“You mean face her down?”
“Exactly.”
“As long as it doesn’t endanger Maggie, consider it done.”
***
The following morning, Angus, accompanied by Flora and their two younger bairns, pulled his cart up in front of the infirmary. Edert, black-haired and blue-eyed like his mother, had often helped Rob. The lad greeted the McGraths and Rob with a shy “hoy,” before ducking his head. Rinait, their thirteen-year-old red-haired lass, gave Rob a saucy smile, blushed, and hid her face, coyly peeking at him from between her fingers.
After Rob and his chair were lifted into the cart, the two bairns jumped onto the back, dangling their legs. John climbed in to stand beside Rob, grabbing a slat on the side for stability.
They stopped for Elspeth, who smiled at Rob, eyes twinkling. “Och, what a joyful day this is going to be,” she said as Angus helped her onto the bench beside Maggie and Flora.
Under other circumstances, he might have enjoyed the ride. Finally, a chance to get away from the infirmary. Instead of drinking in all the sights, he dreaded reaching the kirk. A direct confrontation with another man would be guid, if only for the mental stimulation, but a woman? He had no idea what to expect. His stomach clenched.
He made himself look at the scenery. The ever-present gulls lazily circled the inner harbour and old trawlers and creelers crowded the dock, rocking softly from side to side on an incoming tide. At the bottom of the hill, opposite the main pier, stood several stone buildings with slate roofs.
The only thing that held his attention was the large fish-packing shed. He turned in his chair to look at it until it was out of sight. His plans might go up in smoke this morning. So tense he couldn’t swallow, he undid the top button of his uniform shirt and loosened his tie.
The kirk spire rose from tall trees ahead.
Lord, I’m verra nervous about this. I don’t know what’s going to happen, so I’ll just have to ask You to handle it according to Your perfect will.
The cart pulled into the kirkyard. A larger than expected crowd gathered. Numerous carts stood behind a long driftwood pole, cuddies flicking tails and twitching ears at swarms of hovering midges. Bairns of all ages raced about, laughing and shouting as adults gathered in clusters, gesturing and talking.
The men all wore shabby woolen suits, white shirts, ties, and bunnets, and the older women, print dresses with knitted shawls. The younger women were clad in woven skirts and dressy sweaters.
The kirk caught his interest. Stone, like all of the buildings on Innisbraw, with a long covered entry, stained glass windows soaring to the top of a large nave, and an imposing square bell tower. The spire pierced the cloudless sky with a cry of victory.
Angus pulled the cart close to the entry. Edert and Rinait leaped to the ground before John alighted and hailed Alec MacDonald and several men Rob did not know to lift the wheelchair. Angus helped the women to the ground and drove off to park the cart.
Maggie rushed to Rob’s side. “Well, what do you think?”
“’Tis magnificent. I’d no idea it was so large. It must seat everyone living on Innisbraw.”
“Och, it does, and with room to spare now with so many leaving the island.”
John took Maggie’s elbow. “I want to introduce Rob to some of the men. Why don’t you and Elspeth go on in and take a seat in our pew?”
“Already? But Hugh isn’t even out on the entry to greet everyone yet.”
“Take Flora, Edert, and Rinait, too,” Rob said, casting a meaningful glance at John.
“Aye, ’tis a guid idea,” the doctor agreed.
“I need help checking on the flowers I sent down yesterday.” Elspeth said. “On you come, everybody. Let the men-folk get acquainted.”
Had John told her about the note or did she sense the tension?
Rob forced a smile. “On you go. I’ll catch you up in a tick.”
They walked up the entry stairs, Edert and Rinait hanging back, gazing with longing at the other lads and lasses racing about the yard.
Though John had said he wanted to introduce Rob to some of the men, the moment Maggie disappeared inside, he leaned down and whispered in Rob’s ear, “The person we’re interested in is approaching as I speak. I’m going to leave you to it, lad, but I won’t go far.”
