Chapter Seven
Laurel stood outside the great hall along with Hagatha, and Aileen, staring at the arguing couple causing all the commotion in the courtyard.
Ever since she had gotten so ill with her pregnancy, it had become a morning ritual for Hagatha and Aileen to pay her a visit.
Now that she could eat food again, most mornings they convened in the great hall.
Laurel had tried to encourage Hagatha to return to her home, knowing her crotchety friend did not enjoy the bustle of castle life and preferred her solitude, but the old midwife had put her foot down.
She was staying until the babe was born, and nothing was going to convince her otherwise.
Laurel had even less luck with keeping her best friend, Aileen, away.
Even her husband, Finn, who was the commander of Conor’s elite guard, would not help, stating that his wife knew her own mind and that he enjoyed having all his body parts where they were and in working order.
And while Aileen had been a godsend during the worst of her morning sickness, Laurel knew it had to be hard on her.
For years, the two of them had so many things in common, but their inability to have another child had bonded them even more tightly together.
While Laurel and Conor had tried repeatedly to get pregnant, Aileen had not had that difficulty.
Hers had been far more painful as she never made it to full term.
Soon after she realized she was with child, Aileen would lose the baby.
And each time, her friend gained another heartbreak at the devastating loss of a child.
It was something they rarely spoke of, but each understood the other’s desire for another baby and the aching sadness of its absence.
And then Laurel had discovered she was pregnant.
She knew it was hard on her friend, but Aileen refused to discuss it. She just pasted on a happy face that Laurel knew was sincere, but also masked the pain of jealousy. She knew because that was how she would have felt.
Hagatha took a step closer to Laurel and whispered, “What are those two going on about?”
Laurel pursed her lips together and shook her head.
Normally she was a lot more aware of the activities and personal relationships around the castle, and that definitely included Conan.
For when he was interested in a woman, it never ended well.
Today was reminiscent of those times, but while before, all the emotions and outbursts had come solely from whomever Conan had injured, that had not been the case today.
The hum of people starting to move about their day had returned quickly, but just a few minutes ago the courtyard had been filled with a swirl of strong emotions. The anger, passion, and chemistry between Conan and Mhàiri were unmistakable.
Laurel was not surprised.
She had watched them over dinner over the past few weeks.
Both had been excessively friendly, which Laurel knew was a sign that more was going on between them than it seemed.
Then, there were the afternoon outings. Suspicious, Laurel had sent spies to watch them for the first week to see if she should intervene and protect the young woman.
But they had come back each time assuring her that Mhàiri and Conan appeared to be just friends.
She was teaching him how to draw, and nothing untoward was happening between them.
When Laurel had heard Loman had asked Mhàiri on a picnic, she wondered if she might have been wrong to assume Mhàiri and Conan were drawn toward each other. But watching Conan and Mhàiri now, Laurel knew her initial assessment had been right. Their feelings went way beyond that of friendship.
“I already have one Laurel in my life. I don’t need two.” Conan’s angry declaration was heard by all.
“I’m sure he meant that as a compliment,” Aileen said, biting back a smile.
Laurel dismissed the insult, for even Conor did not want two of her, and her husband loved her more than anyone. “What I am more interested in is what came before.”
Hagatha nodded. “Aye. All that nonsense about kissing. Just friends my arse.”
Laurel watched as Conan made a final comment, pivoted, and headed to his rooms in the North Tower. Immediately, Aileen’s son, Gideon, and Laurel’s son, Braeden, started jumping up and down, whooping and hollering with glee.
“I told you,” Gideon shouted with a triumphant grin as he pushed his dark hair out of the way. “They were sure to fight today after Mhàiri went out with Loman.”
Seeing the gleam in her son’s hazel eyes, Aileen asked, “Just what are you so happy about?”
“We just won the bet,” Braeden answered for his friend. “And Gilroy better not think he doesn’t owe us. We won it fair and he lost.”
Gideon waved his hand. “Come on. We better go find him before he suddenly forgets our deal.”
Brenna grabbed Bonny. “We should go too!”
Laurel reached out and placed a tight grip on the shoulders of both her daughters. “First, why don’t you tell me what all that was about?”
