“I don’t want the future you and Father have chosen for me.” Arabella’s voice was quiet but firm.
Mother’s lips curved in a condescending smirk. “And what is it you want, Arabella?” So different from the way Gavin had asked that very same question.
Arabella let out a breath. “I want to stay here.”
Mother laughed. “There is nothing for you here.”
Arabella met her gaze. “Grandmother is here.” She stepped forward. “And I don’t know what made you turn yourback on her and all of Scotland, but I love her. I love this place. And I love Gavin McKenzie.”
Mother’s look was one of scorn. “And you’ve come to realize all this in two short months? My, my. You have been busy.”
Arabella held on to the back of the chair tucked beneath the dressing table, searching for strength. “Why did you leave? What happened—”
“That is none of your concern.”
“You’re my mother, of course it’s my concern,” she said, voice sharp.
Mother’s eyes widened. Arabella had never raised her voice before.
“Help me understand, Mother, why you left. And why you never looked back.”
Something flashed across Mother’s face. It was the first time Arabella could recall ever seeing any real emotion there. She was silent for several long moments before she seemed to come to some sort of decision.
Mother leaned against the bed that had once been her own. “I’m sure my mother told you what I was like when I was young. Impetuous. Ambitious. Daring. The worst sort of combination.
“After I returned from finishing school in England, nothing back here seemed the same. There was so little to do, to see. The social opportunities were few and far between. I longed for London, for a Season.”
Arabella nodded, remembering what Grandmother had told her.
“There were few young men here,” she went on, “fewer still who were the kind of man I wanted to marry. Until a certain gentleman returned from his grand tour, a Mr. Oliver Cameron.”
Arabella angled toward Mother, tensing. This was something she’d never heard before.
“When I made a passing comment to my mother about my interest, she grasped at it. She wanted so desperately to keep me here. To that end, she did everything she could to encourage the match and give us time together. And I, Ada Callender, at the age of twenty, fell head over heels with Oliver Cameron.” She spoke with derision, as if she despised the spirited young woman she’d once been.
Mother shook her head. “I was such a fool.”
Arabella drew in a breath. “He didn’t return your affection?”
“He was secretly engaged to another, a woman in Edinburgh. I was nothing more than a way to pass the time until he married.” Her features tightened. “When I learned the truth...it broke me. I hated him. I hated my mother for encouraging something that had brought me such heartache. And I hated this place for all the memories it held.
“Mother felt guilty and heartsick over the whole thing.Thatwas why she finally agreed to let me have a Season. And there, in London, I made a very different choice. Not one of the heart, but one of the head. I found safety and security with your father. A certain future.”
Arabella swallowed. It was the first time she’d ever truly understood her mother. How hurt she must have been. Why she’d made the choices she had. And why she’d tried to mold Arabella into a young lady who never took risks. Never took chances. Who took the safe path.
Mother looked up and met Arabella’s eyes. “Don’t you see, Arabella? The heart’s choices are not always in one’s best interest. I’d like you to come back to London with me. I know you think you love this Mr. McKenzie, but give it time. Come home for a while. Give your head time to reason with your heart.”
One moment of heartbreak had shaped every decision Mother had made in the years since. But Arabella was not her mother. And she didn’t want the safe path. Not anymore.
She kept her tone gentle. “I’m sorry for your pain, Mother. But both my heart and my mind are made up. I’m going to marry Mr. McKenzie.”
Mother’s brows arched. “I see.”
“And I know it must be hard to forgive Grandmother,” Arabella rushed on. “But to have cut her off so completely? With no mercy, no forgiveness? She’s heartbroken. Don’t you see how you’ve hurt her?”
A little crack appeared in her mother’s façade. “And if you choose this Gavin McKenzie, you’ll be doing the same to me.”
The words pierced Arabella. Because her mother was right. If she chose Gavin, she’d be rejecting the future her parents had chosen for her. When they married, she and he would make a life together here. It was the very reason the decision had been so difficult, knowing how much it would hurt her parents.
