Page 20 of It’s in his Highland Kiss

“It’s yer home, lass. Never forget that,” Adaria said.

“Do you know why my mother dislikes Scotland so much?”

It was a question that had been in Marion’s mind ever since she had first found out about her mother’s hatred for the place. She had always found it odd; it was her home, after all. Her mother had grown up there, and she was no less a Scot than Adaria or anyone else in that castle. Yet she still detested the place with all her heart, even refusing to go there after Marion had reached a certain age.

“Yer maither never liked it here,” Adaria said with a small shrug. “We grew up together, ye ken, along with the rest of our cousins. I remember her always sayin’ that she would move far from here, that she’d go to England. She had such a fascination with the Sassenachs . . . dinna ask me why, for I dinna ken. I love ye like me own daughter, Marion, but I canna stand those Sassenachs. Weel . . . then one day, or night, rather, there was a ball, and she met yer faither and never looked back.”

It was the first time that Marion had heard the story of how her parents had met. Her mother never liked talking about it, and her father wouldn’t possibly concern himself with such things.

Marion often wondered if he even remembered it, his first meeting with her mother.

“But that doesn’t tell me anything,” Marion pointed out. “What was it that she hated about Scotland? That she still hates? I can’t imagine anyone disliking this place!”

“I dinna ken,” Adaria said. “It’s better to ask yer maither that, as she’s the only one who would have the answer. Though I think . . . weel, I think that this place was never enough for her. Up here, in the Highlands, life isna like down in England, ye must ken that by the noo. Yer maither wanted that life instead, and when she got it, she stopped comin’ here.”

“I remember her bringing me here a few times,” Marion said. “I remember you. I remember Eiric . . . I don’t understand why she stopped. She could have at least visited every now and then.”

“Aye, she could have.”

Adaria fell silent then, turning her gaze to the window and staring outside at the lake in the distance. Her explanation had left Marion with more questions than answers, but she supposed that it didn’t really matter. Perhaps she would get the chance to ask her mother herself one day, or perhaps she wouldn’t, and it would always remain a mystery to her.

She had spent too much time thinking about her mother though. She had been on her mind ever since Marion had made it to the Highlands, always lurking there, always present, a constant fear over her shoulder. Even in her happiest moments, the shadow of her mother lingered over her, looming larger than life.

It was time to let go, Marion had decided. It was time to forget about her mother and focus on herself and the people who loved her, truly loved her, and who showed it to her. Her mother had already made her choices a long time prior; Marion couldn’t blame herself for wanting to forget.

“I suppose I should call the maids and let ye bathe,” Adaria said with a sigh, as she slapped her hands on her thighs and stood from the chair. “We should have some dresses made for ye. We’ll bring the fabrics and ye can choose.”

“Oh, I don’t know how I could possibly choose,” Marion said. “These dresses you gave me . . . your dresses, they are so beautiful. Perhaps you should be the one to choose what I wear.”

The last thing that Marion wanted to do was sit and watch as people paraded around her with yards and yards of fabric. She wouldn’t know what to do, what to choose, what would look good on her. Adaria seemed to know, though, just like she seemed to know everything else, and she trusted her to make her look proper.

“Nonsense,” Adaria said, shaking her head. “You must learn how to do this, just as you must learn how to do everything else. I do believe that for a lass like yerself, it’s much more important to learn how to dress and entertain than it is to learn how to fight. Ye can leave that to the men, ye ken.”

“But Eiric said you know how to fight, too,” Marion reminded her.

“Aye,” Adaria said, and Marion could detect a hint of annoyance in her tone. “Aye, I had to learn, and I was fine at it, but nay one ever let me fight outside of me trainin’. They all said what I told ye: fightin’ is for men, and this is for women, and weel . . . I’m a woman. Me faither would never let me fight, and after I married, neither would me husband.”

Marion frowned a little at that. Adaria had always seemed to her like the sort of woman who would do anything that she wanted, no matter what other people said. Perhaps she was wrong, but she was almost certain that Adaria regretted having listened to her father and her husband, that she would have liked to fight alongside the men, or at least continue her training, and it baffled her to know that she had done neither.

“Would you like to?” Marion asked her.

Adaria frowned at Marion, as though she didn’t understand what she was saying, and then erupted in laughter, her entire body shaking with it.

“Och, what does it matter?” she asked Marion. “Aye, I suppose so, but what difference does it make what I want? I am the lady of the clan. Fightin’ is hardly appropriate.”

“You can fight me,” Marion offered. “I . . . I just started learning, and I’m sure I’ll need all the help I can get if I am to ever properly learn how to fight against Eiric and his men. They’ve been training ever since they were children, you see.”

“Are ye askin’ me to train ye?” Adaria asked, disbelief tinting her voice. “Me?”

“Well, Eiric will continue to train me, but I thought perhaps you’d like to help me too,” Marion said. “If you enjoy it, I don’t see why not do it.”

Adaria smiled at her in a way that told Marion that she was being silly, but the idea was there. If Adaria was anything like the woman that she knew her to be, then she would agree in the end.

“I’m too old for this,” Adaria said. “And besides, I havena done it in a verra long time. I dinna think that I would be any help to ye.”

“Perhaps I can be of help to you, then,” Marion said excitedly. “We can . . . well, I suppose we can refresh your memory! I can show you everything that Eiric shows me, and you can remember all the techniques.”

Adaria stood still for a moment, watching Marion in silence. Then she left without another word.