“I canna believe Da let ye come,” Catherine exclaimed, fairly vibrating with excitement.
“Da didna,” Mary told her as she and her sisters chose seats at one of the dining tables.
“Then how…”
Mary grinned. “Cameron is my husband now. Like both of ye, we handfasted in secret. So Da no longer gets to control…”
Catherine’s shriek echoed off the rafters. She jumped up and ran around the table to Mary, then nearly knocked her off her chair, hugging her.
Annie looked on with a grin.
“Ye are free! I canna believe it!” Catherine exclaimed, dropping onto the chair next to Mary. “Are ye on yer way to Sutherland?”
“Well, no’ entirely free, and nay,” Mary replied and tugged her hair. “Wheesht, Cat. Ye are with child now, aye?” Her sister’s gently rounded middle made that apparent. “Ye must no’ jump around so.”
Annie’s brow drew down. “What do ye mean no’ entirely and nay?”
Mary filled them in on the most recent state of their father’s illness, Seona’s pregnancy, and the fact that he’d confined all the Grants, including his new bride.
“Good heavens, we had nay idea it was that bad,”Annie breathed. “Cameron told us some of this on his way back to ye. And it appears things have only gotten worse. After all these years, Da finally wants a son, marries, and had to pick a…”
“Lamb-headed lassis the term yer sister used,” Cameron announced, coming to join them. He sank into a chair across the table from the sisters. Kenneth and Iain joined him.
Iain signaled for more ale while they settled. “Cameron has filled us in on some of yer news,” Iain added. “Including that someone nearly shot ye in the woods.”
“The arrows missed me,” Mary insisted with a glare at her husband as her sisters paled. “And we canna prove I was the target. It could have been an errant hunter, for all we ken.”
“Or the Grants want ye dead and out of the way, the better to take over Rose and expand their own and Albany’s reach,” Iain said, softly. “I disagree with Cameron. I dinna think Domnhall is behind it—proximity and opportunity make a Grant conspiracy much more likely.” He paused when a servant arrived with another pitcher of ale.
Annie asked her for something to eat and sent her away.
“Yer sisters are married into Brodie—or nearly so,” Iain continued when they were again private. “With ye out of the way, and with this Grant lass married to yer da, especially if she gives him a son, Grant will have a strong claim to include Rose in its territory.”
“Ach, but Mary is married into Sutherland—or nearlyso,” Cameron argued, with a smile at Mary. He took a sip and turned back to the others. “We handfasted in secret. Likely the new Lady Rose and her clan have no’ heard the news.”
Iain tapped the table top with his knuckles. “So Rose is vulnerable until they do.” He looked grim. “And even after…”
Mary met Cameron’s gaze, open-mouthed. She hadn’t considered that when she agreed to handfast with him.
“Better Rose than Mary,” he growled, taking her hand and kissing the palm, then turning back to Iain. “Despite yer theory, it might no’ be Grant behind this. Domnhall would happily add Rose to his holdings, as well.”
“There’s another factor to consider,” Mary said, her gaze still on Cameron. “Seona and a Grant guard who stayed after her mother returned home have been lovers. They both think the bairn she carries is his, no’ our father’s. Da kens and agrees. He says Seona is too far along in her breeding.”
Annie straightened and shook her head. “Poor Da. Though if the bairn is a lad, she’ll have given Da a son he can claim and raise up as his own. He may no’ care.”
Mary nodded, possibilities and alternatives running wildly through her mind. “A lot hinges on the bairn.”
Iain snorted. “Is it no’ always so?”
The serving girl returned then with a platter loaded with bread, cheese and new apples. Catherine grabbed one of those and took a bite. “Let’s back up,” she said after she swallowed. “All of this is important, but too gloomy, and I’m so happy ye are here I dinna wish to dwell on clan Rose problems right now.” She leaned to the side andhugged Mary yet again. “Ye said ye handfasted. So ye mean to marry, aye?”
Mary traded a smile with Cameron, gratified by his nod.
“We do,” he asserted around a bite of cheese.
“Well, then.” Catherine stood, an infectious grin on her face. “Here at Brodie we have a small kirk, too, and a priest coming, and a wedding planned in a week. Why no’ marry at the same time we do? A double wedding—twice blessed and twice lucky, aye?” Catherine looked to Kenneth. “Ye dinna mind, do ye?”
“Nay, no’ at all,” Kenneth replied, turning a sly grin on Cameron. “I’ll be happy to see Sutherland wedded to yer sister.”
