Page 73 of The Midnight Secret

‘No,’ Jayne said quickly, stopping him.

‘But—’

‘It’s fine, I’ll go. It might be better if...’ She looked ashamed suddenly. ‘I’m sorry, but it might be better if you aren’t here David, when he comes back down. He’s tired and...’

She looked at him imploringly.

‘...Of course,’ Effie said quickly, seeing Jayne’sembarrassment. ‘I need to be getting back anyway too. Come on, David.’ She jumped up, the dogs too.

But David didn’t move. He was staring at Jayne as if she had just had an argument with him and not her husband.

‘David?’ Effie said, tugging on his arm and having to all but drag him out. ‘...See you tomorrow, Jayne,’ she called over her shoulder.

The garden gate slammed behind them, marking their departure, and Effie looked up at David as they started on their way down the lane. It was dark but they were used to that, their eyes adapting quickly. ‘What was that all about?’ she asked him as they drew away from the cottage, the dogs running ahead.

‘Nothing,’ he muttered sullenly.

‘Well, something’s got your goat. Couldn’t you see poor Jayne was mortified? Sometimes people need their privacy, David.’

‘Privacy?’ he scoffed. ‘Being alone with him is the very last thing she needs.’

‘He’s her husband.’

‘He beats her!’

Effie swallowed, looking back quickly to check Norman hadn’t overheard. ‘...I know, so you said,’ she said in a low voice. It had been a shock when he had confided it to her, after Mhairi had told him on his visit to Oban at Christmas. ‘But if Jayne won’t admit it, then we have to respect her wishes to deal with him her way. You saw her in there just now – she knew exactly how to calm him down.’

‘But what about the times when she can’t? Do we wait until she’s dead, or half dead, before we do anything?’

‘David, I know she’s your friend, but you can’t live in her kitchen just in case it gives you a chance to stop anything.’

He shook his head. ‘How did I never see it for all those years?’ He sounded incredulous. ‘Why did Molly never say?’

‘Perhaps she didn’t know.’

David scoffed again, angrily. ‘She lived in the same house. She knew, Eff.’

‘Well, if she did, she never said anything to me either.’

They were quiet for a bit as they walked, their eyes roaming over the gentle heathered hills. Effie had seen a red stag earlier, forced down from the snowy summits.

‘Well at least she’ll have a few days’ peace if he does go away on another of these business trips.’

‘Business trips,’ David muttered sourly, shaking his head and looking away.

She looked up at him sharply. ‘What does that mean?’

‘Surely you’ve heard the rumours about him and Fiona MacDougall?’

‘The blacksmith’s wife?’

‘Aye. The lads in the yard say they’ve been at it for weeks. Supposedly she “visited her sister” the same week Norman went to Skye.’

‘Oh, poor Jayne,’ she whispered, feeling her cheeks burn with shock. Not just beaten but betrayed in every way. ‘And everyone knows?’

‘All but you and her, it seems,’ he said grimly.

They had reached Effie’s cottage now and they stopped at her gate. The light was on in the front room, her father sitting in his chair by the fire, whittling a stick. She turned to look directly at David, recognizing the mulish expression on his handsome face.

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