The Handfasting by Jenna Stone

exclaimed in
frustration.  “How in the hell am I supposed to lead the clan?” he asked in desperation,
his eyes searching his mother’s face.
    “Ye can and ye
will, son.  Ye are yer father’s son, and mine too.  Ye’ve made us proud and I
ken that ye can do this.  It will take some work, but with time…”
    “Christ!” Gavin
swore, shaking his head in disbelief.  “I willna do this!  I canna!”
    “Aye, ye can.  And
doona talk like that in my house.  I raised ye better than that,” Katroina
scolded as she walked over and knelt before her only remaining son.  Her heart
swelled with happiness that he had returned alive, but her mother’s worry
consumed her.  Was he so broken that he would not be able to take his rightful
place as Laird of Clan Mackinnon?  Katroina shook her head, pushing the
negative thought from her mind.  “Ye will do this, Gavin.  Ye were born tae do
this,” she encouraged as she patted her son on the shoulder and looked into his
eyes.
    Katroina’s belief
in him bolstered his spirits.  Gavin’s eyes held steadily with hers.
    “I will try,
mother,” he whispered.  It felt strange to call a woman that he had no
recollection of his mother.  This was the woman who had nursed him at her
breast, who had nurtured him and cared for him while he was small.  How her
heart must be breaking to know that her only living son did not remember her.
    “I will help ye. 
I believe in ye, Gavin.  Ye are a born leader, and I ken that yer memory will
come back tae ye,” she vowed.  Unable to help herself, she pulled Gavin against
her chest and hugged him to her.  Tears welled in her eyes as she clung to her
boy.  He was home, and that was that.  She was happy to have her little boy
back, broken pieces and all.  She silently vowed to work tirelessly to help him
take on the challenges that he would be forced to face.
     
    ..ooOoo..
     
    Gavin stood
uneasily outside of the chamber that Jaime had told him was his.  He knew that
he needed to make things right with the lass that was locked inside.
    Emma.
    He turned her name
over and over in his mind.
    Nothing. 
    “Damn,” he said as
he shook his head from side-to-side.
    He forced himself
to muster the courage to knock on the large wooden door.  His knock was
countered with the sound of sniffling behind the door, and in what seemed like
an eternity later, Emma cracked the door and peered out into the hallway at
him.
    Her hair was
unbound and her eyes were puffy from crying.  She had tried to pull herself
together, but nothing could hide the fact that she had been crying. 
    Gavin’s heart
sputtered in his chest.  She had been crying because of him.
    “I’m sorry,” he
said softly.  “Can I come in and talk tae ye?  Or we could go somewhere else if
that would be more proper?” he asked uneasily. 
    Emma opened the
door without responding.  She walked back inside the chamber and sat in one of
the overstuffed chairs before the fireplace.
    Lord help me, she said silently.  She wasn’t sure how much more hardship her heart could
bear.
    Gavin strode into
the chamber and settled himself into the chair that sat opposite to her in
front of the fireplace.  His eyes scanned the room.  He looked for something,
anything that might spark his memory.  This had been his home.  This had been
the chamber that he had shared with his wife.  His eyes darted back to Emma,
who sat watching him intently.  Had he loved her?  Had they been happy
together?
    “What did you want
to say to me?” she asked, her voice trembling as she spoke.
    Looking at Gavin
was painful.  Her eyes scanned his familiar face and she looked at him closely
now.  His handsome angular jaw was the same, along with his straight-set nose
and his intriguing green eyes.  The man before her looked like her husband,
apart from his closely cut hair.  It was so strange to have Gavin sitting right
in front of her, and yet she felt that somehow, he had not yet returned