Marti Talbotts Highlander Series 1 - Anna Rachel u Charlet

followed. With Kevin’s nod, the bridge began to lower and as soon as it was secure, Catherin glanced back, spotted Rachel sitting on Justin’s shoulder and then started across.
    “Is she going back to England?” Justin whispered to Kevin.
    “If she is, it seems we are all going with her.”
    Catherin turned toward the meadow where Threcher was grazing. When they reached the crest, the crowd stopped to watch. Anna hurried to catch up , and without a word, took her mother’s hand and made her stop. Then she let go, moved away, reached both of her arms out with her palms up and slowly began to spin. In a few seconds, her mother did the same.
    “What are they doing?” asked Kevin.
    Katie answered, “They are tasting freedom. Anna did the same thing when we finally let her out.”
    Athena said, “A MacGreagor did this to them and it will be MacGreagors who set it right.” Everyone nodded.
    Anna grabbed her mother’s hand and pointed. The horse was turning around and around and when she saw it, Catherin burst out laughing. Soon mother and daughter were laughing so hard, they had to sit down in the meadow.
    Katie asked Rachel if she was hungry and when the child nodded, she took her off Justin’s shoulder and led the guests back inside. That left only Kevin and Justin to watch the women play in the meadow like children , and Kevin wondered if he would ever get them to come back inside. He began to doubt it even more when Catherin wanted to spin again and Anna joined her. Then he wondered if the women even knew he and Justin were there.
    Dizzy, Anna and her mother had to hug each other to keep from falling and finally sat down in the grass. Unaware the breeze would carry their words to the men, they began to talk.
    “Mother, there are good people here. They are so kind and loving ; I hardly know what to do. I have thanked them so often I am certain they have grown weary of hearing it.”
    “Your husband and Justin are kind, but...”
    “I believe my husband is a very good man. I love him, Mother. I realize I know little of love, but my heart leaps when he is near me. Did you love my father at first?”
    “Anna, I was twelve. What could I have known of love?”
    “Twelve,” Justin breathed. “That scunner !”
    “Am I too young to know of love?” Anna asked.
    Catherin brushed a strand of Anna ’ s hair out of her daughter ’ s face. “At seventeen, you are twice as wise and three times more brave than I will ever be. You must be the one to decide if you are old enough to love.”
    Kevin shifted his weight. “Good heavens, her mother is not much older than I am.”
    “Mother, will you stay for just a little while and learn about these people?”
    “I am afraid.”
    “I know, I am terrified too.”
    The women were looking at the men now and Kevin’s mind was racing. He knew Catherin was frightened, but Anna hadn’t seemed afraid since that first day when she wouldn’t give him her hand. What terrified her?
    “I am thinking of Rachel,” Anna was saying. “I want to see her in a home where there is love and joy, not fear.”
    Catherin sighed, “I want that too.”
    “If you leave, where will you go?”
    “I do not know. I will never go back to that place of torment and unhappiness.”
    “Neither will I.” Anna leaned over and put her head on her mother’s shoulder.
    Catherin hugged her daughter, but didn’t seem willing to take her eyes off the men. “How will we escape?”
    “We?” Kevin muttered.
    “It will not be easy,” Anna admitted. She sat back up, pulled a hand full of grass out of the ground and let the blades slowly slip through her fingers. “They watch every move I make. It is for my protection, my husband says, but it is far more protection than I care to have. I am not at all sure I could endure a whole life of it.”
    “Have the men held you down?”
    “Not yet.”
    Justin didn’t want to hear what that meant, but he stayed where he was just the same.
    Kevin knew exactly what it meant. He took a deep breath and let it out. No wonder she was terrified. He heard someone walk up behind him and turned to look. Holding Rachel in her arms, Athena didn’t stop. Instead, she took the child to her mother, exchanged a few whispers with the women and came back.
    Athena stood in front of Kevin with her arms folded and watched his eyes. “They want to leave. Let them go.”
    “How can I, she is my wife and it is not safe for them out there alone.”
    “Anna was brought