Free Wee William's Woman, Book Three of the Clan MacDougall Series by Suzan Tisdale Page B

Daniel asked incredulously.
    “Nora says you’re angels, all of you. Nora says God sent you down to help us. Nora never tells a lie.”
    “Mayhap you misunderstood her, lass.” Daniel offered.
    “Nay!” Elise said firmly. “Nora said you and Sir David and Sir William are angels sent to help us. Nora wouldn’t tell such a lie, Sir Daniel!” Elise leaned forward in search of her sister. Upon finding Nora, she became worried that she’d said something she shouldn’t have. “It wasn’t a secret, was it Nora? You didn’t say not to tell that they were angels!”
    “Shush, child!” Nora told her from behind a crimson face.
    “You didn’t lie, did you Nora? You said I shouldn’t be afraid of them because they’re angels.”
    Nora let out a sigh of frustration. “Elise, angels come in all forms. Not all angels come down from Heaven, but God sends them to help, nonetheless.”
    Elise chewed on that for a moment. “So they’re not from Heaven?”
    Nora shook her head. “Nay, not from Heaven, but angels just the same.”
    “So they haven’t seen our mums?” she looked positively deflated by the news.
    “Mums?” Wee William asked.
    “Me and Nora have the same papa, but different mums. Nora’s mum died in childbed just like my mum.”
    Wee William looked down at the top of Nora’s head and his sympathy for her grew. “I’m sorry, lass,” he whispered into her hair.
    “’Tis all right, William. ’Tis true that my mum died in childbed, giving birth to me. My father married John and Elise’s mum when I was about two. She was the woman who raised me, just the same as if I came from her own womb. She was a beautiful, kind woman.”
    “They’re still angels, aren’t they Nora?” Elise asked hopefully, not ready yet to let the subject be dropped.
    Nora cast a glance at the men around. While they might not believe they were angels, Nora certainly held them in that high regard. She felt a debt of eternal gratitude for these men.
    “Aye,” Nora said boldly, sitting a bit taller in Wee William’s lap. “No matter what they might think, they are answers to many prayers. While they be a bit rough around the edges, they are angels just the same, Elise. So you needn’t be afraid of them.”
    She hoped the men would pick up on her hidden meaning and would realize she had told Elise what she had in order that the child might not be afraid of them.
    “I haven’t been called an angel since I was a wean, and then ’twas by me grand mum!” David said with a smile.
    “We thank ye fer yer compliment, lass,” Daniel said with a similar smile.
    There was much more Wee William wanted to ask but didn’t. He was curious as to how Nora came to be married to such a vile man as Horace Crawford. He left his many questions unasked as they rode along the snow covered countryside.
    “Now, to answer yer question about Heaven, lass,” Daniel said to Elise. “Aye, I’ve seen Heaven with me own eyes.”
    “You have?” Elise asked disbelievingly.
    “Aye, lass, I have. Ye see, lass, I like to think of me home as a little Heaven on earth. Ye’ll never rest yer eyes on a more beautiful place!”
    “Really?” Nora asked, still unsure if she could believe him.
    “Aye,” David interjected. “Come springtime, the land comes to life, ye see. There’ll be more flowers than a man could count in ten lifetimes. And ’tis also when all the animals are born. The sheep call out to one another, the birds twitter about singing their love of their country, and everything just bursts to life.”
    As the men went on talking about the beauty of their homeland, Nora felt at peace. Much like a child being told a bedtime story, she began to doze off to the soft timbre of the Highlanders voices and within a very short time, she finally succumbed to the exhaustion that had been plaguing her for the past many hours.
     

     
    “Will I get to see your home sometime, Sir Daniel?” Elise asked sleepily.
    “Of course ye will, lass. That