She should have been brave enough to do this before. As soon as the two children were gone, Glynis found the path that led to the cottage where she had seen Alex take the flowers that awful day. Sweat broke out on her palms as Glynis remembered sitting in the tall grass with her head between her knees trying to get her breath back. But she had to find the truth.
When she reached the ancient cottage with the sagging roof, Glynis knocked before she could lose her nerve. No one answered for so long that she thought no one was home. But then the door finally creaked open, and Ùna stood in the doorway.
Ach, she was a lovely lass.
“I saw the ship sail,” Ùna said. “Is he gone?”
“My husband?” Glynis was surprised at the lass’s willingness to speak about Alex to her. “Aye, he’s gone.”
Ùna bit her lip and dropped her gaze to the ground. In a voice barely above a whisper, she asked, “Did he ask ye to come?”
“Why would he do that?”
Ùna looked up, her eyes wide. “So he didn’t tell ye about me?”
Glynis was about to ask why in the name of all that was holy did Ùna find it surprising that her lover had not told his wife about her…but nothing was fitting. The lass’s demeanor was all wrong.
“He said he wouldn’t tell,” Ùna said, dropping her gaze again. “I should have trusted him.”
“Perhaps we both should have.” O shluagh, what have I done? “Let me come in, and we’ll have a talk.”
Glynis was persistent, and before long, she got the whole tragic story out of the lass. As Ùna wept on her shoulder, Glynis felt a murderous rage against the man who called himself a father and committed unpardonable sins against this poor lass.
“Why did Alex not tell me?” she said under her breath.
“He kept telling me how good ye would be with me,” Ùna said. “But I made him promise not to tell ye because I was afraid.”
“You and Seamus will move into the castle today,” Glynis said, as she rubbed Ùna’s back. “Your father has been gone long enough, and with so many of our warriors off, it’s safer for ye there.”
Alex should have told her all about this. Ùna seemed so fragile, however, that Glynis could understand that he may have been afraid to add to her distress. And he had given his word to Ùna. As she was learning, he was a man who kept his promises.
But Glynis knew those were not the only reasons Alex had not told her. Her husband had wanted her to believe in him, to trust him without needing proof.
And she had failed him.
* * *
Three days later, Glynis and Sorcha were again on the beach below the castle. The wind was sharp enough to sting her face, but Glynis felt closer to Alex with just the sea between them.
“Your father will be home before long,” Glynis said, putting her hand on Sorcha’s shoulder. “All will be well with our family then.”
Sorcha’s face lit up like the sun breaking through the clouds. Although Glynis had never told Sorcha about her plan to leave Alex, the child had sensed the tension between them.
A short time later, Sorcha squatted beside a tide pool and, bouncing with excitement, waved Glynis over. Glynis was leaning over and squinting at the spiny sea urchin that Sorcha was pointing at when the castle bell began to ring.
Gong. Gong. Gong.
Glynis’s heart went to her throat. The bell was reserved as a warning for danger. When Glynis looked up at the castle, several of the men were shouting at her from the wall and pointing out to sea. She turned and saw a ship coming around the headland into the bay.
“Run!” She grabbed Sorcha’s hand, and they flew across the beach to the path.
Gong. Gong. Gong. The bell’s toll echoed off the hills and vibrated through Glynis’s bones. She had seen that ship before. But where?
As they scrambled up the steps carved into the rock beneath the castle, Glynis glanced at the horizon. Fear jolted through her limbs. There were three sails now.
“Faster, Sorcha!”
A guard ran out the gate to carry Sorcha the last few yards. As soon as they passed through it, others slammed the gate behind them. Inside, men were rushing to fetch weapons from the armory. Bessie was waiting for them and took Sorcha from the guard.
“Take her inside the keep,” Glynis said to Bessie. Then she saw Tormond, the man Alex had left in command, hurrying toward her. He was a man of fifty with bulging biceps and iron-gray hair.
“Do ye recognize the ships?” Glynis asked him.
“Two of them belong to the MacDonald pirates,” Tormond said.
So it was Hugh MacDonald’s ship she had recognized from the time he had attacked Barra while Alex and Duncan were there.
“I have my suspicions about the third,” Tormond said. “I was hoping ye could take a closer look at it.”
“Me?”
Glynis could not imagine there was a ship she would know better than he, but she climbed up onto the wall with him. The three ships were much closer now. She held her hand up to shade her eyes—and gasped.
“Aye, I know that ship.” Glynis could not mistake the distinctive red dragon painted on the sail. “It is Magnus Clanranald’s.”
CHAPTER 49
Alex says ye have both courage and good sense so I’ll give ye the plain truth,” Tormond said. “They’ll have fifty men on each of those ships. It will be a miracle if we can hold the castle.”
“God help us,” Glynis said and crossed herself.
“Since we are clansman of the MacDonald pirates, I expect they’ll let us live, though they’ll strip the castle bare.” Tormond paused. “But they don’t respect womenfolk. They’ve raped their own clanswomen before.”
“I’ll send the women into the hills,” Glynis said.
“We’ll hold them off as long as we can.” Tormond touched her arm, an unexpectedly gentle gesture from the crusty man. “Alex warned us that Magnus is a special danger to ye, so take the child and hide yourself well.”
Glynis found most of the women gathered in the hall with Bessie and Sorcha. She counted them and came up two short.
“Everyone follow Bessie out the back!” Glynis shouted. “Ye must all run to the hills and hide as quick as ye can. Now hurry!”
“What about you, mistress?” Bessie asked.
“I’ll follow as soon as I’ve found the others,” Glynis said, pushing at Bessie’s back. “Go! Go!”
Glynis ran from room to room shouting. She finally found the two missing serving women hiding under a table in the kitchen and sent them to join the others.
Oh, God, she had forgotten about Ùna and Seamus. She could not let the pirates get their hands on poor Ùna. Glynis picked up her skirts and ran out of the keep, hoping to find them in the stables. Arrows fell around her as she ran across the bailey yard.
Seamus saw her coming and stood in the open doorway to the stable, waving her inside. Fortunately, Ùna was right behind him.
“Ye must come with me out the back,” Glynis said, grabbing Seamus’s hand. “Now hurry!”
The small door that led to the fields was hanging open. As they ran toward it, Glynis looked up and saw men fighting on top of the wall.
She shoved Ùna and Seamus out ahead of her and screamed at them, “Run as fast as ye can and hide!”
When Glynis ducked through the doorway behind them, she saw the women and children she’d sent out earlier scattered over the hills running for their lives. But one woman had turned around and was running back toward the castle.
By the saints, it was Bessie! Glynis ran out to meet her in the field. When she reached Bessie, they were both gasping for air.
“Sorcha isn’t with ye?” Bessie asked.
“I sent her with you.” Fear ran down Glynis’s limbs. “What happened?”
“I’m so sorry, mistress,” Bessie said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I was taking the other women, like ye told me to, but Sorcha wanted to come with you. I thought ye were just upstairs, and she couldn’t miss ye. But after I came out, I started to worry, so I watched for ye.”