Addie gathered the food and began to serve us as Malcolm added logs to the fire. Alice played with a carved wooden rabbit and a small cloth doll on the floor near the hearth.
“Come, Alice, time for dinner,”her mother called, and the child dropped her toys, joining us at the table.
As we ate, I listened to Malcolm and James talk about the poor crops from the past harvest season, expressing concern that there might not be enough food to last the winter if spring came late as it had the previous year. My thoughts drifted back to the spellbook in my bag and how there were spells to shorten the winter and fatten the harvest. If only they knew that with the proper herbs and incantations, they might never have to worry about such things again.
This brought up something I had not thought of until now: if Gran had all this power at her fingertips, why did she live such a modest life? Why didn’t she have an abundance of food and the finest things?
“It’s the hardships that shape us,”Addie remarked to James, almost as if the universe had responded to the question simultaneously.
After dinner, I assisted Addie in tidying up and washing thedinnerware while the men enjoyed a dram of whisky by the fire.
“Malcolm says you and James are searching for medicine. May I ask who for? Is the duke or duchess unwell?”
“No, they are in good health. It is for my gran, the duchess’s old midwife,”I told her as she handed me a plate to dry.“She took ill this morning, and the doctor believes she won’t make it much longer in her condition.”My stomach sank as the words left my lips and urgency filled me with a nervous energy once again.
“Oh dear, I’m so sorry. Well, you have the right man for the job. James will certainly do what he can to help your gran.”
I wasn’t sure if that was truly the case. He seemed indifferent to the whole situation while Addie talked about him as if he were a kind and caring man. I had not previously witnessed this gentler aspect of him, but it was not the first I had heard of it, either. This left me wondering once again why he seemed to have such a grievance against me.
“Yes, thank you so much for letting us stay the night here,”I said, hoping that my face did not betray me and show my true feelings about James.
“Of course. We love James. He is like a son to us,”she said, glancing at him with a fond smile.
“May I ask how you know Lord Campbell?”I inquired, feeling a bit nosey and wanting to know more about who this man truly was.
“The duke and Malcolm are close. Malcolm’s father was the master of horses years ago at the castle, and they grew up riding together. When it came time for James to learn how to ride, the duke tasked Malcolm with the job. For almost eight years, James came to our house every week for lessons in the backfield,”she said, looking over at him with fondness in her eyes.
“You have known him since he was a child then?”I deduced, speaking aloud my thoughts.
“Yes, we love him like one of our own, and he has been like a brother to Alice ever since she was born.”
I stood staring at the two men seated by the fireplace. I could see it now: James looked at Malcolm with the same regard and affection that a son does for his father. The admiration seemed to go both ways.
“He is a wonderful young man and will be a right and just duke someday, just like his father,”Addie remarked with pride. After finishing up in the kitchen, we moved into the sitting room where the men and Alice were gathered around the fire.
“I’ll fetch you some blankets,”Addie said, disappearing into another room. She returned moments later with two blankets and two pillows and created makeshift beds on opposite sides of the fireplace.
“Here ya go,”she said, offering a warm smile.“Come now, Alice, let’s get you to bed. We best be letting James get some rest.”She took the little girl’s hand, leading her into the other room. Malcolm nodded in farewell and followed them.
James waved to Alice as she hung over her mother’s shoulder, and I glimpsed that softer side of him once again. As soon as they had left the room, he bedded down for the night, facing in the opposite direction without a single word. He had paid me no mind the entire night, acting as if I were not even there, as he did now. If it were not for Malcolm’s and Addie’s kindness, I think he might have sent me to sleep in the barn with the footman and the horses. I remained perplexed as to why he harbored such disdain for me.
As I pulled the blanket up around me, the chill between us seemed to deepen the cold in the room. I prayed for sleep to come, willing the night to be over so that we could continue on our mission. Gran’s gaunt face kept flashing into my thoughts, the blue hue of her lips, as if death were perched at her bedside, just waiting to—
A loud crashing sound interrupted Nora mid-sentence. With a start, her heart lodged itself into her throat, and she sat bolt upright. Another crash echoed up the stairs. She jumped up. Grabbing her phone off the nightstand, she set the book aside before racing out of the room and toward the noise.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Tartan
Nora came racing down the stairs to see the cause of the loud crash. Alistair was bent over next to the stove picking up a cast-iron pot and pan from off the kitchen floor. The smell of fried eggs and burnt toast wafted up to greet her as she descended the final step.
“Sorry, did I wake you?” he asked as he scrambled to tuck the pans back into the cupboard they had fallen out from.
At the sight of him, she quickly ran her fingers through her tangled locks, a subconscious attempt to appear a bit more presentable. Glancing down at her pajamas, she wished she had gotten dressed before she started reading this morning. She had hoped to avoid him and had even entertained the notion that he might have left and the sound she heard had been the door slamming behind him. She wasn’t that lucky. Apparently, he hadno intention of departing anytime soon, by the look of things.
“No, I’ve been up reading,” she replied as she made her way over to the pot that was full to the top with fresh coffee. “What’s all the fuss down here anyways?” she asked as she poured herself a large mug.
“I have good news and bad news. What do you want first?”
