Chapter 11 #2
Helena seethed quietly as she strode along the hallway.
Or limped, rather. Her bones were growing more brittle with every passing year, and her joints often felt like creaky door hinges in need of oiling.
She’d left her walking stick in the dining room, and her pride wouldn’t allow her to go back for it.
She could send a soldier or a maid back, but that was almost as humiliating as going back herself.
Out of necessity, she slowed her pace and moved closer to the stone wall, resting one hand on it as she went.
I have a grandchild from me son, she thought, excitement bubbling inside her. At last!
Willow was the sweetest, most adorable child she’d ever seen. She almost certainly didn’t know who her father was, and Helena had no intention of breaking that news until Daphne and Hunter were ready.
That raised other questions, such as what the two adults would do about it. The obvious solution was to wed, but Hunter had always refused to do that.
As for Daphne, she clearly had a great deal of pride and independence. That wasn’t a bad thing, but her pride would never allow her to unbend enough to wed the father of her child after five years alone.
Nae without help, in any case.
Helena, on the other hand, had always known when she needed allies. A woman didn’t serve as the lady of a tumultuous clan for as long as she had without picking up a few political knacks along the way.
She could have served as Laird and Lady MacCrimmon at once, in years gone by. That was how much of a ‘knack’ she’d gained at politics. She knew from experience how to tell whether a case needed help or should be left alone.
This was the former. Daphne and Hunter were too much alike. Proud, with deep feelings, and a powerful urge to help those they loved. That urge might bring them together, but not quite the sort of togetherness that Helena would have liked to see.
Not the sort of togetherness that she suspected they wanted.
She paused in a doorway, breathing heavily, almost doubled over.
“Me Lady?” sounded an anxious voice at her elbow, and she glanced over to find a soldier standing over her, clutching his pike. “Are ye hurt? Shall I fetch help? I could get Laird MacCrimmon; he’s just down the hall in the dining room. I could be there in a moment, I—”
“Nay,” Helena interrupted, a little more crisply than she’d intended. “Nay, lad, I’m fine. Daenae disturb the Laird.”
The soldier blinked. “Well, if ye are sure. What help can I fetch ye? I could get Magnus.”
She reached up, patting his beardless cheek. “What a sweet boy. Nay, leave Magnus be. He already has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Or the weight of the clan, at least. If ever a man deserved rest, it’s him.”
The soldier didn’t seem convinced, but he nodded obediently, stepping back and letting her go on her way. That was good. She didn’t want any witnesses for the next part of her plan.
Her sore feet angled her toward the guest rooms, and she limped toward one room in particular. To her relief, a beam of light shone out from under the door. She knocked and waited.
A frail voice came from inside. “Yes?”
“Only me, Edith. Can I come in?”
“Yes, certainly.”
Helena pushed open the door and limped into Edith’s room.
Edith was sitting up in bed, dwarfed by a profusion of pillows and blankets. She had spectacles perched on the edge of her nose and was guiltily setting aside a book.
“I’m fairly sure ye are meant to be asleep,” Helena observed, hobbling over to the bed and flopping down on the chair beside it.
Edith sighed. “Yes, I am. But I woke, as I often do. I thought reading would tire me out. It’s not particularly late, is it? I thought you might still be at dinner.”
“It was cut short. Edith, what do ye ken about Willow’s parentage?”
Edith gave her a long, knowing look.
Helena sucked in a sharp breath, leaning forward.
“Ye kent,” she breathed. “Ye wretch! Ye kent and didnae tell me! How long did ye ken?”
“Oh, I guessed as soon as I saw Laird MacCrimmon standing in front of Willow,” Edith sniffed, removing her spectacles. “I was going to tell you, but I had it confirmed by Daphne, and I thought I would give your boy the courtesy of telling you himself.”
“Hah! Ye give him too much credit. I daresay he was going to keep it a secret from me for a while longer. Men, eh?”
“Men,” Edith agreed, pleating the bedsheets between her fingers.
“Well, what are we going to do? I came here for yer advice. I have nay idea meself.”
Edith chewed on her lower lip, thinking. “Well, the obvious solution would be for them to wed, but they don’t seem to like each other very much.”
Helena stared at her. “Daenae… Daenae seem to like each other?”
“Yes, they’re always squabbling. Didn’t you notice? They glare at each other all the time.”
For a moment, Helena was tempted to laugh.
She thought back to what she knew about Lord Pilbury, a quiet, round-faced man who never thought ill of anyone.
He and Edith had been an excellent match, and both had been excessively happy with each other.
However, neither of them had been particularly passionate people.
“I think they might like each other a wee bit more than ye realize,” Helena managed.
Edith blinked. “Oh? You think so?”
“I’m fairly sure of it.”
“Well then, in that case, I’d be pleased to see them marry. Do you think they’ll make a match of it?”
Helena leaned forward, resting her elbows on the edge of the bed. “Nae without a little help,” she said darkly.
Edith’s eyes grew round. “You can’t possibly mean that we should meddle! Why, it’s none of our business.”
“None of our business? That’s me son and granddaughter. And I cannae help but think that ye look at Daphne as a daughter.”
Edith looked away. “It’s true. If I’d had a daughter, I would have wanted her to be like Daphne. Oh, I’d so like her to be happy, but I don’t know what we can do. What if she refuses to marry Hunter?”
“Well, that’s why we have to hurry up and make them realize that they want to be together.”
Edith nodded slowly, mulling this over. “And… And how do we do that? I can’t think of any way of doing it. Should we sit them down and speak plainly to them?”
“God, nay, woman. They’ll clam up if we do that. Nay, we have to be sneaky.”