Page 90 of Hard-Hearted Highlander
Inside, the children wandered around the room, taking in the furnishings. “Have I ever been here?” Fiona asked.
“No,” Ualan said. He had stationed himself at the window. “You’ve naugh’ been anywhere, Fiona.”
“Is this where we shall live?” Fiona asked, and bounced onto a settee, testing it.
“No,” Rabbie said. He could hear Bernadette now—she was coming down the stairs, her steps heavy. When she walked into the salon, Rabbie was taken aback—much of her hair had been pulled from the knot at her nape and her eyes were swollen. He panicked a wee bit—he didn’t know if the children would go along with his plan with Bernadette looking such a fright. She was frighteninghim. “Miss Holly,” he said.
“What is...what are you doing?” she asked, her voice dull.
“Allow me to introduce Miss Fiona and Mr. Ualan MacLeod.”
“Pardon?” She turned her head to the children. Fiona had fled to Ualan’s side and they were standing very close together at the window, gaping at her. Fiona shifted, trying to move behind her brother.
Bernadette lifted her hand and tried vainly to smooth her hair. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” she said.
Neither of the children spoke.
She looked again at Rabbie. “I don’t understand.”
“Fiona and Ualan are the niece and nephew of Seona MacBee. They alone survived...” He hesitated and glanced at the two of them. “Whatever might have happened, aye?”
Bernadette looked at them again. She managed a smile. The children didn’t return that smile, but continued to stare at her curiously.
Now Bernadette put her back to them. “What is this about?” she whispered. “Why are they here?”
Rabbie spoke to the children in Gaelic, instructing them to remain at the window so that he might have a word with Miss Holly. Then he took Bernadette by the elbow and moved her as far from them as he could in the space of that room.
“I don’t understand!” Bernadette said again. “What are you doing, Rabbie?”
“Helping you,” he said. “You told me what happened to you, and then you banished me, aye? You didna want to hear my thoughts. You believed you knew what I’d think, you did.”
“I beg your pardon?” she exclaimed, and glanced over her shoulder at the children, then moved closer to him. “What difference can your thoughts possibly make?” she said sharply. “I don’t care what you think. I don’t want to know what you think, because there is nothing that will change what has happened or what it means.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Bernadette. Icanchange it.”
She snorted.
“I can change it,” he said again. “I can love you—Idolove you, with all my heart, aye? And I can keep you.”
She shook her head, and Rabbie grasped her hand, pulling her closer. He leaned in and said, “If you canna bear me children,leannan,then I can bear them for you. I can give you happiness, and I will, gladly, I will. But you must believe it can be. You must believe there is another way.”
She pulled her hand free and tried to move away, but he caught her by the waist.
“You’re speaking nonsense,” she whispered harshly. “You expect me to take in children I don’t know?”
He had suspected she would react like this, and he was not going to debate it with her. He strode away from her, walked to where the children were standing and kneeled down. He took each of their hands in one of his and spoke softly in Gaelic to them. “Remember what I’ve told you. Do you remember how it makes you sad that you’ve no family?”
They both nodded.
“Miss Holly is sad, too. Don’t fear her. It will be difficult at first, and she might seem frightening. But I know her—she is kind, and she’ll be kind to you.” The children glanced over his shoulder and stared at Bernadette. Neither of them seemed inclined to believe it.
“She looks wicked,” Fiona whispered.
“She’s unhappy,” Rabbie said. “She needs a friend.” He glanced at Ualan. “I need you both to befriend her.”
“I don’t like her,” Fiona whispered.
“Och,lass, you don’t know her. You didn’t know me, either, and yet you gave me a chance. I think you can do the same for her.” He looked at Ualan.
