“Coming right up.”
“I love it here,” Emilie said.
“As do I. I’m so glad we took the chance.”
The band started playing a traditional Scottish reel and Emilie found herself tapping her foot to the music.
“Would ye like to dance?” Robert asked, holding out a hand to her.
“I believe I would.” Emilie took his hand. They moved closer to the musicians and whirled around the floor. Emilie laughed as Robert spun her around and around. Soon another couple joined them and before long the floor was crowded with people enjoying the music right along with them. Some of the people they’d met and some were new to them, but all were smiling, laughing and enjoying themselves.
Daniel caught Robert’s eye and held up their drinks before placing them on the table of their booth.
“Our drinks are ready for us,” he said.
They arrived back at their booth out of breath, but still moving to the music.
“This is something I never would have enjoyed at Tuileries,” Emilie said. “It was not a happy place for me. I didn’t realize it at the time. I thought I was happy at court, or at least content, but not being allowed to make my own decisions and constantly wondering what kind of mood the Queen Mother would be in left me feeling on edge and unfulfilled. I always knew there was more to life and now that I’ve found it, I can’t imagine how I ever thought life at court was good for me.” She sipped her cider.
Robert took a swig of his ale. He held his mug in both of his hands as he glanced across the table at Emilie. “It does me heart good to see ye like this.”
“Mine too,” Emilie said, reaching across the table to hold his hand. “I never dreamed that my life would turn out like this. I had little hope of anything good ever happening for me.”
“I felt the same. I ken there had to be something more to life than waiting on the whims of a young king. Doona get me wrong, I enjoyed me time with him, but it was no’ as fulfilling as me life here with ye.”
“I don’t ever want to go back,” Emilie said. “There is so much to learn about this time. Perhaps someday we can travel across the ocean and visit lands far away.”
“Do ye think ye’d get into one of those, what are they called?” Robert asked.
“Planes,” Emilie said.
“Do ye think ye’d want to go that far up in the sky?”
“I do. It must be safe. People do it all the time.”
“I wouldnae have thought it, but ye’re more adventurous than I.”
Robert’s position as a soldier and guard in the court of Louis XIII had made him cautious. His nature was to protect Emilie and she understood that anything he saw as a possible threat to her safety was something that required his thoughtful consideration before he would go along with it.
"I’m only brave because you are with me,” Emilie said. “When we’re together I feel that anything is possible.”
“Then we’ll do it. Maggie will help us when the time is right.”
“Aye. We should probably learn everything we can about the time we’re living in before we wander off on our own.”
“We’ll always come back to Glendaloch though.”
“I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. This is
