He’d only sent James a look. Ethel was a petite blond with a habit of simpering and giggling. “One night with Ethel, and I might start walking and never stop.”
“Well, it was worth a try,” James said. “We’re going to Richmond to visit Caroline’s family before the unpleasantness starts.”
“You just wanted company for future visits.”
“Good Lord, yes,” James said.
They hadn’t spoken for a few minutes, and whatever they’d said after that he couldn’t remember. Something one brother would say to another, a comment not meant to be recalled.
The unpleasantness had started, especially between the brothers. Alisdair and James had fought for the Confederacy. Montgomery had no choice but to join the Army of Northeastern Virginia. Ethel had stopped giggling and become a nurse,an example of selfless dedication. She’d died of a fever she contracted while caring for her patients.
And Caroline? He didn’t want to think of Caroline.
On this wet and balmy spring night in the middle of Inverness, his brothers felt especially close. If he turned quickly, would he see James leaning against one of the bridge supports? Or Alisdair, staring off at the distance, transfixed by the view of Inverness, glittering in the near darkness?
What would they have thought of this journey of his?
They’d talked of coming to Scotland, to see the place where Magnus Fairfax had been born and raised. He’d never thought to make the journey without them, but then he’d been forced to do many things without family.
What would James have thought of Veronica?
She certainly didn’t giggle, but she did act oddly from time to time. Claiming she was clairvoyant, for one. Being a virgin who took to lovemaking like it was water and she’d been thirsty all her life, for another. Not that he would have told his brothers either fact.
He nodded to a few people, surprised at the friendliness of the Scots. The brogue of Scotland flowed around him, reminding him of his grandfather. It was one of the reasons he hadn’t wanted to come. He’d not wanted to be reminded of Magnus Fairfax. He’d been closer to his grandfather than even his father, and his grief felt fresh here in Scotland.
The child he’d been had always thought his grandfather’s rumbling voice sounded like thunder. He heard it then in his imagination.
“You’re thinking dour thoughts, lad, when it’s spring. It’s time to think of the earth. Planting. Life.”
Magnus Fairfax had always been so much a part of Gleneagle, it was odd to think he’d never walk the fields again, never look to the sky for rain.
A spring in Virginia was a busy time, filled with planting, readying the earth. Long, exhausting days measured the progress of the season. When they hit the beginning of the summer, they had a little respite from the sheer physical labor of planting time, not to mention the record keeping.
Montgomery leaned back against a support, watched the river flow beneath the bridge. Sometimes his heart was so filled with Virginia, he couldn’t see anything else around him.
Inverness, and maybe Scotland, was tapping him on the shoulder and reminding him that it was the birthplace of the Fairfax dynasty.
A dynasty with only one member remaining.
His grandfather had been born here, had lived and left for something new and better and more rewarding. Yet Scotland had locked itself into Magnus’s heart. When his grandfather told a tale of Scotland, there’d been longing in his voice.
Tomorrow, they’d reach Doncaster Hall, and Montgomery would assume the responsibilities that circumstances had labeled his. Magnus wouldn’t be with him. Nor would Alisdair or James.
He was the last Fairfax. The last member of his family, and it was somehow fitting he return to Scotland where it all started.
The question was, did he stay in Scotland?
Have I done something wrong?
Even here, Veronica’s voice found him, plucked at his conscience. He wasn’t comfortable talking to people, especially one who disturbed him as much as his wife.
Not only had the Fairfax family come full circle, but so had his thoughts.
What was he going to do about Veronica?
What was he going to do about Scotland?
Chapter 12
