Page 23 of Trapped with the Vicious Highlander (Falling for Highland Villains #5)

CHAPTER 23

The next morning, Ava stood in the courtyard, with Margaret’s arms wrapped around her waist, begging, pleading, crying.

Flora stood just a few feet away, doing her utmost best to maintain her composure. Ava knew this because she was doing the same as well. How did she fall in love with a place she had only been in for a few weeks? How did that happen in the first place?

“I know exactly how you feel, child. But people come together to grow apart,” Ava murmured, gently stroking the little girl’s hair.

“I dinnae want ye to go,” Margaret sniffed, hugging her even tighter.

“I wish I could stay, Margie. But I can’t.”

As a footman loaded her box into the carriage, Ava looked to Flora for help. She got it immediately.

Flora scrambled forward to grab Margaret. “Come on, child. We must let the governess leave now. The sun is beginnin’ to rise.”

It took quite a bit of strength to finally peel Margaret’s arms from around Ava’s waist, and there was quite a dampness in the spot she had buried her face in.

Ava looked up at the castle one more time. At the smoke rising from the chimneys and into the grey morning sky. She would always carry the memories of this place with her. She would always remember standing in this very spot for the first time, feeling all those eyes on her.

“I dinnae ken why Brodrick isnae here. I knocked on his door several tomes, but he didnae respond.”

Ava laughed. “It is quite all right. He’s done enough already.”

Of course, it wasn’t all right. It was far from all right. Brodrick couldn’t afford to watch her leave, so he remained hidden in his room. He had ordered a guard to escort her carriage though because, according to Flora, he did not want her to journey through the woods alone.

That was fair.

Even as Ava made her way to the carriage, she knew. She could feel his gaze on the back of her head, hot and thrilling. He was watching her from somewhere in the castle, and she just couldn’t tell where.

She stepped into the carriage, and Margaret stepped forward.

Ava sighed. “You cannot come with me, Margie. We have talked about this.”

Without responding, Margaret pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to her.

Ava took it, a surprised look on her face. On the parchment were names of animals, written just as she had done on their way to Castle MacDunn.

“For yer journey. So ye can cross off the animals ye see on the way,” Margaret whispered.

Ava blinked back tears and gripped the parchment even harder. “Thank you, Margie.”

Margaret stepped back as the carriage started to move.

One last wave, one last tear, one last look at the castle, and then Ava turned around, wiping the tears from her face.

It was for the best.

Everything was for the best.

The journey back to the border felt longer, and by the time they drew closer to the orphanage, Ava realized why. She had no one to talk to. The last time she was talking to Margaret, and when she wasn’t, she was ogling Brodrick out of the corner of her eye, watching his every movement.

Thoughts of Brodrick consumed her as the wheels rolled along the rocky path, leaving a brief trail of dust behind.

The Highlander didn’t just come into her life. He broke in. He destroyed the walls she had spent quite a while building up after the ordeal with the Viscount and had made her feel loved. Worshipped. He treated her quite differently than any of the other men in her life had ever done.

“It isnae yer fault if nay Englishman could handle ye.”

She shook her head as his words continued to echo in her mind.

No. This was the logical thing to do. Their arrangement was never permanent. She was only to remain in the castle till Margaret found her voice. And even when the little girl did, Ava didn’t leave until she was sure Margaret was safe, loved, and well cared for.

That had always been the arrangement, and she had managed to fulfill it.

But why did it continue to feel like she had just made the biggest mistake of her life? What was this deep, haunting dread in the pit of her stomach? She tried to convince herself that it was because the carriage wouldn’t stop galloping along the dirt track, but she knew it was much deeper than that. She knew there were some issues she would have to face at one point or another.

As she watched the cottage appear on the horizon, she braced herself. There was nothing she could do now. She was home. She was where she was supposed to be, and all that had happened in the last few weeks was just one long, thrilling adventure that had to—no, needed to come to an end.

The rest of the journey was quiet and filled with contemplation. Finally, the carriage rolled to a stop right in front of the cottage, and as she climbed out of it, she saw Sarah and Elizabeth hurrying towards her, their hands gripping the hems of their skirts tightly so they would not trip.

Warmth bloomed in her stomach as she grabbed one of her boxes and dumped it on the floor.

“Ye’re finally here!” she heard Sarah scream as the older woman descended the tiny slope.

She was surprised that her former maid still had the stamina to run like that, but she managed not to let it show.

