THEY LEFT, MURMURING to one another in excitement and leaving the door open, as they’d found it. A cool breeze came down the hallway, carrying the ghost of lye soap.
I put my hands on Jamie’s shoulders. Hard as rocks, and so were the columns of his neck, under my thumbs.
“You did the right thing,” I said quietly, and began to massage the tight muscles, searching out knots. He sighed deeply, and his shoulders dropped a little.
“I hope so,” he said. “I’m likely nourishing a wee brood o’ vipers in my bosom—but it does lighten the weight on my heart.” After a moment he added, still looking down at his desk, “I did think o’ the other men, Sassenach. The brothers and sons, I mean. But what I thought was that they’d take care for the women and children—feed them, take them in if their husbands couldna find a place. I never thought … Christ, it was like havin’ my own guns taken and pointed at me!”
“You did the right thing,” I said again, and kissed the top of his head. “And you know that now all those women and children will be watching out like hawks, in case of any rannygazoo on the western side of the Ridge.” He turned his head and gave me an eye.
“I dinna ken what rannygazoo is, Sassenach, but God forbid I should have it without my knowing. Is it catching?”
“Very. Blessed are the merciful, for mercy shall be shown them.”
“I’m glad to find you so filled with mercy, Colonel,” said a dry voice from the doorway. “I only hope you may not have exhausted your store for the day.” Elspeth Cunningham stood on the other side of the threshold, tall and straight and dressed in black, a stark white fichu throwing her gaunt features into stern relief.
The muscles under my hands went momentarily as hard as concrete. I let go, and then Jamie was on his feet, bowing.
“Your servant, madam,” he said. “Come in.”
She stepped over the threshold, but stood for a moment, hesitant, a pinch of skirt caught between her fingers.
“Dinna think for a moment of kneeling to me,” Jamie said, matching the tone in which she’d spoken a moment before. “Sit down on your hurdies and tell me what it is ye want.”
I went round the desk and pulled up the visitor’s chair for her, and she sank into it, her deep-set eyes still fixed on Jamie.
“I want Agnes,” she said, without preamble.
Jamie blinked, sat down, blinked again, and leaned back, relaxing a little.
“What d’ye want her for?” he asked warily.
“Perhaps I should have said I’ve come to speir for her,” she said, with a trace of a smile. “If that’s the correct term?”
“Only if ye want to marry her,” Jamie said. “Which I suppose is what ye mean. Which one o’ the lieutenants did ye have in mind, and what does Agnes have to say about it?”
Elspeth sighed and unfolded her hands to accept the cup of whisky I offered her.
“At the moment, it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other,” she admitted. “The silly creature can’t make up her mind between them, and as I’ve told her that there’s no way of knowing which of them fathered her child, neither has more of a factual claim upon her affections than the other.”
“I suppose you could wait ’til the child’s born and see who it looks like,” I suggested. I could—within fairly broad limits—discern blood types. That might help, but I thought I wouldn’t suggest it right this moment.
Just as well, since both of them ignored me.
“That’s why I said I want Agnes,” she said. “I’ve decided that I must accept your offer to provide transport for my son and his household. When he heard of your banishing the men who … followed him … he declared that he could no longer remain here, without supporters and at your … mercy.”
“My mercy,” Jamie muttered, drumming his fingers briefly on the table. “Hmmphm. Evidently I’ve an endless store o’ that. So?”
“Gilbert and Oliver will of course accompany us,” she went on, ignoring this. “They naturally do not wish to abandon Agnes …”
“Agnes has a home,” Jamie broke in impatiently. “Here. Abandon her, forbye!”
“Surely you will admit that they have a responsibility to the girl,” Elspeth said, lowering her strong gray brows at him in a way that made her look like a very stern owl.
“I will,” he said. “But I’ll not see her taken from her home unless she wants to go and I’m assured of her future welfare. I can find her a good husband here, ken?”