Chapter 60
THE SEA IS CALM, THE boat is ready. Elspet stands at the Dunrobin dock ready to board, dressed once more in Mormor’s woollen travelling cloak and the plain dress of homespun wadmell she wore on her arrival at the castle.
She’s returned Lady Alvah Gordon’s gowns, jewellery and the fine ruby and garnet coif to Lady Jean, where they belong. She is going home.
Already aboard are the crew, the men assigned to protect her by the Queen, and a retinue from Lady Jean’s own staff.
She can’t help smiling at the thought of returning to Patie’s lands with an escort of soldiers to rival his own.
It’s a serious matter, though – Patie is a proud and volatile man.
Even with the Queen’s protection and Bothwell’s threats, there’s no guarantee she’ll be safe.
The anticipation of returning to Gillie and Broden, though, overrides everything. It takes all her self-control not to launch the boat herself, at full sail, straight in the direction of her homeland.
She’s said goodbye to the Queen and baby Sophia, left the bairn feeding from its mother once again by the fire. Lady Jean and Beatrix stand with her at the dock.
‘Margaret had some letters to write,’ Beatrix says. Elspet stifles a pang of sadness that she isn’t here to say goodbye but kens emotional farewells would hardly be in keeping with Margaret’s character.
Beatrix reaches forward and embraces her, tears streaming down her face. ‘You will come and visit us again, won’t you?’
‘Of course,’ Elspet says, not knowing if these words are true.
‘I have learnt so much from you,’ Beatrix says.
‘And I from you,’ Elspet says, returning the young Ruthven girl’s tight squeeze and knowing these words are true.
Then she turns to Lady Jean. The Countess of Sutherland reaches into the concealed pocket of her gown and produces a velvet bag, which she hands over. ‘A selection of the finest plants and herbs from the Dunrobin gardens.’
‘Thank you,’ Elspet says. As she takes it, she feels something large and hard inside. There is more than plants inside this bag.
‘Don’t open it now,’ Jean says fiercely. ‘I’m not sending you back to that man’s lands without something you can use to bribe and buy your way out of trouble if you need it. And if you don’t need it, well, all the better. Just wear it once in a while.’
‘I can’t . . .’ Elspet says, holding the bag out.
‘Don’t you dare argue with me, Mistress Elspet Balfour,’ Jean says, pressing it firmly into Elspet’s hand. ‘Now, those crocuses won’t weed themselves.’ With that, she turns and walks away.
Elspet blinks away tears. ‘Look after yourself, Beatrix,’ she says, and pauses for a moment. ‘And try and find it in your heart to forgive your mother, if you can.’
She steps onto the plank to board the boat, concentrating on keeping her balance as she makes her way across the swaying walkway. She hears footsteps approaching from behind her.
As she finds her safe footing on the boat, she looks up to see Lady Margaret Livingston wearing her travelling cloak and carrying a muckle bag.
‘Margaret,’ she says. ‘What are you—’
‘I can’t very well send you back to him without the protection of my purse,’ Margaret says. ‘I need to know you are safe.’
‘But, Margaret,’ Beatrix says, ‘you can’t be thinking of actually marrying that man.’
‘There’s no doubt I would hate to be the Earl of Orkney’s wife,’ Margaret says, ‘but I would hate to see Mistress Balfour come to harm even more. And I confess, the thought of returning to those islands lifts my heart.’
‘Oh, Margaret,’ Beatrix says, and before Margaret can object, she’s wrapped her arms around her.
To Elspet’s surprise, Margaret returns the embrace. ‘Thank you for being my friend, Beatrix.’
Margaret pulls away and clears her throat. ‘Come on, then. We should depart quickly while the calm weather lasts.’
As Lady Jean Gordon’s boat sails away from Dunrobin Castle, out into the Moray Firth where it will turn northwards towards Orkneyjar, Elspet stands at the stern to watch the receding figure of Beatrix, waving furiously on the dock until she’s out of sight.
She looks at Margaret’s determined expression, and smiles. It is done. She is going home to her elsklings. Whitemaas loop overhead, calling their goodbyes, and together they watch the birds in flight.