Page 66 of Sighs of the Highland Wind
“Fine,” the Laird said at last, shrugging. “You obviously do not want the estate, because if you do not marry Davina you will lose it.”
9
Cameron’s heart plummeted as he stared at his father. “But I am already promised to someone else,” he said desperately. “She is a good woman and will make a fine wife for the Laird of the castle.”
“She is a commoner?” the Laird asked, his eyebrows raised in a question.
“Yes, but so am I, an’ she has the manners o’ a lady,” Cameron answered stoutly. “An’ she is beautiful.”
“Can she even read and write?” The Laird poured himself another glass of wine as he spoke. There was a glint in his eye that told Cameron he was beaten.
“No, but she is a very clever woman,” he answered stoutly. “She can learn fast, an’ I am sure there are plenty o’ teachers about who will work for the Laird.”
“My daughter can read, write and speak French and German,” James Henderson said triumphantly. “She is also very pretty,and I have no reason to believe she is not fertile. I am sure she can bear you many children.”
“Ye sound as though ye are talkin’ about breedin’ horses,” Cameron answered scathingly. “I am sure your daughter has many virtues, but I am in love wi’ somebody else, somebody I have known for years, an’ I have already asked her to marry me.”
“Love?” Henderson’s voice was almost a squeak of disbelief, then he laughed scornfully. “What has love got to do with marriage? You are two healthy young people. You marry, make love and have babies. It is all very simple. After that, you can sleep at each end of the castle if you want. Love has nothing to do with it. And if you have asked another woman to marry you - well, change your mind. Tell her you have given it some thought and you cannot go through with it.”
Cameron felt a fire of anger inside as he stared at Henderson, who obviously had never cared about anyone but himself his whole life.
He had promised Ava a whole estate, a whole new life, but the cost of the estate was marriage to a woman he had never met, and whether he liked her or loathed her, she was not Ava. He looked at James Henderson in disbelief and hatred. Change his mind? Take back his offer of marriage? He said it as casually as if he was asking Cameron to take off his shoes. The thought that he would be breaking someone’s heart had never likely crossed his mind.
Cameron decided that if he ever took up the Lairdship, Henderson would be the first person to go. Of course, sacking his father-in-law might be difficult, but it was not impossible. As he looked at James Henderson’s profile, he thought he might actually look forward to it! Henderson’s selfishness disgustedhim, as did many other things about him, and he noticed how the maidservants gave him a wide berth as he passed them. That was a warning sign.
If he took up the Laird’s offer he could support Ava in a different way, by giving her money to support her and her sisters. He could gift her his little piece of land and buy another for her. Yes, he could do a lot for her. He could do everything except lie in bed with his arms wrapped around her at night after making passionate love to her. He would never be able to give her his children, and he would have to stand by and watch while she married someone else and had his babies instead.
The thought was too awful to contemplate, but so was a life of scratching a meager living from the soil, working from dawn to dusk and wondering where the next meal was coming from. No, to help the woman he loved, to give her a good life, he had to give her up.
While Ava had been making her way home from the village, the sunlight had been gradually fading, and now they were sitting in a room that was lit by only one candle as Janet stood before Ava, looking down at her uncertainly.
Janet put her hands on Ava’s shoulders and looked tenderly into her sister’s eyes. “I am sorry to have to tell you this, Ava, but Cameron is no’ goin’ to marry ye,” she said softly. “He is promised to the daughter o’ the steward at the castle. We heard this afternoon. We didnae expect him tae ask ye to marry him since he had just asked somebody else.”
For a few moments, Ava was completely confused. “You mean he knew this when he came to propose to me?” she asked in disbelief. “Surely he would no’ do such a thing?”
“It seems so,” Janet answered. She was heartbroken inside for the sister she loved, since she knew that Ava had adored Cameron for years, and had always seen herself marrying him at some point. Now her hopes had been dashed, and in the cruelest way possible.
“Why would he do this?” Ava asked. She was not so much angry as puzzled, since Cameron had seemed so sincere. “No, there must be some kind o’a mix-up,” she said, shaking her head. She could not believe that the man she loved could possibly commit such an act of betrayal. Why? What was his motive?
Rona and Janet looked on sympathetically. They could not believe what had just happened either, but as they watched Ava collapse into a chair, completely devastated, they exchanged a furious glance.
“How did you find out?” Ava asked. Every question had an answer that was more painful than the last, but she had to ask them anyway.
“Ye know how the guards come to the village sometimes. Some of them spoke of the news, ” Janet huffed. “It didnae take long before it was all over the place. We heard it from Bessie the innkeeper, because she could no’ wait to come an’ tell us.”
“I wish I could punch his face in!” Rona said, her skin crimson with rage. “He has nae right to do that!”
Ava looked over at the body of her father and the sorrow and rage she had been holding in burst out in a storm of tears. Before long all the sisters were weeping and holding each other. It hadbeen a day from hell, and all of them were exhausted both in body and in spirit.
Ava and her sisters had to get back to the ordinary business of living, and that meant tending to their evening work around the house and farm. The body of Colin Struthers had been collected by one of the neighbors, who had donated the use of his cart, to the church.
Later, when they were all about to sit down for their evening meal, Cameron came back. Janet saw him first, as she stepped outside to fetch some water from the burn, and she stood glaring at him with her arms folded over her chest in an aggressive, defensive stance. Janet had always been the strongest of them in every way, and looked as if absolutely nothing could intimidate her, including Cameron.
When Cameron was about to dismount she confronted him, striding up beside Jimmy and staring up into his face. “You are no’ welcome here, ye swine! ” she growled at him. “Go back where ye came from.”
Cameron looked at Janet’s anger-filled face. “No’ before I see Ava,” he replied grimly as he dismounted from Jimmy and stood facing her. “I understand your anger, Janet, but this whole thing is no’ my fault.”
Janet gave a cynical laugh. “Aye, an’ I am the Queen o’ Sheba!” she yelled into his face. “Get out o’ here, ye piece o’ rubbish!” She was so angry that she followed her tirade with an expletive that young ladies never normally used.
