Highlander’s Winter Rose by Fiona Faris
Chapter Four
Maximus had expected that Rosallyn would be upset with him. He had been prepared even for the possibility that she would kick him out of her home, just because she was sad. He did not know what to say when she continued to treat him as normal. She did not lose control of her emotions or do anything rash at all. When she returned to the room the day before, she had been carrying another tray with his lunch on it as she had said she would.
Her eyes were swollen and tear tracks streaked her face, so it was obvious that she had done a great deal of crying, but her eyes were dry, and she gave him a smile, although it was not as bright as it used to be. She helped him sit up and fed him. Then she returned with a bucket full of ice and buried his affected foot in it, putting the bucket on a stool so that it was high enough for his leg to be in it and low enough that it did not cause him stress.
She had him stay seated for longer this time while she went to do some chores around the house. He had nothing to do, but he did not notice the boredom as he was too busy feeling ashamed. She had faced loss just as he had, but she did not lose her calm. She did not lash out or try to take it out on him. She handled it so much better than he had.
It made sense; she was General Grant’s daughter, and there was no one more logical than General Grant, even in the light of his emotions, the man always thought about his actions and found a way to make the right choices. He must have taught her these things, and since she was like him, she probably picked it up quicker. The General had tried to teach him these things too. Alexander had been much better at it.
He was certain that if it had been Alexander, he would have listened the first time General Grant said that they should escape. He would have controlled his emotions much better despite losing his family and would have been able to escape unscathed, as well as with General Grant still with him. The General had known immediately that there was no way his father and brother could have survived. If he had been like Rosallyn, he would have been less rash and emotional. He would have done as he was told and made his escape earlier.
When she came back into the room, hours had passed, and evening was approaching. His leg felt rather numb, both from the ice and from the fact that he had not moved once. He had not noticed at all because he was too caught up in his thoughts. She saw this as she took care of his leg, wiping away the water that had come from the melted ice, and bandaging it again, as tightly as she could. She did not say a word, and her silence was worse than anything she could have said.
“Rosallyn, I am sorry…” he blurted, clutching her sleeve just as she made to get to her feet. She stopped in her tracks.
“Ye dinnae ken how much I blame meself. I ken me faults… All of this is my fault, right from the beginnin’. If I had been less trustin’, if I had gone after the Ross clan without waitin’ for the council… If I had nae rushed off and left the castle,” he mumbled shamefully.
“If I had only listened immediately when yer father told me to run then perhaps he might have lived.” He had finally said it. The thought had been eating him up inside. He had conveniently left that part out before, only telling her that her father had sacrificed himself and not that it could have been avoided. He shut his eyes, fully expecting her judgement.
“When ye are faced with difficult times, ye should nae focus on what has already happened, but on what ye can dae about it. If ye allow yerself to wallow too much, ye might make the wrong decision for the future,” she said as she worked. He blinked in surprise, turning to her questioningly.
“I beg yer pardon?” he asked.
“It is somethin’ my father used to say,” she explained. “In difficult times, such as now, thinkin’ about what has already happened and wallowin’ in yer regret can cause ye to make the wrong decision for the future. So instead, ye should think of what ye can dae that would help ye, such as how ye will take the Lairdship back from the usurper.”
He could only stare at her with his jaw hanging open as she advised him.
“I said that because ye were obviously thinkin’ sad thoughts just now. Our faithers and yer brother would nae want ye to sit here and wallow. They would want ye to focus on yer recovery and get better quickly so that ye can make things right. It is nae just us who are goin’ to be in pain, ye ken. Right this moment, the usurpers are probably makin’ the lives of others a livin’ hell. If he is allowed, it will only get worse. Let us work together and get things back to the way they should be. I pledge to ye this moment, as the daughter of General Robert Grant, that I will nurse ye back to health and help ye in every way I possibly can to make it to the Kellgan clan,” she said, pressing a comforting hand to his shoulder before taking the bucket and leaving the room.
He had thought about her words all through the evening and even before he went to sleep. Her pledge had shaken him, and she was absolutely correct. Wallowing was not going to help him at all. What he needed to do was come up with a plan. Elaise was the most upright woman he knew; she would not sit back and allow the usurper to get away with what he had done. Her father was also friends with his father. She and her father would give the usurper some problems for certain, as they would refuse completely to have an alliance and would start a war at the slightest provocation.
The General had been correct when he told Maximus to run there. The only problem was the fact that since Kellgan was going to give the usurper trouble, the usurper would be aware that the clan was on his side. As such, it would make it extremely difficult to cross over from Mackey to Kellgan.
He was not sure how possible it would be for him to escape through the forest with his injuries. The forest path to Kellgan was safer, but only because it was longer, and more difficult. It involved crossing a mountain pass which would be hell for his horse. He would not even be able to ride Barny on that path, but instead would have to lead him on the path.
