Love Beyond Compare (Book 5 of Morna’s Legacy Series) (4 page)

“Yeah, that’s what she said. Said you were trying to write so you needed to be left alone every day until dinnertime. I didn’t believe her for a second. I even told her. I said, ‘Are you joking? Writing a book is the last thing Aunt Jane would ever want to do. She would die of boredom.’”

He was too right. Kathleen knew me better than that as well. She must’ve really been off her game on the morning she told Cooper that.
 

“I would. I’d rather spend all day clipping toenails.”

Cooper wrinkled his nose and stuck his tongue out in disgust. “Eww…that’s gross, Aunt Jane. So…” He jumped off his seat and moved to stand near the open oven as he breathed in deeply. “Something smells really good. Can I taste it?”

I joined him, leaning forward to peek inside. The loaves were almost ready. “Yeah, I bet Gregor wouldn’t mind. You’ll have to wait a few minutes though. And first, you have to tell me how you got here and if anybody knows where you are.”

Before he could answer, the sound of Isobel’s deep, painful cough traveled down the stairway. Cooper looked up at the sound, concern immediately transforming his face.
 

“What is that? Are they okay?”

It made my heart ache every time one of her fits took her. In the month since I started working at the inn, her health had declined dramatically. She rarely left bed and Gregor had been forced to take over my training. Progress with my cooking skills had suffered drastically because of it. Not that Gregor cared, his mind was much too full of worry over his wife. And so far, all of the inn’s patrons had been hungry enough after travel that they’d not seemed to mind the tastelessness of their food.
 

I moved in to answer him, lowering my voice so that neither Gregor nor Isobel would hear me. “That’s Isobel, the innkeeper’s wife. She’s very sick. That’s why I’m here, helping them in the kitchen.”

Cooper’s voice was sad when he spoke. “Is she going to get better, Aunt Jane? Her cough doesn’t sound very good at all.”

I picked him up, needing the comfort of human touch as the sadness pulled at the center of my chest. “I wish more than anything that she would, Coop, but I’m not sure that she will. She’s very sick.”

Cooper possessed the sweetest, wisest heart. He had never laid eyes on Isobel, yet he sympathized with her and Gregor’s pain immediately, his little eyes welling with tears.
 

My own tears spilled over without permission and I hurried to fan my face and wipe Cooper’s eyes before Gregor walked in. The man was already so heartsick he could barely function. To see anyone else upset only made it harder for him.
 

“Hey, let’s take a walk outside, okay?” I kissed him on the head, letting Cooper go so that he could stand next to me as I threw a quick glance at the bread. I still had a few minutes to spare so I took his hand and led him outside, hoping his sniffles weren’t audible upstairs.
 

Once we were outside with the cold wind whipping across our cheeks, Cooper spoke. “It’s so sad, Aunt Jane.”

“I know it is, Cooper, but you know what? She’s still here now, and she wouldn’t want a sweet, little boy like you to spend one minute unhappy because of her. She’s still laughing and telling stories and very much full of life. If she’s not sad, why should we be?”

I knew how Isobel struggled. I saw it in moments when Gregor was away, her tears and the heartbreak she felt over her sickness and the thought of leaving him, but she never allowed herself to show it around Gregor. She loved him more than she loved life and more than she feared death. But more than anything, she didn’t want her sickness to dampen the spirit of anyone around her so I knew I told Cooper the truth; she didn’t wish for any tears to be shed over her. Not yet. Not while she was still here.
 

 
“I guess, I guess that’s a good point, Aunt Jane, but it still makes me hurt right here.” He pointed to the center of his chest and swallowed hard, trying his best to do as I said.

“It does me too. Hey, I bet that bread is ready. Are you willing to take a chance on my cooking?”

He laughed, and I smiled at seeing his normal cheerfulness creep back onto his face. “Yeah. I think I’m braver than I was a couple of years ago, so I guess I’ll try it. Do you remember that time you tried to feed me a PB&J? I think you just about killed me.”

