Cameron grinned and nodded to the healer. “I’ll no’ send ye to face yer father without me,” he told her. “Let’s go.”
The Rose was at his desk in his solar. When they entered, he glanced up, then pushed slowly to his feet. “So, ye have returned at last.”
“Good day, Laird Rose,” Cameron greeted him, speaking before Mary had a chance to.
“Is it?” Rose challenged.
“How are ye, Da?” Bees buzzed in Mary’s belly, but she held her ground.
“I imagine ye already ken, since ye have her with ye,” he replied, pointing with his good hand at the healer. “I am well enough for her to torture me every day.”
“She’s trying to make ye better,” Mary reminded him.
“Well, it isna working.” He collapsed back into his chair. “I havena improved since ye took my daughter away,” he said, directing the comment to Cameron.
Mary hoped that was his way of saying he missedCameron, or at least the help Cameron had been giving him. “Perhaps some happy news will make ye feel better,” Mary tried. “I presume ye failed to read any of the letters I sent ye, aye?”
He looked away and a muscle in his jaw jumped.
“As I expected. Well, here it is, then. Cameron and I wed at the same ceremony as Catherine and Kenneth in the kirk at Brodie. I hope ye can be happy for us.”
Rose surged to his feet again, face red with fury. “’Twas bad enough ye went to Brodie against my orders—without my permission. And ye think this is good news?” He pounded a fist on the desk top and glared at Cameron. “Take yer wife and return to Sutherland. She is nay longer any daughter of mine. I have a wife and a son on the way. Perhaps my new family will provide me with greater satisfaction than three ungrateful daughters have done.”
Mary quailed, hurt more than she expected by his ill-tempered reaction.
“That is no’ fair and well ye ken it,” Cameron objected.
Rose sank back into his seat. “Do as I say!” he barked.
His gaze stayed on his desk for so long, Mary feared he’d suddenly forgotten they were there. She took a step toward him.
Without warning, one of the serving lasses ran into the room. “Lady Rose is…healer, she needs ye. I think the bairn is coming!”
“Where is she?” Mary’s stomach sank. She needed to clear the air with her father, not deal with Seona.
“In her chamber.”
“Good,” the healer replied. “Mary, can ye attend with me?”
“Of course. Give me a moment.”
Rose looked up and frowned. “’Tis too early. Even with…’tis too early.”
The healer narrowed her eyes at him. “Aye, ’tis. Perhaps ye’ll need to mend yer ways with the three daughters ye already have.”
With that rebuke, she left the room. Cameron gave Mary’s hand a squeeze, then followed the healer out as well. Mary turned to her father, who remained at his desk, his gaze on his hands.
“Why, Da? Why have ye been so against the three of us marrying a man we love and being happy?”
Her father kept his gaze lowered. “I told ye why. Because each time I lose one of ye, ’tis like losing yer mother all over again.” He looked up and met her gaze, his expression grim. “Ye all look so much like her. She was a great beauty, fair of spirit as well as face. She gave me the three of ye, the greatest gifts a man can ever receive. And now…” He’s soft voice choked off.
Mary wanted to feel sorry for him, but the pain he had caused was too great. “Now it appears ye will lose another—even if ’tis no’ yers.” She covered her mouth with her hand—she had not intended to say those last words, but the thought was there in her mind, and they slipped out.
“Ye ken I would claim it if ’twere a lad.”
“Da, I am so sorry.”
His shoulders dropped and he looked away. “I have done my best to turn a blind eye, but it may all be for naught.”
