“I understand dear, you don’t have to tell me all your secrets. It’s just that you looked so afraid outside. Tell me dear, are you in trouble?”
“Yes, I mean no, I mean, I don’t know.”
“Well that’s a start isn’t it?”
“You don’t understand. I know my name is Aileana because he’s been calling me that. I have no idea what I was called before that. I fell, or at least that’s what he told me. I don’t actually know what happened. I woke up in a cottage just back there in the wood and he told me we hid from my uncle but I keep dreaming about him and in my dreams he’s a kind man.”
“Love, you’re going to have to slow down. I want you to stay right here. I’m going to go fetch my Iain and we’ll try to help you with this.”
Aileana was afraid to be left alone. This woman could expose her. She had no idea who to trust.
“Ahhh I see what you’re thinking.” The old woman touched her shoulder. “Listen well, dear. You’re safe here, as safe as any dwelling in this town except the one I saw you watching. I’ll be back in a quick minute. Do you ken?”
Aileana nodded, what choice did she have? While Shauna was gone, she explored her surroundings. The humble dwelling was comfortable and welcoming, and under different circumstances she could feel at ease here. She looked around the room with its humble decorations. What did her home look like?
“There she is. And a fantastic tale she’s telling to be sure,” Shauna said.
An elderly and hobbling Iain shuffled into the room and sat next to her. After sizing up his new guest he grabbed a knitted quilt and placed it over her shoulders.
“You’d better stoke the fire, love. I think she’s got herself a good chill out there today. Now dear, why don’t you start from the beginning and tell us everything you can remember.”
True gentleness rested in his eyes. It was easy to take them both at their word as she recounted all she could remember or was told by Gawain.
Quite some time later after much discussion, they led her to a small undecorated chamber with a bed. She settled down onto it and drifted off. Her dreams were filled with images of her uncle, a kind man who was dead and unable to save her from the clutches of Gawain Chattan.
Aileana awoke sometime later to the most delicious smell. Rising from her bed, she made her way out into the main section of the small house. Shauna and Iain were there waiting for her with a full spread of eggs, cured boar, warm fresh loaf, and hot mead. Aileana was famished.
“Well come on dear, you look like you could use a good meal on those bones.”
It was like she hadn’t eaten in months. The morning meal smelled so good. She heaped mounds of food onto her plate and noticed Iain nodding to his wife.
“What? What is it? Has something happened?”
“Hush, lass, let me collect my thoughts before I begin. I went to see the sheriff earlier this morning to ask some advice on how to help you. I recounted your tale as well as my memory would serve. He stopped me mid sentence and I didn’t know what to make of it. He told me that James MacIntosh is here in Peebles and had just left him. Turns out he and his party travelled all night to get here.”
Aileana shook her head. Who was James MacIntosh?
“Yes I see. I’m getting ahead of myself. Where do I start? The story you told me was different so I want to get this right. Laird MacIntosh was betrothed to an Aileana Chattan through an arrangement between the man and her Uncle Iain. It seems the uncle died and his last wish was for the lass to be married to that chief. They were married at Linlithgow Palace in Edinburgh three months ago. He, the MacIntosh, appeared at a trial for Fergus MacKay at Edinburgh Castle and when he returned to the palace where they’d been staying, he learned his wife had been taken.
“The man was convinced she’d been taken by Gawain Chattan, a distant cousin of hers who expected to inherit the uncle’s estate and marry her. This part may come as a shock, lass, if the rest of it has not. It turns out, the MacIntosh had good cause to be sure this Gawain had captured her because he’d done it before, but she had come away from that first time unscathed.”
Aileana’s hands moved to her face. She stroked her forehead and covered her mouth as she listened. If true, it meant everything Gawain had said was a lie. Which tale should she believe?
“I told the sheriff your story. We compared yours and the one he was told and we think you must be this Aileana Chattan, lately married to James MacIntosh, Earl of Moray and chief of his clan no less. The sheriff said he’d like to come here to speak with you himself. He’ll make his own judgment whether or not to hand you over to anyone. He wanted me to assure you of that, lass, you’ll not be forced to go with this or any other man if you choose not to.”