I shook my head, looking down at him with disapproval. “I did not almost kill you, Coop. There was nothing wrong with that sandwich.”

“Okay, Aunt Jane, whatever you say. Now, let’s go try that bread.”

“Wait just a moment, Cooper. Doona ye take another step.”

Cooper squeezed my hand so tight my knuckles cracked, and he bared all his teeth in panic at hearing Eoghanan’s voice approaching.

Guiltily, he turned to face his stepfather.
 

“Hey, E-o. I just…I…I saw Aunt Jane leaving this morning and decided to follow her. I know I shouldn’t have gone alone, but I’m a good rider now. Ya know, it’s your fault really, since you’re the one who taught me how to ride. If I wasn’t so good, I wouldn’t have dared to go alone, but thanks to you, I knew I could make it safely.”

Eoghanan stared down at Cooper with the quiet, gentle authority that was impossible not to respect, taking a long moment before speaking. “If yer mother knew what ye had done, she’d have worried herself to death. Do ye wish to frighten her?”

Cooper squirmed at my side, and I knew that guilt was starting to overtake him. “No, I don’t. Of course, I don’t. But everybody has been lying to me, and I knew it. I just wanted to see where Aunt Jane was going. Now I know, so I won’t do it again. And I won’t tell anybody else. I promise. Let’s just not tell Mom, okay? It would only upset her.”

“Ye talk too much when ye know ye have done something wrong, do ye know it, Cooper?” I could tell how Eoghanan struggled to keep his face straight.

“Yes. Yes, I do know that. And I’m very sorry, but it’s only that I don’t like being in trouble, but I dislike not knowing what’s going on even more, and I just couldn’t stand it another second, E-o. I really couldn’t. You gotta understand that, right? I’m a growing man, and I need to explore to find things out that are hidden.”

I tried to keep from smiling, but the corners of my mouth pulled up involuntarily, and I could see by the twitch at the corner of Eoghanan’s mouth that he was having the same difficulty. Cooper was nearly impossible to be angry with. Still, Eoghanan did his best to be a responsible adult.
 

“Cooper, ye will walk around back and lead yer horse over here at once. And aye, we willna tell yer mother, but ye will tell yer father directly after we get back. We shall let him decide yer punishment. Do ye ken?”

Nodding, Cooper released his death grip on my hand and headed toward the back of the inn where he’d tied his horse–a miniature, with long brown hair who was as gentle and sweet as his rider.
 

Once he was gone, I spoke to Eoghanan for the first time. “You had to know that was going to happen, right?”

“Aye, o’course I did. I watched him go down to the stables and was never more than a short distance from him during his entire journey into the village.”

“I suspected as much. Before you leave, come inside and let me cut a piece of bread for you both. I told Cooper he could try some.”

Eoghanan nodded and followed me inside, watching from the doorway as I removed the hot bread and sliced it.
 

“Jane, I know ye have been working later as Isobel has grown sicker but, tonight, I need ye to be back on time. Do ye remember the MacChristys who werena home when we visited Cagair Castle last year?”

I reached for some cloth to wrap the bread in, talking with my back facing him. “Yes, I remember that it was their castle, but I’ve not met them.”

“Aye, I know. Well, the eldest son, Adwen, is taking over as laird and he’s travelling to each territory, making introductions, doing his best to keep peace at his father’s command. We know him already, but tonight he stops here. Baodan will wish all of us to be in attendance to greet him.”

“Oh. Okay.” It had been many months since official guests had visited the castle, and the idea of some excitement brightened my mood considerably. “Gregor will understand. I’ll just ask him if we can close down everything a bit early. I’ll be there.”

“Good. I’ll bid ye good day then. I can hear Cooper out front.”

He turned and left, and I followed him to the doorway, calling to Cooper so that he would come and collect his bread.

“Here, Coop. Come and have a taste before you leave.”

