Chapter 56
56
Love must be as much a light as it is a flame.
Henry David Thoreau
Birdsong and the sound of childish, hushed voices in the corridor woke Juliet. She sat upright, momentarily dazed to find herself in Leith’s chamber. Then the ardor and intimacy of the night before came rushing back. Pushing aside the bed linens gingerly, she tried not to wake the man beside her. Silently, she stole across the carpet and passed through the dressing room to her bedchamber in time to meet Nurse opening the door and admitting Bella and Cole, as was their morning custom once the twins had dressed and breakfasted.
“Mam!” They ran to her, showing surprise to find her still in her nightclothes, her feet bare and her unbound hair hanging about her shoulders. Usually she was fully dressed and seated at her escritoire by the window, having her morning Bible reading and cup of tea or writing a letter.
Shutting the door behind her, Nurse went on her way to break her fast in the servants’ hall. Putting a finger to her lips, Juliet led the twins through the dressing room into Leith’s bedchamber, where she returned to her cocoon of bed linens beside him and patted the mattress in invitation.
Smiling and mounting the bed steps like they were playing a grand game, the twins eyed their father as if he was some sort of hibernating bear. Their glee at finding him asleep was plain, and when he rolled over at Bella’s tentative poke, his deep growl nearly sent them leaping off the bed in terrified titters.
“Wheest!” Leith sat up, grabbing Cole by the ankle and pulling him across the coverlet. “Twa faeries?”
Bella jumped into Juliet’s arms as Cole tried to escape his father’s grasp, their shrieking surely raising the servants’ brows elsewhere. But Juliet’s heart was full, her own laughter bubbling over at the morning melee.
“I’ve ne’er awakened to fairy folk.” Leith growled again, tickling Cole as Juliet kissed Bella and smoothed her petticoats.
Dressed alike, the twins were nearly indistinguishable save for the tiny freckle on Bella’s left cheek. She pressed into Juliet, smelling of herbal soap and the dried lavender sewn into her hem.
Cole’s lilting voice held a lisp. “I want my sword, Da.”
Leith stopped his tickling. “The toy sword Uncle Niall gave you?”
“Then I could fight you.”
“Where is it?”
“Nurse took it away.”
“Then ask Nurse to bring it back.”
Cole kicked at the covers. “Scairt ol’ woman.”
Bella nodded gravely. “She hid in a closet.”
“Shall we go outside this morning and give Nurse a rest?” Juliet pointed to a window where light crept past the shutters. “Look how lovely the day!”
Cole cast an adoring look Juliet’s way, finally squirming free of his father’s hold. “I want to ride Charlie!”
Bella jumped off the bed to run to the window. “I want to ride Flora!”
The twins climbed onto the large windowsill to better see outside, parting the shutters with clumsy if careful hands. Sunlight drenched them, highlighting the red glints in their hair. Again, like Leith. His mark was all over them. Surely Havilah was there too.
Turning toward her, Leith kissed Juliet’s fingers, concern in his eyes.
“You’re leaving after breakfast,” she said before he did.
“Against my will. But soon there’s Bath.”
She took a breath, hardly believing they were to have a true honeymoon. “Praise be we’re not traveling four hundred miles by coach.”
“Depending on weather, it’s considerably shorter by sea from Glasgow to Bristol, and far more comfortable.”
She looked toward the children still by the window. “I’ll miss them.” Turning back to Leith, she leaned in and kissed him. “But if you were to go without me, I’d miss you more.”
“And I you. For the first time in my life, business is my last thought.”
“All you needed to do was be here. Be near.”
She thought of all they’d done since Loveday’s wedding. Riding to the castle ruins. Roaming the gardens and what seemed like every ell of the wilderness area. Leisurely meals together. Lengthy conversations about Buchanan business and his concern over missing accounts. Reading news of the American colonies. Quiet evenings reading by the fire or playing whist.
A tumult of recent intimacies rushed in, including Leith quoting lines of poetry she loved by Mary Wortley Montagu.
Could you see my heart, how fond, how true, how free from fraudful art, the warmest glances poorly do explain the eager wish, the melting throbbing pain which through my very blood and soul I feel, which you cannot explain nor I reveal.
Their honeymoon had already blessedly begun.
They’d gathered at the Virginia Street townhouse—Father and Zipporah, Loveday, and even Minette, who would accompany them when they sailed tomorrow. If clement weather continued, the voyage would be short and uneventful, leaving them a fortnight in Bath. The twins remained behind at Ardraigh Hall, too young to understand the coming separation, though Juliet did. Suddenly four hundred miles seemed far indeed. She’d gotten down on her knees and prayed with them before she left. Absence could bring many things, the least of them homesickness.
“I’m counting the minutes till we depart,” Loveday told them at dinner. “Though I never thought I’d be saying that after the ocean voyage we had coming here.”
Father chuckled. “Thankfully, a cruise around the west coast of Scotland and England has plenty of places to shelter should the weather turn surly.”
“I shudder at how often voyages go awry,” Zipporah said. “I cannot wait to see Bath now that it’s spring.”
“If we could only get the Buchanans in line.” Father had begun making jokes about their frequent absences. “Though I must say, Niall already feels like a son-in-law, and Leith has been home more than in the countinghouse of late.”
“All three shall join us for supper,” Juliet told them. “Lyrica is on her way too. For now, the men are taking care of last-minute business since Euan will be in charge while we’re away.”
“How expedient to have three male heirs.” Father was studying her and Loveday as if imagining the future.
“Perhaps you shall have grandchildren in time.” Loveday patted his hand. “Even a lad or two.”
Juliet looked at her across the table. It was too soon to think she or Loveday might be expecting—but one could hope.
Father lifted his glass in a sort of toast. “A grandson or granddaughter from either of you would be a fine thing, though Cole and Bella are more than sufficient in the meantime.”
“Truly,” Zipporah echoed, smiling at Juliet. “You have a lovely way with them, my dear. One couldn’t tell they weren’t yours to begin with.”
Thanking her, Juliet turned her attention to the sound of footsteps in the foyer and a footman’s voice giving a greeting. Leith? She rose from the table, giddy as a girl at his homecoming. But it was Euan who appeared in the dining room doorway with no one in his wake, the stricken look on his face bringing Father to his feet. Everyone else froze.
Euan swallowed, visibly struggling for words. “Leith has been taken into custody at the tolbooth for the murder of Havilah.”