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Jetta's eyes widened, but she answered promptly and firmly. "Nay."
"Nay?" Saidh prodded insistently and now Jetta frowned as she recalled her earlier worries on the matter.
"Did it bother me ere the accident?" she asked anxiously. "Was I unkind or cruel to him about the scar before I lost my memory? Because if I was . . ."
"If ye were?" Saidh prompted when she fell silent.
"Then I was a fool," she said sadly. "My husband is the kindest, most considerate man alive, and the scar does not take away from that. He is handsome. The scar merely adds a rakish air to his good looks. If I was too blind or foolish to see that ere hitting my head, then I was a stupid, shallow child."
Much to Jetta's confusion, Saidh suddenly beamed and tugged her into a firm hug, saying, "Welcome, sister," as she did.
The two of them were then immediately beset by the other three women, all of whom rushed forward to surround and embrace them both as well. Mavis soon joined in too so that it became just a large pile of hugging and cries of welcome. Confused though she was, Jetta was touched and found her eyes dampening with tears at the acceptance. Before those teardrops could become a waterfall, it ended just as suddenly as it began, and the women all began to pull away, chattering excitedly as they did.
"I will tell the men to have the chests brought up!" one of the blondes announced firmly, heading for the door.
"I shall fetch me brush. We must do her hair ere we take her back," the other said, sounding excited.
"I'll order a bath," Edith announced, and then glanced to Mavis. "There is a tub here?"
"Aye, aye." Mavis headed for the door. "I'll order the boys to bring it in and fetch water."
"Do no' be silly, Mavis," Edith said, chasing after her. "I shall tend that. I did no' mean to make more work fer ye. What is it ye're cooking? It smells divine."
"'Tis a fine stew for yer noon repast," Mavis said proudly. "Speaking o' which, I needs must double it now there are so many more here for the meal."
"Well, you tend that while I take care of the bath then," Edith said firmly.
"I'll need more rabbits," Mavis said with concern.
"I guess that means I'm going hunting," Acair said wryly, reminding Jetta that he was still there. Heading for the door now he added, "I suppose I'll need enough for lunch and supper too, so I'll take a few o' the men with me."
"No need to bother about supper," Saidh announced, bringing him to a halt at the door. "We'll all be back at Buchanan by the sup I should think."
"Really?" he asked with interest. "Does Aulay ken yer plan?"
Saidh shrugged. "I'm sure he's guessed I'll bring her back. After all, the only thing keeping her here was her lack o' dress. Now we can fix that. Besides," she added with a somewhat sly smile, "I'm sure the people o' Buchanan will be glad to see their laird's wife is alive and well."
Acair grinned at the comment and nodded approval before turning to Jetta and saying, "The lassies'll take good care o' ye, girl, and their men'll be here to stand guard while I'm away hunting up another rabbit. But send one o' the soldiers fer me do ye need me."
"Thank you," she whispered.
Smiling, he gave her a wink and headed out the door.
Jetta watched him go and then glanced to Saidh and asked, "Are we really going to Buchanan today?"
"Aye," Saidh said firmly. "I think it is the best thing we can do under the circumstances."
Jetta nodded solemnly, but taking in the spark of something in the woman's eyes and suspecting she understood what Saidh was hoping would happen, Jetta sighed and cautioned, "I will be glad to see my husband again. I missed him almost the moment he left. But I hope you are not thinking that being there will help spark some memories in me."
Saidh tilted her head and eyed her curiously. "Ye do no' think it will?"
Jetta shook her head. "If seeing and being with the man I obviously love dearly did not spark memories, I do not see how a building could."
Saidh paused briefly and swallowed, her eyes shimmering with what looked suspiciously like tears, before she asked, "Ye love him?"
"How could I not? He is wonderful," Jetta said with a wide smile, happy to talk about her husband. "He cared for me all through my illness with such patience and concern, and truly every time he kisses or touches me--" Realizing what she was saying, Jetta paused and was sure by the heat in her face that she was blushing.
"Kisses and touches and . . . ?" Saidh murmured, and then asked delicately, "You two have no' . . . ?"
Jetta shook her head quickly, grateful when the woman didn't finish her question. Positive she was now as red as a tomato, Jetta explained, "Rory insists I should not have excitement of any kind until I am healed, so other than that one time when he . . ." Pausing, she swallowed and shivered as she recalled him pleasuring her on the table. After a moment though, she shook her head and cleared her throat before continuing, "Well, and that was not the actual bedding or anything, but I was very excited, but Aulay has not done anything like that since because of Rory's orders I not be excited."
"Ah." Saidh grinned in a way that made Jetta sure the woman had a good idea what the "not the actual bedding" had entailed. Tempering her grin now, she asked, "But ye like his kisses and touches?"
"Oh aye," Jetta admitted on a sigh. "Aulay is truly wonderful in all ways. I find it hard to believe I was so lucky as to have him to husband."
"But ye do," Saidh announced firmly. "And I'm going to see it stays that way."
Jetta glanced at her uncertainly. "See that it stays that way?"
"Here we are!" Edith burst into the room with a passel of soldiers in tow. As they trudged in with their burdens, she announced, "The tub and the cold water are here, and there are several pots of water warming over the fire. A few minutes and they should be ready too!"
"I'll go check on them and tell Greer we plan to return to Buchanan ere day's end," Saidh announced, hurrying f
or the door. "He'll want to send one o' the men back to warn Cook so he kens he has extra mouths to feed."
Jetta watched her go with a frown. She knew from the tales Aulay had told her that Greer was Saidh's husband, and she understood that the woman probably did need to let him know they weren't staying so that the men could prepare to leave rather than settle in here, but she wished Saidh would stay so she could question her about the "see that it stays that way," bit. The words didn't even make sense to her. Why would Saidh need to see it stayed that way? Was there some question that it wouldn't? Was her husband considering setting her aside because of her head injury? Perhaps he didn't like that she couldn't remember him. Perhaps he feared this memory affliction could be passed on to their children when they had them. Dear God, surely he wouldn't set her aside?
"Here we go!"
Jetta glanced toward the blonde who entered the room on that announcement. Her eyes widened as she saw the men following the woman, carrying chests. She could see three at first, but as the first men entered, she saw more behind them and it turned out there were six chests in all, each needing two men to carry them.
"What . . . ?" she asked faintly, eyeing the chests with curiosity.
"Dresses," Edith announced with excitement.
"Well, most of them have dresses," the blonde corrected her. "There are also two chests of cloth for you to have new gowns made to your taste."
"True," Edith agreed with a grin. "Jo had scads of cloth sent to her by her uncle and she kindly piled two chests full of it fer ye."
"Jo," Jetta murmured, smiling at the woman, both out of gratitude and because she now knew which blonde was which. Expression sincere, she smiled at the women and said, "Thank you. This is so very kind of you." Her smile fading a bit, she shifted her gaze to the chests as each one was set down and added, "I could hardly believe it when my husband said all of my belongings had been lost when the ship sank."
When no one commented, she frowned and shifted her gaze back to the women. "Where were we going?"
"Oh, well . . ." Edith hesitated and looked to the other two women as if for help.
"I fear we do no' ken the answer to that," Murine said quietly. "Dougall mentioned that Aulay liked to take a bit o' break this time o' year, but I do no' recall his saying where he planned to go."
