been a woman to discuss such things, even with an intimate.
She had been with him for over a month. Her appetite was growing peakish, and he noticed it immediately. 'My seed has taken root in yer womb, sweeting,' he said, well pleased. 'Ye have not had any show of blood since I took ye. Do ye not realize yer with bairn?'
'I was not certain,' she told him, 'since I've never been with child.'
Nelly gasped, her face white with shock, and Fiona went to her.
'Leave us,' Fiona ordered her husband. 'I must calm poor Nelly, for she has obviously sustained a shock by this news.'
When Nairn had departed and Fiona had made certain he was gone from their apartment, she led Nelly into the tiny inside chamber where the girl slept. Her voice was low as she spoke. ' 'Tis not his bairn, Nelly! Do ye understand me? Had I been certain, I would have refused the king, but I was not certain. I dared not spurn a royal request only to learn I was not with bairn. What if he had revenged himself on my Black Angus? I could not take the chance. Do ye understand?'
'What if the lord Nairn finds out?' Nelly asked, her voice quavering.
'How?' Fiona said scornfully. 'If the bairn is born with dark hair, he will think the lass or laddie favors me, that is all. Nairn thinks because Black Angus had two years with me and did not put a bairn in my belly that his seed is feeble. Ye must keep the secret, Nelly.'
Nelly was recovering. 'I know,' she said. 'But what of the other bairns he will get on ye, my lady?'
'Hopefully by the time I have this bairn, we will be free to escape Nairn and return to our own home. The king said a year,' Fiona murmured, almost to herself. 'Are ye all right now?'
'Aye,' Nelly said, 'but ye gave me quite a turn, my lady. Why did ye not tell me before now?'
'Because I wanted that great oaf of Nairn to come to the conclusion before I said anything,' Fiona answered. 'Ye see how pleased he was. Undoubtedly he has gone off to his brother to crow over his prowess.'
'They're all like that, these MacDonald men. Roderick Dhu is forever telling me what a fine upstanding cock he has, and 'tis meant just for me if I would but say the word.' She giggled, and her carrot-colored braids bobbed up and down with her mirth. 'I've told the great gawk I'm a good lass, and will not give my cherry to any man but the man who weds me. That sends him off, I can tell ye. Oh, they like a good time with the lasses, my lady, but mention marriage and they flee. All but yer lord. He said from the first he would wed ye, and he did.'
' 'Tis only handfast, Nelly. In a year it will be over,' Fiona said. 'If I canna have my Black Angus, I want no husband.'
They departed Islay on a gray morning, crossing over to Jura on a choppy sea. Alexander MacDonald accompanied them, for he intended to hunt deer upon Jura. He bid his new sister-in-law a fond farewell.
'I am glad,' Fiona told him, 'that ye will keep the peace, my lord brother. It comforts me now that I know I am to bear my lord an heir. War, I think, is as hard on the women and bairns as it is on the men who fight the battles.' She kissed his cheek.
'I have said I will but bide my time, my bonnie,' the Lord of the Isles reminded her. 'We will see what the spring brings.'
'I have heard the king say he would call the northern clans to Inverness next year,' she reminded him. 'Can ye not bide yer time until then, my lord brother? If James Stewart does not challenge ye, why would ye challenge him?' Men, she thought! They were such children even in their maturity. This unspoken warring between the king and The MacDonald of the Isles reminded her of nothing so much as two lads attempting to see who could piss the farthest. It was ridiculous.
'If yer king will keep the peace until we meet in Inverness, then I will try to keep my peace; but remember, my bonnie, one of the clans could swear fealty to James Stewart before Inverness and then make war on me. If that happens, I canna stand by merely because that clan is yer king's ally. I will strike with all the power at my command.'
'As well ye should,' Fiona said. 'Such craven behavior would merit the severest penalty, my lord brother.'
'Take good care of yer bride, Nairn. She is a clever lass, and ye would not be foolish to seek her counsel in times of trouble, and on other matters.' Then he bid farewell to Father Ninian, who would travel with Colin MacDonald part of the way north before turning south. 'Godspeed, good Father, until we meet again,' the Lord of the Isles said.
'May God's love shine favorably upon ye and yers, my lord,' the priest responded. 'God willing, I shall see ye in the spring.'
Fiona rode with the priest a ways, which her husband looked upon with approval, for it showed a deference to the churchman. 'Ye heard?' she murmured low to him, and he nodded pleasantly.
'I shall see it is known to
Fiona shook her head. 'No. Is she alive, then?'
'Sustained by her own venom,' the priest said tartly. 'She has both a wicked tongue and an evil mind. She will not welcome yer coming to Nairn. She considers it hers and has lived there all of her life. Ask yer man about her, my lady,' the priest advised.
Fiona nodded, moving her gelding forward so she might ride with Colin MacDonald. He smiled when she reached his side. Fiona could not help but smile back at him, for despite it all, she liked him. 'Ye have spoken of yer father to me, my lord, but what of yer mother?'
His handsome visage darkened a moment. 'She is a hard woman, sweeting, with no kindness in her,' he said candidly. 'My father was taken by what he believed was her wild spirit. She was a challenge, to be tamed by him, but alas, he miscalculated.'
Fiona raised a quizzical eyebrow at Nairn. 'Like father, like son?' she teased him, and he laughed.
'Yer not like my mother,' he hastened to assure her. 'My mother was, so my grandfather said, always mean- spirited. She is one of those poor souls who is jealous of everyone else. No matter what she has, it is not enough. Envy eats at her. She was betrothed to a cousin, for with her brother dead, she became Nairn's heiress. Then my father passed through the district, stopping to accept my grandfather's hospitality. My mother, I am told, flirted with him until he felt he could not resist the obvious invitation. He remained there the summer and into the autumn to hunt grouse with my grandfather.
'The old man knew what was transpiring, but he could not control his daughter. My grandfather also knew that in the end The MacDonald would leave her to return to Islay, which is precisely what happened. By then my mother's belly was growing big. Her cousin repudiated his promise to wed her, but she sent him away laughing, for she thought my father so enamored of her that he would take her with him to Islay. Of course he did not take her. He would not shame his wife with such an open liaison. No woman of breeding objects to her husband's wee distractions provided that he does not bring them into her view or within her hearing.
'When I was born she would not look at me. I have her coloring, as ye may have guessed, but other than that I am all MacDonald. She would not give me suck, and my grandfather was forced to find a cottar's wife with extra milk so I would not die. He sent word to my father, and The MacDonald sent back a gift of six silver cups with his crest, and a dozen gold merks. There was also a parchment, witnessed by a priest and signed with my father's hand, acknowledging his paternity. As my mother would not name me, he did.'
'She would not name ye?' Fiona was shocked.
'Each morning I was brought to her chamber by my nurse and presented to her. She would not look upon me or say a word to me. Finally one day when I was past two and walking, I was brought to her in the morning, and as usual she turned her face from me. I was desperate for her attention, and so I kicked her in the shin. Only then did she look upon me for the first time. She said, 'He is his father's son,' and nothing else, but after that when I was brought to her she would look at me. When I was four or five I asked her why she did not speak to me. 'Because,'
