, and Caitrin would not have thanked me for throwing you out of her house. She is very, very proudly Scottish, as you know." Then her face fell. "The one thing I regret is not being able to see her and tell her where we were going. I hope she doesn't think we went away on some selfish mission of our own."

"Caitrin is safer without me," Tearlach said grimly. "Ye both are. Let me leave then ye can go back an' live in peace wi' that kind old lady, Norah. She loves you so much. She is like a grandmother to you, an' ye have said it yourself."

Norah thought for a moment. "Yes, and I have grown to love her too, Tearlach," she agreed. She took one of his big hands in her small one and rubbed her thumb along his palm, thinking. "But I don't understand why you are being so hard on yourself. Why do you think so badly of yourself?"

Tearlach turned his hand around and looked at Norah's, which he was now cradling tenderly in both of his. It was so small. He kissed her palm before looking up at her, and the intensity of his green eyes mesmerized her for a moment. His gaze roamed all over her face as if he was trying to commit every feature and every line of it to memory, which in fact he was. He wanted to be able to remember every detail of her in the lonely years ahead.

He knew that after his confession Norah would likely never want to see him again, which made matters easier in a way. Once he told her who she was waiting for, she would despise him and let him go. That might break his heart, but it would be easier for everyone in the long run, and a broken heart would mend in time - or at least he hoped so.

He took a deep breath and looked down at their joined hands as he began to speak.

"Norah," he said hesitantly, "I have been lyin' to ye. The reason ye found me in Rosblane was not because we just happened to be there at the same time." His gaze moved up to meet hers again and he felt his heart skip a beat as he softly said , "I had heard fae a woman in a village nearby that was a lassie who looked like you had been seen in Rosblane. She said she had heard that ye talked posh, like, an' there was a story goin' about that ye had run away fae your own weddin'. She didnae know your name, but she had heard ye had beautiful eyes, an' as soon as I heard that I knew it had to be you."

He sighed and looked down at their joined hands again. "But I had to find out. I had to make sure for myself. When I saw ye again I-I couldnae believe it. When I left Dunnaird ye were just a wee thing - well, not like ye are now, anyway. Now ye are a woman, an' ye are lovelier than ever. I thought I could see ye again an' still be able to walk away fae you, but I am findin' that it is much harder than I thought it would be. Forgive me, Norah. This is all my fault. The best thing ye can dae is leave me behind, because that is what I deserve, an' I will be at peace knowing that there is somethin' I have done right."

Norah's jaw dropped as she looked at him, hardly able to believe her ears. Then suddenly one of the men's remarks made sense. They had been laughing, and when she had asked them why, they had said it was because ‘Tearlach finally found ye.'

Now she realized what they meant! "How long have you been looking for me?" she asked, astonished.

"I was thinkin' about goin' back to see Mammy an' Da," he said sadly. "And I got as far as the edge of the village, but redcoats were swarmin' all over the place, so I didnae manage it. I got close enough to see that they were fine, though. I wished I could have gone to see how you were farin' though, Norah, but I did hear fae some women that were gossipin' in the street that ye had left, an' why."

"So you knew I had run away from my wedding?" she asked.

"Aye, so I went tae Rosblane an' some o' the other villages lookin' for ye," he answered. "But I couldnae believe it when we found each other!"

Norah stared at him for a moment, not knowing whether to be angry or not, but despite herself, she was curious. "What did the ladies in Dunnaird say?"

Tearlach shrugged. "Ye are well-liked in the village, Norah," he told her. "They were a' on your side. Archie Patterson was always goin' into the tavern to interfere wi' the tavern lassies who were only tryin' to dae their jobs. They were a' good girls. Well, ye know that."

"I do." Norah replied, frowning. "And I expect he could not keep his hands to himself?"

"Indeed not," Tearlach growled. "None of them wanted anythin' to dae wi' him. One day one of the lassies had had enough an' knocked his ale over. It went all over him, an' he was just about to hit her, but one o' the guards fae your father's place stepped in for a wee dram after a hard day. He wasnae in uniform, an' that auld eejit never looks at them anyway, so he cannae tell one fae the other anyway. The guard twisted his arm up his back an' marched him out. That was the story I heard, anyway. After that, he never went back to the tavern again."

"That warms my heart," Norah remarked drily. "Has he tried to propose to anyone else?"

"Not as far as I know," Tearlach replied. "But I doubt any other lass in the district will have him."

"So he is still on the loose?" Norah asked, beginning to panic. "Then I can never go back there, and god knows what will happen if he ever finds me. I imagine my running away was a terrible humiliation for him."

"Go up north wi' the boys," Tearlach begged. "Ye will be safe there. The redcoats darenae venture on to McMillan lands. Please, Norah."

Norah looked at the desperation in his bright green eyes and was almost undone. He was pleading with her, and even when they were adolescents she had been almost unable to resist him. Now, he was a man, and she was in love with him. Moreover, she desperately wanted to be by his side, and the thought of leaving him alone at the mercy of brutal English troops was something she could not bear to do.

