Page 1 of Highland Wishes And Dreams
Chapter 1
Inverness, Scotland, June 1819
Finn threw the missive in the fire and wished his anger burned as bright as the flames, but all he felt was despair. He leaned on the mantle wishing the last two months had never happened. Wishing his sister had never married and left home.
However, on top of Wen’s death he would never have thought his best friend would dishonor his late sister’s marriage contract.
“He has refused?” Finn’s mother could not believe it either. “Why?”
How did he tell his mother that all the note contained was the word ‘no’?
“Well, my boy, you will have to go to Banff Castle and retrieve the ring. I gave that to your sister to be handed down from mother to daughter. The marriage contract clearly states that if Wen died without a daughter, the ring returned to me. If I am dead it comes to your sister, Emily.”
He stood, running a hand through his hair and wishing he was out riding his estate along the bank of the River Ness, rather than dealing with his mother’s obsessive desire to reclaim a family heirloom. His mother had plenty of rings.
The fact the ring was Wen’s made his heart heavy. He wanted to keep his sorrow buried deep inside, but this talk of the Campbell emerald made him remember that Wen was dead. Nothing would bring her back. His laughing, sweet, younger sister was dead.
Campbell was his mother’s maiden name, and it was a Campbell heirloom passed down from mother to daughter through the centuries that was the cause of this disagreement with his brother-in-law. He still could not believe Wen would have no daughter to give it to. Now it would be Emily’s, and he wondered how his younger sister, Wen’s twin, felt about it all. Emily was married and her husband, the Duke of Paisley, was shouldering her grief. And thank the lord she’d given birth safely to her son not long after Wen’s funeral.
Finn understood it was grief more than anything driving his mother to act this way. Just as he hoped it was grief making Andrew wish to keep what belonged to their family. An emerald ring that was over five hundred years old. A ring thought to hold a special power. His fists clenched by his side as he stared into the flames. If it held special power why had it allowed his twenty-two-year-old sister to die in childbirth?
“Mother, Wen died delivering a grandson. Surely you want to be able to see him grow up? To ensure he hears stories about his mother so he will know her. Only you can do that. Is fighting over a ring worth losing contact with Jake?”
He wanted to ensure his mother was not cut out of Jake’s life, or himself for that matter. He would have Wen’s son grow up knowing what a wonderful woman she was. It just might cost him a friendship with Andrew as well, if this was not handled delicately.
However, his mother was right, they needed to return to Banff Castle. It was only a two-day journey along the coast from Inverness to Banff by carriage, or a day on horseback, not far at all. The quandary was how did he intrude on the Earl of Banff when he was in mourning? His relationship with Andrew MacDonald, Earl of Banff had been strained since Wen’s funeral.
“My Lord, there is another missive. It just arrived.”
Finn turned to take the parchment his butler handed him. It was addressed to Finn Wilson, Viscount Stuart. Very formal but the script was very feminine. He broke the wax seal surprised to note it was Lord Banff’s seal.
Dear Lord Stuart
I extend an invitation to your family to attend the christening of Jake Andrew Fraser MacDonald, Viscount Carthor. The christening will be held on 10thJuly at the chapel at Banff Castle.
I realize we are still in mourning for your sister but she would not want Jake to be left unbaptized for long.
You and your family are welcome to stay for as long as you would like. You will always be welcome here at my brother’s home.
Your friend
Lady Galina MacDonald
He heldin a curse only because of his mother’s presence. It would seem Jake had been given the courtesy title of Viscount Carthor. As a young boy he remembered first meeting Andrew, who had also born that title. They had become friends at hello. He would never have guessed they would end up at this point—mourning his little sister’s death in childbirth.
Andrew should have invited them, not his younger sister. Galina had been Wen and Emily’s best friend and she too must be hurting. What must it have taken for her to have to write such a note? A part of Finn was jealous of the fact Galina was now mistress of Banff Castle instead of Wen.
“Galina extends an invitation to Jake’s christening.”
His mother stood and moved to his side. She cupped his cheek. “Wen would have wanted this.”
His anger surfaced. “She’s been dead less than two months and life goes on as if she had never existed.” Pain flooded him.
“Not true. Her son is her legacy and he needs to be baptized.” His mother stepped back. “It also gives us a reason to go to Banff Castle and retrieve my ring.” At his silence his mother added, “I can’t be the first woman in our history to lose the ring. I’ve lost Wen, but I still have Emily. The ring belongs to her now. I can’t bear to lose the heirloom too. I just can’t.” And she burst into tears.
He enveloped his mother in his arms and let her cry. A part of him longed to cry too, to let loose this pain of Wen’s death, but Viscounts, and more importantly, Scottish lords, did not cry. They took care of everyone else and buried their pain to let loose alone in their cold, lonely beds.
“I’ll write to Galina and tell her we will arrive around the beginning of July.” His mother’s sobs quieted at his words. “I promise I will get the Campbell emerald back for you. Wen would have wanted Emily to have it.”
