“Watch the stones,” he said, voice even.
“I will,” she answered.
She touched the wall where his palm had pressed, as if that would help it stay upright. Then she moved her hand away because she did not want him to see.
The girls were ahead, just a few yards away, and a part of her was quite relieved that they weren’t around to see. She didn’t need many eyes to see just how bad she almost fell.
As if they could sense that they were needed, the girls came back at a run, hair loose, cheeks bright, a small pup wriggling in Bettie’s arms. Its paws paddled the air as if it were swimming.
“Da, please,” Bettie said. “Let us bring it home for Tommy. He would enjoy the company.”
Erica frowned. “Tommy?”
Alex turned to her, his voice lowering with each word. “‘Tis the name of the dog back home.”
“Oh,” she murmured.
Katie pressed closer, hands out, already in love. “Please.”
Alex groaned. “Absolutely nae.”
They did not blink. They held the pup higher. Four pleading eyes. Two small sets and one wide brown pair that turned to him at once.
He rubbed his forehead. “Fine,” he sighed, as if the word cost him. “But ye are feeding it. And cleaning after it. Do ye hear me? Nae the nurse, and certainly nae Grandmamma.”
“Aye,” they cried.
Cheers burst out of them as Katie kissed the pup’s head, while Bettie laughed so loud that a chicken in the next pen flapped its wings.
A man behind the stall smiled and slipped a little cloth to wrap the pup. “For cold nights,” he said.
Erica thanked him and pressed a coin into his hand before he could object.
The shape of it pressed in tight and warm. Alex standing with a look that was stern and not stern. The girls circling him like small moons. Erica’s empty basket now full of thyme, two apples, and a bit of twine that Bettie insisted they needed to make a lead. Erica felt it settle around her again, that family line that had begun to draw itself without asking her first.
The girls spun toward the sweets at once.
“Can we get honey twists?” Katie asked, already stepping away.
Erica caught their sleeves. “Manners,” she said. “Ask like ye have sense.”
Katie straightened. “Please, may we get honey twists?”
Bettie nodded earnestly. “Please?”
Erica looked at Alex. “We could take some home for later. If we leave now, we can be back before noon. Sit together. Make a mess of it where it doesnae matter.”
Bettie shook her head with sudden force. “Nay. Ye stay.”
Erica blinked. “What do ye mean?”
“Ye stay,” Bettie repeated, as if it were simple. She looked at Alex. “We can go back with the guards. We ken the path.”
Katie tightened her hold on the pup. “We will be careful. We promise.”
Alex hesitated. His eye flicked to the two men Calum had instructed to shadow them. They stood at a distance, watchful without being stiff. He seemed to consider it for a breath, then nodded once.
“All right,” he said. “Take the side path by the mill. Daenae run. If the guards ask ye to turn, ye listen to them, do ye hear me?”
