Page 75 of Highland Sky

“Oh. I see.” Kellina could see this wasn’t working and decided to try another approach to tell the story. “Do ye ever wonder just how our parents died?”

“Uncle said it was a battle with the MacKeefes.”

“But dinna ye want to ken more about it? Like . . . how it really happened?”

“Nay, Kellina, I dinna.”

“Nay?” Kellina didn’t understand at all. Her parents and how they died had always been on her mind ever since she was a child. Wasn’t it the same way with Caitlin, too?

“I didna ken our parents. No’ really. I have no memories of them and I dinna want the only thing I remember was how they died horrible deaths.”

“Oh. I understand. I think. But still, dinna ye even care to find out more about them? Who they really were?”

“No’ really,” said Caitlin, picking at a piece of grass.

“Why no’?”

“Well . . . what if they werena kind or guid? What if they were mean or . . . evil? If so, I dinna think I’d want to ken.”

“But they are the people who gave ye life. Surely, ye must be thankful for that.”

“Of course, I am, Kellina. But they are strangers to me and Jamie. We dinna remember them the way ye do. All we ken is the love of our aunt and uncle when they raised us and made us part of their family. Jamie and I were like their own children, and often we wished we really were. They gave us so much. We will always love them for takin’ us in and givin’ us the family we never really had. Besides ye, that is.”

“Well, mayhap Lorna and Ciaran werena the people ye thought they were. If no’, wouldna ye want to ken?”

“What are ye sayin’, Sister?” Caitlin’s brow furrowed. “Are ye sayin’ that the man I regarded as my faither was somehow . . . bad?” The hurt showed in her eyes. Kellina suddenly realized that this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“I just . . .”

“What? Tell me!” Tears filled Caitlin’s eyes. “If there is somethin’ ye need to say, then do so already. Now, I want to ken.”

“Nay, there is nothin’,” said Kellina smiling and giving Caitlin a hug. “I just wanted to say that I am glad, too, that they took us in and raised us as their family.”

“Are ye really?” asked Caitlin, wiping a tear from her cheek. “Ye were always so mean to Uncle. Oftentimes, I saw him watchin’ ye from afar, and I could see such sadness in his eyes.”

“I’m sure ye just imagined it, Sister.”

“Mayhap,” said Caitlin with a sniff, wiping away another tear. “I was always jealous, Kellina.”

“Jealous? Of what?”

“I wanted the attention from Uncle that he really only gave ye. I felt like he loved ye the best out of all of us, and even over his own girls.”

“Now, that’s no’ true.”

“It is,” said Caitlin. “I never told ye, but I overheard Uncle talking to Auntie one night when they thought we were all sleepin’. He told her that ye were the daughter he always wanted, but he could never tell ye that. It made Auntie mad, and she went to bed cryin’. Why did he say that, Kellina? Is there a reason that I dinna ken?”

This was her chance to be honest with Caitlin, but if she did, Kellina realized it would shatter her poor sister’s heart. Caitlin would never be able to accept the things that Kellina had discovered lately, and neither should she have to. Caitlin was happy. She was content with no memories of their parents, and accepted the way Ciaran and Lorna took them in and made them part of their family. Who was Kellina to shatter the girl’s hopes, her dreams . . . her memories of happier times?

Mayhap Nash was right. The dead were gone, and although they were not to be forgotten, there was nothing they could do to bring them back. Let her parents and even her uncle rest in peace, Kellina decided. It was time to leave it alone and, instead, look forward to the future. She was the one who could ruin Caitlin’s life . . . or make it something special. The last thing Kellina wanted to do was to make Caitlin sad. They’d all seen too much sadness lately, and it was time for happier things to transpire. She would be a part of that instead, she decided, no matter what she had to do.

“There is no reason, Sister,” she said, hugging Caitlin once again. “Our parents, as well as our aunt and uncle and cousins, were all guid people who didna deserve to die. Now, let’s pick some heather and lay it on their graves, shall we?”

“Yes. I’d like that.” Caitlin jumped up and hugged Kellina.

“It is wonderful, by the way.”

“What is?” asked Caitlin.

“Ye asked me how it felt to make love to a man. Well . . . it is more wonderful than ye could imagine, and someday when ye find the right man, ye will ken, too.”

“Oooooh, so that’s why ye brought me away from everyone and what ye wanted to tell me.” Caitlin’s cheeks blushed. “Are ye goin’ to tell me exactly what ye and Nash did?”

“Losh me, nay! Sister, some things are sacred between a husband and wife, and that is somethin’ I’ll never tell. Now, are we goin’ to collect heather or no’? The haggis will be done soon, and I want to help Nash and the others finish thatchin’ the roofs.”

“The heather can wait,” said Caitlin, looking back to their uncle’s grave. “I think Uncle would tell us right now that we need to do what is best for the clan.”

“And he’s right,” said Kellina, knowing now that she had made the right decision in keeping the secret. “We must always do what is best for the clan. And right now, that is finishin’ the roofs so we dinna get wet when it rains.”

“I’ll race ye down the hill,” said Caitlin, taking off at a run before Kellina could answer.

Kellina looked back at the graves of her parents, and her eyes settled on the grave of her uncle. It no longer mattered whose daughter she really was. All that mattered now was that she was Caitlin’s and Jamie’s sister and nothing . . . no one could change that. Not even the blood that flowed through her veins.

“It’s all for the best of the clan, that ye’re gone now, Uncle,” she said. A small part of her now realized why he had never told her the truth, but it still didn’t excuse him for his actions pertaining to her parents. Her uncle’s evil acts shaped all their lives, and that is something she would never get over. “I forgive ye for keepin’ it all a secret, but no’ for what ye did,” she said, feeling her heart thaw just a little. “I feel sorry for ye, ye poor, pathetic man. I may forgive ye for the sakes of Caitlin and Jamie, and even for poor Lorna and yer girls. However, I only do it for the guid of the clan.”

She turned to go, and then looked back once more. “Dinna get me wrong. That does no’ mean that I will ever forget.”