“We’ll be done patching this last hole in the wall today,” Tormond said, as they examined the work.
“’Tis a shame this old castle wasn’t built on an offshore island,” Alex said, not for the first time. Unlike many castles in the Western Isles, including Dunscaith and the MacNeil stronghold, Dunfaileag sat on a rocky hill above the shore, where it was accessible by land. “We’d have trouble withstanding a large attack by another clan.”
“Not much risk of that here, is there?” Tormond said. “Now that it’s patched up, Dunfaileag will do fine against raiders.”
The pirates relied on stealth and speed, usually attacking with a small group of men. When Alex first arrived, he had regular skirmishes with raiders. They ventured onto his side of the island less and less now. But he hadn’t seen Hugh’s ship at all, and he wondered why.
Alex smiled when he turned and saw his wife and daughter on the beach below the castle. It reminded him of the first time he’d seen Glynis without her disguise on the beach at Barra. He chuckled to himself, remembering the blotches of red clay sliding down her face. What a determined woman his wife was.
These days, Glynis focused that determination on turning Dunfaileag Castle into a home that ran smoothly and was a comfort to all who lived and worked within its walls. She thrived on being in charge of a large household.
The weeks had flown by. Alex didn’t even know how it had come to pass that he could no longer imagine his life without her. She had come upon him slowly, insinuating herself like a warm summer mist permeating his skin, his senses, and his very soul until he needed her like air to breathe.
“Take over for me here,” Alex said to Tormond. “I’m going to have a wee visit with my wife and daughter.”
Tormond nodded. “Ye are a lucky man to have those two.”
But luck was a fragile thing that could turn on you in a moment. Alex knew that a sinner like him did not deserve his good fortune, but he was praying that mending his ways counted for something.
He went down the steps and then followed the trail to the beach. When Sorcha saw him, she ran to him holding out an oyster shell.
“I see ye found a magical shell.” Alex held it up, examining it carefully. “This one came all the way from Ireland on the back of a dolphin.”
Sorcha laughed and snatched it back. Her laughter came more and more frequently now, and sometimes she seemed within a breath of speaking. Before long, he would hear his daughter’s voice, he felt certain.
When Sorcha went off in search of more treasures, Glynis took his arm, and they walked along the shore. Ah, life was very good.
“Have ye noticed how Peiter, the young fisherman who brings fish up to the castle sometimes, stops what he’s doing every time Seamus’s sister walks by?”
Seamus was the ten-year-old lad who followed Alex around like a young pup. At Glynis’s suggestion, Alex had finally given the lad the job of cleaning his weapons.
“Seamus’s sister?” he asked.
“Aye, she’s that pretty lass with the golden hair,” Glynis said. “Her name is Ùna.”
“Hmm.” Though Glynis had come to trust him, Alex took care not to say or do anything that might change that. For the same reason, he didn’t find it necessary to tell Glynis that all his men stopped working to watch that particular lass when she came to the castle.
“Peiter wants to wed her,” she said, looking up at him with a soft look in her eyes.
“And how would ye know this?”
“I asked him, of course.”
Alex chuckled, wondering how she had wrung this confession out of the young man. Unfortunately, his wife appeared to see Peiter’s lovelorn state as a problem that needed fixing.
“Would ye consider speaking to her father on his behalf?”
Alex groaned. “You’ve only to ask, and I’ll fight a hundred men for ye. But matchmaking … ach.”
“Ye act in your chieftain’s place here on North Uist,” Glynis said in her most reasonable tone. “And one of a chieftain’s duties is to approve marriages—and even encourage them at times.”
“Connor failed to mention this duty to me.” Alex didn’t bother pointing out that she had not appreciated it when her own father exercised that particular chieftain responsibility.
Glynis leaned against him and smiled up at him. “I want them to be happy like us.”
“I’ll talk to Pieter first. And if he says he wants me to, I’ll speak to the father.” Alex sighed and kissed her nose. “Now we both know there is nothing ye can’t get me to do.”
* * *
Alex kept his eye on Peiter the next time Seamus’s sister came up to the castle. The poor fool stood with his mouth open and didn’t hear Alex until he’d said his name twice.
“Ùna is a pretty lass,” Alex said to him.
“Aye,” Pieter said on a sigh, as he followed her across the castle yard with his eyes.
“Have ye tried speaking to her?” Alex asked.
“We were good friends as children,” Pieter said. “But she won’t even look at me now.”
Alex watched how the young woman kept her gaze fixed on the ground and didn’t greet any of the men, though she must have known most of them all her life. But as shy as she was, she came to the castle often. Seamus was old to have his sister fetch him, but the lad was always glad to see her. Despite their age difference, the two seemed unusually close.
“Is it marriage ye have in mind, then?” Alex asked Peiter.
“All I want in this life is to marry Ùna,” Peiter said, his gaze fixed on the lass’s back as she went out the castle gate with her brother. “I’ve asked her father, but he refuses to consider me, though I could provide for her better than he does.”
Alex had met Ùna and Seamus’s father and disliked him on sight. He was not surprised to hear that the man was not a good provider, for although he was a powerfully built man, he had a reputation for being both lazy and overly fond of his whiskey jug.
“Has her father made an arrangement with another man to wed her?” Alex asked.
“Nay, he’s just a selfish bastard,” Pieter said. “He told me he needs Ùna to keep house for him because his wife is dead.”
Alex made himself drag the words out, “Would ye like me to speak to him?”
“I would be forever grateful,” Pieter said, turning pleading eyes on him. “Ùna is the only lass who will ever do for me.”
Ach, the young man was in a bad way.
* * *
“I saw Seamus and Ùna’s father with some other fishermen on the shore today and went down to have that talk with him,” Alex reported to Glynis a few nights later while they were lying in bed. “It did not go well.”
“Ye have the chieftain’s authority so ye could order the match,” Glynis said. “But I suppose that wouldn’t be wise, at least not yet.”
Alex was glad Glynis understood that forcing a lass’s marriage against her father’s wishes would cause a good deal of grumbling among the men.
“I’ll see to the marriage in time, provided Ùna wants it as well, but my first duty is to protect the MacDonalds on North Uist,” Alex said. “To lead my clansmen here, I must gain their trust.”
“I’d follow ye anywhere,” Glynis said, and kissed his cheek. “Most of the men already know ye are a good man and a strong leader, and the rest will soon.”
Alex’s chest swelled at her compliment as if he were a young lad instead of a seasoned warrior. So long as Glynis had faith in him, he could do anything.
* * *
A week later, Alex was practicing in the bailey yard with the other men when he noticed Seamus had a black eye. The lad was keeping his head turned, as if he did not want anyone to see it.
“That’s enough for today,” Alex called out to the men. “Good work.”
Alex strolled over to where Seamus was leaning against the castle wall.