Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Mrs. Campbell says that ye cannae stay in yer chambers all day,” Tilly said, tutting when she saw that Margo had perched herself in the window seat with a new embroidery project. “Ye’ve been restin’ all mornin’, and ye took yer lunch in yer room.”
“I was just thinking about going for a walk,” Margo said, pushing herself to her feet and putting her fabric on the low table next to her bed. “I was worried that another storm would come in. I felt a chill in the air this morning, and I did not want to get caught in the rain.”
It was a half-truth. The coolness on the wind had kept her inside, but after she’d settled in her chambers, she’d realized just how badly she needed the time alone.
Eleanor had taken the kittens to her own quarters, and Margo was able to be still for what felt like the first time since her mother died.
“She’s actually planned a ladies’ gatherin’ in the Solar,” Tilly said, already marching over to Margo’s trunk.
As she pulled out one of Margo’s new dresses, Tilly continued, “She said that everyone needed a bit of fun as a reward. It’s been a while since we’ve nae had any emergency repairs that needed to be taken care of. ”
“I suppose that it may be nice to socialize,” Margo admitted, turning around when Tilly twirled her finger.
“Miss Eleanor was quite pleased to hear about it,” Tilly said with a bit of a laugh. Her hands worked quickly, her touch sure yet gentle as she worked Margo out of her casual gown. “She’s in the Solar helpin’ Mrs. Campbell. The ladies from the Clan will be arrivin’ soon.”
“I’m sure that Eleanor was pleased to be allowed to help,” Margo said, feeling herself getting excited about the gathering. She’d enjoyed the trip she’d taken to the village. It felt like a treat to be welcomed into the group. “Mrs. Campbell wasn’t bothered by it, was she?”
“Nay, I think she was quite pleased to have an assistant,” Tilly replied. Carefully, she guided Margo’s arms into the sleeves of her maroon dress. “She’s quite a helpful lass, isnae she?”
“She is,” Margo said. Her chest grew warm with a gentle pride at hearing her sister praised. “Even when she was little, she always wanted to be of service.”
“That’s a pure and noble spirit,” Tilly said with a touch of reverence.
She turned Margo around after she finished fastening the gown.
As Tilly carefully arranged her hair, she murmured, “Most people spend their whole lives tryin’ to be of some use to their people.
It seems she was born just kennin’ how to do it. ”
The observation stole Margo’s ability to speak, so she simply nodded.
Though she didn’t raise her sister the same way a mother might have, she’d looked out for Eleanor’s well-being and taught her everything she could.
It was overwhelming to hear that someone else thought Eleanor was just as remarkable as Margo did.
“Come, let’s nae keep the ladies waitin’,” Tilly said, taking a step back.
Margo nodded, swallowing around the lump of emotion in her throat. As they walked through the castle, she shifted her focus to the dregs of excitement that were still hanging on. It was a cautious thing, but she chose to be optimistic.
When she stepped into the Solar, Mrs. Campbell and Eleanor were arranging a spread of smoked fish and bread.
The smell of tea permeated the air, reeling Margo toward the center of the room.
Settled in a semi-circle of armchairs and settees were three women that Margo vaguely recalled seeing around the castle.
And, standing in the corner, looking as if he’d rather be anywhere but here, was Gavin.
“I thought this was a ladies’ evening,” Margo said teasingly, tilting her head when the man met her gaze.
“I dinnae have much of a choice. Yer sister informed me that ye’d be playin’ charades and that ye would need someone to make the teams even,” he grumbled, though Margo could tell that he wasn’t terribly upset.
“With that attitude, I do hope that we are not unfortunate enough to be put on the same team,” she replied as she settled onto a vacant settee. A few seconds later, Eleanor came to join her. “Are you sure that there was no one else available?”
“All of the servants seemed busy,” Eleanor said with a shrug. “It didn’t look as if he was doing anything. Mrs. Campbell said that he could do with a bit of socialization.”
The three women laughed, and Gavin stiffened in place. When they recovered, the woman closest to Margo leaned over and said, “It is a pleasure to meet ye and yer sister, Lady MacLeod. I am Annelise.”
“It is nice to make your acquaintance," Margo said politely. “I believe I’ve seen you in the courtyard, but I did not want to disturb your walk.”
“I am always glad to be interrupted,” Annelise laughed. She gestured to the woman next to her. She was just a few years younger than Margo and Annelise. “This is Cecilia.” Then, she gestured to the woman who was a bit older. “And that is Charlotte.”