He bounced toward me excitedly and quickly crammed a large piece of the hot bread into his mouth. The excitement diminished instantly as he struggled to keep his expression steady. “It’s…it’s…delic-i-ous.” He spoke between large, chewy bites, and I laughed at his effort.
 

“You don’t have to lie to me, Coop.”

He spit the mouthful back into the cloth and handed it back to me. “Okay, well it’s better than the PB&J at least, but I think you can take the other piece of bread back inside. I don’t think E-o is going to want it. You’ll get better though, I know it.” He stood on his tiptoes to give me a quick kiss and then ran back to his horse.
 

*
 
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*

I passed the morning in solitude, working on cleaning and preparing the kitchen as best I could, all the while humming to myself to keep the sound of Isobel’s coughing from reducing me to tears. Gregor stayed by her side, only coming to check on me well into the afternoon.
 

“Jane, might I speak to ye a moment?”

“Of course.” His eyes were bloodshot and heavy; I ventured to guess that he was getting even less sleep than my sister.
 

“She grows much worse with each passing day. I’ve received word of a healer who is passing through the territory tonight. He has set up camp on the edge of the village. I doona know if he will be able to help her, but I must take her and try.”

I didn’t put much stock in mystical healers, but after the strange events that brought me to this time, I’d learned not to doubt anything too wholeheartedly. Of course he wanted to try anything and everything he could to help his wife.
 

“Yes. Go and don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of everything. Nothing will be done as well as you would, but I’ll do my best.”

“I know that ye will. Only, ye will have to be around guests and no only in the kitchen. ’Twould be breaking the conditions that Eoghanan set for ye.”

I dismissed his worry with the wave of my hand. “Travelers stop in here, Gregor, not usually villagers. None of them should have any reason to know who I am. Besides, this is way more important than Eoghanan’s conditions.”

He leaned in and hugged me, a gesture that both surprised me and warmed my heart considerably. I’m sure he felt very much alone. They were the only family that each of them had.
 

“Thank ye, lass. Ye have been a blessing to us both.”

He left me to go and gather Isobel. I swallowed the lump in my throat before following him to help them gather what they needed.
 

It was only after I waved goodbye to them as they left that I remembered Eoghanan’s request. A request I would now be forced to ignore and entirely without regret.
 

CHAPTER 7

McMillan Castle

He’d saved the most favorable destination for last. At least he would be able to spend the last night of his freedom among friends rather than strangers whom he only visited out of obligation. The McMillans he knew well, and he looked forward to the enjoyable evening that lay ahead of him.
 

“Will ye stay in the castle this time?”

Orick rode next to him, the only man Adwen had allowed to accompany him on his month-long obligatory rounds.
 

“No. I’ll camp out of doors with ye.” He could see the tip of the castle’s towers in the distance as they began their ride through the center of the village. Big and beautiful, it made his skin itch and his clothes feel too snug. There was nothing so suffocating as the grandness of a castle.
 

“Doona ye think it will offend them?”

Adwen shook his head, not worried in the slightest about what anyone thought of his disdain for castle walls. “’Twill offend them much less than it did everyone else we’ve encountered. They know me well and willna think it odd. I just canna stand to lie beneath them, no unless I have to; and even then, ’tis something I dread most mightily.”

The weight of Orick’s palm slapping him on the back jolted him forward on his horse. “Ye sound like a wee babe. Ye are far more fortunate than most yet all ye do is pity yerself. And I doona wish to camp out of doors tonight, Adwen. ’Tis too cold; I wish to keep my toes.”

The wind blew swiftly through the line of trees they passed, causing Adwen to pull his coat more tightly around him. Perhaps Orick was right. Tonight, with the wind blowing so fiercely and the air so frigid, sleeping outside might, for once, be more miserable than sleeping within castle walls.
 

“Aye, I’m fond of my own toes as well.” They found the village to be surprisingly empty, its main street vacant even though the last remnants of sunshine still shone on the horizon. All shops were closed, all villagers either gone or tucked inside their homes. “Where do ye think they’ve all disappeared to?”