I simply cannot get the balance right, can I?
“I just don’t understand why you interfered, I suppose,” she said at last. “I’m not criticizing you, of course.”
“Even if ye were,” Sophie shrugged, “ye should nae apologize. Never apologize for an opinion or for curiosity, lass. I did interfere, and I daenae regret it. Perhaps me methods were a wee bit heavy-handed—lockin’ ye in a room together is hardly a new and strikin’ idea, but I stand by it. I wanted ye to talk to each other, and toconnect. Callum is good at avoidin’ conversations he does nae wish to have. So are ye, I think.”
Melody flushed at that. “I do not avoid… oh, never mind.”
“I tried to push ye and Callum together because I love him,” Sophie stated firmly, meeting Melody’s eye squarely. “I love me grandson. I want him to be happy, and I believe that ye are the one who can make him happy.”
She hadn’t expected Sophie to say such a thing. For a moment, Melody stuttered, trying to get her thoughts collected together.
“But what if I… what if I can’t make him happy? What if I’m not good enough?”
“I would nae worry too much about that. Ye are right for him, lass.”
Melody wasn’t sure if she agreed with that. Or ifCallumwould agree. Sophie, however, would probably not be swayed.
“Well, that’s kind of you to say,” she said at last. “But what if he does not want me?”
“Do ye think he does nae?”
“I think I irritate him a great deal. He takes great pains to avoid me,” Melody pointed out.
Sophie let out a low, throaty laugh, shaking her head.
“Ye young people have a great deal to learn about desire, I think. It’s only natural, I suppose. When I was yer age… how old are ye, by the way? Nineteen? Twenty?”
“I am twenty.”
“Aye, that seems right. Well, whenIwas twenty, I had nay clue about the world around me. I could nae have told ye which way was up, or described the color of the sky accurately. Oh, I thought I kent exactly what I was doin’, but how wrong I was. Ye daenae understand the wrongness, ye see, nae until ye gain a wee bit of age.” She sighed, shaking her head. “Those days are in the past, though.”
They seemed to be straying away from the subject. Melody cleared her throat uncomfortably, leaning forward.
“Even if Callum was… was drawn to me, what if I do not wanthim? Then where would your efforts lead us?”
“What do ye mean, lass?”
“Well,” Melody began, shifting. “Perhaps I would rather return home than stay here.”
Sophie was silent for a moment, fixing Melody with a slow, unblinking stare.
“Ye would rather just go back home, eh?” she murmured at last. “That’s nonsense, lass. I kent that from the moment I met ye. Nay delicately bred English lassie who ishappywith the life she leads would ever flee her home and come to the keep of a Highland laird with the reputation of a monster.”
“But I wanted…”
“Aye, aye, I’m sure ye thought ye had reasons. But the plain fact of it, Melody, when the layers of pretense are peeled away, is that ye fled. Yefled. Ye ran away from home because whatever yer life was there, ye could nae stand it. Now, if I believed that ye and me grandson truly could nae stand each other, then I’d advocate for the betrothal to end. But that’s nae the case, is it?”
“Well, I…”
“Tell me plainly, then. Do ye want the betrothal to end, so that ye can return to whatever waits for ye back home? Hm?”
Melody flushed, hanging her head. “No, I don’t want that. The truth is, when I followed Callum to his room, I hoped to convince him to continue our betrothal. I suppose that a marriage of convenience would be better than whatever match Papa wants for me. Here, I feel as though I can be…” she trailed off, groping for the word, but Sophie neatly finished the sentence.
“Free,” the old woman murmured, nodding. “I understand, lass. While I cannae control me grandson, and I daenae pretend to do so, I like ye, Melody, and I think ye would make a fine Lady MacDean.”
“Callum does not want another Lady MacDean.”
“He does nae ken what he wants,” Sophie scoffed. “Daenae fret, lass. All will be well.”
