Chapter Twenty-Two

Maisie opened her bedchamber door, surprised to find her sister inside. Eliza swung toward her, wringing her hands. “What happened?” she demanded as Maisie shut the door.

“Laird Stewart has returned and—”

“Nay!” Eliza said, stomping her foot. “I mean, what happened between ye and Aidan?”

Maisie felt her jaw slide open in shock as she stared at her sister, who was glowering at her. “He told me he would wait for me still, and I told him nae to because I love Graeme.”

“Ye love Graeme?” Eliza gasped, and her whole demeanor changed before Maisie’s eyes. She grinned, rushed to Maisie, and hugged her. “That’s wonderful!”

Exhaustion overwhelmed Maisie. She untangled herself from her sister’s embrace, went to the bed, and fell backward on it to stare up at the ceiling. After a moment, Eliza’s footsteps padded toward her, the bed dipped, and her sister lay beside her as they used to do when they were little girls. Maisie turned her head to look at her sister, and Eliza met her gaze, still grinning and her blue eyes twinkling. “Am I to understand that ye think my love for Graeme, the man trying to prove our brother guilty of crimes that could cost him his life, is cause for joy?” Maybe she was simply too tired to properly comprehend what was happening.

“Aye!” Eliza confirmed, raising her head to rest it against her palm as she turned on her side to stare at Maisie. A lock of Eliza’s black hair fell across her forehead, and she tucked it behind her ear. “Graeme will nae prove Brody is guilty, so I’m nae worried about that,” she said as if Maisie were a simpleton.

Maisie rolled onto her side, too, and raised her arm to rest her head in the crook of her elbow as she stared at her sister. “I love Graeme, but he may nae ever be able to love me in return.”

“Whyever nae?” Eliza asked. “He must love ye, so the two of ye will wed and Aidan will finally forget ye and turn his attention to me.”

Her sister’s declaration didn’t shock her. The signs of Eliza’s affection for Aidan had been there for quite some time. Maisie took a long, slow breath, thinking of what to say. “Graeme does nae currently have enough room in his heart for both vengeance and me.”

Eliza waved a dismissive hand. “Surely when Brody is proven innocent after Bernard is found, Graeme will give up his desire for vengeance for ye.”

Maisie nibbled on her lip. “I fear he may nae be able to. He kinnae even bring himself to trust me.”

“Can he?” Eliza said, eyeing her. “Would ye nae do all in yer power to protect our brother?”

“I would nae hide the truth if he’s guilty or try to stop it from coming to light,” she said, in that moment realizing it was truly how she felt. She loved her brother with all her heart, but if he had done what Graeme believed, she could not bury that knowledge after knowing what Graeme and Eppie had been through.

“Why do ye ask?” Maisie inquired, studying Eliza, who looked lost in thought.

Eliza’s gaze rested on Maisie. “I was nae certain I loved Aidan, but I ken for certain now that I do. I would be loyal to him over all others, just as ye will be loyal to Graeme.”

Maisie frowned. Her sister could sometimes hear only what she wanted to. “That is nae exactly what I said. I am loyal to the truth, and if Brody is indeed guilty, I have realized I’d nae hide it, though I think Graeme believes I would.”

“Well, I have realized I will do anything for Aidan’s love.”

Maisie shook her head at the declaration. “Eliza, why would ye do anything for the love of a man who does nae return it?”

As she asked the question, she understood she needed to answer it for herself. She had told Graeme she loved him, and he had basically told her he could not yet give her the same in return, and yet, here she lay, hoping she could break through his barriers and penetrate his heart. She was hoping, because she knew deep down that this thing between them was love, if only he could see it.

Eliza crawled up the bed, pulled back the coverlet, and tucked herself inside as Maisie watched her. Many times in their lives, her sister had crept into Maisie’s bed when she was scared or sad, so Maisie didn’t protest now because she understood Eliza must need her. “I have spent my life in yer shadow,” Eliza said, shocking Maisie. “Ye were the pretty one, the smart one, the funny one, and I have simply been the younger sister.”

