“Och, ye hae a bitin’ wit this morn, tis true. I am near eight hundred years auld, I think, and m’mother’s affairs are agin’ me more.”
“Tis not an affair, tis amarriage. Wilfred is devoted tae me, and so we can do whatever we want and ye ought not hae a word tae say in complaint.”
“Where is he?”
“The garderobe. What we did wasexerting.”
Sean groaned.
She popped one of the blueberries we had brought from Florida in her mouth and tossed a piece of bread on her plate.
Kaitlyn said, “I love your dress, Lady Mairead. It’s beautiful.”
“Thank ye, Kaitlyn, I brought the crimson especially for my meeting with the Earl, which I thought would happen first thing, but he has decided tae make me wait until he is ready tae see me. Tis why I am in a red gown at the morning breakfast buffet.”
Kaitlyn and I went down the buffet line, fillin’ our plates, and I grumbled as I often did that there were nae pancakes with syrup. “Ye see, Kaitlyn, there are none, we hae great privations in this century.”
She teased, “I see, and there won’t be anyone to even try to make them happen since you didn’t bring Chef Zach.”
“Tis true, he is the only one who loves me enough tae suffer the kitchen.”
She laughed.
But then we turned to the table and saw Lizbeth’s sadness and were reminded that this was not a time for jokin’.
We carried our plates over tae the table and sat down across from Sean and Lizbeth beside a chair covered in the raincoats we would be needin’. “How are ye, Lizbeth?”
Her eyes were puffed and red with sadness.
She gave a contorted smile and said, “I am well, Magnus, in the light of day I regret all of our conversations yesterday, please forgive, I ken what I must do, and I must be reasonable.”
“Aye,” said Sean, “Reason is required. I ken ye are a woman, Lizbeth, but ye must try tae think like a man.”
She laughed. “Och, Sean, ye are an oaf. Ye ken I hae the reason of a hundred women, perhaps more, and ye ken this was a momentary lapse.” She raised her chin. “I am done. Ye winna see me behave like this again, tis done.”
I said, “Good, Lizbeth, on my part, I winna push, I winna celebrate. We winna talk of the move except tae answer yer questions, if ye hae a question, I will answer. Only then.”
I reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
Sean said, “Och, where is my hand squeeze?” He reached across the table and squeezed my other hand, so that all three of us were holdin’ hands in the middle of the table. “Therewe all feel much better. Daena we feel better, Lizbeth?”
She said, “Much,” though she quickly looked away.
Sean said, “Mother, would ye like tae squeeze hands with yer children?”
“If tis goin’ tae include a prayer, then aye. But if tis just tae give yerself a good feeling, then nay, ye all would do better if ye thought of yerself less.”
She sank intae her chair. “Why winna the Earl see me?”
I looked at the windows, the rain was comin’ down the panes. Sean laughed.
I glanced at Kaitlyn.
She said, “So we arereallygoing out in that?”
“We hae tae for the surprise.”
She said, “My boots, my skirts, everything will be wet.”
