“Thank ye,” Lottie said, finishing up the last braid. “I thought Aiden might come by, but nothin’ yet.”
Jeane could hear the disappointment in the young girl’s voice.
“Ye still havenae told him how ye feel?” Jeane put a hand on her hip, exasperated.
“He doesnae want me,” Lottie mourned.
“What do ye mean? He comes to visit every day. He cares for you, Lottie.”
“Maybe,” Lottie muttered. “But he doesnae say it. I want him to tell me he loves me, to confess to me.”
“Is that the only way ye will tell him ye feel the same way?”
“Aye,” Lottie said with a sly grin.
“I suppose it’s good that ye ken what ye want,” Jeane said with a chuckle.
Jeane knew it would be difficult to get Aiden to confess to Lottie. He was convinced that Fergus wouldn’t accept the courtship. But all Jeane had seen was Fergus supporting the relationship.
She supposed Aiden knew Fergus better than she did, though. He was fiercely protective of Lottie.
“And what do ye want, Liliana?” Lottie asked, jerking Jeane out of her thoughts.
Jeane looked at her for a long moment. “I want to be free.”
“Free? Arenae ye free already?”
“Not in the way I’d like to be,” Jeane murmured, reaching out to touch one of Lottie’s light brown braids.
Lottie frowned. “Well, ye can be free here. My brother is a grouch but he’s a good man. He pays ye well, aye?”
Jeane nodded slowly.
It isnae money I’m worried about.
It was what he expected of her. Did he expect to marry her and for her to be the dutiful little wife? Just like her father wanted?
But maybe it would be different with Fergus.
Jeane didn’t know what to think. She was confused, and she didn’t want to think about it anymore.
“Ye weren’t free back home?” Lottie asked quietly.
“Not as such, nae,” Jeane answered vaguely.
Lottie patted the bed next to her. “Sit. Tell me. It isnae like I have anythin’ else to do.”
Jeane smiled, sitting down next to Lottie. She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to talk to Lottie, at least a little. She felt as if she were carrying this secret on her shoulders, like it was a burden.
Maybe this would ease it.
“At first, he let me have friends. Beatrice, Agnes. Lovely lasses who I had a lot in common with. But then he decided they were bad influences—particularly Agnes. She’s a spinster, ye ken. He said they were putting ideas in my head. So he forced me to cut contact with them. Avoid their visits. He tore up their letters.” Jeane let out a long breath.
Lottie’s eyes were wide as she stared at Jeane.
“Yer father… he isnae a good man, aye?”
Jeane hesitated. Even though her father was cold and hard, she wanted to see the good in him. But over the years, she realized there was none left, if there ever had been.