“It is a pleasure to meet all of you,” Margo said, shifting slightly now that she had everyone’s eyes on her.
“Likewise, me Lady,” Charlotte said. Then, her eyes flashed with a bit of mischief. “Are ye any good at charades?”
“I may not be the best,” Margo said slowly, “but I do believe that I’m better than the average player.”
“Then I’d like ye on me team,” Charlotte said with a decisive nod. “I have already recruited Eleanor.”
“Then it seems that ye and I are on a team with Gavin,” Annelise said to Cecilia. She looked over her shoulder at where Gavin was still standing with his arms crossed. “I expect ye to do yer best.”
“I willnae lose,” he replied with the confidence of a warrior.
Margo wondered if Cameron would take to a game like this so easily. Gavin was his man-at-arms and they were close; yet she couldn’t help but think they’d be complete opposites in this regard.
“We will see about that,” Eleanor responded, practically bouncing in her seat.
The room carefully rearranged itself, and each team carefully scrawled out objects and books onto slips of paper.
Mrs. Campbell produced a hat and passed it around to collect the subjects.
Then, she stepped away, her hand mixing the contents.
She looked at Eleanor and said, “Since ye are so confident in yerself, ye should go first.”
Eleanor grinned, rising from her seat and stepping forward. When Mrs. Campbell drew her slip, she showed it to the girl. After Eleanor nodded, the older woman stepped away, setting that bit of parchment aside.
After a beat of deliberation, Eleanor held up two fingers, grinning when Margo and Charlotte correctly guessed that there were two words. Then, she held both her hands out in front of her, pantomiming reading. She flipped an invisible page, then looked at her teammates.”
“Reading,” Charlotte called out.
“No, no, it’s two words,” Margo murmured. Then, brightly, she said, “It’s the title of a book!”
Eleanor nodded enthusiastically. She then jumped up, standing tall and putting a hand over her eyes as if to shade them from the sun. She looked around the room pretending to search for something.
“Oh, it’s about an adventurer,” Charlotte said, laughing when Eleanor jumped again.
Then, the girl looked right at Margo and batted at the air in the same way Miss Crusoe did. Almost immediately, Margo understood. With a triumphant giggle, she said, “Robinson Crusoe!”
“That’s it,” Mrs. Campbell confirmed.
“Ye were cheatin’!” Gavin said. “How was yer last clue useful to anyone but Margo?”
“You know the names of the kittens, too,” Margo pointed out, making all of the women laugh.
The sound felt like confirmation that she’d been accepted into the fold.
And then, as if to further prove the point, the sun slanted in through the windows, giving the Solar an almost dreamlike ambiance.
She wondered if she were sleeping, if she would wake up from this moment and realize that it was just her subconscious longing for a place where she belonged.
“Why daenae ye take yer turn next, Gavin?” Mrs. Campbell asked, an amused smirk settling over her features. “Since ye seem to believe ye understand the game better than the rest of us.”
“That’s nae what I said,” Gavin muttered as he approached the woman.
She pulled out another slip of parchment and held it out toward him. A cocky grin settled on his face before he turned to his team. Then, with a move Margo was sure looked much smoother in his mind, he began flapping his arms.
“Ye dinnae even tell us how many words,” Annelise groaned.
Gavin huffed, stopping his frantic movements and holding up two fingers. Then, he went back to what he was doing. Cecelia squinted as if she were trying to see something that wasn’t there.
“I’m nae sure what ye’re tryin’ to show us,” she said with a laugh, covering her mouth as she guffawed at the exaggerated motions.
“Blue bird,” Annelise called out. When he shook his head, she said, “Flying away!”
He threw his hands in the air, making the entire room laugh at his antics. Even Mrs. Campbell, who was watching the clock, chuckled. The laughing only seemed to break Gavin’s focus further, and he wasted several of his precious seconds with his hands on his hips.
Then, he seemed to have an epiphany, and begun casting a fishing rod. Immediately, Cecelia guessed, “Fishing rod.”
He pointed at her, holding up one finger. Then, he began flapping his arms again. It was ridiculous, and Margo couldn’t think of a single thing he could be trying to portray.
I wonder if Cameron would know what he’s acting out.
Before anyone was able to get any other guesses in, Mrs. Campbell said, “That’s the end of yer minute, Gavin.”
“What could the phrase have possibly been?” Annelise asked, wiping tears away from the corner of her eye.
