Page 86 of A Fierce Archer

It explained why Laird Darach Ross looked so different from the others.

“I cannot wait to have bairns, many of them,” Catriona said to lighten the mood.

Ewan’s mother laughed. “Beware of bearing too many sons. They can make ye ponder how boys ever survive to adulthood.”

Catriona laughed. In that moment, she was saddened not to live closer to her husband’s mother.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Fraser Keep

“What are ye doing?” Ava Fraser walked to where Flora hid beside a tree. “Who are ye hiding from?”

“No one,” Flora whispered and yanked the woman unceremoniously behind the tree. “Lower yer voice.”

Flora then peered around the tree to where a couple walked. Broden was walking with a woman. They were deep in conversation. Surely any moment now, thinking to be alone, they would show their intention for wandering away together.

“Who is she?” Ava asked, looking to where the couple now stood, their backs to them.

Flora shook her head. “I do not recognize her. They are too far away.”

“What is going on?” Eileen, the cook, walked out with a basket. “Who are we spying on?”

The older woman came to stand next to them and narrowed her eyes toward where Broden and the woman were. “Ah, yes, this is very interesting. I wonder what excuse she will give for abandoning him so long ago.”

“His wife?” Flora asked, her chest tightening. “Why did I not know? He kissed me...”

“His mother,” Eileen clarified. “She left him and his father when Broden was but a wee lad, perhaps five. She has returned now, over twenty years later, with a new husband and family. The nerve of the woman. Poor Broden’s been avoiding her, but she appeared this morning, insisting to speak to him.”

Just then, the woman reached for Broden and he took a step back, holding both hands up. Evidently, he didn’t seem to want anything to do with the woman.

“Who raised him then?” Flora asked, not taking her gaze from Broden.

“His father and aunt. Broden had a good childhood. He was a bright, well-liked boy.”

“Good,” Ava said, and then huffed. “We should ask that woman to leave.”

“We?” Flora and Eileen asked in unison.

Ava nodded. “I could send a guard to send her away.”

“That would be strange,” Flora mused. “Broden can take care of himself.”

“Did ye say he kissed ye?” Ava asked, and Flora swallowed.

Why had she blurted that out? In her distress, her tongue had loosened. “It was nothing, just that one night we found ourselves alone, in the corridor...I was caught off guard.”

“I bet,” Eileen said with a chuckle. “Accidently pressed yer lips to his in yer confusion?”

Ava giggled.

“We should go inside and give Broden his privacy,” Flora said, but then turned back to look.

Broden said something and stalked away. The woman’s head fell forward and she covered her face with both hands.

“Forgiveness is not so easy to get as some people would think,” Eileen mumbled and headed toward the woman.

Flora and Ava didn’t bother to hide. Instead, they stood side-by-side, watching as Eileen went up to the woman. Whatever the cook said made Broden’s mother nod. Then they walked closer.