Page 118 of A Highland Bride Disciplined
She’d dressed Elise in her softest wool gown, the one Effie had stitched with tiny flowers along the hem, and yet the babe’s weight in her arms felt heavier than stone. Heavier than her own breath.
“Hold still, m’lady,” Effie whispered, trying to tuck the bonnet ribbon beneath Elise’s chin. Her fingers fumbled twice before Morag swatted them away and tied the knot herself, brisk and neat.
“There,” the housekeeper said, her voice clipped. “Fit for the King’s table, this wee lass is.”
Scarlett looked down. Elise blinked up at her with wide, curious eyes, her little hand batting at the air as if chasing some invisible prize. Blissfully unaware. Scarlett’s throat squeezed tight.
Effie sniffled and leaned close to press a kiss against the babe’s cheek. “Och, I’ll miss her already,” she whispered, her words wobbling.
Scarlett’s teeth ground together.She isnae gone yet.
Morag, less sentimental, straightened her apron. “She’ll be needin’ a good sendoff, aye. But daenae dawdle, m’Lady. Tam will be here any moment.”
As if conjured by her words, the knock came. Heavy and sure.
“Aye, come in, Tam. We all ken it’s ye,” Morag’s voice rang out.
The door creaked open, and Tam filled the frame, shoulders broad as an oak tree. He looked grimmer than usual, his lone eye fixed on the babe. For a breath, his scarred face softened.
“Time,” Tam said gently, loosening Elise’s grip.
Scarlett rose, clutching the babe close. Effie let out another sob, muffled in her apron. Even Morag sniffed once before snapping, “Enough blubberin’. Ye’ll scare the child.”
But Scarlett wasn’t fooled. She saw the way the housekeeper’s knuckles whitened around the cradle edge, the way her lips pressed thin as a blade.
They left the nursery together, Tam leading, Scarlett behind with Elise snug against her chest. Each stair felt like a noose tightening. Her legs wanted to buckle, but she forced them steady. For Elise’s sake.
At the base of the stairwell, Kian waited. His presence hit her like a wall. He said nothing, only stepped forward. For a moment, Scarlett thought he might stop her. That he’d change his mind.
Instead, he bent low. His lips brushed Elise’s forehead in a fleeting kiss. “Be well, sweet lass,” he murmured. Too soft for the men waiting beyond the gates to hear.
Scarlett swallowed hard.
Her arms tightened, protective. She wanted to sayshe is ours. But the words wouldn’t come.
This is what’s right. He is her faither.
Together Kian, Tam, and Scarlett walked out into the courtyard. The air bit sharp, the smell of iron thick as men gathered in rows along the walls. Above, archers stood ready, bows loose but strung. The silence was suffocating, broken only by the creak of leather and the distant caw of a crow.
At the gate, Roderick Hendry stood waiting, smug as ever. His hair gleamed with oil, his cloak trimmed finer than his father’s coin could honestly afford. And still something flickered in hiseyes.Is that relief? What would I look like if someone was returning me own child to me? Would I look like him?
Scarlett’s stomach churned. Something was off.
When he saw her, babe in arms, his smile widened almost too widely. “At last,” he said. “At long last.”
Kian’s hand brushed Scarlett’s elbow. Not a comfort, but a command. She stepped forward, each pace dragging her heart down.
She stopped just short of Roderick. Elise stirred in her arms, a soft gurgle, and Scarlett pressed her lips to the child’s temple. She wanted to burn the memory into her skin.
Roderick reached his hands out. “Come then. Yer faither’s waitin’.”
Scarlett stiffened.Faither.The word curdled in her gut.
She couldn’t just hand Elise over. She needed some kind of hope, or perhaps reassurance that the lass was well and cared for and loved just as her maither had hoped. Scarlett heard her own voice break free before she could stop it. “… Might we come visit? From time to time?”
Roderick’s brow furrowed and he stiffened as if insulted by the request. “Visit?”
The ground beneath Scarlett’s feet began to shift ever so slightly. Having not anticipated an argument, she was immediately unsettled, and didn’t even think of the next words out of her mouth.