“Fishin’ boat,” Gavin said, sounding as though he couldn’t believe the room had been so dense. “I was rowin’!”
“No, it looked like you were trying to fly away,” Margo said, earning herself a withering look from him.
After a while, he began laughing with the rest of them, and Margo couldn’t help but feel like she was truly happy here.
“Ye ken,” Lachlan said, dropping himself next to Cameron on the low stone wall, “ye’ve been avoidin’ any mention of yer wife.”
Cameron lifted his head, keeping his expression neutral.
Over the last week, they’d made excellent progress on the granary.
When he’d arrived, they’d begun the arduous process of stripping it down to its frame and supports.
Now, all that was left was wait for the stones to set so they could lay the thatch roof.
“I daenae ken if ye’ve forgotten, but I am here to assist with repairs, nae to gossip,” Cameron replied, accepting the bladder of water a servant presented him with.
“I havenae forgotten,” Lachlan said, crossing his arms over his chest. “And I am nae gossipin’. I’m askin’ me cousin what is happenin’ within his clan. I’ve kent ye me entire life, and if ye would have asked me only a few months ago, I would wager that ye would die old, stubborn, and unmarried.”
“Perhaps I still might,” Cameron scoffed before taking a long drink of the cool liquid. Passing the water to Lachlan, he considered his own situation. “This marriage is nothin’ more than a debt settled by a cowardly father.”
Lachlan was quiet for a long moment, looking over the work that they’d done. When he finally spoke, he said, “So ye only wanted her dowry, then?”
“Nay,” Cameron said, tilting his head back and allowing the breeze to run through his hair. “I told ye that I was goin’ to rectify the bad land sold to me father. Lord Abbott wasnae keen on payin’ me back outright. He offered me his daughter instead. For her dowry.”
“And ye took her?” Lachlan said. There wasn’t judgment there, only the kind of curiosity that came with trying to piece together a new facet of someone he’d always known.
“I agreed to it to get him into negotiations,” Cameron replied, knowing he was simplifying the situation.
“I could tell the kind of man he was the second he offered his daughter as payment. He dinnae wish to give me her dowry; he merely wanted to call the two of us even. He would get the land back, and I would get a girl and a dowry.”
“So ye took her because ye kent he would try to sell her to someone else,” Lachlan said after another beat.
“Aye. And he added an impossible clause into the contract that me Council agreed to,” Cameron replied. “I’m nae sure how we will fulfill it, nor do I ken if I will ever see a bit of her dowry.”
The words came out of his mouth softly, but he felt as if they’d slammed into him. He hadn’t spoken his concerns aloud, not even to Gavin. It seemed like an insurmountable task, one he didn’t have a single clue how to attack.
“Ye’re speakin’ of the marriage,” Lachlan said, passing the water back to Cameron, “but ye havenae mentioned the woman.”
The observation was simple, but it hit Cameron in waves.
He was hiding his own inner turmoil and held a distaste for anything that could be construed as gossip.
This marriage had been a business arrangement from the beginning, but at no point had he stopped to consider the human aspect of it.
Until now, it hadn’t seemed important; it was simply collateral damage.
I am turnin’ into me father.
Cameron finished the dregs of water, then handed the bladder to a servant nearby. He cleared his throat before saying, “Margo is unfortunate to be caught in this.”
“She is,” Lachlan said thoughtfully. He stood up, signaling to Cameron that it was time to move into the castle. “And so are ye.”
“I wouldnae say that,” Cameron said, his voice gruff.
“Ye’re cleanin’ up a mess that doesnae belong to ye,” Lachlan said as if that explained everything, as if he didn’t see that Cameron was the person holding the power in this arrangement.
Margo had been traded like she was an object.
Cameron had agreed to the wedding. No matter what his intentions had been, he had started the sequence of events.
He had trapped Margo. It was just like the cage his father had put on his mother and the chains his sister had taken her own life to escape.
Just before Cameron and Lachlan parted to go to their respective chambers, Lachlan stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t bother waiting for Cameron to turn toward him. He seemed to understand that Cameron had reached his limit.
“We grew up together,” Lachlan said, his voice even. “We both lost people. Ye’re many things, Cameron. But ye’re nae yer father.”
Lachlan dropped his arm then. As he walked down the corridor, Cameron stood in place. What his cousin had said, the way that he’d delivered the verdict, seemed to stick to every part of him. He couldn’t parse what hearing the words had done to him, but there was a shift somewhere deep within him.
I’m tryin’. But I daenae think that I can suppress me lineage.