“What?” Mamma shrieked.
Charlie grimaced, because her mothernevershrieked. Not that she could blame the poor dear, under the circumstances.
“That’s rather odd,” said Colin, mildly puzzled. “Why would someone do such a barmy thing?”
Angus shook his head, looking disgusted. “For money, ye ken. It’s an old trick. Sell off the precious stones and replace them with paste. If it’s a good enough job, nae one will be the wiser.”
“I refuse to believe it,” Papa snapped. “You may be a world-renowned fiddler, Kendrick, but I hardly think you’re an expert in fine jewels.”
“You’re correct, sir,” Kade replied. “Nevertheless, the color in the diamonds seemed off to me, and the weight of the piece seemed too light. So I took it to the jeweler in Ballachulish. He is quite the expert, and he assured me without hesitation that the original stones were replaced with fakes. Naturally, he swore to keep that knowledge to himself.”
Papa slumped in his chair. “Good God, what a disaster.”
“If it’s any consolation,” Kade added, “the jeweler said the reproductions were excellent. They’ve obviously passed muster for quite some time, since none of you noticed.”
“I’m sorry to say that is no consolation at all,” Mamma responded in blighting tones. Then she glared at Papa. “Really, sir, how could you allow such a thing to happen? It’s a shocking disgrace.”
Papa’s head reared up. “How in blazes is this my fault, Elspeth? The MacDonald Clan is responsible for the bloody thing, not the Stewarts.” He snorted. “I don’t know why I’m surprised, though, since the MacDonalds are utterly hopeless when it comes to managing their finances.”
Angus sprang to his feet with remarkable alacrity. “I’ll nae have ye defaming the MacDonalds, ye blasted Stewart ninny. One more word of insult and ye’ll be looking down the barrel of my pistol.”
Kade reached over and plucked the old dueling pistol from his grandfather’s hand. “Angus, sit down and be quiet.”
“But I’ll nae have Kinloch—”
“I don’t care,” Kade bluntly replied.
“Angus, do stop,” Mamma said. “As much as I deplore my husband’s attempt to cast aspersions on my relations, the truth cannot be denied. This is an utter disaster.”
Melissa, who’d unearthed a vial of smelling salts and was holding them at the ready, cast Charlie a reproachful look. “Charlotte, how can you be so calm? It’syourbrooch, and it’s been ruined. Who knows what disasters might befall us now?”
Charlie countered her sister with an encouraging smile. “I don’t think you have to worry about any calamities befalling us, Mel. Clearly the stones were replaced years ago, and we’ve been bumping along all right so far.”
Perhaps she had yet to recover from the shock, but the situation was beginning to strike her as more than slightly absurd. To think of all the tumult of the last few weeks, only to discover that the brooch was essentially worthless all along.
Laughter started to bubble up into her throat. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t hold it back and was soon laughing so hard that she was hard-pressed not to double over.
“Charlotte Stewart, whatever can you be laughing about in this horrible situation?” her mother asked, clearly aghast.
“I’m . . . I’m just imagining the look on Sir Leslie’s face,” Charlie managed to gasp. “If he’d managed to pull it off only to find out the brooch was a fake.”
Kade grinned. “It almost would have been worth it for that.”
“I’m glad you can laugh,” Papa gloomily said. “But now that we know the brooch is a fake, I suppose we’ve no choice but to release Kendrick from his obligation to marry Charlie. You can’t force a fellow’s hand over a false matter of honor.”
Charlie struggled to catch her breath. “Papa, we werenevergoing to force Mr. Kendrick’s hand.”
“Of course we were,” he replied.
“If I may,” Kade started.
Melissa waved her smelling salts. “No, hemuststill marry Charlie. Everyone else still thinks the brooch is real. So thatmakesit real, doesn’t it?”
“It does not,” Charlie replied, frowning at her sister. “I, for one, never took Papa’s vow seriously.”
Kade held up a hand. “Yes, but—”
“But a vow is a vow, Charlotte,” Melissa insisted. “We’ll all be completely disgraced if you don’t marry Mr. Kendrick.”