“Oh, Eliza!” Maisie cried out, joining her under the coverlet and hugging Eliza close. “That’s nae true!”

“It is! Nae any man ever gave me a passing glance but Aidan. He made me feel I had hope to find love, when nae anyone else ever has.”

“Ye have become a bonny lass!” Maisie exclaimed, thinking how Eliza really had bloomed from a very awkward girl who giggled incessantly and prattled nonstop to a composed, intelligent young woman. “Ye will meet a man who will be the mate of yer soul, and he will see instantly how special ye are.”

“That’s Aidan!” Eliza declared. “Do ye remember how he used to stick up for me when our cousins were mean to me?”

“Aye,” Maisie said, but she also recalled it was because Aidan had said he felt sorry for Eliza, but she would not hurt her sister by telling her that now. Eliza had clearly taken Aidan’s kindness to her through the years and made it into more than it was.

“That is love. He just dunnae see it yet, but he will.”

Maisie yawned and shut her eyes as exhaustion tugged at her. “I hope so, Eliza. I hope we both get the men we wish instead of heartbreak.”

Maisie awoke to early dawn light and an empty room. She scrambled out of bed, fearing she’d somehow missed saying goodbye to Eliza and Aidan, though she could not imagine Eliza leaving without bidding her farewell. Maisie rushed out of her bedchamber but stopped in her tracks as she headed to the stairs. At the far end of the passage, Eliza stood with her ear pressed up against a door.

Whatever was she about? Maisie rushed down the hall, and the moment Eliza noticed her, she scrambled backward, attempting to pretend she had not been eavesdropping.

Maisie stalked up to her sister and hissed, “What are ye listening to?”

“Nae anything,” Eliza whispered.

“Eliza!” Maisie said, working to keep her voice low. “I will bang on this door and—”

“Fine!” Eliza huffed. “This is apparently the laird’s solar. I saw him, Graeme, and two other men enter a bit ago when I was going to find the great hall to break my fast afore we depart. They are discussing where they are headed this morning. That is all I heard.”

Maisie looked at the door. “To find Bernard?”

Eliza nodded. “Laird Stewart has discovered where Bernard had been living, and they are going to make their way there.”

“Today?” Maisie asked, her heart rate spiking.

Eliza nodded. “It sounded as if they would depart right after Aidan and I do.”

“Where is Bernard?” Maisie asked.

“I do nae ken,” she said, glaring at Maisie. “Ye came upon me just as they were about to say.”

Maisie let out a relieved breath, and Eliza frowned at her. “Ye dunnae need to seem so glad.”

“Aye, I do,” Maisie snapped. “I kinnae be certain ye would nae go rushing off to tell Brody and Aidan. And then what if they found Bernard first and took him. Then Graeme would surely believe I aided them.”

Eliza scowled. “What does it matter who finds Bernard first? Either way, he will speak the truth, and the matter will be settled.”

“It matters,” she said, taking her sister by the hand and tugging her down the hall before they were both discovered in front of the door, “because if Bernard speaks of Brody’s innocence, I think Graeme will believe it more if he is the one to hear it.”

Eliza opened her mouth to say something, but behind them, down the hall, men’s voices suddenly spilled into the passageway. “Hurry down the steps!” Maisie hissed, releasing Eliza so they could both make haste. Eliza, who had always been a fast runner, darted away and as Maisie started after her sister, her ankle twinged, and wincing, she had to slow her steps. If she could just make that first step, it would look as though she had been headed down instead of lingering to listen, but as she stepped onto the first step, Graeme said, “Maisie, hold please.”

She glanced down the steps just as Eliza was disappearing off the last one. Biting her lip, she turned to find Graeme striding toward her with his brother and a man she’d not yet met close behind them. They all came to stop in front of her. Graeme studied her for a moment, flicking his gaze between her, the stairs, and her bedchamber door. She felt certain he was suspicious that she’d been up to something, and he’d be right about her sister, but since Eliza had not heard where they were going, Maisie did not see the need to announce that Eliza had been eavesdropping.

“Were ye headed to the great hall?”

