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‘Got the dog doing as she says, too, eh?’ Morag said as the door closed behind Jo. ‘Too clever by half, Miss English.’
‘Goodnight, Aunt,’ Benneit replied, but Jamie leaned forward, his elbows on the table.
‘It’s good to be clever, Aunt Morag. Why do you say it like it’s bad?’
‘Clever is good,’ Morag answered. ‘Too clever comes back to bite you, boy.’
Jamie giggled.
‘Jo doesn’t bite. I like her. Please be nice to her so she’ll stay, Aunt Morag.’
Lady Morag shrugged.
‘I won’t be nasty. That’ll have to do. She won’t stay, though. Won’t be room for two women when the McCrieff wench moves in.’
Benneit watched the door close behind her, keeping a firm hold on his temper.
‘Shall we go upstairs, Jamie?’
Jamie hopped down from his chair, beaming.
‘Yes, let’s, Papa.’
As they left the dining room Benneit took Jamie’s hand and the boy leaned his head for a brief moment against his arm.
‘Don’t worry, Papa. I shan’t listen to Aunt Morag. I don’t think she is half as clever as Jo. Will you marry Lady Tessa?’
Benneit’s heart gave a convulsive thud and then paused for a little too long.
‘I don’t know yet, Jamie,’ he lied. ‘Would you like having brothers and sisters?’
‘I don’t know. I think so. I would be a big brother then, wouldn’t I?’
‘You would.’
Jamie fell silent until they reached the nursery. He stopped in the middle of the room as Benneit went to take the book from the shelf.
‘Shall I have to leave my room?’
Benneit turned in surprise.
‘What?’
‘If you have another boy,’ Jamie clarified.
‘No, of course not. There are plenty of rooms. Your room is yours, Jamie. Come here.’
Benneit sat on the bedside and Jamie sat beside him.
‘What if I don’t like them?’
‘I think you will, most of the time. Sometimes you won’t. I never had brothers or sisters and I always wished I had. I was very jealous of your mother because she had two brothers and two sisters. She probably would have told you that there were some days she did not like them because they could be annoying, but she always loved them. Just as she always loved you.’
‘Did she?’
‘Good God, yes. You were too young to remember, but never doubt that. Never doubt that I love you, too, above everything.’
‘More than your own papa?’
‘More than him. That is what happens when you have children.’
‘Then why aren’t I enough?’
Benneit’s throat clenched at the need and fear squeezed into that simple question. He wrapped his arm around Jamie’s shoulders.
‘I know it is hard to understand, Jamie, but I want you to have more than I had. Brothers and sisters will be part of you for your lifetime. You will have to trust me that they will add more to your life than take away from it. Imagine—you can take them down to the bay and show them your treasures and read stories with them and teach them how to find everything on the map.’
‘Like you and Jo do with me.’
He gave Jamie’s arm a little rub and picked up the book.
‘Like that. Do you remember where you reached in the book?’
‘Jo put a leaf in to mark our spot. Right there.’ He pointed to the protruding tip of a dried leaf. ‘Don’t forget to put it back after you read so I can tell her where to continue.’
‘I won’t forget, Jamie.’
‘You will come with us tomorrow to the beach? You did not just say that?’
‘I promise. Now hush and listen.’
Chapter Sixteen
Benneit stood on the big flat stone that lay at the foot of the rock fall, watching his son and Jo sifting through a clump of dark brown kelp.
For the third day in a row.
Somehow after joining them the day following the disastrous dinner he found himself promising to join them the next day. Today he didn’t even have the excuse of having promised. He had been on his way to the stables when he saw them on the beach and here he was.
He was not accustomed to being herded by a pocket-sized pixie and yet that is precisely what was happening. Though the world was knocking at his door and the fate of Lochmore hung heavy on his shoulders, here he was, spending a third morning this week exploring the bay.
