Some of the villagers were easy to convince, others, it would take a cannonball right in the chest to move them from their position. And that position was that Mister Cooper was the best for them. Leith went back at night halfway fearing that the villager’s loyalty would split in half.
He came back more tired than a three-legged horse forced to gallop. Most nights, he could barely get something to eat, check in on his father and then trot off to bed to sleep like the dead. Each night he craved Mary’s presence but was not going to test fate. He had already secreted Mary away twice, who knew if the third would topple his house of cards.
Cooper was nowhere to be seen, and Leith did not know if his disappearance and silence meant well for him or if it was ominous. His mother, however, had taken to staying in her room for long periods of time. The one time he had spoken to her, she had given him a grieved look over her knitting needles and told him that she could not bear to be near Aaron when he was purging.
Leith had let her be. It had to be hard to see the love of one’s life weak and unable to hold solid food down in his stomach. Just thinking of seeing Mary in that condition had his throat going dry in horror.
He saw glimpses of Mary here and there, but nothing solid enough for them to bond. One midsummer afternoon, he managed to get home somewhere before evening and beelined to his father’s room. His father was sitting in bed, his body lax and face a little pale. But what Leith loved was the sharper look in Aaron’s eyes.
Pulling up the chair, Leith spun it and sat, “How are ye feeling, Faither?”
“Like someone roped me feet to two horses and dragged me arse from here to Edina and back,” his father grunted. “But I’m feeling better, much better. That healer is on to something, nay matter how it twists me guts into knots like bog moss.”
Leith’s eyes ran over his father liberally in relief. “In eight days ye’ll be back at yer position. I ken all the people would want to see ye back. Da, I ken ye wanted me to take the position but I couldnae, nay with ye ill. I wanted ye to hand it over to me.”
“Leith, stop tryin’ to pull the blasted woolen over me eyes,” Aaron said strictly. “What are ye running from? Why nay take over completely?”
The question was like a blow to his gut. He had tried to avoid it for months, years even, but now that the issue is in the open, he had to admit his darkest fear, “Da…” his chest tightened with shame, “I fear that I willnae be as good as ye. I’ve earned the villager’s trust, but ye have more than trust with them. Ye have a kinship with them that I dinnae ken if I’ll ever have. I suppose that is the reason why I leaned on Cooper for so long.”
“Och,” Aaron snorted. “Son, that is the biggest load of codswallop I’ve ever heard in me life. Where is this cowardice coming from?”
Leith grimaced. “I ken, I ken it sound unmanly of me but it’s the truth.”
“Leith,” Aaron said solemnly. “I did what was needed of me in the time it was needed. I overruled some of me Faither’s work for me do so. Times change, son, they always will. When yer time comes, ye will have to overrule some of what I’ve done too. That is the only way yer merit will come.”
“Speaking of merit,” Leith hesitated. “Cooper’s been taking all of yers for the past few months. He managed to sway the people from the village leader, Angus Wallace, into his hands.” In moments his father’s gaze went from shock to narrowed anger but Leith pushed on, “I’ve had nay choice but to send him into exile until I can sway the people back to us. I ken…I ken he wanted to steal the lairdship from under ye, from under me.”
His father’s jaw was working in agitation and a storm cloud was blowing over his face. Leith tensed in preparation for his father’s outburst, but instead, Aaron only said. “That is nay like Cooper. I ken he has ambitions of being in charge but he would never usurp power like that on his own. He is too loyal to me. There must be some influence he’s following, someone is directing his actions.”
Though he had not thought of it, his father’s words made perfect sense. Secretly, Leith castigated himself for not thinking of it. Cooper had been and still was too ambitious for his own good. He had been blinded by the man’s history and his present actions to not even consider if the man was being influenced. But who could that be?
Was Cooper under the influence of enemy clans? It made sense to take control of the village and lure the villagers to his side, then constantly throwing out suspicions left and right. His comments about the English slammed back into Leith’s head. Did ye forget that it was only four months ago Cromwell’s man died here? He was responsible for the restoration of their bloody King Charles the Second. Ye dinnea ken someone is seeking revenge?
Was Cooper working with the English? Their clan’s seat was in the middle of the Highlands, a perfect strategic placement for the English to put down roots and then invade the rest of the other clans. If not the English, who else? The Killian clan were their enemies, and so were the Rutledges, both clans equidistant from where they were seated.
Rubbing his hand hard over his eyes, Leith stood, “I’ll find out what, I swear to ye.”
“Aye,”
