“Could ye not at least have stayed long enough to bury me, Velvet?”
“Did you want to be buried on English soil, Alex? I gave orders that you be taken home toDun Brocbecause I believed you would have wanted that.”
He was surprised again. In the back of his mind he remembered Murrough saying something like that. So shehadcared. He was relieved. And yet … “But ye weren’t going to accompany the body, were ye, my dear wife?”
“No, I was not! You broke my heart, you bastard! Did you want me to follow you into the tomb, for I would have been dead of grief long before we reachedDun Broc!Would that have pleased you, my lord? Perhaps your little mistress would have done it, but not I!”
“Alanna Wythe means nothing to me, Velvet. I took her to my bed, I will admit, but what of ye? Ye were as quick to replace me.”
“Never!I spent a six-month voyage mourning you, Alex. When I was kidnapped and sent to the Grand Mughal I mourned you yet.”
“Not long enough, obviously, madame. He made ye his wife in very quick order, I am told.”
“Of course he did. It was the polite thing to do, for I was a gift to him from the Portuguese governor of Bombay. It wasn’t me he was marrying, it was the gift!”
“Which one of ye did he fuck, Velvet?”
“Ah,” she said, “that is what bothers you more than anything else, isn’t it, Alex? In your mind ’tis perfectly all right for you to have taken a mistress because your wife ran off and left you; but for me, believing myself widowed, to remarry and love again,thatis the crime!”
“Did ye love him, Velvet?”
“Yes!”
She looked straight at him when she said it, and it was he who flinched under her steady green gaze. She had changed, he thought, and he didn’t know if he was going to like that change. Still, standing there looking at her, he realized that he still wanted her, perhaps even still loved her. There was a great deal to be settled between them, but only time could accomplish that.
Holding out his hand to her, he said, “I’ve come to take ye home, lass. Will ye come wi’ me?”
He is as unsure of me as I am of him, Velvet thought, and yet he seems willing to try to rebuild the life together we both so heedlessly shattered. Slowly she put her hand into his, and his fingers closed over hers. “Aye, Alex,” she replied to him. “I’ll come home with you.”
Her horse was grazing nearby, and they caught it easily. Giving her a boost, he aided her in remounting and then gained his own saddle. Together they quietly descended from the hills to the gentle valley below. Upon returning toQueen’s Malvern, they found that Alex’s men had already stabled their horses and were just now trooping into the house. They were in time to witness the reunion between Pansy and her Dugald.
Pansy stood in the doorway to the kitchen, little Dugie holding her hand with one of his own, his other thumb in his mouth as he stared wide-eyed at the troop of men with their plaids and bonnets. There was no doubt whose son he was, and as the Highlanders began to poke each other, chortling with delight, looking from their comrade to Pansy and her child, Dugald stopped and stared, open-mouthed.
Finally Pansy said impatiently, “Well, say something, you big oaf! You’re going to scare the lad to death if you don’t.”
“What’s his name?” Dugald ventured, shifting nervously.
“Dugald Geddes, the same as yours,” she answered.
“How old is he?”
“He’ll be two the day after Michaelmas,” Pansy replied.
“But how …” Dugald shifted his feet again.
“Well, if you don’t remember, Dugald Geddes …!” began Pansy indignantly, and the other men chuckled.
“But ’twas only once!” he burst out.
“Me ma says once is more than enough!” she answered, and Dugald’s companions, unable to restrain themselves any longer, burst out laughing.
“Gawdalmighty, man,” said one of them, “ye’re not going to deny him, are ye? He’s yer spit fer certain, and ’tis true!”
“N-nay, I can see he’s my laddie,” Dugald said slowly.
“And are you still of a mind to wed me?” Pansy demanded.
“Aye,” he answered without any hesitation.
