“What do you mean they didn’t consummate their marriage? How on earth would you know that, Mary? Goodness, I know that you’re nosy, but I didn’t know you were a peeping Tom. What did you do, cut a peep hole into Arran’s bedroom?” Adelle laughed at her own wit. Mary had to refrain from whopping the woman on the nose. Bri, she loved, but it was going to take her more time to adjust to the loud-mouthed, say-anything ways of her mother. “I doona know what a ‘peeping Tom’ is, but I doona believe I like what ye are suggesting. O’course I dinna spy on them. I know they dinna consummate the marriage because Arran had me prepare his mother’s room for Edana to stay in. They dinna spend the night together.” Mary continued kneading the dough as her nosy kitchen visitor sat across from her watching.
“No! Why? It’s because Bri was right, isn’t it? He does still love Blaire. I knew we should’ve stopped that marriage, Mary! Perhaps, it’s not too late to do something. If they’ve not consummated it, it’s not actually binding, is it?”
“I doona know why they dinna spend the night together, but aye, I do believe Bri was right. But it doesna matter, there is nothing we can do because everyone else believes the marriage is consummated, and we are no going to tell them anything different. Do ye understand me?”
“Why? We must. Bri is going to kill us both when she gets back here with Blaire, and we’ve let Arran run off and marry somebody else.”
Mary threw her hands up in exasperation sending a cloud of flour soaring into the air. “What do ye think she would have expected us to do to stop him? Arran listens to no one, especially when it is someone trying to stop him from doing something foolish. If Blaire returns, which I doona think she will, she will overcome it in time. I doona like it for either of them, but both have made their own choices. ’Tis no our place to meddle.”
“Not our place? That’s what mothers do, Mary. And regardless of your position here in the castle, you know as well as I do that you are just as much a mother to those lads as their real mother was. They were young when they lost her, and you’ve been there for them and loved them since they were babes.”
Mary couldn’t help but smile. Adelle was right, she loved those boys as if they were her own. Movement in the doorway caused her to glance up from the heap of dough and, as Kip approached her with a letter extended in her direction, Mary turned to dip her hands into a bucket of water to cleanse them of the flour.
“What is it?” Shaking them dry, Mary reached for the parchment in her husband’s hand.
“I doona know. Saw the lad riding up so I stopped him and told him I’d take it here meself. It’s addressed to Eoin but, seeing as both lads are gone, I expect that ’tis ye that should open it.
“Aye, o’course.” Mary broke the seal and unfolded the parchment. She shook her head as she read the words, “It wouldna do for Old Mary to have one day of rest. One day with both of the lads gone for me to rest and pretend that I live a life of leisure. Nay, such a small wish is too much for me to receive.” She paused and pointed at her husband. “Kip, ye will need to gather every one near us to help get the castle in order. We doona only have to clean up the mess our guests left us, but we have a new batch of visitors arriving tomorrow. Lady McMillan and her three sons arrive here the day after next.”
Chapter 15
The Castle Formerly Known As Kinnaird
The first evening Edana spent at what would now be considered Conall Castle since her father’s death, she felt his presence everywhere. The remains of his hatred, his abuse, his insanity weighing down upon her, taunting her, pleading with her to finish what he’d started.
Her father had given his life to defeat the Conalls, and it had all been for nothing. His worst nightmare had come true. A Coanll now led, and his only daughter was now married to one as well.
Edana moved through the hallways haunted by the memories of her childhood, a childhood filled with fear, filled with manipulation, filled with abuse. Now that her father was gone, she wanted to move on, to live a happier life than the one he had provided her. But with her father’s plan for the Conalls’ demise unfinished, she knew her father’s presence would remain over her, tempting her to the madness which he’d surrendered to. The only hope she had of finding peace with him, of ending his control on her life, was to finish what he’d begun.