“Live while ye can,” Una said, “for you’re a long time dead.”
After that bit of Highland wisdom, Margaret got out of the water, dried off, and dressed. And still, Una would not leave the subject alone.
“My own dear husband died just a year after we wed,” Una said as they started back to the castle. “But I wouldn’t give up that year if I’d known I’d lose him. Nay, I would have squeezed every bit of happiness I could have from every day I had with him.”
“Would ye not suffer all the more when ye lost everything?” Margaret said.
“Ye can’t give up what happiness this life has to offer out of fear of sorrow,” Una said, leaning on Margaret’s arm as they walked. “Sorrow will come, as it does to all of us, and that’s all you’ll have to remember.”
Margaret had spent so much of her life pleasing others and expecting little for herself. Believing she had no choice but to accept her burdens, she’d tried to do it without anger or resentment. Was she losing too much by leaving now? Was it worth the pain she would suffer later to have some happiness now, however brief?
She was abruptly pulled from her thoughts when Una pinched her.
“Ouch!”
“Hush,” Una whispered. “Ach, this is bad luck, but a pinch helps ward it off.”
“What’s wrong?” Margaret picked Ella up and looked around them, but she saw no danger.
“There,” Una whispered, and Margaret followed her gaze to a branch overhead on which a single bird was perched. “Two magpies mean good luck for a wedding. One foretells trouble coming.”
There was no mistaking the magpie. It had the black feathers on its head, neck, and breast, pure white ones on its belly and shoulders, and a long black tail with a sheen of deep blue.
“Feasgar math,”good day, Una said to the bird.
Margaret’s nursemaid had told her one must show the magpie respect and greet it to ward against the bad luck. Then again, the nursemaid had also suggested telling the magpieI defy theeseven times, which did not strike Margaret as at all respectful.
Margaret told herself she did not believe those superstitious tales. And yet, when the magpie tilted his head and looked straight at her with his dark, beady eyes, she felt a chill in her bones, as if someone was walking over her grave.
Squawk!Squawk! Squawk!The loud, harsh sound made her jump.
“Death is coming,” Una said as they watched the bird fly away.
CHAPTER 21
Margaret usually managed to contain her emotions, but she could not sit still. She was anxious for Finn to return, though she still was not certain what she would tell him or even what she wanted. It might be too late to change her mind about leaving, anyway. He was so angry with her after she told him she wanted to leave that she may have ruined her chance.
She pushed aside her worries about Finn when she heard Ella sniffling.
“Has my poor lamb caught a cold?” Margaret said as she wiped Ella’s nose.
“’Tis nothing to fret over,” Una assured her. “But we’ll have an early supper here in our chamber and go to bed.”
“Then I’ll eat here as well,” Margaret said.
“No need for that,” Una said, waving her hand. “I’m a wee bit tired from our walk and am happy to stay with her—and you need to talk to Finn.”
Margaret kissed Ella’s forehead. She did not seem to have a fever. “Do ye want me to stay here with ye, sweetling?”
“Shall I tell ye the tale of how I outwitted the wolf?” Una asked Ella as she lifted her onto her lap. “Or the one about my escape from the faery prince who fell in love with me?”
“Both,” Ella said, then stuck her thumb in her mouth and rested her head against Una’s chest.
Ella was in good hands, so Margaret gave her one more kiss and slipped out. After asking one of the servants to take a platter of food and hot drinks upstairs to them, she joined Helen, who was doing needlework by the hearth.
“Is there mending I can help with?” Margaret asked.
“There’s always mending to do, isn’t there?” Helen said with her son’s smile, and gestured to the basket beside her. “I’d be grateful for the company as much as the help.”
