“When and how did we get salt?” Aeschene asked to anyone who might have the answer.
“I dunnae ken and I dunnae care,” Hattie said. “But ’twill be out of me cold, dead fingers they will be takin’ it.”
“Hattie, please be reasonable,” Rory told her. His bright smile wasn’t going to work on the auld woman today.
“Reasonable?” She was positively offended. “Be it reasonable to be bringing’ me salt after weeks of nae havin’ any, only to tell me I cannae have it? What be reasonable about that?”
“Rory, why are ye tryin’ to take the salt away?” Aeschene asked as she fought hard to make sense of the matter.
“I do nae want to take the salt away,” Rory told her. “Richard does.”
On the arguing went until an ache formed in Aeschene’s temple.
“Enough!” ’Twas Black Richard’s voice booming and bouncing off the walls of the keep.
Aeschene jumped at the sound of his voice. Birds took flight, cows began to race across the field, and if she wasn’t mistaken, Marisse was holding her breath. She had never heard her husband sound so angry.
“Aeschene, please, come with me and let me explain,” Richard said as he took her by her arm and gently led her away.
He took her into the shadows of the keep and she felt an instant chill trace up and down her spine. Whether it was the lack of sun or being in her husband’s presence for the first time in nearly a week, she couldn’t rightly say.
“Did ye have any idea how much yer necklace was worth before ye gave it to Rory and Lachlan to sell?”
’Twas the oddest of questions. “It couldn’t have been worth more than a few sillars.” While she was glad he now knew, she would have preferred he had learned of her plan from her own lips.
He was silent for a long moment before he asked his next question. “How did ye come by the necklace?”
“Me grandminny - me mum’s mum - bequeathed it to me,” she was growing more and more confused. “But what does that have to do with the salt and why ye are trying to take it away from Hattie? The poor woman has been in the Kirk every day for weeks, prayin’ for it.”
She could hear the footfalls of someone approaching while she waited for Richard’s answer.
“Lass, yer necklace was worth far more than a few sillars,” Richard told her. A moment later, he was placing heavy leather pouches into her arms.
“What is this?” Confused, she cradled the pouches.
“The stones in yer necklace? Those were real, lass.”
Believing he was jesting, Aeschene laughed. “I do believe ye have fallen prey to Lachlan and Rory’s unusual senses of humor.”
“Lass, those bags ye be holdin’? Those are filled with gold. And there be several more in the wagon. We do nay jest.”
Thoroughly convinced her husband had lost his mind, she said, “Now, Richard-”
“Would ye like Marisse to take a look inside one of the bags in order to assuage yer doubts?”
Before she could reply either way, Marisse was at her side. She sounded positively stunned. “Aeschene, they be speaking’ the truth!” she exclaimed. “These bags are all filled with gold!”
Though she knew Marisse was often prone to jesting, not even she was that good an actress. Aeschene’s heart began to beat against her breast a blend of excitement and confusion. Had her grandminny known the true value of the necklace?
“Aeschene,” Richard began in a low, calm voice. “I have told Lachlan and Rory to return to Mallaig and get yer necklace back.”
Her eyes and mouth flew open in tandem. “Are ye mad?” she shouted.
“Lass, ye should keep yer grandminny’s necklace,” he replied. “‘Ye should nae have to sell yer most prized possession.”
Anger bubbled from deep within. “If ye think I would be the kind of woman to prance around with a bauble around my neck whilst our clan goes hungry, then ye dunnae ken me well at all, Black Richard MacCullough. Ye dunnae ken me at all.”
“Our clan?”
There was something in the tone of his voice that brought her argument to an abrupt halt. Derision? Doubt? A blend of both? It stung as hard as a slap to her face. It felt like a kick to her stomach.
“Lachlan! Rory!” she called out. Tears were building but she refused to shed them.
“M’lady?” Rory asked as he stood beside her.
Turning, she all but shoved the bags of gold into his arms. “Take these.”
She could hear the confusion in his voice. “What would ye have me do with the, m’lady?”
“I would tell ye to shove them up yer laird’s arse along with Hattie’s salt, but that might be too rude and unladylike.”
To say Richard was surprised with his wife’s outburst would have been a tremendous understatement. Too stunned to respond, he watched as his wife grabbed her maid’s arm with one hand, and a handful of skirts with the other. “Marisse, take me to our chamber at once.”
Lachlan and Rory were chuckling.
Hattie looked as proud of her lady as if she had just led a raid against their enemies.
Richard, however, was furious.
“Aeschene, come back here at once,” he called out as he chased after the two women.
Into the keep, down the hallway the two women went.
“Aeschene!” he shouted. “I demand that ye stop immediately!”
Oh, she stopped all right. And spun around, glaring at him as if he were an Englishmen invading her home.
“Marisse, take me to stand as close to Richard as ye can get me,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Why?” Marisse asked with a worried tone.
“Because I might need to kick him.”
Apparently pleased with her answer, Marisse did as asked.
“Richard MacCullough, ye are the meanest, most depressing, sour man I have ever had the displeasure of meetin’,” she bit out angrily. “Ye had a choice, Richard. A choice, to marry me or nay. Ye chose to marry me but now, ye choose to insult me, to be cruel and miserable. Why on earth did ye marry me if ye hated me so much?”
He didn’t hate her, truly he didn’t. ’Twas a more than a matter of trust, or a lack thereof. He should have told her just that, but instead, he said the first thing that popped into his mind. “Why did ye agree to marry me?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
From her beleaguered expression, she thought him most daft. “Because ye agreed nae to lock me away or beat me.”
’Twas not the answer he had expected. Certainly there had to be more to her decision than that. He cursed her parents to the devil for putting those ridiculous ideas into her mind. “Why on earth would ye believe the lies yer parents told ye?”
Scrunching her brow, she gave her a head a good shake. “What on earth are ye goin’ on about?”
“The lies yer parents told ye,” he said. “Convincing’ ye I’d lock ye away and beat ye. Ye cannae expect me to believe that is the sole the reason ye agreed to marry me.”
Marisse chose to step forward then. “Her parents never told her ye would do those things to her.”
Cocking his head to one side, he stared at her, wholly confused.