Page 28 of Savage Kilted Highlander (Temptation in Tartan #9)

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“ C onstance, I havenae had the chance yet tae welcome ye tae yer new home properly,” her father said warmly as he greeted her when she and Agnes entered the spacious, comfortably furnished parlour. “I thought that since this is such a great occasion, the first time we’ll all be dinin’ together as a family, we should make it special. I believe dinner is about tae be served. Shall we all take out seats?”

“Thank you, Father. I am truly touched that you have gone to so much trouble to make me feel welcome, considering the rather unexpected manner of my arrival,” Constance said truthfully as he steered them both over to the dining table.

“I dinnae care how ye came here, Constance,” he replied, helping her into her chair. “Only that ye’re here and in one piece. Whatever happened in the past tae keep us apart, ye’re me daughter, me flesh and blood. I’m yer faither, and Agnes is yer sister. Ye’re a part of our family that we’ve had tae dae without fer too long.” He went over and helped Agnes to her seat before sitting at the head of the table, one twin to either side of him. “Ye belong here with us.”

“Aye, ye dae, Constance. And now ye’re here, we’re nae letting ye out of our sight, eh, Faither?” Agnes put in, her eyes dancing with laughter as she looked across at Constance, who had to hold back the tears of happiness pressing at her back of her eyes.

Dinner was brought in, and, to her surprise, their father dismissed the servants and served them himself, without any of the tiresome pomp and ceremony she had been used to at Ashbourne. For Constance, his informality increased the novel sense of an intimate family dinner.

Despite her lingering concern over Bane’s banishment to the stables, over the course of dinner, Constance found herself talking and smiling with her father easily, as if they had always been together. It struck her that though she had been far away, he had loved her from a distance, simply because she was his daughter. It gave her an enormous sense of well-being.

“I can hardly tell you how much it means to me to be sitting here with you both like this,” she told them both. “I have imagined it many times, but even in my wildest dreams it was never as wonderful as this. It is so kind of you both to accept me so readily without even knowing anything about me.”

“Wheesht!” Agnes replied with a smile. “Faither just told ye, ye’re part of the family. This is yer home now, Constance.”

“Aye, and that will never change as long as ye wish it, Constance. I’m truly honoured that ye came so far and took so many risks tae be with us. Now, let that be an end of it,” her father said sternly.

Agnes made a face at Constance that had them both stifling giggles.

“’Tis a pleasure tae hear ye laughin’ at me together,” he said matter-of-factly. “I suppose there’ll be a lot of that from now on.”

“Ye can be sure of it, Faither,” Agnes quipped cheekily.

“We’ll see about that. Now, tell me, have ye girls been gettin’ tae ken each other a bit?” he asked.

“Aye, we’ve done a lot of talkin’ already,” Agnes replied. “I cannae get enough of lookin’ at Constance. ’Tis hard tae explain, Faither, how strange it is tae see me own face lookin’ back at me, but I’m so happy. I feel like we’ve kent each other our whole live, yet we have a lifetime tae catch up on. Now we’re sharin’ a chamber, I’m lookin’ forward tae learnin’ everythin’ there is tae ken about me sister.”

“I feel exactly the same. There is so much to tell each other, and I think there will be many nights spent just talking for a long while. We have already found out that we have the same taste in dresses. It is very exciting to think how much there is for us to discover about each other,” Constance said with equal excitement. “A whole twenty years’ worth!”

“’Tis quite a remarkable experience fer me, as yer faither, tae see ye both sittin’ at the table either side of me like this. I admit, I never thought it would ever happen.” He looked from one to the other of his daughters with wonder.

“Why was that, Faither? I confess, I dinnae understand why ye kept Constance’s existence from me. I would be more upset with ye, but I’m too happy tae have discovered I have a twin sister. I’ll probably be more upset with ye later though,” Agnes told him, finishing her dinner and placing her silverware neatly across the plate, just a few seconds before Constance did the same.