Rob watched John herd the men a short distance away. A flurry of activity off his left shoulder caught his attention and he turned the wheelchair. A large group of older women hurried toward him, led by a small, bent-shouldered woman with greying hair pulled into a tight bun at the top of her head and a deep frown on her face. Why did she look so familiar?
She stopped inches from his knees. “How dare you!” she screeched in English. “How dare you desecrate this holy place with your vile presence?”
He stared at her, startled by her vehemence.
“You have been warned,” she said, in a high, irritating voice. Her dark eyes glittered with malice as she glared at him.
“Your penmanship is a wee bit slutterie,” he said in Scots. “It would help if you didn’t press so hard on the pen.”
Her mouth flew open.
He pressed the advantage. “Of course, at your age, you should be grateful you’ve been schooled to write.”
“Did you hear that?” she asked the old women gathered around her. “Did you hear him insult me?” She repeated his words in the Gaelic.
Several of the women tsked and shook their heads, but the evil on the face in front of him gripped his attention. “Nowt I say could insult you,” he said in Scots, meeting her malevolent gaze. “I’m too much of a gentleman to tell you what I really think of you and your kind.”
She recoiled as though slapped. Nothing broke the silence, not a word or a bairn’s laugh. Even the ever-present breeze held its breath.
She leaned so close he gagged at the sour odor of unwashed hair and body.
“Listen carefully,” she hissed into his ear. “Leave Innisbraw, or Maggie is going to suffer a very unexpected and fatal accident. There is no way she can be protected every minute of every day.” She pinched his arm as though emphasizing her words. “If you don’t believe me, look in Maggie’s room when you get back to the infirmary. A very able helpmate has left you my last warning.”
Irritation flamed to rage. He grabbed the tops of her arms, pressing his fingers into her bony flesh. “If you so much as touch my Maggie, I’ll break your scrawny neck.” He shoved her away, chest heaving with the effort not to lash out with his fist. He reached to release the brake.
Something wet struck his cheek.
His hand came away with a glob of spittle and a red mist curtained his eyes. He wheeled after Una, catching her before she could reach the safety of the crowd. He grabbed her shawl and wiped the spittle on it, then turned the wheelchair toward the main path. He had only gone a metre when something hard and sharp struck his shoulder, then the back of his head, stinging enough to bring a grunt of surprise.
Shouts followed him but he couldn’t stop. He fought the urge to return and strike the woman, an act he would ultimately regret. He pushed the wheels as fast as he could.
Hands reached out to stop him.
He shoved them away, stopped his chair, and whirled around, fists raised.
John leaned over him.
“Let me go,” Rob snarled, “or so help me, I’m going to lose it and knock that witch flat on her back.”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Someplace to cool off.”
Maggie rushed toward them.
“Then I’m going to get Maggie back to the infirmary, use your shortwave to call the polis in Oban, and arrange for somebody to get me off this island.”
“Polis! I doubt they’ll arrest Una for what she’s done. You can’t let her win, lad. I didn’t think she’d go so far, but you can’t let her chase you off now.”
Maggie’s warm breath drifted over his face as she took out her handkerchief and wiped his cheek, then turned
it over and pressed it to the back of his head. “You’ve a cut there, luve.”
“Forget it,” he said, voice gruff. “Please get away from me, Maggie. I don’t want you hurt.”
“I’m in no danger.” She hugged his shoulders. “Morag told me what Una did to you. It was terrible, but Faither’s right, you cannot let her run you off. No’ when so many of our folk want to be your friends.”
“Friends, is it?” He snorted. “I’m thinking the Jerries are friendlier than some I’ll find here.”
Maggie’s lips brushed his cheek.
He flinched. “Don’t kiss me there. No’ there.”
“But I must.” She kissed his cheek again. “Una has been a bitter, vile woman for as long as I can remember. But the other women are just lonely auld widows with nothing to liven their tedisome lives. You can’t throw away everything for one woman. Please, luve, listen to me.”
“You don’t understand. You didn’t hear what she told me. As soon as I know you’re safe, I have to leave Innisbraw, Maggie. As much as I wanted to belong here, I never will.”
