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“A big boat!” Dorothea stressed, stretching her arms as wide as they would reach as she looked up at Angus. “The horses are coming, too.”
Angus grinned at her. “Well, of course, they are, lassie. We canna leave them behind, can we?”
Dorothea shook her head for emphasis. “No, we canna. Thank ye, Angus,” she said, matching his accent.
Angus laughed a booming laugh, clearly delighted with Dorothea’s imitation. “Ye sound wonderful, lassie. Truly wonderful! Clearly, ye belong here with us! There’s no doubt about it!”
Sarah smiled at the joyous expression upon Dorothea’s face. She knew that the girls, and Kate as well, were in dire need of a home, a true home. A place where they felt at ease, where they were welcome and wanted. And perhaps Keir’s home would be that place.
Sarah chanced to look at him as he spoke to Angus, exchanging a few words and providing the old man with the details he needed to send in his message. Still, in that moment, all Sarah could think about were the words Keir had spoken to her the day they had left Whickerton Grove. Sarah had revealed her heart to him, and he had reciprocated, had he not? Of course, neither one of them had used the wordlove, and yet Sarah could not deny that it was something, at least, akin to love that was between them, was it not?
That question circled in Sarah’s head, and she wanted to pull Keir aside and ask him. Yet this moment, like so many others before, was not their own. No doubt they would be interrupted. Indeed, first Kate and the children needed to be settled, and then, perhaps, Sarah might find the time and the nerve to speak to Keir.
“How will he send a message?” Augusta inquired, her gaze following Angus as he disappeared inside a small wooden shed. Then she looked up at Keir.
“We keep doves,” he explained, gesturing from the small shed out across the sea. “They can quickly carry messages back and forth between the mainland and the islands. We always do it like this when a bigger boat is required.” He looked at the girls, a deep smile upon his face. “Would ye like to play at the beach?”
Augusta squealed in delight, and Dorothea nodded her head vehemently. Both their eyes were wide and filled with temptation. “Can we?” Augusta inquired, dancing upon her feet. “Mother, can we?”
Kate smiled, then nodded. “Of course, you can.” Her permission sent both girls racing off toward the water’s edge, their arms stretched wide as the wind tugged upon their hair. “I’ve never seen them like this,” Kate suddenly murmured, sorrow in her voice.
“That is the past,” Keir remarked before Sarah could find any words in reply. His gentle blue eyes looked at Kate, waiting for her to raise her gaze to look at him. Then he smiled at her encouragingly. “Yer daughters are extraordinary, and they will find their place in this world. All they needed was a chance, and ye gave them that.”
Kate was not the only one touched by Keir’s words. Sarah had to blink away tears, grateful that he always seemed to know what to say.
“Yes, they are,” Kate agreed, brushing away a tear. The look in her green eyes no longer overshadowed. Indeed, she stood taller, her shoulders back and her chin lifted as she watched her daughters chase one another along the beach. “They are extraordinary, and they deserve all this and more.”
“Aye, they do,” Keir agreed before his gaze settled on Sarah. “Go and enjoy yerself, lass,” he whispered to her, reaching for her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “I shall see to everything. Before the day is out, we shall be home.” Then he walked away, toward Mr. Garner and the carriage.
Sarah grasped her sister’s hand, hugging her close, as Frederica began to stir. “It feels like an utterly new world, does it not?”
Kate nodded. “But a good one,” she whispered to Sarah’s surprise, brushing a gentle hand over Frederica’s head. “You know,” she murmured, then abruptly lifted her eyes to Sarah, “we never quite had a home, did we? I mean one that was truly ours and where we felt completely at ease.”
Sarah sighed. “I suppose not.”
“Do you think this could be it? Will we stay here for the rest of our lives? Will my daughters grow up here?” For a long moment, Kate looked out to sea. “I don’t quite know what to expect of this new place, of its people,” she whispered as she turned to smile at Sarah, “but I’m hopeful.”
As the wind tugged upon their hair and skirts, the girls’ laughter echoing to their ears, Sarah smiled at her sister, their eyes locked in a way that truly gave her hope. Thus far, Kate had seemed so subdued, full of doubt and regret and fear. Now, though, the look in her sister’s eyes felt different. Something had changed, and Sarah knew that now there was a chance.
A chance for Kate to be happy again.
If she can be happy, Sarah thought to herself,perhaps, I can be, too.
Chapter Ten
A FORK IN THE ROAD
Gently swaying from side to side, rocking Frederica in her arms, Kate watched as her sister chased after her daughters along the beach. They had all removed their boots, their bare feet leaving prints in the wet sand as their laughter echoed closer, carried by the wind. Kate smiled, renewed hope in her heart.
Indeed, it had been absent for far too long. Still, now that it was back, Kate was almost terrified of losing it again. She willed herself to ignore that persistent voice that whispered words she did not want to hear. “This was not a mistake,” Kate told herself, willing her voice to harden, to speak with conviction. “I did what I had to do to see my daughters like this again. Look at that joy! They are happy!” At her words, Kate felt her smile deepen and that doubting voice retreat.
Turning her head, Kate spotted Keir speaking to Mr. Garner. She had overheard their conversation before and knew that Mr. Garner was to take the carriage back to the Whickertons. He would not accompany them to the island, but do everything within his power to clear their tracks and keep them hidden for as long as possible. Indeed, he was the final tie that bound them to their life in England, and it would be cut soon.
Although Kate knew it to be a good thing, she could not help the moment of panic she felt at the thought. Perhaps it was simply the finality of everything, of her choices, everything they came down to.
Again, that persistent voice in her head gave voice to her doubts. In fact, it sounded a lot like her mother, chiding her as she had when Kate had been a child, telling her in no uncertain terms what she had done was wrong and what consequences she would have to suffer because of it.
Kate flinched when a shadow suddenly fell over her. Her arms tightened upon Frederica, and she spun sideways. Her heart beat fast in her chest, and yet it calmed instantly the second her eyes fell on Keir.