Bonny shrugged. “I don’t know what their bet was with Gilroy,” she said innocently, pretending not to know what her mother meant.
“Brenna?”
The ten-year-old sighed, for she knew trying to keep a secret from her mother was pointless.
“Seamus told Conan to try and charm Mhàiri into liking him so he can take her hemp paper. He’s pretending not to know about the paper, but he doesn’t know that Mhàiri caught him looking at it.
So she is pretending to let him try and charm her so that she can trick him into thinking what he’s doing is working.
Then she and Maegan are going to teach him and Seamus an embarrassing lesson, but they don’t know what it is yet. ”
Aileen shifted her gaze from Brenna to Laurel. “Did you follow any of that?”
Laurel gave a small shake to her head. “Not nearly enough.” Then, to Bonny and Brenna, she said, “Both of you. Back in the hall. I think you need to tell me everything that has been going on.”
* * *
Aileen stared in awe as Brenna explained all that she knew about Conan and Mhàiri. Once again, it was staggering just how much the child knew. Aileen leaned over and whispered to Hagatha, “I wonder if Brenna knows details on everyone, including Finn.”
Brenna stopped her explanation of Conan and Mhàiri midsentence. “Commander Finn is boring. He does the same thing every day.”
Aileen smiled, relieved—but only for a second, because Brenna kept talking.
“He really hates it when people are late and at least one person has been late to morning training every day this week. So, when Donnan was late again yesterday, Commander Finn yelled at them for a long time. I know when he is yelling because his voice actually gets softer, not louder. And he never smiles. It’s kind of scary.
Loman must have thought so too, because he said to Seamus that the commander had forgotten how to smile a long time ago and if he wasn’t careful, Seamus was going to become just like him.
” Brenna paused and grinned at Aileen. “A while ago, I heard Commander Finn tell Papa about it, saying that the only thing that made him ever want to smile was you and since you were never on the training fields, the men were going to have to just deal with his expression the way it was.”
Aileen sat there, feeling her mouth slowly drop.
Her husband was not one to vocalize his feelings for her.
She knew Finn loved her, but he showed it more through his actions than his words.
What Brenna had just told her touched her soul.
She couldn’t wait until Finn got home that night, for the man was going to get very lucky.
“But other than that, Commander Finn doesn’t talk much. Even the stuff he tells Papa is boring.”
Laurel clucked her tongue. “I thought you promised your father that you would stop listening to his conversations.”
“I have!” Brenna said vehemently, sitting up straight in her chair to emphasize her assertion. “I can’t help it if I’m already there listening to other people when he comes in!”
Laurel bit her tongue. She could not lecture her daughter on the evils of eavesdropping right as she was asking Brenna to reveal all that she knew from that very act. “And so is that all you know about Conan and Mhàiri?”
Brenna shook her head and then picked up from where she had left off with Mhàiri, her, and Maegan listening as Conan and Seamus put in the shelves.
“And so,” Brenna said with a long sigh, indicating she was almost done, “even though it might sound like a bad thing that they are trying to trick each other, it isn’t.
For the more time Mhàiri and Conan spend together, the better chance they have at falling in love. ”
Laurel was not surprised that her daughter’s romantic heart and mind hoped for such a thing. Tapping her finger on the small table by her hearth chair, she asked Bonny, “And what do you think?”
Her youngest was only seven and was still very na?ve to the ways of women and men, and yet sometimes that allowed her keen mind to see things in a clearer way than most adults.
To think that Bonny did not understand people and situations because of her youth was a mistake many made. But Laurel was not among them.
Bonny squirmed in the big chair. They had elected not to sit at the table, but in the semi-circle of chairs placed around the main large hearth.
“I guess I hope that Uncle Conan wins,” she finally said.
“It’s his turn to be happy. All my other uncles have found someone so he should get to find someone, too.
And I think Mhàiri would make him happy.
I’m just afraid that won’t happen if he finds out that she has been tricking him, even though he started it. ”
Brenna lightly kicked Bonny’s leg with her own. “What about Uncle Clyde?”
Bonny kicked her back. “He has Maegan. Uncle Conan doesn’t have anyone.”