“I had me reasons, Agnes. While yer maither was alive, I had tae protect her reputation, ye see. I couldnae tell ye nor anyone the truth fer her sake.”

“But our maither died years ago, according to what Constance has told me,” Agnes pointed out. “And ye still said naethin’. Ye let me believe I was an only child.”

Constance felt rather sorry for their father as he put aside his plate and took a long drink of wine. Then, he leaned his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers. The hidden sadness Constance had glimpsed in him at their first meeting now came to the fore in the lines which gathered between his dark brows and around his mouth.

“I wasnae sure this day would ever come. But now it has, ’tis time ye learned from me the truth about what happened between me and yer maither back then and how ye came tae be separated at birth.”

Constance and Agnes exchanged a meaningful glance, and Constance saw that her twin was preparing to listen attentively as their father began his tale, as was she.

“Twenty years ago, I was appointed by a council of the lairds of the Lowland clans as their representative at a series of talks held in the Borderlands. The talks were between the Lowland lairds, like mesel’ and the representatives of the English Crown. Their purpose was tae discuss peace between us and the English and negotiate trade agreements tae seal that peace by financially benefittin’ both sides of the border.

“I was unwed, as I still am, but many of the men who attended the talks brought their wives with them. One of them was yer stepfaither, Constance, Lord Richard Ashbourne. He came with his wife, Lady Eleanor. The talks went ahead, but it was nae all business. There was plenty of time tae socialize between the talks, and in the evenin’s we all dined together and then relaxed. It was at supper that first evenin’ when I was introduced tae yer maither.”

He paused and shifted in his seat uncomfortably, as though finding it hard to find the right words to continue. “Ye havetae understand, I was a young man of twenty-eight, unmarried, a laird from an early age, hardened by battle, and used tae gettin’ what I wanted. There’d been women in me life, aye, of course, but I’d never been in love.

“On that first evenin’, when I was introduced tae Eleanor, I’d never seen a woman so fine. I was mesmerized by her beauty and grace. The moment I laid eyes on her, it was like bein’ struck by lightenin’. Even now, I can still recall that first moment when our eyes met. And when I kissed her hand, somethin’ passed between us, a spark. And I could tell from the way she blushed and looked away that she felt it too.”

His voice had turned almost wistful, and Agnes glanced over at Constance as if to say, “I’ve never heard him talk like this before.” But they soon turned their attention back to the story as their father continued.

“I told mesel’ she was a married woman, and that her husband was an important man. I couldnae dae anythin’ foolish. She was off limits. I had tae be polite but stay away. I tried, I really did, but things just kept happenin’ that drew me back tae her. It was like I was powerless tae resist the attraction. It was confusin’. Naethin’ like that had ever happened tae me before. I didnae ken how tae handle it. Later, I found out it was the same for her.

“I willnae go intae details about how the affair started fer ’tis private. Suffice tae say, I fell in love fer the first time in me life, and Eleanor did too. She explained that her marriage had been arranged, and she didnae love her husband. Anyway, it was a brief but passionate affair, and after the talks ended, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

“Then, nine months later, she wrote tae me, tellin’ me she’d given birth tae twin girls. It was a blow, girls, a terrible blow tae ken she had me bairns but couldnae be mine. Anyway, she explained that she could pass off one baby as her husband’s without raisin’ any suspicions. But there had never been any twins in her family nor her husband’s, and him bein’ of a jealous nature, she was afraid he would realize she’d been unfaithful. She asked fer me help in separatin’ ye.”

“Och, poor Maither, she must have been so scared,” Agnes interjected softly, her eyes shining with supressed emotion.

“She was right to be afraid,” Constance said bitterly.

Their father nodded. “Aye, well, sad as it was, we agreed that in order tae safeguard yer maither, it was necessary tae separate ye. Luckily yer stepfaither was away at Court when ye were born. I visited and took Agnes back with me tae Scotland, tae raise mesel’. I tried tae persuade Eleanor tae come with me, that I’d protect her. But she wouldnae leave without all her son, and she knew that his father would never allow it, so she had tae stay.”

