“Well, it is rather romantic,” Anna said dreamily. “A handsome lord takes a lowly wench to a mountain castle.”
“The opinion of this wench is that it is no’ the least bit romantic. ’Tis servitude,” Mared said morosely.
“Not even a little romantic?” Natalie asked hopefully.
“No’ even a wee bit, lass. ‘Tis no’ romance when one is ordered about like a dog.”
Anna laughed, but stopped at once when Mared turned a pointed gaze on her.
“What precisely did he say?” Ellie asked, her brow wrinkled thoughtfully.
Mared sighed impatiently. “He said that he needed me to be with him. That I should take one of the maids to guard my virtue, but that he needed me there.”
“Ooh,” Anna and Natalie sighed at once.
“Ach, ye’d find romance in nothing more than the morning mist!” she scoffed at the two of them.
“But he loves you, Auntie Mared,” Natalie insisted.
“He doesna love me, Nattie, or he’d no’ ask this of me.”
“He does, Mared,” Anna said. “You can’t possibly deny it.”
With a shrug, Mared picked up the blue silk and held it up to her as she stood before the old mirror.
“Oh, that’s lovely, isn’t it, Ellie?” Anna said, and to Mared, “Try it on.”
Mared, who was already in her chemise having tried on a coral-colored dress that they all agreed made her look sickly, stepped into the pale blue silk and struggled to pull it up. “It’s rather tight,” she said.
“Natalie, be a love and fetch a needle and thread,” Anna said. “Blue thread.”
“Yes, mu’um,” Natalie said politely and skipped to the door and out as Anna came to stand behind Mared, admiring Mared’s reflection. “Oh, Mared. You look beautiful. He won’t believe his eyes when he sees you in this.”
“You should carry a kerchief so that you might mop up his drool,” Ellie added, and the two of them giggled.
“I’m happy that ye can laugh,” Mared said petulantly as Ellie tried to button the back of the gown.
“Don’t be silly,” Anna said, pushing the cap sleeves off her shoulders. “We adore you, Mared. We want you to be happy. We just think that you are perhaps denying what is in your heart.”
Had they been speaking to Donalda? “What is in my heart is that I shouldna march into the midst of so many Douglases.”
In the mirror’s reflection, she saw Ellie and Anna exchange a glance with one another. Then Ellie stepped forward, put her hands on Mared’s shoulders. “Mared. He’s a fine man. It doesn’t matter in the least that his last name is Douglas. What matters is that he adores you completely. Do you know how many women there are in this world who would give all that they had for a husband who adores them?”
“Husband!” Mared cried, shocked.
“Here’s a piece of advice, darling,” Anna added, her head popping into view over Mared’s right shoulder. “Allow him to make love to you before you commit to marrying him.”
“What?” Mared cried, whirling around. “Have the two of ye gone completely daft, then? Marry him? Make love with him? What madness!”
“Don’t be so prudish,” Ellie said cavalierly. “It’s just that…compatibility in the marital bed is very important, and as you have nothing to lose—stop looking at me like that will you? You’ve nothing to lose! From your very own lips hath come a vow to never marry!” Ellie insisted, touching Mared’s lips with her fingertip. “Do you truly intend to go to your grave a virgin?”
Mared could feel the heat rising rapidly in her neck and face and looked down at her gown. “I intend to go to Edinburgh and live my life. I deserve that chance.”
“Of course you do,” Anna said soothingly. “But in the absence of that opportunity, you’ll be here, and you’ve very few chances for remedy, isn’t that so?”
It was so. Mared groaned and looked at the gorgeous blue silk. “But what of my virtue? Would ye have me throw it away?”
“Of course not,” Ellie said sternly and grabbed Mared by the shoulders and turned her around to face the mirror again. “You must always guard your virtue, for it is all a young woman has. Just don’t guard it too closely, or you will become quite miserable and spinsterly and lose any hope of ever experiencing a man’s physical desire for you.”
“And that, Mared, is one of the most sublime pleasures on this earth,” Anna added. “Don’t allow it to pass you by.”
“Ye’re both as mad as hens,” Mared said, but she was looking at herself in the blue silk, thinking.