“Jemmie, there are things you don’t know,” Cat told her son. “Do not be in such a hurry to find India a husband. She is not able to face such a prospect right now. Be patient with her.”
“Madame, I hae surely been more than patient wi India, but my patience is at an end,” the duke of Glenkirk said irritably. “There are several possibilities, and I’ll hae the wench wed before Twelfth Night. Then she is nae my responsibility any longer, and whatever mischief she may get into ‘twill nae be my problem. ’Twill be her husband’s problem. I love her dearly, Mother. Every bit as much as I love the sons and daughters of my own blood, but India is a wild wench. I canna hae her disrupting my household. Jasmine would nae go to Ireland to find a husband for Fortune when India disappeared, and she, poor lassie, is eager to wed, and be gone to her own home. Nay, India must be wed as soon as possible, madame.”
“And what man will have me, my lord, in my condition?” India said as she came into the hall. She walked directly up to her stepfather.
James Leslie’s dark-green eyes grew almost black with his anger as he saw her rounding belly. “Jesu!” he swore angrily. “Whose bastard do ye carry, mistress?”
“How dare you speak to me in that manner,” India said in cold, even tones. “I carry the son my husband and I joyously created. This child is all I have left of my lord, Caynan Reis. I had a husband, Papa. I will have no other. No man will ever take his place.”
The duke of Glenkirk was speechless for a long moment.
“You have seen your mother?” Cat asked quietly.
“Aye, and I have told her all,” India said. “She understands, and says I am welcome home. I have told her I do not intend to stay after the baby is born, but rather will purchase a house near my brother’s seat at Cadby. I prefer English winters to highland winters.”
James Leslie finally found his voice again. “And what will you tell people about your bairn, mistress? Who will ye say his sire was? Some infidel who took you into his harem? The child is a bastard, India, plain and simple. You will nae find a husband wi that bairn about yer neck like a millstone.”
“I was wed to Caynan Reis,” India said wearily.
“In a Christian church? By a Christian minister or priest?” he demanded furiously. His temples were throbbing as they had not throbbed in many months. He loved her. He had raised her, but she was the most irritating female he had ever known in his entire life.
“We were married by the grand iman of El Sinut,” India said, “but my husband promised me a Christian marriage when we could find a Protestant minister who would be discreet.”
“Why did the minister need to be discreet?” the duke shouted.
“Because for an Islamic ruler to wed in a Christian marriage ceremony would be a cause of strife. My lord was the sultan’s governor in El Sinut,” India explained. “God’s blood, Papa, Mama’s first husband, Prince Javid Khan, married her secretly in a Christian rite.”
“The bairn will be thought a bastard, India,” the duke said.
“As my mother was said to be a bastard?” India countered.
“Your mother was a royal Mughal princess,” he replied. “She was raised by her father in India. Your grandfather, Akbar, was wise enough to know that if your grandmother Velvet had brought her daughter home with her to England, the bairn would hae been considered bastard-born. When your mother came to England, she was full grown, and none but your aunt Sybilla dared to question her birth, and she only because she fancied herself in love wi me, and was jealous of your mother, whom I preferred.”
“I am a wealthy woman, Papa. I do not need another husband. I do not care what anyone may think of my son’s parentage. If I find England unwelcoming, then I shall go to France or Italy,” India told them.
“I think we should end this discussion for now,” Cat said. “My granddaughter and I have had a long trip, Jemmie. Besides, I have another matter of great importance to discuss with you. India, my child, return to your mother while I talk with my son.”
India bent to kiss Cat’s cheek, and then she hurried off.
“You like her,” James Leslie said.
“I do. She is honest, and loyal. Give her time, Jemmie, but now to that other matter. As you know, Bothwell is buried at the foot of our garden in Naples. However, his heart is in a silver reliquary that I have carried with me since his death. I have brought it home to bury in Scotland. The spot will be unmarked as will our future grave here. Grant me this request, and I shall never ask anything of you again,” Cat finished.
James Leslie shook his head. “You nae ere asked anything of me, madame, ye always give wi yer whole heart. My father was a fool to ever let ye go.”
“Nay,” Cat said. “Do not criticize Patrick, for ours was a match made by our families when I was barely out of nappies, and he a young man. He was as set in his ways as you are, my son, and I was as wild as a highland pony. I loved him well until he betrayed me by allowing the king to victimize me, but the truth is, and we both know it, Jemmie, Francis Stewart-Hepburn was the great love of my life. Both of us would have gone to our graves never admitting that had your father not been so mindless and jealous in the matter of the king. Patrick Leslie was not foolish. He was simply stubborn, and every bit as wild and proud-hearted as I was, though he would not admit to it.”
“We will make a place for ye both,” the duke of Glenkirk said.
“Only you, Conall, and I shall know the truth,” Cat told her son with a small smile.
“When do you want to do it?” he inquired.
“As soon as possible. I want to return to Rome before travel becomes utterly impossible with the winter weather. I only came to bring Francis home to Scotland, and India back to you,” she told him frankly. “I’ll sail from Aberdeen before Christmas.”
“Remain the winter,” he pleaded with her.
She shook her head. “I cannot take the weather anymore, Jemmie. I am no girl, but an old lady of sixty-five years. Rome is a milder climate, and better for me now.”
“ ’Tis a bad time to be on the sea,” he noted.
“There is always that fair time in December before winter sets in,” Cat said quietly. “I shall be in Calais in a shorter time than if I had to travel overland down through England to Dover. I shall visit your sister and Jean-Claude a brief time, and then go on to Marseilles, through Monaco, San Lorenzo, and Genova, and down the boot through Firenze and on to Rome. I have friends in Monaco, Genova, and Firenze. It will be an easy trip. We came that way, but only stopped each night to rest my horses, which are awaiting my return with my coach and coachman in Calais.”
