“Isn’t Lady Gibson currently staying with her sister?” she asked, her voice pitched a little too high, not at all the casual voice she’d been aiming for.
Elsie grinned, apparently misunderstanding her interjection for delayed enthusiasm. “Lady Culloch. Exactly.” She cupped a hand around her mouth and added in a stage whisper, “We used to call her husband ‘the Beast,’ though I daresay he’s been tamed by that charmin’ wife of his. Then again, Clan Lochlann is an ally, so we have nay reason to see the beastly side of him. I wouldnae want to meet him in battle.”
“The Beast?” Nancy raised an eyebrow.
Does no one have any normal nicknames around here?
“Och, aye,” Isla interjected. “I wouldnae dare to call him tamed. There’s naught tame about him. He just loves his wife and would likely burn down half of Scotland if anyone so much as looked at her the wrong way. It’s just unfortunate we didnae have him and his army fighting for us in our war. It would’ve been over in weeks, nae years.”
Nancy rocked the baby gently, a thought coming to her. “Howdidthe war start?”
Elsie and Isla exchanged a look, the latter clearing her throat before she replied, “Me eldest son took a liking to Laird MacLeach’s daughter. An obsession, really, after a gathering. A cèilidh to celebrate the solstice. He demanded her hand in marriage, but she refused, and her faither refused to make her.” She glanced away, clearly ashamed. “So, me son started a war… and me nephew ended it.”
“The same woman Hunter married?” Nancy blinked, a funny feeling coiling in her chest. Just a remnant of last night’s activities, or so she told herself.
Isla nodded with a smile, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “But daenae ye worry about that. It isnae the same. I can see it between ye and me nephew; there’s a true affection that was never there with Rachel.”
I don’t know about that,Nancy wanted to say, but held her tongue. She was supposed to be playing the part of eager fiancée, and if she and Hunter were going to avoid suspicion, she had to play it well.
Besides, talk of war and death wasn’t good for a baby to hear, even if Freya was far too young to understand anything more than the pitch of a voice.
“So, the Hawk and the Beast are what, best buddies?” Nancy asked, forcing cheer into her voice. “Next, you’re going to tell me that he has a friend called the Wolf andhehas a friend called the Bear.”
The shift in her tone surprised Elsie and Isla. For a moment, they sat staring at her, and her cheeks grew redder with every awkwardly passing second. Then, in perfect unison, both women burst into laughter.
All the tension melted from their faces as they threw their heads back, every inch a mother and daughter, the sound so sweet that Nancy wished she could bottle the feeling of hearing it and knowing she hadn’t just fallen flat on her face, comedically speaking.
“Oh… oh, I needed that!” Isla gasped through hearty chuckles.
In Nancy’s arms, Freya screeched in delight, her little face lighting up as she joined in the hilarity in her own adorable way.
“She’s laughin’!” Elsie exclaimed, her hand flying to her heart, her eyes wide and watery as if she might burst into tears again. Happy ones, this time. “Did ye hear that, Ma? Freya just laughed!”
“I did,” Isla cooed, both women rushing over to dote on the baby girl. “Oh, she’s goin’ to be such a cheerful bairn. I can feel it in me bones. Isnae that right, wee one? Are ye goin’ to be such a cheerful bairn?”
Freya wiggled, her tiny fists excitedly punching the air as she screeched again, and all three women sighed and chuckled at the cuteness of it all.
“And ye’re goin’ to be good friends with Sylvia when ye’re older, arenae ye?” Elsie said, holding out her finger for the baby to grab.
“Sylvia?” Nancy echoed.
Elsie glanced up at her. “That’s Lady Culloch’s daughter.” She paused, her eyes going wide. “Och, that’s perfect!”
“What is?” Isla asked.
“Well, Lady Culloch invited Hunter to Sylvia’s first birthday party. He intended to refuse, but I snatched the letter before he could burn it,” Elsie explained, splitting her attention between her mother and Nancy. “Nancy and me cousin could attend, so that everyone can be introduced to the soon-to-be Lady Lochlann. Then Nancy can givethemthe invitations to the engagement celebration. Me cousin doesnae like to plan anything unless it’s battle tactics, so I can make all the preparations while ye’re away at Castle Culloch.”
Isla tilted her head to the side. “It’s nae a bad idea, actually. An opportunity to show this corner of the Highlands that me nephew is betrothed and settling down with a fine woman. Aye, it would do wonders for his reputation.”
Mother and daughter talked back and forth about the merits of Hunter’s attendance and how it might improve his popularity and the clan’s confidence in him.
“It would remind the dubious in our clan that he has forged strong alliances. Alliances that will keep our lands safe from Clan MacLeach, should they ever dare to strike us again,” Isla mused. “Aye, I like the notion very much.”
Nancy hadn’t said a word, too stunned by the idea of being paraded around in front of a bunch of strangers, one of whom bore the nickname ‘the Beast’ and had undoubtedly earned it.
Then again, this Beast’s wife just so happened to be Jane Clark, who lived in the same castle where Adeline was residing during her healing tour.
And Jane is the one who knows the way back to my time.
