“I thought it was the Scots who were dour.”
“Huh, I think you may be right. Well, the English are definitely gloomy. Our weather is terrible and it is all we ever talk about.” Emily smiled when Abbie giggled.
“I think it is nearing the middle of the day,” Emily said a short while later as she glanced up at the sky.
“The sun certainly feels like it.”
“Then let us go home and have some lunch. At least we don’t have to buy food.”
“And that is a true blessing.”
Looking behind them Abbie saw a couple of rough-looking men ambling along as if they were not following them, but they were not walking toward anything either, and that made her wonder. They were the first lone men she had seen in the town. Abbie hoped they were not as bad as they looked, but she took Emily by the arm and gently urged her toward the wagon.
“Is something wrong?” Emily asked quietly.
“I don’t think so, or rather have no proof. It is just that two men are walking along behind us, but what are they walking toward? There is nothing down here to interest them.”
“Another reason to head home.”
Emily hurried the children into the wagon, settled the babies in their little boxes then climbed in and picked up the reins. Abbie got up beside her and pulled out her rifle, holding it openly across her arms. As Emily started the wagon rolling, Abbie checked the ammunition in her rifle. She had known it was loaded but this action let the men know it was loaded as well. They did not run off but they did suddenly find something of interest in the opposite direction.
“I do hope the rough ones brought out by the war disappear soon,” Abbie said.
“They’ll head west like many others. Everyone thinks they can make their fortune out there in the mines and so on.”
“Only if they discover the mine.”
“That is what I said to a friend of mine once when she talked of her fiancé going out there. Well, he went, ending up working some horrible mine for a year, and then got blown up in some silly mine accident. You would have thought I had personally cursed the fool. Fortunately, we moved from that place in a very short while so being treated as an evil witch was short-lived.”
“I didn’t know anyone believed in witches any longer.”
“In some areas they do, enough so one tale can grow and grow until it sounds absurd to anyone not from the area.”
“Sometimes not being from the area is enough.”
“True, and unfortunately I cannot hide the fact that I am English.”
“Get Iain to teach you how to talk like he does.”
Emily laughed. “Tempting, but I am what I am.” Emily looked at Abbie for a while and asked, “Are you in love with Matthew?”
Abigail sighed. “I rather think I am. Why?”
“Just wondering. I think he is in love with you.”
“And why do you think that?”
“Just the way he acts. And talks. And made sure the chests with your things in them were put in his room. Mrs. O’Neal started to lecture him, just as she lectured Iain once upon a time, and he just looked at her and said, ‘Don’t,’ and she didn’t.”
“And what does that prove?”
“That he wouldn’t let the woman say anything that might make you sound less of a lady. She wouldn’t mean that you were, but her lecture can get a bit colorful. He also had no intention no matter what she said of having you be separate from him.”
Abbie frowned. “I suspect those could be good signs, but I want words.”
“Doesn’t every girl?”
“I know, deep inside, the man would never speak the words unless he meant them.”
