The Highlander's Secret(22)

“Mam?”

“It’s alright, dear. Just another spell,” she told her.

Jain frowned when she knelt beside her. “Let me make ye some willow bark tincture. It could ease the pain.”

Moira nodded, though the pain was evident on her face, and Jain got to work immediately. A few minutes later, the door creaked open and Aileen came back with a pail of milk. Eamon was right behind her with the eggs and he set them carefully on the table. “Alright, loves. I’m off to get some water and will return presently.”

“Thank ye, Da.”

He collected some buckets and was about to leave when there was a sudden knock at the door.

Jain turned at the sound of it and frowned. “Who could that be?”

Eamon mumbled something unintelligible and walked over to the door to answer it. His long brown tunic fell almost to his knees over a pair of knitted hose and a leather belt around his waist. The door swung open and Keenan stood waiting on the other side with a grim expression on his face.

“Keenan? What's going on?” Eamon asked him.

The chieftain sighed. “Good morrow, Eamon. I'm sorry to disturb ye before ye've had the chance to break yer fast, but I'm afraid it cannae wait.”

The tone of his voice was serious and sent a thrill of fear down Jain's spine. Something was wrong, she knew it. Keenan would never disturb a family this early in the morning if there was another option. It was at that moment, when Jain saw past her uncle’s figure, she realized there were four other men on horseback.

Something was very wrong indeed.

“Tell me what it is,” Eamon beseeched him. “Ye ken I’m at yer service always. How can I be of assistance?”

Keenan cleared his throat and explained, “One of the lasses dinnae come home last night after the festival. Her parents are beside themselves. Ever since they told me, I've been assembling a search party to go and look fer her. I hate to ask, but we could really use yer help.”

Aileen gasped at the terrible news and covered her mouth with both hands. Jain listened to them in rapt attention and placed her arm around Aileen’s shoulder as a form of comfort. It was a terrible thing when a member of their clan went missing. The entire community would mourn. She just hoped the men would find her soon and be able to bring her back safely.

“Aye, of course,” Eamon responded to his brother’s request. “I’ll be with ye right away.”

“Who was it?” Jain blurted out.

Moira cast her a warning glance, but Keenan nodded in understanding. “It’s Heather Gordon.”

Jain gasped. “Nae!”

Immediately, her thoughts went back to seeing Heather the night before, standing by the fire side with Conrad. Heather was smiling, laughing, and appeared to be having a wonderful time.

“I’m afraid it is,” he told her.

“She was talking to Conrad. They were—”

Keenan held up his hand to silence her and said, “We’ve already spoken with Conrad and there’s nae evidence of foul play. His friends claim they were with him all night. I ken ye’re upset, but we’re doing everything we can.”

Jain pursed her lips and nodded. Eamon came walking by her with his cloak and hat and stepped over to the door to join them.

“Da…”

“Dinnae worry, Jain. We’ll bring her back,” Eamon promised.

Without another word, Eamon and Laird Gordon left. Jain sat quietly in her chair, still reeling from shock. Moira came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It won’t do Heather any good to mope around the house. The lads will be here soon to finish with the thatching on the roof.”

Jain nodded while choking down the lump that was rising in her throat. “Aye, Mam.”

Alan and Rodrick arrived shortly after that, with the same morose attitude as the men who came before. It seemed they too had heard the news about Heather’s disappearance. Without their pleasant conversation to lighten the mood, Jain got started on her chores right away. Jain threw herself into her chores and gathered up the dirty linens, taking them outside to wash so she wouldn’t have to think about what happened to her friend.

Around noon, she went out to check on the clothes drying on the lawn and found the wash line had become disconnected and fallen from its post. All the clothes she’d spent the morning cleaning were now laying in the dirt and Jain would have to do the entire wash again.

“Oh, would ye look at that,” she grumbled.

In an exasperated sigh, Jain knelt on the grass and began picking them up again to return them to the bucket. She was mumbling to herself when the sound of footsteps came marching up the hill. Jain glanced up from what she was doing, hoping it was her father or Keenan returning victorious with news of all that happened. Instead, Jain was disappointed to find, not her father, but Conrad and his friends walking down the path towards her.

She gritted her teeth at the sight of him and continued picking up the clothes, hoping she hadn’t caught his eye. Conrad never went anywhere without Murray and Scott flanking him on either side – the whole lot of them were incorrigible. As luck would have it though, Conrad spotted her in the grass and strode over to where she was without so much as a pause. Jain stiffened at the sight of him standing next to her and cast her eyes toward the laundry. He was the last person she wanted to see right now. Conrad was arrogant and brash and something about him always put her teeth on edge. She didn’t feel safe when he was around.