He could not leave Barny behind because after he crossed the mountain path, he still had quite the journey before he reached the castle. It could have been possible if he had not hurt his ankle, but he was not sure how it would work now. He sighed heavily. He wished it were possible for him to get news of what was going on in the castle. Unfortunately, by the time news reached the little village, it would already be too late for it to be of any use.
He sighed. There were so many things that would have been easier if he had listened to General Grant and left when he was told. Now he would struggle quite a bit.
Remember what Rosallyn said. What has happened is past. Look for the best way to dae things in the future with what ye have now.
He chided himself mentally. If the forest path was now a probability, he decided that he should also consider crossing the border through the road. Soldiers would be teeming at the border like ants, so he would need a plan to cross through them and escape. He lay back, resting against the pillows. Thinking had always been his brother’s strong suit, not his.
He had woke up the same time that Rosallyn had that morning. She greeted him kindly and had gotten up to go prepare breakfast. It had been a shock to him when he noticed that she was sleeping on the floor, but she had only brushed it off, saying that she did so in case he had any problems during the night. He felt bad about how he lay in bed while she worked for him, going to make him breakfast immediately after they woke up, and after spending the night on the floor.
She even brought him a bucket to use as a latrine, taking it away when he was done. He had never been more mortified in his life. No woman should ever have to see his body’s waste, but she did so as though it were normal, even scolding him for being embarrassed and reminding him that he was a patient and they had no time for such frailties.
She was like no woman he had ever met before. He could feel infatuation stirring up in his heart, and it was only the third day with her. He had thought her beautiful from the moment he saw her, despite the pain he was feeling as she treated him. Now it was more because of the way that she took care of him. He could tell that he was beginning to like her, and it led to curiosity. He wanted to know more about her, to spend time talking to her, and to have her share her thoughts with him. However, he was not sure that she would take him as a man in their circumstances, so he kept his growing feelings to himself.
The door opened, and he turned his head as she stepped in.
“How are ye feelin’?” she asked as she came forward quickly to remove his leg from the bucket of ice. She was icing his leg often now, up to four times in a day as she said it would help him to heal much quicker.
“I am doin’ much better now, thank ye,” he said, unable to help his eagerness to talk to her. She was dressed as though she were going out, he noticed, somewhat disappointed. Unlike the day before when she had been wearing a simple old dress with a pleated skirt.
“Are ye goin’ out today?” he asked her, trying not to let his disappointment show. He had been hoping that they would spend the day together, and he would finally be able to talk to her and get to know her. She looked up from bandaging his ankle and nodded.
“Oh, aye, I am. I cannae continue to take care of ye with the supplies I have in the house. I need to go to the monastery to get medicine from me grandmother and visit the ice harvester to get enough ice to heal yer ankle quickly,” she explained.
He nodded in understanding but could not help the worry that sparked in the back of his mind. If she was going to get medicine from her grandmother, would she tell her that he was at her house?
“I willnae tell anyone that ye are here,” she said, once again addressing his thoughts without him needing to voice them. “I dinnae want anyone else to get caught up in this. If any trouble comes out of this, I certainly dinnae want me grandmother involved. I will take the medicine without tellin’ her.”
He smiled wryly; he should not have worried.
…
Rosallyn took the bucket of melted ice and tossed the water outside. She was glad that Maximus seemed to be doing better after her talk with him. He looked less like he was wallowing and more like he was doing some constructive thinking. That was what she wanted to see. The quicker he got on his feet mentally, the better it would be for them both.
Her talk the day before had not just been for his benefit but hers as well. She had also done a bit of thinking on how she would get the medicine without alerting her grandmother that anything had happened at home. If she asked her for the medicine, no matter what she said, her grandmother would grill her until she found out. If she asked someone else for them, they would tell her grandmother who would then come up to the house to check.
It was then that she decided she would not ask and simply sneak them away. She would do it quickly and get out of the monastery, so she could catch the ice harvester before he sold all of his ice. She had already fed the horse before she fed Maximus, so she knew that it would be settled by then. She took the cart and two sacks with her as she went. The horse neighed as it saw her, coming forward to nudge her face with his head.
She laughed and petted him, running her hand over his coat and noticing that he needed to be brushed soon. If her grandmother caught sight of the horse, she would have questions for sure. She would need to make sure that her grandmother did not follow her out and that was harder than it seemed. Her grandmother would usually follow her out of the monastery trying to spend as much time with her as possible.
“Will ye help me out today, darlin’?” she cooed, to which the horse neighed in response. She smiled and led it out of the stables, attaching it to the cart and leading it down to the village. She got to the monastery and tied the horse outside, taking a deep breath and relaxing her face before she went in to meet her grandmother.
The other healers gave her kind smiles in greeting, and she returned them, trying to get rid of her nerves before her grandmother saw her because she would certainly know something was going on once she saw her face. She met her grandmother’s friend, Samantha hurrying down the halls and waved.
