Mary bit her lip. “I suppose I deserve such a reprimand. I have taken advantage of Jane now and again, I will admit that, but we have both fallen into our roles, just as you and Jane will. And, if you already recognize that it could happen, then I know you will make sure it doesn’t.”
Duncan looked down then, placing his hands on his hips.
“We’ll see,” he said, noncommittedly, thinking of their argument. Was he too jealous, too fiery for her? Was his temper too great? He had no wish to stamp out her spirit, and he wondered if she would be better off with a steady partner, a man with a similar temperament to her own — a man like Nick.
“Duncan, I—” Mary began, but before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly doubled over, grasping onto the railing for support. Duncan rushed over toward her, although he wasn’t entirely sure of what he could even do to help.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She just shook her head as a groan wrenched out of her lips.
“I’ll get Jane,” he said, stepping back toward the house, eager to find someone who would know what to do, although he also didn’t want to leave Mary here alone.
“It’ll pass in a moment,” she said, holding out an arm, nearly gasping for air, and he stood, frozen on the doorstep, hating the feeling of complete and utter helplessness that overtook him.
He furrowed his brow as he looked down at her.
“Do you think you are—”
“No,” she said vehemently, “most decidedly not.”
“All right,” he said with a shrug, relieved when she stood up and seemed to be recovered.
“We should go in,” she said. “It’s time for dinner.”
“Oh yes,” he said, taking a breath as he prepared himself to re-enter. “Here we go.”
Duncan wished Jane would sit down.
He also wished Nick would sit down — although not next to her. The two of them worked in tandem, serving one course after another while Abigail remained in the kitchen. They were the perfect host and hostess, Duncan thought with a trace of bitterness.
He had never been a jealous man. He had no reason to be. He was the future chieftain of his clan, for whatever meaning that still held. Would it have been nice to have the warm love of his parents growing up? Aye. But as it was, he had become a man of strength, who could take on the world alone, which meant something.
While Duncan knew that he wasn’t the most refined man, he had never lacked appreciation from any female companions. He had never, however, had the intense need for the sole attention from one particular woman — until now.
He knew he was being an idiot. Jane had clearly wanted to be with him, and not Nick. And yet, his fear was that she would soon realize how much better off she would be with someone else.
Duncan leaned back in his seat at the far end of the table. Little Amelia sat next to him on one side, with Billy and Nick’s mother on the other. She, however, was far more interested in speaking to her son-in-law on the other side of her. Amelia was staring at Duncan with open-mouthed curiosity.
“Why are you so large?” she asked, just as Jane carried in the split pea soup and set it in the middle of the table.
“I’m a Highlander,” he said, crooking an eyebrow, even though he was well aware that not many Highlanders — few as a matter of fact — possessed his same size.
Amelia frowned. “What does that mean?”
“That I live in the north of Scotland,” he said, then continued once he noted her confusion, “which is north of England.”
“I see,” she said, then was silent for a moment as she looked down at her plate. Duncan took a breath, wondering if he was going to have a momentary reprieve from all of her questions.
“Are you going to marry Auntie Jane?”
Duncan froze with his drink halfway to his lips. While Amelia’s little voice had been difficult to hear over all of the conversations that filled the small room, it was as though with that one question, her little voice had overcome all others, for the entire family turned to look at them.
“I, ah—” he looked up to find Jane standing there, a tray in her hands. Nick stood beside her, one of the only ones in the room to move as he looked back and forth between the two of them.
“Well, if she—”
“My mommy and daddy say that people who kiss one another are married. I saw them kiss one time, and I saw you and Auntie Jane kissing outside, but my mommy said Jane wasn’t married yet.”
“Amelia, that’s enough!” Audrey — or maybe it was Harriet — shushed her.
Duncan finished his drink’s journey to his lips, gulping it down rapidly, welcoming the burn down his throat.
“Jane—” he began, but Billy stood up from the head of the table, his face troubled as it seemed Amelia’s soft voice had carried.
“I say, I had an inkling that the two of you might have feelings for one another, but I am dismayed to find that this has happened under my roof. You were my responsibility, Jane.”
“I am no one’s responsibly,” Jane began, quietly shaking her head, grateful that Billy didn’t know the true extent of relations between her and Duncan. “I only—”
“I hardly think you are one to speak,” Duncan said gruffly, eyeing Billy. “Not to worry. I’ll make it right when we return to the Highlands.”
Billy removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “As if your father didn’t already hate me enough,” he said to Mary, who frowned at the words. Duncan noted that her plate was full and her face pale.
“If you’ll excuse me,” she said, and then ran from the table, leaving the family looking after her.
Billy’s mother sat up straighter, ready to take control of the situation. “As the children have already opened their gifts, perhaps we should open up our Christmas crackers as we eat so that Billy and Mary — and their houseguests — can get to bed early.”
Amelia clapped her hands in glee, and soon everyone around the table was removing a long cylinder cloth from their pockets. Some were wrapped with ribbon, others tied with a bow.
“We have each brought one for someone else here,” Billy’s mother said. “You all know who you were to bring one for.”
She looked over at Duncan. “My apologies, sir, but we did not know you would be present.”
Duncan waved away her concern as though it was no issue, which it wasn’t. He had no idea what a Christmas cracker even was, let alone harbored any desire to participate.
He didn’t miss, however, Nick passing one over to Jane, and she to him, although she looked somewhat uneasy about it. Mrs. Miller seemed pleased, and Duncan realized that this was a matchup she was hoping for. Perhaps she had even planned this.
He sighed. When everything in the world was telling him that he and Jane were not to be, should he follow it or fight it?
Jane eyed Nick warily. She had assured herself that he was just being friendly, but from the gleam in his eye as he stared down at the Christmas cracker in her hand, she wasn’t so sure. She untied the ribbon around it and rolled out the paper within.
Jane, it read. I wish you a very happy Christmas — now and always.