Chapter Six The Promise #2
“I suppose,” she said, looking down at the people gathering around them.
She had not yet considered that she would now have some responsibility to these people.
They all looked up at her and Evander. Some looked wary of her.
Others just seemed glad their laird was married.
A little girl in a tartan dress, the same one that had been on her arisaid the day before, waved timidly from her mother’s arms. Alice waved back gently.
The little girl’s eyes widened and then she buried her head in her mother’s shoulder.
The mother gave Alice an apologetic smile.
Alice shook her head, smiling gently. Evander watched quietly, something warm flickering in his chest.
Evander spoke to some of the local men, discussing what was needed around this part of the estate lands, what the village needed, and how he could help.
Leopold had already gone off on his horse, trotting down the lane toward another area of forest. Alice kept behind, waiting for her husband.
Some of the women had come to talk to her, but their accents were even thicker than Evander’s, so she could only stumble through their conversations.
One woman seemed to understand. She rubbed her arms to Alice, tilting her head, as if asking if she was cold.
“Ah!” Alice gasped. She shook her head, finally understanding. “N-no, I am not. Thank you for asking.”
The woman nodded.
“Well, ye need tae wear yer arisaid or ye will catch yer death t’ the chill,” the woman said slowly, tugging at her own arisaid. Alice nodded, her cheeks flushed.
“Thank you,” she managed to say. “I will remember next time.”
“Honestly, Mairead, ye treatin’ the laird’s lady like a bairn!” another woman laughed. Alice watched, once again lost in the conversation.
“Well, if she will wear naught, then I need tae make sure she dinnae pass outside yer house!” Mairead snapped back.
Alice watched them, her heart sinking. She suddenly understood how some of the women in Town had felt when she had been a girl and still had her thick Southern Yorkshire accent.
She had somewhat trained it out of her vocabulary, but now she was faced with another issue entirely, and nobody here would lose their accent for her.
It would be ridiculous to believe they would.
Suddenly, Leopold stormed past her on his horse.
“We are not going that way!” he announced to Evander.
“Aye, we are,” Evander said, not even looking up at Leopold.
“The loch is that way,” Leopold hissed.
“The loch?” Alice asked. She glanced down the trail Leopold had just been on and back at Evander. He caught her eye and gave her a subtle nod. She took the sign and had her horse trot down the path, leaving Leopold to bicker at Evander, much to the enjoyment of Mairead and the women.
She walked down the path, through a slight tunnel of trees, until the treeline broke. Her eyes widened and her heart thudded.
Evander was right. This is more than just a body of water…
The loch was large, easily a mile wide, the water sparkling in the sunlight.
On the surface of the water, a group of black and white ducks with yellow eyes were huddled together, swimming gently.
They only scattered when a white swan with a yellow and black beak landed in the middle of them, sending them scattering.
Around the edge of the loch, wild flowers were growing.
The air smelled of water and mud, and something sweet that was flowering nearby.
Her heart raced against her ribs. The silence that fell around her felt peaceful.
No, more than peaceful. It felt like a peace that had no earthly explanation, that would hold onto her heart and let it calm in the midst of all the strangeness happening around her.
Evander trotted down the path to find her, having broken free of Leopold’s ridiculous demands to change course because he was offended they would go past the place where Evander had unhorsed him.
He settled next to Alice, watching her take in the loch.
The blue of the water was reflected in her eyes, the shimmer making her eyes almost sparkle.
He had never seen anyone be so deeply affected by a loch before.
“Can we go there?” she finally whispered. Everything in him wanted to say yes, to give in to the one self-centered desire that she had had since she arrived. His hands tightened on the reins.
“We dinnae have time,” he said gently. He watched her face fall, disappointment setting in, before she schooled her expression.
“I understand,” she said softly. “We should meet back up with the others.”
“We should,” he agreed.
The pair rode back in silence. Alice kept her eyes focused on the road ahead, not the aching in her chest. Leopold was arguing with Keith when they arrived, and Evander had to send Keith on ahead so they would not be subjected to Leopold’s whining the whole ride home.
Even as he was focusing on making sure they get back, he kept glancing at Alice.
Her face was calm. Neutral. He disliked it.
He would prefer her fake smile over the neutrality she had settled on.
As they rode, he could not focus on what was ahead of them.
He kept looking at her. She did not appear to notice.
I have made a mistake somehow…
He was not sure where he had made the mistake, but he knew he had to fix it.
When the keep came into view, he let Keith and Leopold ride ahead and hand their horses over to the stablemaster quickly.
Once he got into the yard he dismounted his horse and walked over to Alice.
She watched him approaching her with surprising speed.
His large hands wrapped around her waist. The warmth made her cheeks flush and her eyes widen.
He held her close. Their foreheads were pressed together, the tips of their noses brushing.
“I promise,” he murmured so only she could hear. “I will take ye to see the loch. Another time.”
“You promise?” she whispered, her blue eyes wide and trusting.
“I do,” he said. He finally stepped back, giving her room to breathe. He took her hand in his, pressing his lips to the back of it. Her cheeks went a deeper shade of pink, and her breath hitched in her throat.
“I,” she stuttered. “I will hold you to that promise.”
“I should hope ye do,” he said, kissing the back of her hand again, before releasing it. She watched him walk away, the cold wind blowing around them, making his long hair whip up.
I will hold him to it…