Free Tess and the Highlander by May McGoldrick Page B

very special instrument.”
    “I want you to have it.” When he started shaking his
head, she pressed him. “You’ve given me the gift of hearing music
again. Please!”
    “Thank you. But is there anything I can do…well…?”
His words trailed off.
    Before I go , Tess
thought, finishing his unspoken words. He was going, she
reminded herself. Soon.
    “You already have,” she whispered, lowering her gaze
to the shells lying in her lap.
    The aching sadness gathering within her was growing
more painful by the minute. She had lost people whom she cared for
before. She’d had to learn to adjust and rely only on herself. But
this time, with Colin, she knew she would feel something even more
than anything she’d felt when Charlotte and Garth had passed on.
They were old and it was their time. Tess knew deep inside of her
that this loss would cut her very badly.
    Colin finished his food and sat studying the flute.
Tess leaned quietly against the wall and made the effort to string
the shells that she no longer found so beautiful. Not long after,
they both settled in early for the night, but sleep eluded Tess and
minutes rolled into hours. She could hear the dying sounds of the
winds outside. Gradually, the fire burned to embers and the chamber
slipped into darkness.
    Sometime during the night, when Colin’s steady
breathing indicated that he was asleep, Tess got up and went
outside, throwing her cloak over her shoulders as she went out the
door. For the first time in days, the wind had dropped off to an
occasional sea breeze, and the cold seemed bearable. She raised her
face to the sky and gulped a chest full of air. If she could only
force down the painful knot of loneliness that she was feeling.
    Makyn still had not birthed her lamb, which
surprised Tess somewhat. The young woman was too restless, though,
to sit beside the ewe. The scent of dawn was already in the air.
She pushed herself to her feet and started walking toward the rocky
shores.
    The sea, the air, the
sky…everything seemed calmer.
    But not inside of her. Without the distraction of
the wind and the storm, the reality of her situation on the Isle of
May was suddenly pressing harder on Tess. In all her years here,
she had never once considered the possibility of leaving the
island. She’d never even thought of being forced to live somewhere
else. The thought was frightening.
    She still had the nightmares from time to time. The
fleeting images of a terrified young girl running through dark
corridors and passages. And there were other memories, too, that
continued to haunt her. Faces that she could put no name to.
    Eleven years had passed, and she had grown less and
less eager to find the answers to her childhood questions.
Charlotte and Garth had protected her and cared for her, and Tess
had gradually become more than happy to forget the past. She’d
never thought beyond just living the rest of her life right
here.
    She stood on the edge of a rock and let the cold
water lap up to her shoes. Looking around her, Tess realized she
was standing on the same rock that she’d dragged Colin onto not so
many days ago. How had everything changed so quickly?
    In a storm he’d come to the May. Like a storm he’d
thrown her life and what she’d always thought she needed into total
disarray. Restless and confused, she pushed a loose lock of hair
behind her ear and braced herself against a gust of wind whipping
off the gray-green sea.
    Then, far to the north, she saw them riding the
swells. Feeling a sense of panic rise in her chest, Tess strained
her eyes to be sure.
    Boats.
    They were coming for him.
     
    Colin woke with a start. He sat up, unsure for a
moment if Tess had called his name or whether he’d dreamed it. He
glanced immediately across the room. Her bed was empty.
    She called him again. Her voice came from outside
the prior’s house. In an instant he was up and reaching for his
shirt when she dashed into the chamber.
    “They’re coming!” she said