Chapter 11
The healer had given Margot a sleeping draught and some willow bark tea to relieve the pain in her ankle, and when she woke the next morning the discomfort had almost gone.
However, idleness and inactivity did not sit at all well with her energetic nature, and she wondered what she would do with herself for the rest of the day.
Catriona ordered her to bathe. “It will help tae ease the pain,” she said firmly. “An’ after a’ that hidin’ in the bushes an’ lyin’ in the mud—well, ye arenae very clean, mistress.”
“No, I suppose not, Catriona,” Margot agreed. “But I am alive, thanks to Ronan Campbell. He is a very fierce warrior!”
“An’ a very nice man,” Catriona remarked.
She helped her mistress into the bath and went to find some clean linen for her bed. While she was away, Margot went over the previous evening in her mind; she had never before been so terrified, but the ride back with Callum had soothed her and eased her fears. He had made her feel so safe.
She knew she would have nightmares for a long time, but as long as he was in her dreams somewhere, Margot knew that she would always conquer her fears.
When Catriona came back, she made the bed quickly then turned to Margot and smiled. “I am glad ye are a’ right, mistress,” she said fondly. “I was that scared I would never see ye again.”
“The Laird took care of me, Catriona,” Margot reassured her, with a sigh as she stood up to be dried and dressed in her nightgown and robe.
When it was done, Catriona bundled her into bed, then tucked her blankets around her, fluffed up her pillows and placed her breakfast tray on her lap.
“You look after me so well, Catriona,” Margot said appreciatively.
Catriona beamed at her. “I dinnae get appreciated very often, Mistress,” she said. “Thank ye so much.”
“You deserve it,” Margot said.
She had been very fortunate to have made two lovely friends like Eileen and Catriona, she thought. Many people would not consider it appropriate to count a maid amongst her friends, but Margot had rarely worried about the opinions of others.
She felt much better after her bath, and asked Catriona to fetch her writing materials, since she could not put off writing to Juliet any longer.
She thought long and hard about what she would say before she put her quill to paper, since she did not wish to waste what she had striven so hard to procure.
At last she began:
Dear Juliet,
You will be glad to know that I am well and healthy and staying at a place called Kilmuir Castle in the Highlands of Scotland.
It seemed that Father had no intention of finding Eliza and bringing her back, but I followed him to Inverness into a gambling hell where he had lost a lot of money.
I foolishly stepped up to try to help, but he decided it would be easier to sell me than pay his debt.
However, I was rescued by a man called Laird Callum Mackintosh, who owns Kilmuir and seems to be a very decent man.
The Laird paid a large sum of money for me, so I have agreed to stay at his castle as a companion to his betrothed as a way of paying him back, and we have become very good friends with the lady.
I also have a lovely maid called Catriona who has the most wonderful sense of humour and keeps me laughing all the time.
I cannot complain about anything so far since I have a roof over my head, I eat well and I have good company.
I am also learning a lot about Scottish culture and people.
It is quite a revelation to realise that they are not the savages we have been led to believe they were!
So please don’t worry about me, I am being well looked after even if my pride is wounded and my freedom is temporarily suspended.
I am very sorry for neglecting you. I should have written sooner, and I hope you have not been worrying about me too much. I would never do anything to hurt you, Juliet.
There is only one thing that is troubling me greatly. Please, can you tell me if there has been any word from Eliza? I am so worried about her and I will not give up until I find her!
I love and miss you both so much, and I think about you all the time. Please write and tell me how you are.
Your loving sister,
Margot
When she had finished, Margot sealed the letter and gave it to Catriona. “This is a very important message,” she told her. “It must reach my sister as soon as possible. Please tell the messenger.”
“Of course, mistress,” Catriona said. “Now drink this, the healer said it will help wi’ the pain.”
She gave Margot a cup of black tea that tasted completely disgusting, but she drank it all down and managed not to be sick.
Then she lay back on her pillows and sighed. The day stretched ahead endlessly, and she had nothing to do but finish the silly romance she had been reading.
Three days passed, three days in which Margot thought she might die of sheer boredom. No one came to see her, not even Eileen.
Catriona thought that Margot looked extremely unhappy and mentioned it one day.