She could feel the change in the atmosphere even as the footman helped her unload the rest of her belongings. The air felt different and it was hard for her to tell if it was in a good or bad way. The leaves beneath her feet and the grass seemed to have lost all pigment. It felt like everything that was bright and full of color back at the castle was bleak at the cottage.

She didn’t think too long as Sarah crashed into her, enveloping her in a long and warm hug. Elizabeth did the same as well as they made their way to the cottage, leaving the boxes behind.

“Do not ever leave for that long ever again, do ye hear me? From yer letter, I could swear ye were no longer planning on leaving the castle.” Sarah whispered, practically hurrying through her words.

Ava laughed. “Certainly.”

They made their way across the hall and towards Ava’s room. She spotted Henrietta at the watering hole as usual.

Henrietta looked up, spotting them walk across the hallway and her face lit up with glee.

“You’re back!” she gushed, lifting a damp hand in excitement.

Ava waved back. “It is lovely to see you too, Henrietta.”

Ava’s eyes swept over the pots surrounding Henrietta in the watering hole. They looked fresh and new. They were completely different from the old ones she usually saw her with.

She then looked at the kitchen building which she could see from where she was stood. The door had been replaced with a new one that looked smoother and way more expensive. A frown creased her brow, but she said nothing.

Soon, the three women stopped right before her door. She twisted the knob and walked in, and for a second, she wondered if it was her room she had walked into or someone else’s.

The walls were freshly painted. The bed was different, as it looked bigger and a bit softer. The floor looked smoother, and the door to the bathing chamber also looked completely different.

“What do ye think?” Elizabeth asked as she and Sarah followed her into the room.

Ava swallowed, looking around. With that question, she was now certain she was in her room.

“You girls did not have to do all of this,” she whispered, before taking a deep breath. “I appreciate the nice gesture, but we do not have enough money to do this and still manage to take care of the children.”

“Oh, it is all right. Ye deserve it. And all of it was covered by the donation.”

Ava stopped, feeling her words freeze on her tongue. She turned around slowly, almost mechanically, like a flour mill.

“What donation?” she asked.

“From the Laird, of course. He sent a rather generous amount of money the past week. I… I assumed ye would have known about this. I thought it was ye who convinced him.”

Ava blinked. “Brodrick… sent… money?” The words staggered out of her lips in disbelief.

“Aye. A huge sum too,” Sarah confirmed.

Then it hit Ava. The extra new pots at the watering hole, the new kitchen door, the entire redecoration of her room.

“Ye had no idea, did ye?” Elizabeth asked.

Ava found her way to her bed and sank onto it, grateful for the new cushion. “No, I did not.”

She couldn’t move. Not when her friends tried to get her to leave her room. Not when all the children under her care came to visit her later that evening, crying and raving about how much they had missed her. Not even when Sarah and Elizabeth brought her a dinner tray later.

“What happened? Why are ye so sullen?” Sarah asked.

“The other women are quite worried, Ava.”

Ava was unable to keep her thoughts to herself any longer. She told them everything that transpired between her and Brodrick. Every entangled moment, every time he made her laugh, every single time he stared at her from across the room. And her friends listened intently.

“Ye need to go back,” Sarah declared when Ava finished her story with a watery sniffle.

“I agree,” Elizabeth piped up. “From what ye’ve just told us, this man clearly loves ye. Ye need to go back to the castle and tell him how ye feel.”

“I can’t,” Ava whispered, looking down at her lap. “He deserves better than some plump Englishwoman.”

“I have told ye several times to stop looking down on yerself, have I not?” Sarah berated, her voice coming out harsher than Ava had ever heard it.

“I agree as well. Look, this Laird clearly loves ye for who ye are and what ye look like. The least ye owe him is an explanation. And letting him know yer feelings as well.”

And then the dread that had coiled in the pit of Ava’s stomach snapped. She felt it at that moment. She knew what she needed to do. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but it had to be done.

Part of her already knew she was going to do this—go back to Castle MacDunn and lay everything out in the open to Brodrick. She just needed a little push, which her friends had more than given her.

“And ye are far from just a plump Englishwoman, Ava,” Elizabeth added, almost like an afterthought. She reached for Ava’s hands. “Ye, my friend, are an alluring, curvy vixen from London.”

That coaxed a laugh from Ava, who let the realization sink into her bones. She needed to leave at first light the next day. She needed to go back to the castle.

And she needed to settle this with Brodrick once and for all.