High on a Mountain by Tommie Lyn Page A

prickly insistence he could not
ignore. He muttered under his breath as he left Coinneach by the
fire. “Why can’t we just go to the parson and say our vows? Why all
this…nonsense?”
     
     
    SEVEN
     
    Night still clung to the western slopes and
darkness huddled beneath the thicket of trees overhanging the path
when Aodh and Ailean started for Ruairidh MacLachlainn’s home in
the half-light of early morning. Father and son trotted along
without a word, single-file, their exhaled breaths trailing behind
them in the cold air for a brief moment before dissipating.
    “Hello, the house!” Aodh called when they
emerged from the woods into a clearing surrounding a large
house.
    The door opened and Ruairidh stepped
outside.
    “Aodh, is something wrong?” Ruairidh, a
tacksman of the chief, Lachlainn MacLachlainn, rented land from him
and subleased it to crofters like Aodh and his neighbors. His
crofters came to him for advice when they faced trouble.
    “We have something to ask,” Aodh said.
“Ailean, tell him.”
    Ailean shuffled his feet and cleared his
throat. “I’ve met a girl I want to marry, and I need to build a
house for her. I’d like to build it on the croft, be a joint tenant
with Da and the others.”
    Ruairidh looked at him a moment, a tinge of a
smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “So, you can escape
Cambeul players on a camanachd field, but you can’t escape a
fair lass.”
    Ailean blushed and grinned. “Not this lass.”
    “Congratulations, lad. I wish you every
happiness. As far as the croft is concerned, we’ll have to consult
the other tenants to see if everyone is agreeable, but I don’t have
any problem with it. There’s a section that’s not under
cultivation, isn’t there, Aodh?”
    “Aye. Just past the upper woods.”
    “If the others are agreeable, it will be fine
with me. Talk to them first and then we’ll discuss the details,”
Ruairidh said.
    Ailean thanked him and started for home. He
and his father traveled along without speaking most of the way,
each lost in his own thoughts. Ailean’s thoughts were filled with
anticipation. I’ll build Mùirne a home where we can be happy
from now on, where our lives will be perfect.
    Aodh’s thoughts were filled with worry. How can so many families survive on the worn-out soil of our
little croft? We can hardly raise enough food for everyone as it
is.
    ____________
     
    “Won’t you please come in?” Grandma
MacPhàrlain said when she opened the door and saw Latharn Cambeul
standing before her.
    “Yes. I need to speak to Mùirne’s
grandfather.” Latharn strutted through the doorway, followed by his
attendants.
    “Please have a seat by the fire. I’ll fetch
her granda,” Grandma MacPhàrlain said, and hurried out the door, a
broad smile on her face.
    Latharn looked with distaste at the low
chairs arranged around the open fireplace, at the smoke-blackened
walls and rafters. A tremor of revulsion passed through his body as
he contemplated yet again what life in this squalid hovel must be
like for Mùirne. And smiled.
    Yes. Father was right. These poor people
would be impressed with his display of wealth. Mùirne’s family
would realize what an honor was being bestowed upon them by his
proposal and would agree to the marriage.
    ____________
     
    Ailean and Aodh arrived home to find Brìghde
at work tidying the cottage. Niall sat by the fire tuning his
fiddle. In his excitement over the prospect of marrying Mùirne,
Ailean had forgotten it was Friday. Each Friday night, all their
neighbors gathered at Aodh and Brìghde’s cottage, the largest on
the croft, for the weekly ceilidh .
    “Getting it tuned for tonight?” he asked
Niall.
    Niall looked up and nodded without speaking.
He thumbed the string and listened, turned the peg, thumbed it
again.
    “Think Raghnall will let you play more than
one song?”
    “Yes, I’ll play that one song with him again,
and he said I could play the one by myself that I’ve