“Are ye feelin’ a’ right, mistress?” she asked, frowning as she set Margot’s dinner tray down on her lap. “Is there anythin’ I can dae?”
Margot looked at the kind, concerned face of her maid and smiled.
“No, Catriona,” she replied sadly. “I am a bit bored and lonely. You are the only person I have seen for days, and I was wondering where Eileen was.”
“Lady Eileen is outside wi’ the guards a lot these days,” Catriona said, frowning as if she disapproved of this. “An’ the Laird is busy wi’ his work.”
“I see,” Margot said sadly.
It was clear that the two of them were avoiding her for some reason, but she had no idea why. Surely, Eileen could not be busy this whole time?
And Callum? He had seemed so concerned about her when they were riding home that horrible night of the ambush, so why was he keeping his distance now?
“What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?” she asked Catriona, knowing that it was her day off. She was not really interested in her maid’s doings, but talking to her made the time pass pleasantly.
“Oh!” Catriona suddenly looked excited. “There is a ceilidh tomorrow afternoon in the village that will go on till late at night. Me an’ some o’ the other lassies are goin’, an’ there is one lad there—” She turned her head away from Margot to hide her blushing face.
“His name is Alan, an’ we like each other very much. ”
“I must meet him!” Margot said, smiling. “A ceilidh, you say? I have never been to one of those.” She thought for a moment. “All I need is a cloak to cover up, and I will go with you.”
Catriona stood with her mouth open for a moment in a horrified gape. “But, mistress, ye cannae go there!” she protested. “It is too dangerous. Look what happened the other night.”
“We will all be together, and my cloak will disguise me,” Margot consoled her. “And I am so very bored here all by myself.”
This seemed to soften Catriona. The maid still did not look convinced, but she nodded.
“I will try tae find one,” she said, before leaving.
The next morning Margot was feeling no pain at all, and was confident that she could manage to dance—that was, of course, if someone would teach her because she knew nothing about Scottish dancing.
However, it was yet another subject she was eager to learn about because her philosophy had always been that there was no such thing as too much knowledge. She was a glutton for it!
She was sitting by the fire reading yet another romance—a genre of reading which was becoming more and more tedious by the day—when a soft knock sounded at the door.
When she answered, Margot was surprised but pleased to see Eileen, who looked distinctly dishevelled, as if she had been riding or walking in the stormy weather outside.
“My goodness!” she cried, her eyes wide with surprise. “I thought you had forgotten all about me.”
Eileen smiled, but it was a sad smile, then she moved across to hug Margot tightly.
“I am so sorry for staying away from you,” she said as she gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I feel… ashamed for leaving you behind, Margot. I should have stayed to help you. I feel wretched, especially since you have been such a good friend to me. You deserved better.”
She looked so troubled that Margot took her hand and drew her over to sit beside her by the fireside.
“Tell me,” she said gently. “What were you worried about? Was it me or somebody else?”
Eileen’s expression changed instantly to one of astonishment, then it became guarded.
“What do you mean, Margot?” she asked, dropping her gaze to her hands, which were twisting nervously on her lap.
Margot put her own hands out to still Eileen’s.
“You really think nobody noticed what is between you and Ronan?” she asked. “Eileen, every time you look at each other, it is quite clear that you two are in love. It shines out of both of you. When you saw that he was hurt, you looked absolutely terrified.”
Eileen sighed and nodded slowly. “You know my secret now. I was so worried about Ronan that I let his welfare take over my mind without another thought.” Then she asked, “Have you told anyone about your suspicions?”
“I think you know that I would never do such a thing,” Margot replied, feeling slightly hurt that Eileen would even doubt her like that.
“Of course not,” she acknowledged. “Thank you. I am sorry, Margot, but I love Ronan, and for a moment during that battle I thought that he was going to die, and if he had, I would have wanted to die too because I cannot live without him. He is everything to me.”
“And yet, you still have to marry Callum,” Margot said sadly. “This is tragic, Eileen, yet I cannot think of a way around it. Poorer people have more choice than we do in who they marry. I know that you and Callum are not in love, but you like each other. Maybe that will be enough.”
Eileen sighed. “It will have to be,” she said sadly.
“How is Ronan?” Margot asked. “Is his arm any better?”