“Samantha, it is good to see ye,” she greeted. The older woman seemed distracted as she rubbed her arm in response.
“Ah, Rosallyn, welcome. Ye have caught us at a rather busy time. Yer grandmother is in the middle of helpin’ a woman deliver her baby,” she said. “I need to go get hot water, but ye can go see her if ye want. She is just down the hall; follow the sound of the screamin’ woman. Ye cannae miss it.”
She chuckled at Samantha’s joke, but the woman had already hurried off. She was lucky. If her grandmother was busy then she would not try to follow her out. She would have simply taken the medicine and left, but now that Samantha had seen her, she needed to see her grandmother; otherwise, when Samantha mentioned that Rosallyn had been by, she would take out time to come back to the house and see her.
Checking to make sure no one else was around, she ducked into the storage room and filled her sack with enough medicine to both treat Maximus and stock the house back up. With how much was stocked up at the monastery, no one would notice a few missing bottles. This was all the doing of the Laird who had made sure they lacked nothing. Now things were about to change.
As she ducked out of the room, she wondered if she should feel bad about stealing the medicine when she knew quite well that the people would need what they had in stock since none would be coming next month. She refused to think that way, however. She was taking the medicine to treat the one man who could change things for the better and make it so that they would receive their supplies as usual.
She had laughed when Samantha said it, but she did indeed follow the screams of the woman in labor to find her grandmother. She walked in, directly facing the woman’s spread legs, and winced when she saw the situation. The child was crowning already but the mother was tired, crying because her pushes were too weak now. It looked like the process had taken a while, even her grandmother looked exhausted.
She waved, so that her grandmother would notice her, and the old woman signaled to one of the younger healers to take her place, whispering encouraging words to the soon-to-be mother. She hugged her grandmother who looked like she had not gotten any sleep the night before.
“It does nae seem like labor just began here…” she said, looking over at the woman who was breathing heavily. Her grandmother sighed heavily, tucking a strand of grey hair back.
“That child has been puttin’ the poor woman and all of us here through hell since yesterday’s evenin’!” she exclaimed. Rosallyn chuckled, pitying them all as they really looked like they needed some rest.
“Well, ye have yer hands full. I only stopped by to greet ye as I visited the market for some bread. Take care of yerself, grandmother. Good luck with the baby, and I will see ye when ye visit the house next,” she said. Her grandmother was already looking back at the woman who was screaming.
“It was great to see ye, me child. I am sorry we cannae talk more. Take care of yerself,” she said.
Rosallyn hurried out of the monastery feeling extremely grateful. She managed to get what she needed without too much stress. She did lie, but it was a small lie. In fact, she was going to buy some bread to make it less of a lie. It was bread that she had left for Maximus to eat while she was out. It made sense to buy some more.
She ate some of the bread she bought when she got hungry while she waited for the ice harvester to cut her ice for her. Before long, she was heading back home. She had been hoping to return before evening fell. Luck was on her side, and she returned much easier. It was due to her luck with her grandmother. If it were not for the events she met when she got there, she would have needed to spend more time with her grandmother than she did.
She unpacked everything from the cart and took them into the house first. She wondered how Maximus had been while she was away, but she did not want to leave the horse and cart unattended, so she finished taking the things in, arranging them where they should be and detaching the cart from the horse. She then led the horse back to the stables, getting it water and some hay. She was thankful that the stables stayed stocked for the winter when her father came home with his horse. Thanks to that, she had enough food for Maximus’s horse.
Reminding herself to brush the horse the next day, she went back into the house to see how Maximus was doing. She opened the door quietly and saw that he was asleep. She stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her, and going to sit by him on the bed. A small smile played across her lips involuntarily as she looked at him. He must have fallen asleep out of sheer boredom. There was nothing to do and not being able to leave the bed certainly made things worse.
She checked the tray and saw that he did eat the bread. There was nothing but crumbs to even show that the tray had once held bread. He had drunk all of the ale also. She chuckled at the way he had fallen asleep. He lay spread across the bed, with the pillows strewn about. It must have taken quite a bit of tossing and turning for him to fall asleep. It seemed the injuries caused him discomfort. He needed more medicine.
His light brown hair was a mess, and some strands lay over his handsome face, but it made her smile fondly as she watched him breathe slowly. Her hand was reaching out to brush his hair when she caught herself midway.
What are ye doin’, Rosallyn?
She had been reaching for him, not to do anything helpful like move him so he did not worsen his injuries, or check his temperature, she did it because she wanted to touch him. Her eyes widened in realization. She liked him. Somewhere in the middle of taking care of him and treating him, she had grown infatuated.
