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CHAPTER NINE

“ P lease, Margaret. Please!” Aurelia begged, even going so far as to hold her hands clasped together before her.

“That isnae goin’ to work,” Margaret said, hands on her hips. “Please, have a little more respect for me than that.”

“Please!” Isobel joined in, mimicking her older sister.

“Father won’t find out,” Aurelia insisted. “We will not tell him.”

“Please.”

“Please, it will be so fun!”

The two girls stood with their hands clasped together as if in prayer, chins wobbling, eyes beginning to water.

They were making a show of it because Margaret knew they were not nearly as upset as they pretended to be.

Merely children trying to get their way, which was something that Margaret was used to.

“I applaud the performance, but the answer is still nae.” She could not help but laugh this time. “As I told ye earlier, we can look an’ touch, but we cannae ride. Yer father would kill me if he found out.”

Their faces fell with resignation. It caused Margaret to pause, and she very nearly changed her mind, for she hated saying no to the two girls.

What was more, she was eager for them to like her.

But it was true that if she said yes, Lysander would be furious with her.

Although that itself is almost a reason to do it.

Margaret and the two young girls were in the stables at the moment, there to pet the horses and see them fed.

No more, no less, because Margaret knew that if she allowed them to ride without their father’s permission, there would be hell to pay.

Not that she should have cared one way or the other.

Wasn’t she set to avoid him from now on anyhow?

Had she not declared that the two were finished?

It was easy to say, harder to commit to. Where I do intend to avoid me husband as much as I can, I still cannae find it in meself to dismiss his authority outright. A shudder ran through her body at the thought, one that she knew the reason for, even if she refused to accept it.

Even the fact that she was spending time with the two girls was a risk, as surely the duke would scold her for such a thing.

Although maybe he would not? It was hard to say what he wanted, and Margaret wasn’t even sure that he knew the answer to that question.

It was all so confusing. So unclear. She wanted to avoid the duke and be done with him – it would be easier in the long run, as I am still set to leave here come the end of the Season — while also desperate to find herself alone in his company again…

“So, ye father daesnae want ye riding horses at all?” Margaret began as she led the girls toward one of the horses. It was a white stallion, muscled and elegant both, a truly beautiful creature.

“No,” Aurelia sighed. She approached the horse without hesitation, stroking its front in a way that suggested she did this often. “Perhaps when I am older, he might let me.”

“Me too!” Lenora joined in. She was only six years old, and Margaret had noticed that she had a habit of parroting her sister.

“Perhaps I will talk to him,” Margaret said, even if she wasn’t certain that was a good idea. Again, she was supposed to be trying to avoid him…

“Would you?” Aurelia brightened. “Please do!”

“Please!”

She laughed as she came in beside the girls, stroking the horse’s mane. “I will do me best. I do wonder what yer mother might have said,” she then pondered. “Ye father has nae spoken of her once to my recollection.”

“He never does,” Aurelia sighed, looking away as if saddened.

“Did ye… do ye remember her?” Margaret pressed.

“Only a little,” Aurelia admitted. “Not well enough to recall anything of her. Just that she was quite strict.”

“How so?”

Aurelia shrugged. “She would never let me do anything. I was only Lenora’s age, so perhaps it was not so strange.

But I remember once asking to play outside, and she refused.

When I went to my father, he agreed with her.

” She curled her lip. “ A lady should not wish to play outside, for that is a boy’s business,” she said in a mocking tone.

Margaret frowned as she studied Aurelia, surprised by how honest the girl was being.

Margaret was still close to her mother, only ever knowing her love.

But in this, she was uniquely positioned to understand the strange way that mothers often showed this love.

Sometimes seeming strict, only doing what they thought was best.

“It sounds to me like she cared for ye,” Margaret said with a friendly smile. “I ken it might nae seem that way, but I have some experience with these things and my guess is she was jus’ doin’ what she thought was best.”

“Maybe…”

“Trust me.” Margaret rested a hand on Aurelia’s shoulder and squeezed it.

“Me own mother could be much the same, but I never doubted how much she loved me. It is hard being a woman in this world, truly an impossible task at times. All we can do is look out for one another.” She winked at the two girls, and Lenora giggled.

