Arthur shook his head. “What are ye talkin’ about? There’s nay…”
But, sure enough, as he leaned forward, his eyes were drawn to a faint white line that ran across the bridge of her nose.
He hadn’t noticed it before. Granted, Arthur had not spent much time studying the small intricacies of Marissa’s nose. But even now that he knew it was there, it was still incredibly faint and hard to make out.
“That wee thing?” he scoffed, rolling his eyes when she nodded grimly. “That scar will disappear the moment the sun isnae shinin’ on it. Can hardly tell it’s there even under the bright mornin’ light.”
“That doesnae mean it doesnae still scare me,” she quipped, narrowing her eyes at him. “Why would ye bring me here? Did someone tell ye about me fear of ducks? Was it Cody? Did he put ye up to this?”
She was working herself into a frenzy, a whirlwind of emotions rolling off her. Arthur placed his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down.
“Nay one told me ye were afraid of ducks,” he said in a calm, even voice.
He bent over, bringing himself low enough that he could stare directly into her eyes.
“If they had told me,” he continued, “I wouldnae have brought ye here. At the very least, I wouldnae have brought ye here as a surprise.”
She glared at him, her eyes roving over his face. No doubt she was trying to determine if he was being truthful. Thankfully, for his sake, he was.
Arthur did not doubt that she would lose every last bit of her mind if she determined that he was lying. And that was not something that he wanted to deal with in the current moment.
“Well,” she said finally, “whether ye kenned or nae before ye brought me here, ye ken now. So, let’s leave. Get me away from these wretched things before they start tryin’ to gouge me eyes out.”
He was about to give in, about to tell her that they could walk to a quieter part of the loch, one that was guaranteed to be duck-free, until a different idea occurred to him.
“Mayhap we can use this,” he said in a conspiratorial tone. “What if we tried to rid ye of yer fear of ducks?”
Immediately, Marissa began shaking her head, raising her hands in the air as she started to back away from him.
“Nay.” Her voice shook as she spoke. “I dinnae want to get over me fear. I’ve been fine with keepin’ a good distance from any and all ducks for me entire life. And I’ll be fine to keep doin’ it. Geese, too. They all get plenty of distance from me. They dinnae bother me, and I dinnae bother them. It’s worked for us this long.”
It was Arthur’s turn to shake his head. He swept his hands wide, gesturing to the hundreds of ducks that surrounded them.
“That isnae a choice here,” he said. “Because this happens every year. I dinnae ken why, but once a year, hundreds if nae thousands of ducks come to this loch. They call it home for a few weeks, fillin’ the banks with their feathers. Swimmin’ and buildin’ their nests. It’s beautiful.”
She snorted a laugh. “It’s anythin’ but beautiful.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, which he chose to ignore.
“Imagine it,” he continued as if she had not spoken.
He kept his tone gentle, just as he would if he was dealing with a hurt or frightened animal. Which, to be fair, was very much what Marissa reminded him of at that moment.
All of her muscles were tense, and she was clearly ready to run at a moment’s notice.
“We could have a picnic here when the ducks come. We could bring them stale bread, throw it out to them, and feed them likeme maither and I used to do. We could do it with yer family. With our bairns.”
At the mention of their future children, Marissa’s face twitched.
“Do ye want them to be afraid of ducks?” he asked, sensing that he might be getting through to her.
Her eyes were softening. She still looked poised to run at any moment, but she was looking less like she was about to jump out of her skin.
“Do ye want to pass yer fears down to our bairns?” he prodded again. “Imagine our daughter or son bein’ terrified to come down to the loch they love, just because at this time of year, it’s home to a few birds.”
“A few.” Marissa choked out a laugh. “This is much more than a few.”
Arthur shrugged one shoulder as if the discrepancy in number didn’t mean anything at all.
“They willnae harm ye,” he assured her. “Remember, I told ye that I would protect ye. That includes birds and all wildlife as well.”
