I know why she's doing this, because she needs to remind him why Bryn’s here and what my plans are. She needs to make sure he doesn't interfere like this again, and fuck everything up. She also probably wants to make sure he doesn't abuse the staff when his food is brought up.
We pay our staff well, and in turn they give us their loyalty and allegiance. They're often privy to details we wouldn't want repeated outside of the walls of our clan, so it makes sense to keep our staff happy. My father, however, has somehow forgotten that.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Aisla says with a curtsy. She scurries out of the room with a duster, likely off to find the most distant dustyplace she can. Mum sighs as she prepares food on a tray to bring upstairs.
“Mac, I’ll need you briefly this morning,” Leith says. “We’ve a job to do. Seems the recent storm we had knocked down the fence by the graveyard. Tate and I are heading down to fix it shortly. Join us? It’ll go much quicker.”
“Of course.”
“Leith, we’ve an errand in town this afternoon,” Islan says, and Paisley flushes.
“Not today,” Leith says, without looking up from his plate of food. They know that Leith hates when they travel away from our home, but like any young women they want some freedom. I know that they do, and in the past I've been the one that they come to, to intervene for them with our oldest brother. But this time, I'm not so sure I disagree with him.
“What do you mean, not today?” Islan asks, her eyes flashing at him.
“I’ve reasons, Islan,” he says, with no further explanation.
“We have to make sure we?—”
“Not today.”
She looks to me like she usually does, hoping I’ll intervene, but I don’t want her in downtown Inverness today any more than he does.
“I’m with Leith,” I tell them, shaking my head. “I can’t help you there. It’s not safe right now, girls, and we want to keep you safe.”
Paisley rolls her eyes. “Here we go again.”
Leith beckons to me from the other end of the table. I gesture for Bryn to have her seat while I walk over to him. Cairstina pulls out a book, and the girls squeal. Soon, Bryn’s talking to them as well.
I reach Leith, and we have a quick, whispered conversation.
“Everything go alright last night?” he asks.
“Aye.” I cast a surreptitious look to Bryn. She’s laughing with Paisley over something, not looking at me. “I can fill you in later but suffice it to say everything’s going just fine.”
“Have you met her father yet?”
I shake my head. “No, and I’m not sure if I’ll need to.”
Leith scowls at the other end of the table. “This wedding’s a problem, Mac. It’s a public event, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with them going. Not sure how to tell the girls not to, not when Fran is at the heart of this, and you know how she's been a friend of theirs for so long."
I think this over. “Aye. Do you want me to go as chaperone?”
He scowls, shaking his head. “Not sure that’s necessary, but if it is…”
His voice trails off.
“When is it?” I ask.
“Next week.”
Bloody hell. Like I have time for something like that…
We both look at the other end of the table where the girls are laughing.
“No way!” Islan says to Bryn. “The very same?”
Bryn shakes her head. “Can hardly believe it myself.”
