“And yer feelings would be right. I was sent there by my father,” Skylar replied, careful as she continued not to tell him something he did not need to know. “All my sisters were sent tae different places.”
“There is more than one o’ ye?” he asked, sounding interested.
“Aye, there’s four o’ us. I’m the eldest, the one who always got intae the most trouble if I didnae keep a close eye on the others,” she said, laughing lightly.
“Och, I ken that feeling well. I’m the eldest o’ my brothers too.”
“Ye have more than one?”
“Aye, there’s Bram, and I have another. But I’ve nae seen him for a long while, a bit like ye with yer sisters.”
“Aye well, unlike Bram, I’m sure my sisters dinnae terrify people at the very sight o’ them,” Skylar deduced bluntly.
Maxwell let out a low and deep chuckle. Hearing him laugh for the first time, she smiled against his arm, and acknowledged how much she liked the sound of it.
“Aye, Bram does have that effect on people,” he said, the chuckle continuing. “It works in our favor in battle. I’ve seen grown men watch him charge at them, and instead o’ fight, they simply turn and run away screaming.”
“I am nae at all surprised tae hear it.”
“Ye must miss yer sisters,” he said. “Were ye close tae them?”
“We are all very close.” Skylar nodded. “And aye, I do miss them very much. I can only hope it’ll nae be too long ‘afore I see them again.”
“Why did yer father send ye all away tae different places? Wouldnae it have been safer for ye all tae stay together?”
Once more, Skylar had to take her time and be cautious about how she responded to his question. He couldn't possibly know the significance of his question, because shehad given him no reason to be suspicious. He'd pressed earlier in the day to find out why Johnsonwanted her so badly as his wife, but she'd given him nothing to connect it to the reason she and her sisters had been separated.
“I think my father thought that us being in different places was for the best,” Skylar offered.
“But why?”
Skylar shrugged. “I cannae tell ye. The reasons for us being sent away were never told tae us. My father and mother made the decision. So, in truth, I dinnae ken my father’s motivations in the first place,” she lied.
“And yer mother never confided in ye?”
“She would never go against my father.”
“Then perhaps,” he offered, “when ye see her next, ye should ask her.”
“My mother’s dead. She died before Father sent us away,” Skylar said sadly.
Maxwell did not say anything to that. Perhaps by her tone, he knew better than to press any further. As she allowed herself to think about her mother and all Jenny Morgan had done to protect her daughters moments before her death, Skylar could not help thinking about the loss of her father.
“I can hardly believe my father too is dead,” she said, unable to stop the sob that escaped from her throat. Once it did, however, she could not hold back her tears, and Skylar lay there, her body shaking as she let the tears flow.
The laird’s grip on her only tightened, and slowly, he rocked back and forth with her in his arms. He did not speak any words but comforted her with his actions as she sobbed. Since Colum had so gleefully told her about her father’s death, she had hardly had a chance to think about it in depth. Only now, as she remembered her family with such fondness, did his loss impact her so fully.
After a little while, Skylar eventually calmed herself and, taking several deep breaths in, ended it all with a heavy sigh. “I suppose we never ken what life will throw at us,” she said.
“I do understand yer sadness, Skylar. I too have lost loved ones along the way. We live in a time o’ great unrest.”
“Aye, we do,” she said thoughtfully. It had been such unrest that had killed both her parents. It had been the same unrest that had separated her from her sisters for four long years. It was that same unrest that now caused her to be on the run from a man she hated because of all the pain he had caused her.
“Tell me about yer eyes, Skylar,” Maxwell said. His statement took her a little off guard. “Why is one so very nearly white and the other blue?”
“Och, I was just born with it like that,” Skylar said flippantly. “What about Bram? What happened tae him tae get that great dreadful scar? He was lucky he didnae lose his eye entirely.”
She was quick to change the subject and hoped he would not notice. Addressing all the questions he asked was not an easy task, and besides, though she had little choice but do it, she hated telling an untruth. Yet, she could not tell him all that he wanted to know. It was simply too dangerous for him.
