“Ye thinkye could show me the necklace again?” Hallie asked as she guided Madison to the steps. Madison fiddled with the silver chain Boyd had placed around her neck and smiled.
“Aye,”she answered as she unfastened it and handed it over to Hallie. “But I wouldnae lose it if I were ye.”
“This is lovely.Ye must have really made an impression on the laird for him to gift ye such things. I mean, the pouch of coins was more than Pa would have asked for yer dowry.”
Madison bobbedher head as she stepped into the loft and looked at the small space. It wasn’t the chambers she had been accustomed to. In fact, it was nothing like the room she had before she was taken. So much had changed and it felt as if the world would never let her catch up.
“Maybe gettin’taken in the hunt isnae such a bad things after all,” Hallie muttered under her breath.
“What did ye say?”Madison snapped as she turned to face her sister.
Hallie's eyes widened,realizing too late how her words had sounded. "Nay, I dinnae mean it like that!" She reached for Madison's hand. "Madison, please—I only meant that somethin' good came from somethin' terrible. After ye were taken, we thought we'd lost ye forever. Ma wouldnae eat, Da couldnae work. We were barely scrapin' by." Tears welled in her eyes. "And then ye came back to us—alive—and the laird, he was so kind. He gave us hope again, gave us a future. I'm nae sayin' what happened to ye was good. I'm sayin' I'm grateful ye're alive and that the laird brought ye home."
Madison's angerwavered as she saw the genuine distress on her younger sister's face.
"I'm sorry,"Hallie whispered, squeezing Madison's hand. "I said it all wrong. I'm just so happy ye're here. That's all I meant."
24
“That’s the fourth fish ye’ve lost,” Cody said in disbelief. “Ye remember we eat them, right?”
Theodore passedthe fishing pole over to the other orphan and stepped back from the bank. The eleven-year-old was right, his mind wasn’t on fishing, trapping or any other joy the orphanage often brought to him. He pressed his lips into a tight line and turned his attention to the east.
“Wantto paddle out to the island?” one of the girls asked as she batted her eyelashes at him. The little girl could have been his daughter as she rocked on the balls of her feet, eager to hear his reply. “I can show ye where I’ve found some mushrooms if ye want.”
“That is rather kind ofye, lass, but I think I should be headed back. The hour is much later than I thought it was,” he answered as he walked past the small girl and paused to place a coin in herhand. She squealed with delight. The pitch reminded Theodore of Madison’s laughter and how he couldn’t seem to forget her.
“Theodore, ye looked troubled,”Sister Marget said as he came up to the kirk to collect his horse. Her smile could brighten even the darkest of days, yet for some reason this day, her light couldn’t reach him. “I daenae recall ever seein’ ye so distraught.”
“I daenae kenwhat ye’re talkin’ about,” he answered as he pulled the cord to untie his horse only to have it knot on him. The frustration flared as he threw the reins down and ground his teeth in anger.
“Oh,is that so? Well, I testify ye’ve been comin’ here for two months straight, every day without fail. And I ken it just so happens that ye let that lass go two months ago as well. Perhaps maybe there’s somethin’ goin’ on there that ye’re nae confessin’ to?”
Theodore froze.He hated the fact that Marget could read him so well. It was as if he were an open book to her, despite all he did to keep concealed. Grabbing the knotted reins, he started trying to get it out.
“Or maybe,”Sister Marget continued as she strolled around the post with a mischievous glean to her eye. There was something about the way she kept her eyes on him, Theodore couldn’t help but feel self-conscious. “Ye daenae think ye deserve happiness.”
Theodore flinched.“It doesnae matter either way. She’s gone. And I’m certain with the amount of coin I gave her father, she’s already married off to save the family from disgrace.”
Sister Marget noddedher head as she leaned against the wooden post, clearly watching Theodore as he fumbled with the task. He wanted to go back to the castle, not have a conversation about a girl he couldn’t have.
“So, ye’ve heard then,”the sister said. There was a sadness in her tone that Theodore couldn’t ignore. His mind instantly jumped to Madison. Was there something that had happened he wasn’t aware of? Had Boyd missed some vital information that slipped by? With his nerves sparking like flint to stone, Theodore tried to remain calm and poised.
“Heard what?There’re so many rumors that fly about these parts, it’s hard to keep any of them sorted,” Theodore said as he finally got the first part of the knot undone. He didn’t want to listen anymore to what the sister had to say. The purpose was to let Madison live out her life without having to remember what happened to her. Surely some part of her mind associated him with that dreary time and he couldn’t think of it causing her pain.
“Madison isto be married a week from tomorrow,” the sister said with a somber tone that rattled Theodore’s bones. A sharp pain cut through his chest as if someone had pierced him with a blade. The words lingered over him, slicing and dicing him.
“Come again?”he asked, as every beat of his heart drummed in his ears.
“Madison isto be married next week to a fine laird from what I was told,” she repeated. Theodore couldn’t believe his ears. How had her family found someone so fast? He shook his head. Madison was a rare beauty and belonged to someone else now.
“Do ye ken who?”Theodore managed to ask, despite not really wanting to know the answer.
“Does it matter?”the sister asked as she folded her arms over her chest. “I thought ye said ye dinnae care about the lass.”
“I never saidI dinnae care about her,” Theodore snapped as the knot came out of the reins. “She is the bravest lass I’ve ever met. And her laugh will lighten any laird’s day. I’m sure whomever she is to marry, he’s the one she has picked.”
“Ye could— ”
