Chapter 11 #2
“What are ye daeing here? Cannae ye see I’m busy? I dinnae hae time tae talk tae ye. If ye want tae see my parents, they’re inside,” Emma said curtly, without stopping what she was doing.
“Actually I just spoke with your parents. Your father said that you might need a little help out here. I came to offer my thanks for his hospitality. I have finished my work at the inn and thought he might have use of an extra pair of hands. It’s the least I can do while I’m in the area, and in truth, I get rather bored when I have nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs. ”
“Well, ye can gae and twiddle them elsewhere,” Emma said.
“But then that would make a liar of me to your father, and I wouldn’t want him to think any less of me. I already know he doesn’t have the highest opinion of me for bringing this news to his doorstep.”
“He’s just afraid of losing Ma,” Emma said, not making any effort to hide her annoyance as Trevor picked up a shovel and joined her in mucking out the animals.
She was begrudgingly happy to have a little help because it was an arduous task and not one that was filled with much glee, but she wasn’t about to show him this.
“Does he truly think she would leave him? There is an obvious solution to the situation, and that’s if all of you came back to London.”
“Nae all of us are birds, Trevor. It might be easy for ye tae leave everything ye hae behind, but we hae a life here and cannae simply turn our backs on that.”
“I didn’t mean to imply that it would be easy. I just meant?—”
“Frankly, I dinnae care what ye mean. Ye hae come here and ye hae disrupted our life. Cannae ye see that? Before ye came here, we were happy. Why did ye hae tae come? Why did ye hae tae bring this news? Ye should hae left the matter in the past, where it belongs. All ye hae done is stir up trouble,” she said.
“I didn’t mean to do anything of the sort. I wanted to resolve the matter. I assumed that it might have been causing some trouble. I thought your mother would be grateful.”
“Well, we’re not. We all would hae been better off if ye haed never arrived in the village.
Why cannae ye just gae back tae where ye came from?
” she said in a huff, throwing down her shovel and storming out of the stable.
The shovel made a loud clatter as it hit the ground, as did her boots when she stamped her feet.
But Trevor wasn’t going to let her go so easily.
He reached out a long arm of his and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back toward him.
Emma’s face was a picture of rage. Anger poured from her eyes, and her nostrils flared.
“Let gae of me or I’ll call my Da. Ye may hae won against David, but fighting Da would be another matter entirely.”
“I’m sure it would, but I’m not interested in fighting your father. In fact, there’s nobody I care about in this village other than you,” he said, and his words surprised her. He relaxed his grip on her wrist.
She did not continue her retreat.
“I have been thinking for the past day about what happened at the creek. I must admit that things caught me by surprise. I did not mean to offend you or upset you, Emma. There was a moment there where I thought…where everything seemed clear, and then it went away. I hated how different you were with me after that.”
“What did ye expect when ye pulled away from me like that? All I did was ask ye a question,” Emma said. “What is it that ye are hiding? Is it that ye hae a wife waiting for ye back in England? Does yer restless spirit bring ye back and forth from her?”
“No, there’s no wife,” Trevor responded sourly.
“In fact, there isn’t anyone. The reason why I’m so restless is because I have nothing in my life that has any value, other than my job.
The scars on my body are from a different time, a life that I thought I could leave behind in the past. They’re not who I am today, and telling you how I got them might make you think differently of me.
” Trevor said, as he was looking directly in her eyes.
“Believe me, the last thing I wanted was to ruin the moment between us. Emma, you are the most beautiful and curious and wonderful girl I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. When I arrived in Scotland, I had no idea that it was hiding this prettiest flower in some small village in a quiet part of the world. I feel blessed that I have been able to spend some time with you, and the thought of returning to England without you gives me anguish. I do apologize that I cannot give you everything you need, but I hope you believe me when I say that I feel alive around you and that I don’t want to waste any moment here without you.
“Please don’t be angry with me because I do not want your ire.
I only want your company, and I would ask that you respect my discretion regarding my past. But if my presence is too troubling for you, then I will remove myself from this farm and stay in my room until your mother has made her decision. ”
His words were smooth and charming, and Emma almost hated the way her heart responded to him.
The truth was that she felt alive around him as well, and she didn’t want to waste any moments either.
So many things were slipping through her fingers.
If she could just control this one thing, then perhaps things would work out for the best, although she wasn’t going to give in to him easily.
“Are ye a bandit?” she asked. Trevor shook his head.
“Are ye a thief? A murderer? Are ye wanted by the law? Are ye engaged tae be married?” All of these questions were met with a shake of the head, and Emma decided to believe him and that she would grant him the boon of her trust regarding his past. If he wasn’t ready to share it with her then that was his business, but she hoped that he would be willing to tell her about it soon.
Trevor bent down to pick up the shovel she had thrown to the floor and offered it to her. She took it and they continued with their task, talking about idle things to mend the tension between them.
By the time Trevor and Emma were finished in the stables, they had worked up a fine appetite and returned to the farmhouse to the aroma of a fine dinner. Douglas was a little standoffish, but he invited Trevor to stay as thanks for helping out around the farm.
Lyndsay served generous helpings, and the conversation turned to Beltane Day and other matters.
Emma watched Trevor and waited for him to ask Lyndsay if she had made a decision yet, but he did not broach the subject.
However, Lyndsay did ask him about England, and he was happy to share some stories.
Lyndsay returned to the memories of her youth and asked him about certain people and places that held no meaning for Emma or her father, but that delighted Lyndsay.
Emma enjoyed hearing about the land of her ancestors, but Douglas was another matter entirely.
He sat with a brooding look on his face and his arms folded tightly across his chest. It was as though the sun shone on one side of the world while rain poured on the other, and once again, Emma worried that the world she knew was going to be broken in half.
She wasn’t sure there was anything she could do to stop it from happening.