Page 11 of Beware A Wallflower's Wrath
“But ye thought I would be more objective? As much as I care for ye both?” Annis snorted. “Aye, I suppose more so than Fenella, who ye served since she was a child.”
“Have ye met the boy Colin took in?” Rose asked, taking out a handkerchief and blowing her nose.
“Boy-O?” When Brigid MacNaughton, the clan chief’s granddaughter and Lachlan’s sister, had arrived earlier in the month with her newly betrothed, they brought along a boy of around five years old. Their carriage had been robbed by a small gang of highwaymen, who had won the lad in a game of dice. The poor waif had been used as a decoy to stop coaches on the road. Brigid had smuggled Boy-O into their carriage while the surviving thieves were being arrested. Colin had taken the boy, living alone now that Lachlan and Fenella were married.
“He’s decided his name shall be called Mungo. He has no idea where he was born, and Glasgow is to be his home, so he’s taken the name of the city’s patron saint.” Rose’s smile told Annis how much Rose had grown to care for Colin’s new charge. “Colin says he’s a wedding gift. We’ll have a family without having to go through childbirth.”
Annis laughed. Now it made sense. Her cousin had an ulterior motive when he took in Mungo. “I admit it’s unusual, but the lad is adorable and smart. If ye never conceive, ye have a son to cherish who would give back yer love threefold.”
Rose’s eyes glistened again, and a tremulous smile curved her lips. “It seems the two of them have it all figured out. Boy-O, er, Mungo told your Aunt Sorcha that I was to be his ma, and he and Colin were the luckiest men on this earth.” She sighed, and Annis could see the creases around her eyes and mouth soften.
“May I give ye a wee piece of advice?” Annis took both her friend’s hands in hers when she nodded. “Life can turn down a different path in a breath. Ye must love as ye see fit but dinna hesitate when ye reach that fork in the road. Take the path of happiness, the one yer heart tells ye to follow. Ye willna regret that.”
Rose sniffed and blinked back more tears. “That’s what Colin is doing by asking me to marry him and be a mother to an orphan?”
“Aye. He’s been alone for more than ten years. Ye’re the first woman he’s opened his heart to. It’s been so long since we’ve seen him genuinely happy.” The women both stood and hugged.
“Thank you so much for… being my friend.,” said Rose as she settled her shawl over her slender shoulders. “And for having such sense!”
“I’ll write ye while I’m gone, and ye’ll keep me informed?”
“Of course. Now I only need to wait until Colin asks me again.”
“Or,” Annis said, “ye could do the asking.”
Rose grinned. “Have a safe journey. Give Fin a kiss for me and we’ll see ye in a month or so?”
“Aye.” She walked Rose to the door which led to the private entrance of the apartment. “And ye give Colin and Mungo a kiss from me.”
As Annis returned to the kitchen, she thought of the odd trio who, no doubt, would be a wonderful and loving family. Every boy deserved a caring mother and father. Should she have married and given Fin the same? Love had not found her again, and Colin had been a good male influence for her son. Still, the question haunted her sometimes.
A knock at the door shook her from her thoughts. Finlay must have his hands full and couldn’t get the handle. Annis opened the door and blinked. She tried to take a breath but couldn’t. She dug her nails into her palms. No, it wasn’t a dream.
“Rabbie?” she whispered.
He closed his hazel eyes and nodded, a smile on his face.
“Rabbie.” It was all she could manage. He stood two steps below her, so they were at eye level. So close, she could reach out and rake her fingers through his dark flaxen hair. Run a finger down his chiseled jaw. She smiled. Yes, she’d had this dream many times.
“No one has called me that in a very, very long time. It’s like… a voice from heaven.” He opens his eyes, flecks of green dancing and teasing her.
The joy she saw there faded as her own smile disappeared, replaced with anger.
“What in the name of all the saints are ye doing here?” she demanded.
He sucked in a breath. “I deserve that. Could I come in? Would you at least let me speak?”
Her heart pounded in her ears. Aye, aye, aye. Her mind screamed to slam the door in his face and run. But Annis was no coward, and the curious corner of her brain wanted to know why he’d come. Now. So, she stepped aside and allowed him to enter her life again. For the moment.
“Thank you.” His fingers gripped the rim of his hat, and a flash of those capable digits on her skin sent heat rising to her cheeks. She turned her back on him and walked to the parlor.
Robert wasn’t sure what he’d expected when the door opened. His heart to thud out of his chest? Of course. His tongue to stop working? Possibly. A slap in the face? He hoped not. His reaction to her had been totally unexpected.
As his eyes locked with hers and she whispered his name, a calm had settled over his soul. A peace and contentment he hadn’t felt in years with just the sound of her voice. He’d had to close his eyes against the onslaught of happiness, the sweet melancholy of hope lost and, perchance, rediscovered.
Then he opened his eyes to see her turbulent blue ones, and his stomach clenched when her lovely smile faded, and the joy was replaced with ire. But she’d let him in.
The kitchen was warm but welcoming. Wooden chairs lined both sides of the worn wooden table, a lamp in the center on top of a doily of cream lace. Along one wall was exposed brick and a hearth with a fireback. Andirons held a grate, the slow steady wood burning atop it. The kettle, hanging from a hook on the fireplace crane, had been moved away from the heat. A Dutch oven sat on the stone floor of the hearth, burning embers surrounding the base and piled on the lid. The smell of a rich gravy and stew tickled his nostrils.
