“This is a grand day indeed, daughters,” Seamus announced proudly, putting an arm around Margaret’s shoulders. “No doubt ye have seen Margaret here carrying out her duties about the castle, though her station as a mere servant girl prevented her from interacting with ye proper-like. Today, however, she has earned the venerable position of maid…and she is to serve ye, Bonnie. I have no doubt she will prove faithful and useful to ye and guide ye well.”
Bonnie, his youngest, was twelve years old—roughly the same age as Ainsley, Margaret realized. The girl stepped forward and smiled at Margaret, who curtsied in return.
“A pleasure to formally make your acquaintance, Bonnie,” Margaret told her merrily. “I am sure we shall have a lovely time together!”
“I shall leave ye so that ye may all get to know each other a bit better,” Seamus said. “For, though Margaret shall be maid to Bonnie, I have no doubt that she will be spending a great deal of time with Isla and Leslie as well. I hope you get on well with each other.”
And with that, he withdrew.
“Life is a funny thing, is it not, Bonnie?” Margaret observed. “Why, when I was around your age, I was entering into service down in the kitchens! It’s a bit like a play, isn’t it? The way we’re assigned our different roles at the start, that we may perform them as best we can?”
“Aye, perhaps,” Isla answered glumly, “except it seems to me that some roles are far preferable to others.”
Margaret went to Isla, taking her hand and looking into her eyes attentively. “What makes you say that, Isla? Surely you do not feel that your place in the world is lacking? You are the niece of a laird, you have such lovely clothes and things, and someday soon, no doubt, you shall be married!”
“I will, sure enough…to a man I do not love,” Isla said. “I would trade all of my dresses and fine possessions, my birthright—everything—to trade places with a woman such as you and be free to marry whomever I pleased.”
Others, perhaps, might have found Isla spoiled and ungrateful for not appreciating the advantages of her station in life. However, Margaret’s heart went out to her. “I can see how that might seem attractive to you right now, my dear,” she told Isla gently. “But take heart. It’s not as bad as all that. Many marriages which are arranged lead to happy outcomes, do they not?”
“She is just unhappy because she wishes to wed Andrew Hunter,” Bonnie piped up, “and Father is making her marry Brodie MacKenzie instead! If you do not want Brodie as a husband, Isla, then I shall take him for my own! I cannot wait to become a wife, regardless of who the groom might be!”
“Then you are a little fool!” Isla snapped.
“Now, now,” Margaret interjected with a laugh, “there’s no need for that sort of talk, especially between loving sisters! Bonnie, why do you have such a strong wish to get married?”
“Because it’s romantic!” Bonnie insisted. She sashayed over to the curtain and draped it around herself like a wedding dress. “There’s a beautiful gown, and vows, and a kiss, and music, and dancing, and love! It’s like the end of every fairy tale!”
“Aye, all of those things are true enough,” Margaret agreed carefully. “But it seems to me that you are focused on the wedding itself rather than what comes after—which is at least as important, my sweet child, if not more so.”
“Oh?” Isla raised an eyebrow curiously. “And what do you know of ‘what comes after’?”
“I know that for a marriage to be happy, it requires more than mere romance,” Margaret replied. “There must be a deep love and understanding toward each other. A bond that goes far beyond friendship. Unconditional support through the most trying of times…through poverty, or illness, or bad fortune, or worse.”
“Ah.” Isla looked disappointed. “When you mentioned ‘what comes after,’ I thought you meant that you had knowledge of…what comesdirectlyafter.”
“Isla, for heaven’s sake!” Leslie, the shyest of the three girls, finally spoke up, blushing a deep scarlet. “How could you speak of such things to someone you’ve only just met?”
“What?” Isla retorted with mock innocence. “You heard Father. She will be spending a great deal of time with us going forward. Why should we not be open with each other?”
Margaret giggled. She had to admire Isla’s apparent fearlessness, to say nothing of her impertinence. In a serving girl, such traits could lead to one being punished. In a young woman born to nobility, though, who knew how far Isla’s willful nature might take her?
I am beginning to wish that I had been appointed as maid to Isla, Margaret thought.Her companionship would be quite something, I should think!
“Do you refer to the events of the weddingnight, then?” Margaret guessed.
Isla nodded. “Might you be in a position to educate me in that regard?”
“Er…that is…I mean, I have heard a few things about such matters here and there, I suppose,” Margaret admitted uncomfortably. “Only, we should probably wait until there aren’t wee ones about to overhear, eh? I’m not sure how your father would feel about them being educated in such things before their time.”
“No fair!” Bonnie protested. “She should be tellingme!She’smymaid, not yours!”
“We shall see about that,” Isla answered under her breath.
Just then, the door opened and Seamus entered once more. “So,” he asked, clapping his hands and rubbing them together, “how are ye all getting along?”
“Father, I want Margaret to be my maid, not Bonnie’s,” Isla announced immediately.
Seamus scratched his head, perplexed. “Why, Daughter? If ye want a maid of yer own, I’m quite sure we can arrange such a thing.”
