Chapter Fourteen
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I t was quiet.
So much of his life hadn’t been quiet over the past day that a moment like this, of peace, was something of a shock to his system. Fergus had planned to go over a bill of sale from some sheep he’d purchased at a livestock market last month because he wanted to sell some of the sheep to a neighbor, but he found himself staring at the bill of sale without actually reading it.
His thoughts were turning to the situation at hand.
Emelia .
Perhaps in the past he would have believed her story. The tears, the completely sincere delivery—he would have believed her without question. But something had happened to him in the wake of her disappearance—too many people had spoken of Emelia and what she was really like. The true character that he’d been willing to overlook. But his eyes had been opened to his eldest daughter, finally, and he was having difficulty with what he was seeing. The truth was that it would have been better had she stayed away. He’d been happier, and Eventide had certainly been happier. His wife… Well, she was never happy to begin with, so it didn’t matter much with her. But now, Emelia was back and everything was in chaos.
He knew he had to make a decision.
He wasn’t looking forward to it.
“Da?”
A soft rap on the door broke him out of his train of thought, and he looked up to see Emelia entering the chamber. She smiled at him when their eyes met and shut the door behind her, coming over to his table and giving him a kiss on the forehead.
“Ye look weary, Da,” she said, sitting down next to him. “Can I help?”
Fergus smiled weakly. “I’m afraid my burdens are all mine tae bear,” he said. “How are ye feeling today? Did ye sleep well?”
Emelia nodded, laying her head on his shoulder. “Very well,” she said. “But I’m sad.”
“Why, lass?”
“Ye know why.”
“If I did, I wouldna ask.”
Emelia sighed heavily. “Because my world is being taken away from me,” she said. “Everything I thought I was coming home tae has changed.”
“Ye mean Darien?”
“Aye,” Emelia said. “I love him, Da. I’m very sad about the situation.”
Fergus knew she didn’t love Darien. Even before she ran off, or was abducted, she’d never shown Darien a huge amount of interest. Nay, she didn’t love him.
But she was laying her groundwork for the conversation to come.
“I’m sorry ye’re sad,” he said after a moment. “But we dinna think ye were coming back. Ye were dead for all we knew. Do ye not expect people tae get on with their lives in the face of death?”
Emelia lifted her head and looked at him. “But I’m not dead,” she said. “I’m very much alive. ’Tis not fair that I should return tae a husband who is no longer mine.”
Fergus shook his head. “Ye canna expect a man tae mourn ye the rest of his life,” he said. “Nay, lass, Darien has moved on with Evie, and they love one another. Even if I told him not tae marry her, he’d find a way.”
“Then you must make him marry me.”
“How? He’s a grown man. I cannot command him tae do anything he doesna want tae do.”
Emelia frowned. “Then find Evie another husband,” she snapped. “I want mine back.”
“He’ll not go back tae ye, Emelia.”
“Of course he willna if ye dunna take Evie away from him,” she said angrily, rising from her chair. “Send her away, Da. Send her tae a convent and get her away from here!”
Fergus scowled. “I’ll not send yer sister away,” he said. “She’ll remain here and she’ll marry Darien. He’ll take her tae Edinburgh and then ye’ll not see her again, I’d wager. Neither one of them are particularly fond of ye after the way ye’ve behaved.”
Emelia looked as if she’d been struck. “Ye think poorly of me, too?” she said, sobbing dramatically when no tears were readily available. “How could ye do such a thing?”
Fergus sighed heavily as he leaned back in his chair. “Emelia, I’ve learned a lot about ye since ye’ve been gone,” he said. “Things I suppose I knew all along, but nothing I would acknowledge. But since ye left with Luke—”
She interrupted him. “He abducted me!”
Fergus shook his head. “Nay, he dinna,” he said. “I dunna believe that, and nor does anyone else. Ye ran off with him, and when ye realized life would be too difficult, ye came home and made up the excuse that he stole away with ye, and fool that I am, I blamed his father. I took his castle. All tae avenge myself on a family I blamed for yer behavior.”
Emelia was genuinely horrified by what she was hearing. Her father had never gone against her when it came to her lies or wants. He simply took everything at face value.
But not today.
Today, she stood alone.
“I canna believe ye would think such things about me,” she said, scrambling to gain the upper hand in the conversation. “Evie steals my husband and ye blame me for it? That’s cruel, Da. Cruel and selfish.”
Fergus shrugged. “Probably,” he said. “If it is, then ye learned all ye know from me. I only have myself tae blame for the way ye are.”
Emelia was genuinely flabbergasted. She’d never had her father deny her anything, so this was something completely alien to her. He seemed to want to go back to the tasks in front of him, rummaging through the vellum on his table, but Emelia wouldn’t let him get away from her so easily.
She had to make him understand.
“Da,” she said, struggling to keep calm, “ye pledged Darien tae me. Me. Ye know the church views a betrothal as very nearly a marriage. ’Tis binding. Ye canna simply break it because Evie fancies herself in love with Darien.”
“Make no mistake,” Fergus said, “she is in love with Darien. And he loves her. I’ll find ye another husband, Emelia, but Darien is spoken for. Forget about him.”
“I dunna want another husband! I want Darien!”
“Ye canna have him.”
He sounded final. So very final. Astonished, and enraged, Emelia stared at her father’s lowered head as he went back to his business. As if she didn’t matter at all. Well, she did matter. Her wants and dreams mattered most of all. This wasn’t the end of the subject, but her father didn’t seem to want to listen.
She knew who would.
The church views a betrothal as very nearly a marriage.
This wasn’t over.