“Agnes, ye asked me why I didnae tell ye about Constance after Eleanor died. Ye cannae imagine how many times I almost did. But I stopped mesel’ every time, because I kent if I did, ye’d demand tae see her. That would have meant admittin’ the truth tae ye and Ashbourne. I kent what sort of man he was, and I feared he’d take revenge on me by punishin’ yer sister. I had tae protect her as I protected Eleanor. I thought it better fer ye tae believe yer maither was dead, Agnes, and didn’t change that story when I found out she had really died.”

Agnes, tears running down her cheeks now, put her hand gently on his. Her father picked up her hand and kissed it, holding on to it while reaching out with the other to Constance. It felt momentous when she placed her hand in his large hard palm for the very first time. As his hand enclosed hers, he raised it to his lips too and kissed it. The wave of paternal love washed over her once more, and she felt as though a darker chapter of her life was closing and a new, brighter one just beginning.

But questions still remained. “Father, one thing still puzzles me. Do you know how my stepfather found out about the affair between you and Mama and what happened to me and Agnes?”

He shook his head. “Nay, lass. Naturally, ye bein’ me daughter, I kept an eye on ye all these years in secret. I could live with the situation as long as I was sure Ashbourne was treatin’ ye and Eleanor properly. But when ye were about six or seven, a report came back that suggested yer maither had been shut up in her chambers for weeks, and she was never seen in public again.”

His words hit Constance like a blow to the face. “One day she was perfectly all right, the next, we were told she was ill and had taken to her bed. We children were sometimes allowed to visit her, and she told us herself that she was ill, although she did not seem ill at all, only very sad. She seemed to waste away before our eyes and never came out of her chambers again before she died about a year or so later.”

“Ach, God, she must have died of a broken heart, the Lord bless her dear soul,” Agnes murmured, looking stricken.

“Christ! That bastard Ashbourne deserves tae be lynched,” their father with a flash of rage. “The rumour was put about that she was an invalid, but I didnae believe it fer a second. I realized then Ashbourne had found out the truth somehow and that was his way of punishin’ Eleanor while avoidin’ a scandal. Most likely it was someone who helped at the birthin’ that told him, a midwife or servant who kept the secret for so long, but then maybe fell on hard times and traded the information for a handout.”

“Yes, that would make sense,” Constance agreed with a nod.

“I was powerless tae dae anythin’, and it ate away at me,” her father explained. “Then, I got the news that Eleanor had died.” He paused for a second before going on, “I want ye both tae ken, me lassies, yer maither was the only woman I have ever loved. That’s why I’ve never married, out of respect for her. She was so special, I could never love another after her.”

The girls both nodded, tears brimming in their eyes.

The laird looked down at his plate and speared a piece of meat with his fork to busy himself, embarrassed after his heartfelt confession.

It was then that Constance decided to speak up about what had been tormenting her all evening. She could not stop thinking about Bane, wounded and left alone to sleep in the stables after all he had endured for her. She missed him sorely and was worried about his wellbeing. This would be as good a time as any to intercede for him.

“Father, I know for certain that you have a kind and big heart after the words ye have just spoken. I–I wanted to talk to you about Bane and–”

“Nay, daughter, now is nae the time. Now is our time tae get tae ken each other.”

“But Father, he saved my life more than once and I owe him–”

“Ye and I owe him naethin’!” He slammed his fist onto the table. “He tried tae kidnap nae one, but two of me daughters and I already have gone against me convictions by letting him stay here tae heal enough tae travel home. But he will nae enter the keep or stay longer than needed, and we shall nae discuss it further!”

Constance murmured “Yes, Father” so as not to upset him further.

She truly was grateful for everything he had done for her since her arrival and had not meant to anger him. But she loved Bane and would find a way to see him no matter what. Nothing and nobody could stop her. She had changed the course of her life once already and would do so again if necessary. Especially now that she had discovered the extent of her will and strength.