“We do now,” Katie said, and reached for the pot.
Grandmamma watched them argue and nodded once as if they had passed an exam. She rubbed her thumb along the cane’s carved head and glanced down the length of the table to see who had eaten enough and who needed a word. It was her morning sport, and she missed little.
“Ye should see the mason today,” she said to Alex. “The east wing needs a man who will listen, nae a lad who thinks lime is magic.”
“I will see him,” Alex said.
“And the kennels,” she added. “That pup will be a thief if we daenae set him straight this week.”
“I will kick him out of the kitchen,” Katie said at once.
“Ye willnae,” Grandmamma said. “Ye will leave him to men who ken how to teach.”
“Aye,” Katie muttered.
Bettie leaned on the table with her chin in her palm. “Da,” she said, “if the pup is good, can we keep him in our?—”
“Nay,” Alex said.
“But if he is very good?”
“Nay.”
She sighed and gnawed on an oatcake.
Alex looked at them then, just to count the points of their faces and be sure they were the same as last night. He had learned to do that in hard months.
The doors at the far end opened, and a maid came in, quick but steady, hands clasped to keep them from fluttering. She walked the length of the hall and curtsied low.
“A carriage has arrived,” she announced.
The words fell odd in the room, as if they belonged to a completely different hour. A carriage at this time meant news, a visitor, or a small trouble dressed as courtesy.
Alex did not lift his head. He knew exactly who it was, and he had been expecting her since the previous day broke.
He set his knife down and wiped his fingers on the cloth, and only then did he speak.
“That must be me bride,” he said.
The hall went quiet. Even the dog barking outside stopped all of a sudden, as if it had heard the bombshell the Laird just dropped.
Alex swallowed and picked up his knife again. He was ready for the barrage of questions, but he needed something to tighten his hand around in the meantime. Otherwise, he would contemplate murder.
As he had expected, Grandmamma turned slowly in her chair, the cane’s lower end scraping once on the stone floor. “Yer… what?”
“Me bride,” Alex said, exhaling as loudly as he could.
The girls froze. Then they burst.
“Ye have a bride,” Katie said, half whisper, half shout. “Right now.”
“Is she nice?” Bettie asked. “Does she like games?”
“Does she like eggs?” Katie said. “Because I can give her mine.”
“Is she pretty?” Bettie said quickly. “Nae that it matters.”
“Is she from here?” Katie said. “Or somewhere else. Can she ride?”
