“But ye have tae want for more,” Mrs. Clark coaxed.
Did Leah wish for more?
Did the sun rise in the east? Did Queen Victoria sit upon the throne of England? Did Auld George Kneeland snore his way through every Sunday service?
“Dinnae we all wish for a person to call our own?” she countered.
In fact, as Leah looked around the churchyard, it seemed as if everyone had someone. Malcolm smiling at his Aileen. Dr. Ruxton leaning toward Mrs. Ruxton. Even the elderly Farquhar sisters, who had never married, helped one another down the church steps.
As usual, Leah stood in a crowd of people feeling achingly alone.
A spectator. Never a participant.
An endless witness to the belonging and love that others shared with their one person.
Find a way tae escape my lonely fate.
But as she took her leave of Mrs. Buchan and Mrs. Clark and made her way across to Malcolm, Leah had to wonder if avoiding Cousin Elspeth’s path was even possible now.
Or if, at thirty-eight years of age, life had already passed her by.
2
Laverloch Castle
Scotland
April 1839
Captain Fox Carnegie longed for quiet and solitude.
He wanted lazy summer evenings fishing the River South Esk, the soft crackle of a fire on a snowy winter’s night, or afternoons like this one—the blessed silence of a sunny library, three fingers of whisky, and a restorative nap.
People were exhausting.
After decades of living elbow-to-elbow with other humans—first at Harrow and then as an army officer—Fox was thoroughly done with the lot of them.
No more people.
Done.
Dusted.
Gon—
“Nooooo!” A child’s voice echoed up the spiral staircase and through the ajar library door. “Mr. Dandy! Come back!”
Fox lurched upright in his chair just as the door smacked fully open.
A poof of white fur streaked into the room, arching over a side table—nearly toppling a decanter of brandy—before flying across the leather sofa and crashing into a bookcase, sending a dictionary tumbling.
Cats.
People and cats.
Fox was done with them all.
“Mr. Dandelion McFluffles!” An angry, piping voice called from the doorway. “You are beingsoooonaughty!”
