s craggy coastline and coastal waters along the coast beyond Wick. Several of the older crewmen knew this coastline well, however, and they sailed safely.
A moment later she joined him, standing close to his side and wrapping her arm around his waist as they looked down at the map. “It would have taken me weeks to travel across the land. I have vague memories of our terrible journey south. You have done me a great service. I will never forget your kindness.”
It was not kindness. He was driven by the thought that he would never see her again once he put her feet on dry land. Roderick had already had a taste of losing her and he didn’t like it.
She had folded up Gregor’s letter and set it on the table. “I have to keep reading it, to be sure.”
“What is it you need to be sure of?” he asked tentatively. His curiosity was always rife, but he wanted her to open herself to him naturally, as she had started to do.
“All these years, I didn’t even know whether my brother and sister were alive. Sometimes I would sense her, but I wasn’t sure if it was just wishes and dreams, you know?” She gave him a sidelong glance and a half smile.
Roderick nodded. He did know. It was the way he felt about Maisie. It was as if they, too, were united, even when they were apart. But they had not spoken of it, and with so much at stake and their lives so different, he did not dare to broach the subject unless she did.
“Now I know she is alive, and she is safe with your friend Gregor as her protector.”
“Gregor is a fiercely loyal man, especially when it comes to family. He left Fife for the sea because a great tragedy befell his family.”
“He and Jessie have much in common, if that is the case.” Maisie shook her head. “The letter mentions kin, but it doesn’t mention Lennox. I wonder about him.” She turned the letter over and looked at it, although her thoughts seemed far away.
“Perhaps your brother will be there, waiting for you?”
“It is possible. He was always chastising our mother for taking us to the Lowlands. He was not as adaptable as Jessie and I. But he was a hotheaded lad, and of the three of us he was the angriest. That has always worried me.”
“Many a youth mired in anger grows into a man with purpose.” Roderick was thinking of Gregor, whose soul had been in a dark place as a young man when they first met. Now, after doing what he had to do to put the past to rest, it appeared he was happily ensconced with a woman and planning to put down roots and build a croft of his own.
“I hope you’re right. I hope that I will find them both there and that they haven’t suffered much in the intervening years.” She lowered her head and stared down at the letter.
Roderick could not bear to see her look fretful. The lingering questions about her brother and what had happened to them in the intervening years hampered her still.
“We will have you there well before your sister’s handfasting.”
He gave a wry smile, for it still surprised him to think of Gregor Ramsay putting down roots upon the land. If Gregor had, could he do it, too? He looked at Maisie. She would never be tied to a man such as him, not the way he wished. “Unfortunately, my maps do not give me much of an idea how far it is to your village from the coast. Fingal, yes?”
She nodded. “My mother used to say that you could smell the sea in the air, but only when the wind came in the right direction and you were perched on the highest crag. Some of the men went to the coast every once in a while to bring back fresh herring, so it cannot be too far.”
“Some of the older men on the ship hail from the Highlands. Clyde will know how far it is, I warrant.”
Later, when Roderick called on Clyde, he joined them to study the map. The mood became more wistful still. Roderick had thought calling the old man in on the matter would lighten the moment, but it didn’t. Somehow it made it even more weighty and tense.
Clyde stared down at the map, nodding to himself. “I recall the name Fingal, and I think you could be there inside two days. You will need to purchase supplies, but my guess is inside a week.”
Roderick frowned. Which was it? Two days or a week? “How long is it since you left?”
“How in God’s name would I know?” Clyde said with a wry chuckle. “I cannot count, I do not know my age, and I am not sure when I left.”
“Fair point.” Roderick smiled at Maisie.
She returned the smile as she studied Clyde. “Why did you leave the Highlands?”
“For work, to find my fortune. Eight bairns my mother had, and I was the last.”
“A good enough reason,” she replied. “But why have you never gone back?”
Clyde still stared down at the map. “Fear.”
Roderick was surprised.
“Fear of what?” Maisie asked.