Oh, this is quite sad. Is that how desperate for romance ye are? I ken that ye have nae seen many men, but to fall for the first one ye see… That is pitiful
It did not help that he was so handsome! A woman like her, who had not been exposed to any men other than her father, had no chance to resist him, not even if she had seen him bleed, cry and faint. Not even if she had cleaned his waste from a bucket acting as a makeshift latrine. She held her hands to her face, covering her red cheeks.
She could not believe that she had found the time to begin liking him even while preoccupied with saving his life and alleviating his pain. He stirred slightly, mumbling in his sleep, and she froze, hoping she had not woken him. If it had cost him so much trouble to fall asleep, she did not want to wake him for nothing.
She was still thinking this when he startled her by wrapping his good arm around her waist and pulling her to him with a strength that left her shocked. Her heart skipped a beat as she fell onto the mattress with his face buried in the back of her neck. Heat flooded her face and her belly quivered in rhythm with her thudding heart as he nuzzled her.
“Ye are so warm…” he muttered in his sleep. Her mind was reeling, and it took all of her self-control not to make a sound in her panicked state. She wanted to take deep breaths to calm herself, but she was terrified that if she let herself breathe, she would do something stupid or wake him. Why would he grab her? She could feel the muscles in his strong arm as he held her to himself, and her body reacted with desire of its own accord.
Unable to hold her breath anymore, she finally let herself breathe, panting heavily. He was very clearly asleep, but that only made it worse as his soft breath tickled the back of her neck, a pleasure point she had not even known was there. In a matter of minutes, she was panting for a completely different reason as need pulsed in her core.
Needing to get out of his grip, she began to slide away slowly as the strength in his arm decreased.
Please dinnae wake up. Please dinnae wake up.
She begged him silently in her mind. If he noticed her escaping in his sleep and pulled her back, it would be back to square one, but if he woke up and found the position they were in… Her whole head felt as though it were on fire from her embarrassment. She just hoped that he would not wake up.
To her relief, she managed to escape, sliding out of his arms to sit on the floor panting. He stirred again now that she was no longer in his arms and turned to face the opposite way, mumbling unintelligibly. Her heart was still beating too fast, and she clutched her chest in an effort to calm it. What was all that?
“Ye are so warm…”
The memory of his voice, low and sensual, made her heart skip a beat again and she jumped to her feet, face flushed and looking at him as though he were a dangerous animal. Her body was reacting in ways she did not understand. Between her legs was an ache she did not know how to satisfy.
Nay! I cannae deal with this! It simply didnae happen!
She grabbed the tray away, along with his empty cup, and all but bolted out of the room.
She had been meaning to clean and make dinner before he woke up, but now everything within her was in disarray. She was so hot, but she could not figure out the source of the heat, and she wanted it gone. Making a split-second decision, she went to take a bath, in very cold water.
By the time she was finished, Maximus was awake, looking disoriented and blissfully unaware of what had occurred. The crease marks on his face proved that he had slept beautifully. Irked that she had been so bothered while nothing had happened to him since he was asleep, she wanted to slam his face with a pillow.
“Ah, Rosallyn, ye are back. How was the village? Did ye get everythin’ ye set out to collect? What about yer grandmother? Did ye manage to collect the medicine?”
He asked question after question. Holding back the urge to glare at him, she nodded, even managing a smile.
“I managed to get everythin’,” she said. “It went smoothly.”
He continued to look at her as though sensing her discomfort but not sure if he should ask.
Oh, I just dare ye to ask, ye dobber! I just dare ye!
She gave him a smile despite her thoughts and brought him the tray she had prepared instead of cooking.
“I am sorry. I could nae cook today, so we will have to eat bread again, but with dried meat this time,” she said, taking the tray to him. He accepted it gratefully, propping himself up with his good arm.
“Ye dinnae need to apologize… Ye feed me. I have nae right to question what sort of food ye offer,” he said. She flinched at his warm words. Why was she so bothered? He did not know what he had done, and he was so polite. It was stupid to be upset. Besides, she was the one with lewd thoughts. If anything, all that he had done was hug her.
Ye are hopeless, Rosallyn
Pushing her thoughts aside she gave him a smile and went to sit beside him, joining in the meal and helping him with things he would have needed his second hand for, like taking a drink.
“How was the village when ye went down? Was anything different yet?” he asked, making conversation. The question made her think though, and she frowned.
“Everythin’ was so normal at the village. Nay one kens that there is trouble yet. I felt strange being the only one who ken what was comin’.”
He looked regretful as she helped him take a drink.
“I am sorry that I have brought trouble to yer peaceful village,” he apologized, causing her to glance at him. There he went again, blaming himself when he was their hope
“It is nae yer fault at all. Whether or nae ye are here, they would have come. Even if only to make sure that nay one here was in support of the old Laird. They would still have come. Ye are nae any trouble. What ye are is hope,” she said.
Ye are the only hope we have to make things right.