At the mention of the guard’s name, Eileen’s face lit up. “His arm is much better, and the healer says there is no chance of infection, so I think he is out of danger, but he won’t be able to work for a few more weeks. Callum wants him to be fully fit, he cares about all the people under his roof.”
All except me, it seems, Margot thought, but she said nothing.
“I am so glad,” she remarked, smiling.
At that moment, a maid came in with a tray of tea and cakes, which she set down on the table between them.
“I ordered them,” Eileen explained. “We have not enjoyed the previous few days very much—we need all the treats we can get.”
“Indeed,” Margot agreed as she poured the tea for both of them. “I don’t mind admitting that I have been bored out of my wits these last few days, Eileen. There are only so many silly romances a woman can read before they drive her mad.”
Eileen laughed, then looked at Margot closely. “Is there no one in your life, Margot?” she asked pointedly. “No one special? Have you not seen a man here who piques your interest?”
She looked at her friend keenly and saw Margot blush bright red. She had obviously touched a nerve.
“There have been plenty of young men I passed the time with,” she replied, “but no one that really mattered. My father would love to have me married to an aristocrat, of course, since he is an Earl himself.”
“Are Lairds not good enough?” Eileen asked, raising her eyebrows.
“What are you suggesting, Eileen? There is no Laird interested in me.”
“I beg to differ,” Eileen replied. She took a sip of her tea and looked at Margot with narrowed eyes. “Why do you think Callum brought you here?”
“He felt sorry for me,” Margot replied, shrugging. “He saw what my father was like, and he bought me out of the goodness of his heart.”
She stood up and walked over to the window. Eileen’s probing questions were coming perilously close to making her unveil the truth about her feelings for Callum.
She turned back to Eileen. “How did you and Ronan meet?” she deflected, knowing Eileen couldn’t resist talking about her own romance.
Eileen’s face lit up at the mention of her beloved’s name. “By accident,” she claimed, then laughed. “I mean—literally—by accident. I was dismounting from my horse one day back at Ferguson Keep. I stepped on an uneven flagstone and fell.
Ronan was a new guard there at the time, and when I cried out, he rushed over from where he was standing, helped me up then saw that my foot was sore, and without asking he picked me up and carried me to the healer.
Do you believe in love at first sight, Margot?
” She paused, her eyes dreamy as she looked back into the past.
“The minute I looked into those sky-blue eyes I was lost, and he admitted later that he felt the same as soon as he saw me. But we have had to be so careful to meet in secret because if my brother found out, he would punish Ronan. He’s already making me marry Callum for an alliance.
It is breaking my heart. I love Ronan so much.
I don’t hate Callum, and neither does he hate me.
But there will never be any passion between us. ”
Margot looked at Eileen’s stricken face and felt infinitely sorry for her. She tried to imagine herself in the same position, but she simply could not—she had never loved anyone as much as Eileen loved Ronan.
Two wasted lives, Margot thought, then something occurred to her.
“What if there is a child? Could you not be happy then?”
Eileen shrugged. “The whole point of the marriage is to have children, of course,” she conceded. “But would it make things better or worse? I have no idea.”
Her sadness and regret hung like a palpable thing between them, and they finished their tea in silence, then Eileen rose to leave.
“You know that you can come to me and talk about anything,” Margot said. “Nothing you say will ever leave this room.”
“I know.” Eileen smiled as she squeezed Margot’s hand. “It is so good to have a friend to talk to, Margot. And you can talk to me in confidence, too.”
Just then, the door opened to admit Catriona, who was carrying a black garment draped over her arm.
She looked surprised to see Eileen as she handed the cloak to Margot, but was even more so when her mistress said, “Can you find us another one please, Catriona? Lady Eileen can come with us—it will cheer her up.”
“Of course, Mistress,” Catriona answered before she slipped out of the door again.
Eileen looked at her, baffled. “What was that all about?”
“There is a ceilidh happening in the village,” Margot answered. “I am going, and I want you to come with me. I think we will both enjoy it, and it will take both our minds off our problems.”
“Well, it’s not really an appropriate activity for a lady,” Eileen remarked, then she gave Margot a wicked smile.
“All the more reason for us to go!”