A Healer For The Highlander

‘Malcolm Cameron, what do you think you are doing?’

For a moment, she lost her place and time. She heard the name and stumbled to the doorway, almost expecting to see her Malcolm there before her. Staring into the road there instead she saw Davidh’s approach. Anna shook herself from the shock and glanced at Colm, who sat there watching his father walk towards them.

Colm.

Malcolm.

He had truly named his son after his closest friend.

‘You are not supposed to be out here!’ Davidh said sharply.

* * *

‘Papa, Mistress Mackenzie said I could.’

Davidh had only been watching his son and now caught sight of the healer as she stepped into the sun’s light. He did not know who looked paler at that moment—her or his son. Crouching down before Colm where he sat on a stool, he studied his face and listened, as he always did, to his breathing. Though pale, he did not struggle to draw a breath.

‘Well, if Mistress Mackenzie gave her approval, I cannot naysay her.’ He read the relief on Colm’s face then. How long had it been since his son had been outside this cottage or theirs? He glanced up and met Anna’s gaze then. ‘And what else did Mistress Mackenzie have to say?’

‘If he rests today and follows my instructions, he may walk about in the village a bit with his friends on the morrow,’ she replied.

‘From the look of him, he has not done the first.’

‘Nay, not yet. This morn, I was grateful for his help with the others who came to see me.’

Davidh stood then and touched his son’s shoulder.

‘You look tired, son.’

He could see the struggle within the boy. He did not wish to go back inside and yet his strength was fading. Considering that he’d been up and about more in these last two days than he had in weeks and weeks, Davidh was more than willing to listen to the healer’s advice. Whatever doubts had initially assailed him had faded in the face of the results in his son.

‘Since we have finished our work, I think it a good time for you to rest, Mal-colm.’

She stuttered over his son’s name. Oh, she’d heard him use his proper name. But a glance at her face revealed something else or something more was behind her stammer.

‘There you go then. Mistress Mackenzie has so spoken and we cannot argue with her. Well, you could, but I suspect that her promise to release you from this doorway depends on you obeying now.’

Colm grumbled as he stood, waved farewell to his friends and walked in slow, delaying steps inside. Davidh fought the smile that threatened to break out on his face since it would ruin the serious attitude he was forcing himself to show. He found he needed to turn away rather than watch as Colm sighed over and over as he lay down on the pallet. It was the short time it took for his son to fall asleep that reminded Davidh of his true condition and need for rest.

‘I...’ There was so much to thank her for doing, yet the words would not come.

‘I have given Suisan something new to try over the next few days,’ she said. She blocked his view of his son then, standing closer so her words did not carry inside. ‘The vapours seem to be helping.’

‘Aye, they have. He barely coughs.’ Again, words of gratitude swirled around, but none seemed good enough for what she’d accomplished. ‘Anna...’

‘The thing is, Davidh, this is only the beginning. The weakness in his lungs will not stop because of a few concoctions or using the vapours for a couple of nights.’ Why was she trying to dissemble with her words? To what purpose was it to undermine what she’d accomplished here?

‘He has been ill for some time,’ he said. ‘I understand that it could take time.’

‘Or not.’

He heard her words, but he did not want to accept them. That tiny bit of hope that he always carried in his soul for his son had burst into a stronger one just over the last two days. Could he contain and dampen it now? Must he? She reached out and placed her hand on his arm.

‘Sometimes it does not proceed as I expect it to and if, if, this does not work...’ She paused then and stared out towards the village. ‘I do not wish to raise your hopes without making certain you understand the true situation here, Davidh.’

‘I am afraid ’tis too late for that, Anna.’

She blinked several times and looked at him. He shrugged.

‘I understand the situation, Colm’s situation, for I have watched other bairns and wee ones die of things like this.’ A single tear trickled from the corner of her left eye and he wanted to reach out and wipe it away. He stepped back instead. ‘I will take whatever days your treatments give him. The rest is in the Almighty’s hands.’

She walked past him then and he heard the soft groan as she did so. Watching her, he noticed the signs of discomfort or pain in the way she walked now.

‘Mistress Mackenzie, are you yourself in need of a healer?’

She laughed then and the sound of it made his heart beat faster.

‘Aye, I think I might. Do you know one?’

‘Old Ranald is good if you need anything hacked away.’ The jesting relieved the tension in him.

‘Nay, not that. I just need to walk a bit after crouching and bending for so long. I will not keep you from your duties, Commander.’

‘Come,’ he said, motioning with his hand ahead of him. ‘I am not expected back for some time yet and I can show you the rest of the village if you have not walked it yourself.’

‘I would like that,’ she said, following him to the road, then walking at his side.

They walked along that main road and Davidh pointed out the important places of their village—the smithy she knew, but the baker, the miller near the stream and the weavers she did not. Word had spread about her and many came out to greet her. Some she called by name which surprised him at first, but she told him that she had seen them just a short while before his arrival.

Davidh guided her as far as the stream that led north to the river that connected Loch Arkaig to Loch Lochy. To reach the falls and her cottage she would follow the river to the mouth of Loch Arkaig, cross the small bridge there and head around to the northern side of the river. The river that rushed over the falls fed back into the River Arkaig. The most surprising thing about the walk was that Davidh found it easy to talk to her. Giving her bits of gossip and explaining the connections between this person and that one continued as they made their way back to the smithy.

‘You did not show me where you live.’

He had not time to ponder her curiosity, for a man came running towards them, shouting out his name. Only then did Davidh realise he’d lost all sense of time as he’d walked with Anna. Robert expected him after the noon meal to meet with the steward and Davidh had forgotten all about it.

He could blame it on the sight of his son, sitting outside for the first time in weeks. He could and that would have been part of it. The other part was that he’d been enjoying himself too much and, for that short time, he’d forgotten his duty. He’d forgotten his duty.

Davidh nodded at the messenger and faced Anna.

‘I must go.’ She nodded. ‘Will you be back on the morrow?’

‘I will be back in a few days. There is so much to do before I will have enough to help those in the village.’

He wanted to argue with her, but he could not now. Any anger or frustration he felt was his own fault, so he took his leave with a hurried word of gratitude. Davidh cursed silently first, with every step he ran to the smithy to claim his horse and then with every stride of his horse after he mounted and as he rode to the keep.

Never in his life, never since taking command, had he ever forgotten to carry out a task or duty or responsibility. Never. Not even when Colm suffered the worst of his affliction.

But this young woman arrived, bringing help to his son and appealing to him more than any woman before or since Mara, and he allowed her to distract him. From his duty.