Her Father's Daughter by Eilidh Miller

Her Father's Daughter by Eilidh Miller

Author:Eilidh Miller [Miller, Eilidh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Griffith Cameron Publishing
Published: 2021-09-17T22:00:00+00:00


***

Cailean held Emi close to him as he closed his eyes, her raw grief shattering his heart more than it had already been. His own family had survived, and he was thankful for that. Fergus’s sister and mother had also escaped. The main body of the English army was less than a day behind them, fanning out across the Highlands to deliver the brutal retribution ordered by Cumberland, and the remnants of the Stewart regiment had arrived in just enough time to clear everyone out as they approached the castle from this side of the loch. What they hadn’t been able to do was reach the castle fast enough to prevent the scouts sent ahead by the English from killing everyone they found there.

“Cailean,” Fergus said. “The chief wants to see her.”

Cailean nodded, helping her up, though he knew she no longer understood what was happening. He guided her to where Crisdean sat, gravely wounded himself.

“Emilia,” he said, opening his arms to her. To the surprise of both of the younger men, she went to him immediately, and he folded her against him as she wept. “I know, darling. I am so very sorry,” he said to her before he looked up. “Fergus, thank ye for finding her. I owe ye a debt of gratitude for saving my Emilia.”

Cailean and Fergus looked at him in confusion. His Emilia?

“She is my daughter, the only one of my children left here in Scotland,” he said, answering the unspoken question. “I am done with the secrets, done with hiding this. Doing so is pointless now.”

The eyes of both men widened in shock.

“Alasdair,” Emi sobbed out. “Maman … Evander …”

“Aye, sweet one. Ye will miss yer family and yer young man, and I will miss him too.”

“Chief, he …” Cailean said, choking back a sob of his own as he decided it was now best to tell the truth. What was the point of lying about it? Who would it hurt now? “He was her husband. They married in the old way a little over a year ago.”

“Why did he nae tell me? Emilia …”

“He had planned to when this was over. He wanted to make sure he was ready to go to ye for yer blessing.”

“And he would have had it, with my whole heart, regardless of whatever position he would have been in. He was a good lad, one of the best I have known, and I would have worked with him had he told me.”

Fergus slumped to the ground, covering his face with his hands and weeping, joined by Cailean. Their best friend, their brother, was gone, and to know he could’ve had all he’d desired without hiding it, even if only for a short while, was devastating.

Crisdean stroked Emi’s hair. “Dinnae fear, Emilia, I will care for ye. As long as I live, ye are never alone.”



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