“Aye,” she said, praying she didn’t sound as guilty as she felt. “I told Eliza I’d meet her in there to break our fast.”

“We are riding out,” he said, sweeping his hand behind him to his brother and the man who stood with Ross.

“Now?” Maisie asked.

“Aye. Buchannan is waiting for yer sister in the courtyard. I was just coming to get ye.”

“I’ll go fetch her.”

“The kitchen lasses packed food for her and Buchannan.”

Maisie suspected Graeme wanted them gone before he left, and sadness pierced her heart. If he trusted her at all, it would not matter.

“We can all walk down together,” Graeme’s brother said, stepping beside him. The two of them exchanged a knowing look, which confirmed Maisie’s suspicions.

Not having any other choice, Maisie nodded, and the entire party proceeded down the stairs. When they stepped off the last step and turned the corner, there stood Eliza fiddling with a ribbon in her hair, looking flushed and guilty to Maisie.

Graeme paused and frowned, looking to Eliza. “Were ye unable to find the Great Hall?”

Panic rioted in Maisie at what Eliza might say.

“The Great Hall?” Eliza asked, looking baffled.

Maisie’s stomach clenched tight. “Aye, where I was to meet ye to break our fast,” she said, trying not to be too slow with her words, yet hoping her sister would catch on.

“Oh!” Eliza exclaimed, eyes going wide and moving her hand from the ribbon she’d been tugging on, likely because she was nervous. “Nay, I could nae find it.”

“Well, it does nae matter,” Maisie said, breaking away from the group, striding to her sister, and linking arms with her, grateful that her back was to Graeme for one moment. She prayed the look she gave her sister conveyed that Eliza should simply follow Maisie’s lead. “Graeme tells me the kitchen lasses packed food for ye and Aidan, so come along. Let us go to the courtyard to make our farewells.”

Eliza, looking as anxious as Maisie felt, nodded, and Maisie turned to find Graeme, Ross, and the older man she’d not been introduced to staring at her and her sister. She tugged on Eliza’s arm to get her to move with her. They walked past the men, who moved to the side to let them by and then fell into step behind them. When they entered the courtyard, Maisie realized a lot had happened while she had been sleeping. Two men held the reins of four packed horses, and Aidan was mounted on his horse and holding Eliza’s in place. Grace was there as well, and as Laird Stewart walked toward his horse, Grace met him, and they shared a long embrace. The other man followed Laird Stewart close behind, mounting his horse with easy fluidity.

Eliza and Maisie exchanged hurried goodbyes, and then Graeme helped Eliza to mount and came back to stand by Maisie as she watched her sister ride off with Aidan. When they were gone from the courtyard, Maisie glanced at Graeme and found him studying her tenderly. He brushed a hand down the slope of her right cheekbone, causing her heart to flutter wildly in her chest and sending a delightful shiver of wanting through her. Was she a fool? He had not returned the words she’d given him, and maybe he never would. What then?

Bitterness suddenly gripped her. She was keenly aware of the people close behind them, but she could not hold her thoughts in. She wanted him to think upon things while he was away. Whatever he learned, there were still things he would need to come to himself about them. “I want ye more than anything in this world, Graeme, but if that is nae how ye want me…”

He scrubbed a hand across his face. “Thoughts of vengeance kept me going in my darkest hours, Maisie. It has been my most pressing thought for years, until ye came along, but if Bernard gives us the truth, I can set it to rest. I’m certain of it.”

“And if Bernard’s truth is that my brother did nae have any knowledge of ye and Eppie being locked away there?”

“It will nae be his truth.”

He’d said he’d accept it if Brody was innocent, but it didn’t sound as if he would. Tears filled her eyes and spilled over. Graeme rubbed them away with his hands, cupped her cheeks, and kissed her. “That does nae mean I kinnae make room in my heart for ye, Maisie.”

She pushed his hands off her face, her throat constricting and her heart twisting in despair, but she swallowed and said, “I think that is exactly what it means if ye dunnae hear exactly what ye wish to.” With that, she turned and fled before she broke down in front of everyone.