They were in the warm hall now, and the queen had seated herself by the hearth. “I will speak to Jamie. You shall not marry this monster,” she said.
“Jo, how sweet you are, but I shall marry him. I have no other place to go, and my daughter belongs at Glengorm,” Cicely said. “You know this is the usual way of our world. How many marriages are made for love? You are fortunate.”
“But I want you to be happy!” the queen exclaimed.
“I am not unhappy, and I am content,” Cicely assured her.
The queen’s eyes sought Kier. “My lord of Glengorm,” she called to him.
Kier Douglas came immediately to her and bowed. “Madam, I welcome you to my home.” Taking up her hand, he kissed it.
“My lord of Glengorm,” Queen Joan said, “you must be good to my friend Cicely. You must give me your word you will be good to her.”
“Why, madam, I shall be every bit as good to her as she is to me,” the laird swore.
Cicely burst out laughing. “As you see, he is not an easy man,” she told her friend.
The king now joined them. “I am told you are not yet married, madam,” he said.
Cicely curtsied to the king. “It was decided that a year of mourning for Glengorm’s former laird was a right and proper course to take, my liege.”
“You have set the date?” he demanded.
“The eighteenth of this month, three days after the first anniversary of Ian’s death, my liege,” Cicely said tightly.
“We’ll come,” James Stewart said. “Today is the third day of the month. We had intended to stay with you until the eighth. We shall instead move on tomorrow to Ben Duff, and return here on the eighteenth to celebrate your marriage.”
“Will you allow the queen to remain here with me, my liege?” Cicely asked him. “We have not seen each other in over two years now. We can visit. Ben Duff and his wife will return with you, for they have been invited to our wedding. Her Highness can visit with Maggie then.” She gave him a smile.
Before the king might speak the queen quickly said, “Ohh, I should like to remain here with Ce-ce, Jamie.” She placed her hands on her belly. “I have missed her.”
“If it pleases you, sweetheart, then of course you may remain with Cicely,” the king told his wife. It would be easier traveling without her, but he would never say it.
“Remain today and tomorrow, my liege, so we may send to Ben Duff to alert them that you will come early. Maggie would never forgive me if I allowed you to take her unawares,” Cicely said to James Stewart. “And our folk would greet you too.”
The king agreed, and a messenger was dispatched immediately to Ben Duff so that the Greys might be warned of the king’s early arrival,and without the queen. And James Stewart found to his surprise that Glengorm was not quite the rough place he had believed it to be when Cicely was carried off by its former laird.
Mab set forth a fine supper that night, with several more dishes than she usually served up. Two extra trestles were brought into the hall so the king’s men might be seated. At the high board there was a platter with thinly sliced broiled salmon set upon a bed of fresh green cress. There was a leg of lamb, and a fat roasted capon stuffed with bread, onions, and apples. There was rabbit stew in a tasty brown gravy with bits of carrot, parsley, and shallots. A bowl of peas was passed about, along with a salad of lettuces. There was the usual bread, butter, and cheese. And when they thought they could eat no more, Mab herself appeared with a great big dish of baked apples, Gabhan coming behind her with a large pitcher filled with golden cream, followed by Bessie and Flora, who each brought a small plate of sugared wafers they set upon the high board.
Cicely presented her kitchen staff to the king and the queen.
James Stewart delighted Mab by complimenting her on the fine meal. “I don’t suppose I could convince you to come to Scone?” he said with a serious face.
Bessie and Flora tittered as Mab’s face lit up with a smile. “I thank Yer Highness for the invitation, but alas, I am too old to travel farther than from my hearth to the table.” Then she curtsied as much as her stiff knees would allow.
“I shall look forward to my return to Glengorm, Mistress Mab,” he told her.
When the cook and her helpers had departed back to their own realm, Cicely said, “That was most kind, my liege. Mab is the heart of Glengorm. Your welcome in the village on the morrow will be twice as warm for your goodness tonight to an old woman.”
Owen the piper came to play for them, and when the queen began to nod in her chair Cicely suggested that perhaps it was time to escort their guests to the new chamber that had been built for them. JamesStewart was most complimentary when he saw what had been done to accommodate them. A large fire burned in the new hearth. The shutters on the window had been closed. There was water for bathing, and Essie was even now warming the bed with her pan of hot coals. She scurried out when the others entered.
“How lovely!” the queen exclaimed. “And those bed hangings are beautiful.”
Satisfied that the royal couple would be comfortable, Cicely and Kier bade them good night. Returning to the hall they began their nightly routine. Kier saw that all the doors to the house were firmly locked and barred. The king’s men were sleeping about the hall, and so after adding more wood to the fire, Cicely went upstairs. Hearing footsteps behind her she turned to see Kier. She continued on until she was at her chamber door.
“It went well,” he told her approvingly. “The training you received from your royal foster mother serves you well, madam.”
“I am glad you are pleased, my lord,” Cicely told him quietly.
