Page 37 of In Search of a Husband
Maisie quickly said her goodbyes to Marcel, and they both followed Kate out the door. She could never teach the girls if they didn’t trust her. Isn’t that why Gabriel spoke with her the other evening?
Trust.
She hummed to herself as she strolled into the village, the girls close on her heels, skipping and dancing around her. If Gabriel wished for her help, then she would expect the same from him. And that meant showing up for his nieces and not leaving them solely in her care. She wasn’t their nursemaid.
And he was family.
She would trust him when he showed her the same grace.
The Thistle and Glen Inn was a large, stacked stone building in an otherwise small village center. It sat on top of a hill overlooking a vast glen nestled between more mountains. In the distance, the bleating of sheep echoed, as did the yelling of her employer and his business partner, Finn Wallace.
The inn’s door was ajar. She pushed it open, scrunching her nose at the rancid smell. No one would ever come with the damage.
“Lift it, ye bloody arse!” Finn shouted. “Ye’re lettin’ yer side slip.”
She took the girls’ hands and stopped in the middle of the room as Gabriel and Finn shouted from behind the bar, bickering like two children with their eyes set on a pile of sweets.
Kate cleared her throat.
“If ye don’t lift up yer damn side,” Gabriel grumbled, “I’ll skin yer hide like a Sunday roast.”
Kate cleared her throat again, trying to get his attention before they continued.
“Uncle!” Lorna shouted, stomping her small muddy boots against the floor.
“Bluidy hell!” Finn yelped as something crashed down upon him. Gabriel snickered; Kate was not as amused.
“Are you two finished?” she asked, her arms crossed, staring down upon him like she imagined a disapproving governess might.
“What are ye doin’ here?” he barked, emerging from behind the bar, his face in a scowl.
He didn’t scare Kate. “We are here,” she said, “to help.”
Maisie tugged on Kate’s hand. “Miss Bancroft, have ye met us? I dinna think we are helpful at all.”
Kate bent down. “I disagree, Maisie. Many hands make light work.”
She had embroidered that on a pillow once when she was twelve. It was far less imaginative than the sampler she left behind with Charlotte in London.
Gabriel looked as if he was about to yell before marching forward and gently steering Kate out of the room into the back hallway. “Listen,” he said, “I have lots to do, and I dinna have time to mind ye or the bairns.”
“You listen to me, Gabriel MacInnes.” She stuck her finger into his chest, instantly regretting it. Three days was a long time to be away from him, yet she was certain she couldn’t stand the stubborn, growling giant. “Yell, bark, march about all you like. But I was hired to mind thebairns”—she met his glare, mimicking his accent—”and they need to know they are loved and safe more than they need to know how to hold a teacup properly or conduct a conversation about the weather in French. I recognize there is a lot to be done, and all I am asking is to include them. They only just lost their father.”
Gabriel gently steered her finger away, then dropped his touch as if she burnt him. “He was my brother.”
“So he was. And if you weren’t stomping about with your head upyour arse all day, worrying about restoring Dunsmuir Castle and rebuilding the inn and the distillery, you might make some peace with that.”
“I should let ye go for speaking to me that way,” he scoffed. “What do ye think I’m doin’ all this for anyhow?”
“I imagine it all comes down to making the distillery profitable. To prove that it could be done when more than half the village is against it. Including Finn.”
“They dinna ken what they want, only that they want food on their tables and a roof over their heads. And after my brother, I’m tryin’ to make that happen again. My brother never loved this place, he only thought it his birthright.”
“And you do love this place? You can’t seem to leave here fast enough.”
“I had a life of my own before now. And one day changed that. Suddenly, I’m stuck managing all this and two wee girls, and I’m doin’ what I can. But that’s no’ much. If ye want to leave, then consider this notice enough. I’ll write a good recommendation.”
She shook her head, refusing to let him hide any further.
