Chapter Ten #3
“At the risk of making all of this worse.” She waved her hand as indication of the situation that was so much bigger than this one conversation around this one table.
“I think you deserve to know everything so that you can make the right decision for yourself. But know as I say this, that you owe me nothing.” She paused and took a breath.
“I left London to preserve your ambitions, not because my heart had changed. I cried through the entire journey back to Braemar, and in all the time since, another man has not entered my thoughts let alone tempted my heart. I am madly and completely in love with you, but I cannot be the sort of wife Miss Johansson could be to you. That awareness is—”
“She is a governess!” Mrs. Donning screeched.
“Well, I think we’ve heard enough of that,” Mr. Donning said, balling up his serviette and throwing it atop his dinner plate as he kicked back his chair.
He moved around to his wife’s chair and pulled it back, nearly spilling her on the floor in the process.
Mrs. Donning sputtered in offense as her husband took her by the hand and pulled her to her feet.
“Choose a partner who can go the distance and make you proud. In my experience, social responsibility will never be more important than trust, respect, and genuine care for one another.” He kept hold of his wife’s hand and looked at her with both tenderness and irritation before looking back at David.
“Marriage also lasts a very, very long time. Please excuse us.” He gave a quick bow and led his now quiet wife from the room.
“David,” Mrs. Macarthur said with reprimand as soon as the Donnings were gone. “Be sensible.”
“By following your choice for me even after what we have learned here tonight?” David lifted his eyebrows and let out a single punching laugh. “Do you care so little about me that you would choose a future with a woman such as Miss Johansson because it would give the right appearance?”
“The Johanssons are powerful people; any man would be lucky to connect themselves to them.”
“Not any man,” Mr. Jennings cut in, shaking his head. “I would not trade a faithful woman for anything.” He reached for Mary’s hand, and she smiled sweetly at him. “Social influence is a matter to consider, but it is not the most important one.”
“Enough!” Mrs. Macarthur shouted, glaring at Mr. Jennings for going against her.
“I think I would like for you to leave, Mother,” David said. “We shall talk after I have sorted things with Lady Clairmont.”
Mrs. Macarthur went very still and made a patting motion with her hand as though wanting to press down the tension of the room. “David, do not misunderstand—”
“Goodnight, Mother.”
She let out an exaggerated breath. “I only—”
“Good. Night,” he said between clenched teeth.
“We will see you to your room, Auntie,” Mary said, rising.
Mr. Jennings also rose and came around to put out his arm.
She hesitated another moment but then stormed from the room with Mr. Jennings at her heels.
He paused to whisper something to the head footman standing near the doorway before exiting the room.
Mary approached David, bent down, and kissed him on both cheeks before coming around the table and doing the same to Dina, whose cheeks were wet with tears as she accepted the Scottish blessing.
“Beannachd Dia dhuit,” she whispered—God be with you. The same blessing Dina had shared with David only a few days ago when she believed he was lost to her.
“Tapadh leat,” Dina answered—thank you.
By the time she finished, the Havershorns were halfway to the door as well.
The footmen followed, and the door to the dining room closed behind them.
Dina and David, sitting nearly opposite one another at the now empty table, looked across the barely touched dishes and half-filled wine glasses.
When he stood, she did the same but waited for him to come to her.
When he did, he took both of her hands. The power of his touch made her feel instantly drunk.
“Are you truly in love with me still?”
“David,” she said, shaking her head. “I am a governess.”
“You are Cullodina, the keeper of my heart. Do you truly love me still?”
Looking in his eyes she could see the boy and the young man and the man he was now, each of them open to her, pleading for the truth she could not hold back. “Madly and completely,” she whispered.
“And can you accept the terms of being my wife?”
She gave a watery laugh. “What are the terms?”
He smiled, then reached out and touched her hair. She closed her eyes, afraid her knees might give out. “I will not choose my mother over you, but neither will I choose against her. I will apply myself to repairing my relationship with her and will need your support.”
“I can abide yer mother,” Dina said. “After all, you are her only son.”
He smiled. “And though I love Scotland and want time there, I must live the majority of my time in England where my principal interests lie.”
“Living in England has not turned me into dust, but I would love to visit Scotland when possible. I miss it so.”
“Aye, as do I.” He smiled again and placed his hand on her cheek. She leaned into it and closed her eyes.
“What else?”
He leaned close enough that she could feel his breath on her cheek. “At night, when the lights are out, and we are tangled together, you must tell me in Gaelic how madly and completely you love me.”
“Till all the seas gang dry.”
He kissed her then, with all the fervor of youth and confidence of the man he had become, and she kissed him back with all the love of a Scottish lass who’d done right and gotten right for it in the end.