“What of Father? He is the same…” Aurelia’s expression soured. “Worse, sometimes. He does not let me do anything.”

“He is…” She hesitated. “A little strict, I will admit.”

“Worse than that!”

“But it is the same as yer mother,” Margaret made sure to follow up.

“Anyone can see how much yer father cares for ye. Both of ye.” She looked between the two girls.

“He is doin’ his best, likely at constant pains with how he should treat ye.

As hard as it is being a woman, it can be just as hard to be a father. ”

Margaret couldn’t say why she was defending Lysander. It might have even been easier to have agreed with the girls, another means to get them on her side. But she found that she could not smear Lysander like that to his daughters, as it felt wrong to do and less than he deserved.

Lysander was a good father; that was the truth.

And despite how much he vexed her, it was the one thing she admired most about him.

Moments like this one, how effortless it was to speak with these two girls, were proof enough that they had been raised well and would turn into the young ladies he was so desperate to see them grow into. It brought a smile to Margaret’s lips…

It also brought pain. A stabbing sensation felt in her heart because again she was reminded that these two girls were not her own, they never would be, and if this marriage continued as she suspected it would, she would never have a family of her own.

Perhaps that is reason enough to try harder with Lysander, to try and make this marriage work! A shame that Margaret was so stubborn.

“What’s that noise!” Lenora cried suddenly, whipping her head about. “Can you hear it!”

“No…” Aurelia frowned, turning to follow where her sister was looking. “Oh! I can! I can!”

Margaret tried to listen, but had no idea what the two girls were talking about. Her eyes widened when she heard it. Distant and quiet. Muffled also. It sounded like someone was crying.

“What on earth…” Margaret rushed in the direction of the noise.

It was coming from the very back of the stables where mounds of loose hay had been piled.

As she came closer, the sound of crying grew until she had no doubt that whatever was the cause of the noise was coming from within the piled hay stacks.

“What is it!” Lenora rushed for the hay.

“Careful!” Margaret grabbed her and pulled her back, while sticking out a hand to hold off Aurelia. “We da nae ken what it is.”

“It’s crying!” Lenora whined.

Margaret clicked her tongue with consideration, knowing that she had to investigate.

Thus, she hoisted up the skirt of her dress and waded into the piles of hay, careful not to crush whatever it was causing the noise.

A few seconds of digging and quite a few small scratches from the hay, and she found the source.

“Oh!” Margaret cried.

“What!” Lenora was the first to come, rushing into the piles of hay without hesitation.

“Careful!” Margaret said, moving to stop her, too late, as the little girl was now covered in hay. “A puppy!”

“A puppy?” Aurelia dove in next, caring not for how dirty she would become. “A puppy!”

Indeed, the source of the crying was a little puppy buried in the hay. It was no bigger than Margaret’s palm, brown with white spots, and ears far too big for its head. She did not know the breed, just that it was the cutest thing she had ever seen.

“Can we keep it?” Aurelia already had it in her arm. Its crying died down as it snuggled into her, licking her arm in a way that was so adorable that Margaret could hardly stand it.

“Yes!” Lenora added as she hurried to pet it. “Please, Margaret. You have to say yes!”

Good sense told Margaret that she should say no. No doubt the girls’ father would not want them keeping a stray puppy. But the look on their faces was hard to argue against, pure happiness and elation, love glimmering in their eyes. How can I possibly say nae…

“On one condition,” she warned them. “Ye father does nae find out.”

The girls were quick to agree, as she knew they would.

They spent the next hour finding a place to hide the puppy.

They decided to keep it in the stables, in one of the spare stalls.

They stacked it with hay and old rags, a few boxes too, so it looked as if the stall was being used for storage.

Then they tucked the puppy away – after fetching a bowl of water – while Margaret promised she would return later to feed it.

“We must do everything we can nae to let ye father find out,” she instructed them as they made their way back from the stables and toward the manor. “He will one day, na doubt, but until then…” She winked. “It will be our little secret.”

“What shall we name it?” Aurelia asked.

“Oh! A name. Can I pick?” Lenora cried.

“I will leave that up to the two of ye,” she laughed, enjoying herself the most that she had since arriving. “And I cannae wait to hear it.”