Highlander's Beautiful Liar A Scottish Medieval Highlander Romance Historical Novel - Adamina Young Page 0,64
had left him, without a word, just as she had tried to do before, but he had come for her. Come to rescue her. Surely he wouldn’t do that if he didn’t want her by his side?
The door opened, but it was not the healer that bounded in the room.
Cora’s eyes widened as a young woman threw herself on the bed. “Cora! Cora!” Lana burst into tears and wrapped her arms around her. “You are alive! I cannot believe it!”
“Lana, really, you must let Cora breathe.”
Shocked, Cora watched as the Thistles followed in, both of them crying a little as they saw her. Wordlessly, she looked up at her husband. “Mary told me what had been happening,” Alec said gruffly. “We reached out to the Thistles to make sure that they were safe, and they insisted on seeing ye. I thought, now that I could protect them, that ye would want to see them.”
“Thank you,” Cora said softly and wrapped her arms around her sister. As they cried, Alec quickly slipped out of the room.
Finally, when they separated, Donna handed her a glass of water and sat on the edge of the bed. With no room left on the bed, Calvin pulled up a chair and reached for her hands. “Life hasn’t been the same since we thought you dead,” he said quietly. “I can think of no happier moment than when a terrifying highlander nearly beat down our door, told us that our lives were in danger, and that you were still alive.”
“Bryce Sinclair,” Lana whispered. “He was so handsome and so savage. Two other highlanders came charging out from across the street, and he slew them right then and there. We had to call for a runner, and honestly, I thought the runners were going to pass away from fear when they saw him, but they explained everything.”
“Innes was having you watched.” Cora shuddered. “I wanted to believe it was a bluff. You are here!”
“Where else would we be, dear?” Donna asked as she reached for Cora’s other hand. “You are our daughter, blood or not, and we were not going to sit idly by and wait for more news. We needed to come see for ourselves how you were doing. The young Sinclair man escorted us back here, and you were already so sick, we feared we were going to lose you all over again.”
They started crying even more and embracing each other. Cora couldn’t believe that Alec had done this for her, was allowing more English under his roof so she could reunite with her family.
So why wasn’t he here?
The healer entered and ordered them all out. “I have to go tell Grace that you are awake,” Lana said as she rose. “I know that she’ll want to see you. And Mary and Louise. Louise has been cooking a special meal for you every day in case you woke up.”
“Which I will fetch now,” Donna said. “But we will be right back. Do not fear.”
They left, and Cora looked at the older woman. “So?” she asked finally with a brave smile. “Am I going to make it?”
“Lass, I have called ye Sassenach under my breath ever since I met ye, but after what ye have survived, now I can only call ye a highlander because I know that ’tis Duncan’s blood that runs through ye and ’tis the only reason that ye have survived this long.”
Cora smiled. “That is only because you never met my mother.”
After the healer had come to him and abruptly announced that Cora would survive, Alec gave his wife the time she needed with her family and friends. Not only did they take up her time, but Connor, Grace, and quite a few of the men streamed in to tell her how thankful they were that she’d survived.
When the last had reported that she’d eaten and gone back to sleep, Alec chose to have his dinner alone. The last few days had been exhausting. Not one but three MacKays had come forward to confess that they had been passing along information to Innes, but they were adamant that it was the Campbells who had shot at them and had set fire to the village crops to weaken Alec’s hold on the clan. Because they had come forward, and because they swore they had no idea what Innes really had planned, Alec had sentenced the three strapping lads to labor on the watchtowers for three months rather than exile or prison.