“I have nothing more to say to ye, Father,” Beatrice hissed, pulling her arm from her father’s grasp. “If ye have a problem with what I have done to save meself from a lifetime of anger and disappointment, then I daenae ken what to tell ye.”
“Och, Bea.” Her mother rested a hand on her shoulder. “There’s really nae way to escape any of that. Nae for the likes of us.”
Beatrice stood up sharply. The weight of her mother’s hand on her shoulder remained even after it was gone. It felt unnaturally heavy, an imprint of iron despite nothing but flesh and blood touching her. Eloise kept her watch from the other end of the table, and Beatrice moved towards her briskly to avoid hearing anything else her parents had to say.
“Would ye be interested in breakfast, me Laird?” Tyler asked Leo as he heaved himself out of bed. “The Whitmores are currently breakin' their fast if ye’d like to join them.”
“Which ones? Beatrice’s father? Is he there?”
Tyler nodded, and Leo dismissed the idea with a flick of his wrist.
I’d rather nae spend me mornin' with that man.
“Laird and Lady MacAllister are there as well,” Tyler added. “Miss Beatrice was just sittin' down to eat when I left them.”
Beatrice.
Tyler drifted to the window as Leo got dressed. He was staring down intently at something in the courtyard, though Leo didn’t bother to ask what it was. If it was danger or a miraculous sight to behold, Tyler would let him know.
Female voices rose from down below, and Leo assumed it was just some maids going about their duties.
“I think Miss Beatrice and her cousin are explorin' more of the castle,” Tyler murmured, not looking up from the courtyard. “They’re out there now, and it seems they’re headed into the garden.”
“Just the two of them?” Leo asked.
“Aye, just the two of them.”
He draped a cloak around his shoulders and then joined Tyler at the window in time to see Beatrice and Eloise slip intothe garden. Their heads were bent together as they walked, whispering and motioning to their surroundings.
Can ye feel me watchin’ ye, Beatrice?
For a moment, he thought he saw her face tilt towards the window, but then the two of them disappeared in the shadows of the garden.
“They seem quite close,” Tyler observed. “If ye hadnae told me they were cousins, I’d have thought them sisters.”
Leo grunted in agreement, his thoughts turning to Effie. She didn’t have any siblings and hadn’t been able to make friends as easily as any other child, but she also didn’t have a mother figure.
Violet could care for her now that she is back.
He shook his head.
Nay, I cannae expect her to be a mother to me daughter when she has her own life to live.
If Effie felt the lack of a mother figure in her life, she never made it known to him. It was possible that she had said something to one of the servants. Shona, most likely. But none of them had mentioned it. Leo knew she was a resilient child who accepted reality as it was, not as she wanted it to be.
Still, the way she looks at Beatrice…From the window, he watched as a small shape tore across the courtyard, heading towards the lush, shaded garden. The girl was sprinting with all her might, as if she were chasing after something that had gotten away from her. Right as she stepped into the shadows of the garden, Leo saw red curls, and heard a clear, lilting voice calling out Beatrice’s name.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“There certainly could be worse places to live while ye’re playing out this arrangement,” Eloise said, touching a long verdant vine that hung from a trestle overhead. “Imagine being betrothed to a man who lived in a leaky shack next to a bog.”
“Aye, but is it as cold and drafty as this castle?” Beatrice quipped.
“Find me a warm home in all of Scotland. I daenae think one exists.”
Eloise curled the vine around her finger, then let it drop and swing.
The pale morning light broke through the cover of leaves and growth overhead, but it never really made it all the way in. The garden, even at the zenith of noon, kept itself in cool shade.