She stared at him, eyes wide. “Then ... then we’ll leave Innisbraw together.”
“You can’t leave. This is your home. These are your folk. You belong here.”
“Without you?”
Her anguished cry pierced his heart. That evil woman would do exactly what she threatened, and he had to see what she meant by looking at Maggie’s room. But how could he tell Maggie her life was in danger? How could he bear watching her fear each day?
He pulled Maggie close and buried his face in her hair. He couldn’t stay on Innisbraw if it put her in danger. He was about to break Maggie’s heart.
A hand gripped his shoulder. Hugh leaned over him, face pale and drawn. “Please listen to me, Rob. I think Angus should take you and Maggie back to the infirmary now, but I wouldn’t be in a hurry looking for a way off the island. In a few days all the terrible things that happened this mornin will seem like a bad dream.”
“It isn’t what she did to me, Hugh. They could hurt my Maggie.” Rob wanted to take the words back. He had revealed too much in front of her.
“John came to the manse last night and showed me the note. No one will hurt the lass,” Hugh said. “I guarantee you that.”
“What note? What are you talking about?” Maggie asked. “Who wants to hurt me?”
“Somebody left a threatening note beneath Rob’s pillow a few weeks ago. He’s concerned about your safety.”
“That’s why you’ve barely let me out of your sight and didn’t want me to hang the washing alone? You don’t understand. Nobody on Innisbraw would harm me.”
He reached for John’s arm. “I need to talk to you alone. Now.”
John nodded. “Lass, go tell Angus to get his cairt and bring it around. We need to get Rob back to the infirmary so I can have a look at the cut on his head. Hugh, why don’t you get the folk settled down inside the kirk?”
The moment they were alone, he bent over Rob. “I saw her whispering to you. What did she say?”
“That unless I leave Innisbraw Maggie is going to die. Now do you see why I want to call the polis?”
“But that’s just nattering. What can an auld woman do to a young lass like Maggie?”
“She said she has a man helping her.”
“But who? I can’t think of a single man on Innisbraw who would harm my lass.”
“You don’t know what’s in every man’s heart.”
***
While John rounded up some men to lift Rob into the back of the cart, Maggie looked for Una in the crowd. Alec and Mark Ferguson held her arms at her sides. Maggie marched forward, chin high, chest heaving. She stopped and stared at the one who had hurt her Rob.
The woman’s smirk was more than she could bear.
She slapped Una’s face.
Una staggered for a moment, then tore her arm loose from Alec’s grip. She raised her hand with thumb, pinkie, and forefinger clasped together, only ring and middle fingers standing straight up. She waved the hand at Maggie, eyes glittering. Some of the older folk in the crowd gasped at the ancient hand sign for the evil eye.
Maggie raised her two forefingers and made them into a cross, staring into Una’s eyes for a long time, before whirling around, and making her way to Angus’s cart.
CHAPTER 29
The Sabbath service was brief. No music, just prayers, and a short lesson. When silent prayer ended, Hugh quoted scriptures in the Gaelic concerning the sins of the tongue, most from the book of Proverbs, the last from James 3:6. “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire.”
His gaze lingered on the pew filled with guilty women. The widows sat in stricken silence. Only Una’s cold eyes glittered with defiance.
Grief clouded his thoughts. He paused and prayed silently for guidance from the Holy Spirit.
“I must tell you,” he continued, “that I am ashamed. I believed the sort of behavior we witnessed this morning had long disappeared from our fair island. I have often taught you about the sins of the tongue, but it is obvious either some of you were not listening, or I was not emphatic enough. The constant gossip continues. Though usually without malice—not motivated by evil like this morning—it is still a sin.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “But there is no excuse for what took place a few minutes ago.”
He left the lectern and walked to the center of the dais. “It would have been bad enough had this happened anywhere else on the island, but this evil took place in our own kirkyard.”
Dolly MacSween, the old woman sitting next to Una, slipped to her knees and wailed.
