“A laird, ye say?”Madison’s father questioned, his tone thoughtful. “And how big exactly are yer lands?”
Theodore smiledas he looked at Madison’s father. The negotiation would be a breeze as Theodore already knew exactly the price the father wanted for his daughter. It was a price Theodore was more than willing to pay over and over again. For Madison was a jewel far more precious than rubies.
“I assure ye,I offer yer daughter nothin’ short of the world.”
25
“Maddie.” Hallie’s cry splintered the silence, pulling Madison from the mire of her thoughts. She looked up over the grassy knoll to find Hallie scrambling to get to her. The panic on her sister’s face was palpable. Panic shifted to terror as Madison jumped from her spot to meet her sister.
“What’s happened?”Madison pleaded as she grabbed hold of her sister. Dread filled her as she watched her sister gulp down the air. Clearly whatever news she had brought was of great importance. “Speak to me.”
“Ye’re gettin’married,” Hallie blurted out between her huge gulps for air.
“What?”Madison said, completely dumbstruck at the idea. There was no way anyone would come for her, not after the rumors that ripped through the providence. It was as if Madison had become an illness no man wanted to take on. Even distant cousins had heard of her being taken and refused to let her visit.For the past two months her life had been in isolation, with only her family to cure her insanity.
“Pa isat home right now, negotiatin’ with someone as we speak,” Hallie said with such confidence that Madison couldn’t help but believe her.
“Well, do ye ken who?”Madison asked as hope sprouted through the dense fog of doubt and uncertainty. She couldn’t help but wish it was Theodore.
“Some laird or another.I forgot the name. I was just too excited to get the news to ye. But ye cannae go home yet, they’re sortin’ out the details now. Ye’re to be back nay earlier than dusk.”
Madison straightened.Every nerve was tight as if she were wound up like a top. She pulled in long deep breaths to steady her nerves.
“This cannae be right.He wouldnae come for me…” she mumbled as her mind instantly jumped to Theodore. It was always him that captured her thoughts and attention. How she wanted to be able to let him go, to release him just as easily as he released her. But he lingered in the back her mind. The very memory of him tormented her dreams these past sixty days.
“We have to go home,”Madison said. Hallie’s hands curled around her wrists, determined to keep Madison captured for the time being.
“We cannae.We are to stay out while they talk about yer dowry,” Hallie insisted, but Madison wasn’t going to stay put. Ever since he dropped her home with a necklace and memories so thick it choked her, she wasn’t about to just stay put. She stopped a moment and let out the air she had trapped in her lungs. The truth was, she wasn’t sure if it was Theodore who had come to claim her. For all she knew, it was someone else, someone from the hunt who had heard of her reunion.
“How about this,”Madison said as she pulled Hallie to her. “Ye go back and listen for a bit. Ye come back and ye tell me everythin’ that ye hear. I want to ken who is there with Pa.”
Hallie pursedher lips into a tight line as she gave a bashful shrug. “I daenae ken if that’s a good idea. What if Pa is workin’ somethin’ out for me as well? I cannae risk me future the way that?— ”
“Mine has been ruined,”Madison finished. Hallie clamped her hand to her mouth and shook her head.
"Nay!"Hallie grabbed both of Madison's hands, squeezing tight. "Daenae say that. Ye're nae ruined, Madison. Ye survived. Ye're here." Her eyes shone with fierce determination. "And that laird of yers—did ye nae see the way he looked at ye? Like ye hung the moon itself? A man like that doesnae see ye as ruined."
Madison pulled her hands away."Ye're just a child, Hallie. Ye daenae understand how the world works."
"Maybe I am."Hallie lifted her chin. "But I ken what I saw. And I saw a laird who'd move heaven and earth for ye." She paused, her voice softening. "Ma and Pa are already talkin' about matches for me, ye ken. They say we need to secure the family since we've nay brothers. And I'm... I'm afraid." Her voice trembled. "I'm afraid they'll choose someone cruel. Someone who'll treat me like... like those men treated ye."
Madison's heart clenched.
"But ye—ye found someone good,"Hallie continued. "Someone who protects ye. Who cares for ye. Daenae throw that away because ye think ye're nae worthy of it. Please, Madison. If ye can find happiness, then maybe..." She swallowed hard. "Maybe I can too. Maybe there's hope for both of us."
“If that is trulywhat ye want, then I’ll stay here with ye,” Madison said as she scooped her arm into Hallie’s and turned to the stream of water. Madison drew Hallie over to the small rock. They sat and stared at the water.
“What are ye doin?”Hallie asked as she pointed to the twine drifting in the water.
“Fishin’,”Madison answered. “It’s somethin’ I learned to do nae too long ago.”
“See,this is what I’m talkin’ about,” Hallie said throwing her arms up in frustration. She spoke as if Madison had been a part of the conversation the whole time it was going on in Hallie’s head.
“Pardon?”
“If ye had never been takenfrom the street, would ye have ever learned to fish?” Hallie asked. “Or would ye have ken what it is ye wanted out of life? What was really important to ye? Nay one really gets to be stripped down the way ye were. Ye were bare bones, and look at ye. Ye’ve come out of it all stronger than ever. Yet, I see ye mopin’ around as if ye’ve lost yerself.”
“I have,”Madison confessed as she noticed the line jumping, indicating something was biting. She didn’t move to the line but watched as the fish took the bait and launched back into the current.