She shook her head vehemently. "Where are the horses?" she asked. She had approached the place where Tearlach had told her to stop from a different direction in a bad light and had no idea where she had been. Now, she had absolutely no idea where she was. She was completely unable to get her bearings, and the only feature of the landscape she remembered was the marsh.

"Never you mind," Davie said. "Tearlach is right, hen. We are in the open here, an' these men are ruthless. Come wi' us."

"But you promised not to leave him!" Norah cried, shocked. "You said you needed him! You said he had saved you all!" She looked around them accusingly, but it was no good. Each one of them looked ashamed, but they were resolute, and so was Tearlach.

Now he interrupted. "Norah, they need me whole an' able-bodied, not injured," he pointed out, looking around himself desperately for any sign of the enemy. He was terrified - not for himself, for he had resigned himself to his fate - but for Norah. God alone knew what they would do to her if they caught her. "Go - please. Ye are daein' nae good here, in fact ye are holdin' the men back."

"Fine!" she cried mutinously. "If you will not go, then I will stay."

Tearlach suddenly realized that begging and pleading with Norah would not avail them anything. He exchanged a glance with Davie, who nodded imperceptibly. "Norah!" Tearlach hissed. "I will not argue with ye any more. You are bein' selfish an' stupid. How are ye goin' to defend me? Ye are a wee woman an' ye have nae weapons. Get out o' here, an' dinnae let me see your face again!"

Startled and hurt, Norah sprang backwards away from him, but she had inadvertently jumped right into the arms of Davie, who had caught Tearlach's silent signal. Norah felt herself gripped by a powerful pair of hands that clamped themselves painfully around her upper arms.

"Let me go!" she screamed, but the hands gripped even more tightly, and Davie growled. "Norah, if ye carry on like that ye will bring every redcoat for miles around down on top o' us!"

Norah stopped screaming, but she kicked and punched Davie so hard that he dropped her onto the ground and let out a string of curses. When he reached down with both hands to pick her up again she bit his wrist so hard that he yelled in pain, and she took the chance to run back towards Tearlach.

Tearlach could not believe his eyes. He knew that what Norah was doing was idiotic, but he could not help feeling a sneaking admiration for her. Then he remembered the way she had behaved when they were children. She never gave up.

As she ran towards him, he was reminded of the day he had been standing skiffing stones across the waters of Loch Binnie. He was an expert at this, and everyone knew it. He was the king of stone-skiffing, and very proud of it. He could throw his stone at such a shallow angle that it bounced off the surface of the water at least half a dozen times or even more.

However, the first time Norah saw him doing it, she wanted his crown. "Teach me how to do that," she demanded, crossing her arms in front of her chest and gazing at him with a challenge in her eyes.

Tearlach laughed. "Ye know that I am the skiffin' champion o' three villages?" he asked scornfully as he picked up another flat stone.

Norah shrugged. "So?" she asked. "Does that mean you can't be beaten?"

"Not by a lass," he answered. "Lassies are nae good at this kind of thing."

This time Norah laughed out loud. "So you're scared of a girl beating you? I see!" She tossed her head and sorted amongst the stones on the shore of the loch until she found one that was round and almost, but not quite, flat.

"Is this any good?" she asked, holding it up so that he could inspect it.

Tearlach remembered the look in her eyes at that moment. They had changed from their usual light silver-grey to a dark slate color. He remembered that she had smelled of lavender, and whenever he smelled that fragrance from then onwards he was reminded of her eyes on that day.

It had taken her six weeks. Six weeks of utter dedication and perseverance, practicing even when he was not there, but she eventually achieved her goal. The day her stone bounced off the water eight times, once more than his, she turned to him with a triumphant smile on her face.

"There!" she said smugly. "Am I the king now?"

He shook his head, frowning deeply. "No," he replied.

Norah put her hands on her hips and opened her mouth to protest, but he held his hand up.

"You're a lassie!" he said, laughing. "You are the queen!" Then he picked up her hand, bent over and kissed it. "Your majesty!"

He had relinquished his crown, and he never got it back again.

The memory flitted through his mind in a second, but at that moment, Norah barrelled into him, and Davie came down after her. His hand was bleeding and his face was a mask of fury.

"Norah! Enough!" Tearlach hissed. He pushed her away, back into Davie's clutches again, but this time Davie did not waste any time trying to drag Norah away. He simply hoisted her onto his shoulder and carried her, and this time she knew she was beaten. As she was borne away from Tearlach, she stopped struggling. It was time, at last, to give up.

Davie had carried her for a hundred yards or so before she managed to lift her head high enough to see Tearlach, but even as she tried to catch a last glimpse of him, she saw a number of flashes of red between the trees. The redcoats were closing in on him, and as she and Davie passed out of sight of Tearlach, Norah felt her heart break.