Morag made her way to Dolly and helped her to her feet, leading her outside.
Hugh returned to the lectern. “As believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, how can we hope to undo the terrible hurt suffered by one of our most vulnerable? I know a few of you have offered your support and friendship since the colonel arrived on Innisbraw, and Maggie told me how much he appreciates your kindness and looks forward to meeting everyone.”
His eyes traveled over the troubled faces before him. “At this point, I have no instant, easy answer. I urge you to do what I am going to do. Pray. Pray about this, and then pray some more. Ask the Lord for guidance and He will give it. Just remember these words from our Savior in Matthew 7:12. ‘Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them.”’
He nodded at Elspeth. “Those of you involved in the fracas this morning will remain in your seats where our Elspeth will join you in prayer. I apologize for the short service this morning, but Elspeth and I are needed at the infirmary as soon as she can leave. The rest of you, go with God, and rely upon Him to guide you.”
He remained on the platform as Una stood and made her way out of the Sanctuary, head held high. How foolish to hope she would stay. Och, Faither, I must leave her soul in Your hands. Only You can deal with the darkness overcoming her.
***
After John examined the cut on the back of Rob’s head, Maggie washed his face and hands, cleaned the cut, sprinkled sulfa powder over it, and taped a piece of gauze in place. She handed him two APCs and held out a glass of water. “I’m going to fetch an ice-pack to put under your head while you climb up in bed and we talk about what happened this mornin.”
“Don’t need to lie down.”
His first words since leaving kirk.
“Please get up on the bed. You don’t have to undress, just take off your blouse and tie, and I’ll help you with your boots.” She leaned over him. “If you won’t do this for yourself, do it for me, luve.” She regretted her trembling voice, but no matter how hard she held onto her emotions, the breaking point loomed near.
He unbuttoned his blouse and she pulled it off, draping it on a hanger before placing it on its peg on the wall. She brushed her palm over the rows of theater, combat, and decoration rib
bons below his silver pilot’s wings. How could any of the folk she had known all of her life make him feel so unwelcome? She took his tie from his hand, removed his dress boots, and wheeled his chair closer to the bed. “Do you need Faither’s help?”
He shook his head.
She set the brake, cranked the bed down, and he climbed on top of the blanket. “I’ll catch you right up.”
***
Rob called John over. “I forgot to tell you that Una said to have a look in Maggie’s room. I have a feeling that man she has helping her left something really bad in there, so you’d best do it while Maggie’s no’ here to see it. Be careful. It could be a trap.”
John ran a hand over his face and walked quickly across the hall. He wasn’t gone long. He closed the door to Maggie’s room before he returned and pounded his fist against the doorjamb. “Somebody has been here while we were at kirk and ’tis a rare muddle. Her clothes have been slashed to pieces and strewn about. But the most frightening thing ... ”
“What? What is it?”
“A knife is stuck in the mids of her pillow.”
“Knife?” Rob grabbed the trapeze and pulled himself up. “Radio the polis right now! No, first find Maggie. I don’t want her alone for a minute.”
John rushed from the room.
A knife! He’d have to tell Maggie everything, even if it did frighten her. Una gave the impression Maggie would be safe if he left the island but he couldn’t leave her now. Even if he wasn’t in good enough shape to defend her physically, he could ask John to find him a pistol. Surely someone on Innisbraw had one.
***
John found Maggie washing her face and hands in the small bathroom.
“What’s the matter?” she asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
He walked her silently back to Rob’s room.
Unhappy to see Rob sitting up, she said, “Lie back down so I can put this beneath your head.”
He took the icepack and tossed it on the table. “We have to talk.” He scooted over. “Up you come. Sit beside me.”
She looked from Rob to her father. Their faces were grim. “All right, talk,” she said, sitting beside Rob.
As the men who loved her most described the threats against her life and the violence perpetrated against her home, she couldn’t even speak. Finally, she looked at them in horror. “I don’t believe it. Why would Una, or anybody else, want you off Innisbraw enough to threaten to kill me?”