his hurry to get her settled. The screen had been carried outside and the hall was now crowded with her clan.
Alec tended to her injuries. She'd given him instructions about the proper powders to use, and made him refashion the bandage on her arm twice before she was satisfied. Gavin was awake, too. He had a fierce headache. Jamie wouldn't let anyone give him any ale, though. She ordered cold cloths on his head and water to drink. He'd have to suffer through his headache, she dictated from her bed, and that was that.
Jamie never made a sound or showed a grimace while she was being patched up. In truth, vanity was her real motive, not courage. She wasn't about to act cowardly in front of her relatives.
Father Murdock had made that task easy for her. The dear priest sat on the edge of the bed and held her hand all during Alec's work. Little Mary Kathleen was carried in and settled next to her mother when Alec was finished. The three-year-old started crying when she saw the bandage on Jamie's forehead. Alec soothed the child by telling her to give her mother a kiss.
Mary immediately did as Alec suggested and was rewarded by her mama's surprised announcement that she was feeling ever so much better now. The little girl fell asleep a few minutes later, cuddled up against Jamie's side.
Jamie saw Marcus motion to Alec. 'You've found her, then?' she called out.
No one answered her. Alec started toward the door. 'Alec, bring Annie inside,' she said. 'I want to ask her why.'
Alec shook his head. 'I'll listen to what she has to say outside.'
'And then?'
'I'll decide.'
Father Murdock squeezed Jamie's hand when she started to call out to her husband again. 'Leave it in his hands, lass. He's a compassionate man.'
Jamie nodded. 'He doesn't like admitting it, but he is compassionate. Annie's mind is twisted,' she whispered. 'Alec will remember that.'
And then the sound of that horrid, inhuman laughter filled the hall and she found herself clutching the priest's hand for comfort. Annie's words lashed out with the sting of a whip. The venom she screeched was made worse by her singsong tone of voice. 'I'll be your wife, I will. No matter how long it takes me, Kincaid. It's my right. My right. Helena took you away from me. I challenged you then, Alec, and I'll challenge you again.'
Jamie heard another loud burst of laughter, and then Annie started chanting again. 'I'll kill again and again and again until you've learned your lesson.
It's my right to stand beside you. It's-'
The sudden silence, after such demoniacal sounds, was startling to Jamie. She tried to get out of the bed.
'Stay where you are, Jamie,' Gavin ordered from the foot of the bed. He loomed over her like an angry avenger. His command was ruined when he put his hands to his head and groaned. 'I shouldn't have yelled at you, milady, but Alec wants you to stay put.'
'You shouldn't have yelled at me because it made your head pound,' Jamie countered.
'That, too,' Gavin admitted.
Jamie moved her feet out of the way just in the nick of time. Gavin collapsed on the foot of her bed and let out another pitiful groan as he fell back. She guessed he was trying to turn her attention away from the happenings outside by demanding her sympathy.
'I have complete faith in my husband,' she told Gavin. 'You needn't carry on so to turn my concentration.'
'Then I can have a drink of ale?' Gavin asked.
'You can't.'
'The bed is getting damn crowded,' Alec announced from the top of the steps.
Jamie smiled. She waited until he'd kissed her properly before asking, 'It's finished?'
He nodded. 'Alec? You were supposed to marry her, weren't you?'
'Edgar had planned to unite the Kincaids with their clan to gain peace. I was pledged to Annie, aye.'
'But she's so much younger than you…'
'She's only one year younger than you, Jamie.'
'She seems so much a child still,' she whispered. 'Edgar changed his mind after Helena's husband died?'
Alec nodded. 'He did. Helena was carrying her babe, and the king wanted to give her a good home.'
Jamie nodded, understanding. And then she gave him a magnificent smile. He had to shake his head over her strange reaction. 'She didn't want to leave you either, Alec.'
He still didn't comprehend her joy until she turned to Father Murdock and said,
'Tomorrow you'll have to bless Helena's grave. She must have a requiem mass, too. The entire clan must be there, Alec.'
'Do you want her to be reburied in consecrated ground, Jamie?' Father Murdock asked.
She shook her head. 'We'll extend the consecrated cemetery to include that whole section. Alec and I will, of course, be buried next to Helena. It is fitting, isn't it, husband?'
'It's fitting,' Alec announced, his voice husky with emotion.
'Don't sound so pleased,' Jamie teased. 'I'm leaving instructions for you to be placed in the center, Kincaid. You'll have a wife on either side to keep you'settled in' for all eternity.'
'God help me,' Alec muttered.
'He already has,' Father Murdock announced. 'He's given you two good women in your lifetime, Alec, and that's a fact. Our Maker has a sense of humor, too.'
'How's that?' Gavin asked between his groans.
'The sweet lass Alec happens to love comes from England, if you'll all remember, and if that isn't a trick on God's part, I sure as spit don't know what is.'
'Oh, God, he's starting to sound like her,' Gavin said with a laugh he immediately regretted, for his head started aching again.
Jamie noticed Edith across the room then. She could see how upset the woman was.
'You aren't really meaning to send Edith away, are you, Alec?' she asked.
When Alec shook his head, Jamie motioned Edith closer.
'Edith, you aren't leaving us. It was just a plan to get Annie to try to kill me again.'
'Again, wife? Then you knew the fire-'
'No,' Jamie interrupted. 'I didn't know until I heard Annie laughing just now. I recognized the sound. It was the same I'd heard when I was trapped inside the hut.'
She paused to give Alec a good frown. 'It was most unkind of you to use me as your bait, Alec.'
'It wasn't supposed to happen that way,' Alec replied, his tone hard. 'Gavin was supposed to stay with you and Marcus was supposed to keep Annie in his sight at all times.'
'It's my fault,' Edith blurted out. 'I didn't know you were planning a trap. I thought Annie was ill. She took to her bed after we were told we were being sent away. I was so upset, I didn't notice when she left.'
'No, sister,' Marcus interjected. He walked over to stand at Edith's side. 'It's my fault. I take full responsibility.'
'But I told you to ready the horses,' Edith argued.
'It wasn't anyone's fault,' Jamie said. 'Edith, you do want to stay with us, don't you? I can't get along without you… until you decide on a proper husband,' she added.
'You were never meant to leave,' Alec told Edith. 'But I wanted Annie to believe I was sending you both away because of your relation to Helena. You'll remember when I ordered you to leave, I said I didn't want any reminders of my first wife.'
Edith nodded. 'I do remember.'
Alec smiled. 'You never questioned me. Didn't you wonder why Mary Kathleen wasn't included?'
Edith shook her head. 'I was too upset to think it through,' she admitted.
'I thought of it,' Alec returned. 'Though only after I'd left your cottage.'
'Forgive your laird for causing you such distress,' Jamie advised Edith.
Edith quickly nodded. 'Oh, I understand now.'