“How did you get from Aberdeen?” he asked her, surprised, for he had assumed she had traveled with her own equipage.
“The Kira bankers arranged everything,” she told him. “They always do for me.”
True to her word, Catriona Hay Leslie Stewart-Hepburn stayed only a brief time with her son and his family at Glenkirk. There was barely time to gather her family, but learning she was with Jemmie, they all came: her other sons, Colin and Robert; her daughters, Bess, Amanda, and Morag; all Patrick Leslie’s children. She hadn’t seen them in so long, and while they were her children, they were virtually strangers to her. And the grandchildren. There were so many grandchildren. Her brothers and their families came, and again there was the feeling of strangeness. They had always been good-hearted, rough highlanders. She had been the odd one. But still, there was that feeling of clan amongst them all, and she wept to see them go.
There was nothing Cat could do to ease the anger and the estrangement between her son and India. Even her daughter-in-law, Jasmine, was at a loss. It made no difference to James Leslie that both his mother and his wife counseled patience to each side. Jemmie was angry, and India was angry. A collision between these two strong wills was inevitable.
“Why would she nae listen to me?” the duke asked his wife for the hundredth time. “Did I nae tell her that Viscount Twyford was not suitable? Look now what her willfu
lness has cost her!”
“She is a widow having a child.” Jasmine attempted to put a simple face on the problem. She looked at her husband’s hands in hers, and looked into his face. “Jemmie, in El Sinut she was legally, and lawfully wed. And she was loved.”
“By whom?” he demanded. “Some handsome renegade, nameless and of unknown origins,” the duke despaired, pulling his hands from hers. “Jasmine, we canna allow her to go off on her own to raise her bairn. There will always be questions. How do we answer those questions? What man will take the lass to wife wiout the answers? We hae said she was in England, in France, and finally wi my mother in Italy. That she hae come home wi Mother is to the good. It gives substance to that lie, but there is nae way we can explain India’s big belly, or the bairn she will hae in the spring. I canna let our lass ruin her life, and I will nae!”
“Then what are we to do?” the duchess of Glenkirk demanded of her husband.
“She must go up to A-Cuil where she will nae be seen once her condition becomes too obvious, and that will be soon. We will make some excuse for her absence. That she is in Edinburgh, perhaps, visiting family. When the bairn is born we will foster it out to some cotter’s wife. Nae at Glenkirk, but perhaps at Sithean or Greyhaven. India is nae to be told where the bairn is. If the birth is hard, we will tell her that the bairn died, and that will be an end of it. Then we will seek a match for her. It is the only solution.”
“Ahh, Jemmie,” his wife said, “you make it all sound so simple, but there are factors you have not considered. How do we explain the loss of India’s maidenhead to this new husband? And how will you get my daughter to give up her child so easily? My father drugged my mother so that he might take her from me, and she never forgot it. India loved her husband. She will never let you take her child from her!”
“She will hae nae choice, Jasmine,” he said.
“If you do this thing, I will never forgive you!” the duchess of Glenkirk threatened her husband angrily.
“I do what is best for India,” he countered. “If ye hae let me make a match for her in the first place, instead of allowing the lass to run wild, we would hae nae of this trouble, Jasmine. Now I will do what I know is best for our daughter!”
“What am I to do?” Jasmine despaired to her mother-in-law.
“Do not allow this situation to divide your house,” Cat advised wisely. “I know you love your daughter, but you and Jemmie love one another, too. India has made her own fate, and now must deal with it herself. You cannot protect her forever, my dear.”
“You agree with Jemmie?”
“Nay, I do not, but I know my son well enough, and so should you, Jasmine. You surely understand you cannot push him in a direction he does not choose to go. To get him where you will have him, you must draw him first down this path, and then the other, until you reach the destination that you wanted all along, and he is none the wiser.” She laughed. “He is as stubborn as I was in my youth, and as heedless of the consequences of his actions as was his father, God assoil his soul. Jemmie is not an easy man, Jasmine. I know that, and so do you. Do not let your daughter and her problem blind you to the fact that you love your husband. India will recover from her broken heart sooner than later, marry and leave you and Jemmie. You do not want an estrangement between yourselves when that time comes.”
“But India’s child. What will become of that child if it is fostered out, and we do not know where?” Cat fretted.
“Just make certain you know where the bairn is,” Cat said. “Do what you must, but learn where that child is. Then visit the cotter’s wife who has it, and make certain she knows of your interest in the child and its well-being. It is the best you can do. Later you can educate it if it is a lad, and even tell of its heritage. If it is a lass, then educate her and see she has a respectable match one day. But never allow Jemmie to know of your interest, or your involvement.”
“And India?”
“Tell her only one day when she is happy again so that her broken heart may be completely mended,” Cat replied.
“I wish you would stay with us,” Jasmine said, teary-eyed.
Her mother-in-law laughed heartily. “Nay, my dear, I far prefer the quiet life I now lead in Rome and Naples. I am not used to all this agitation, aggravation, and uproar any longer. Adventures aplenty I had in my youth, but now I simply enjoy sitting in my gardens, or watching the sea, or dining with friends, or reading and writing letters from family and friends. India is your problem, and while I was happy to help where I could, I shall be delighted to depart for Aberdeen tomorrow, and then home to Villa Mia, which with luck I shall reach by February.” She patted Jasmine’s hand comfortingly. “You are a clever woman, Jasmine, but you have allowed your mind to stifle here in the safety of Glenkirk. Use your wits to help India now!”
Lady Stewart-Hepburn departed the following morning, her coach rumbling over the drawbridge of the castle and down the hill to the high road. Ten days later, a message arrived from Calais to say her voyage had been uneventful, and she would write from her daughter’s château outside of Paris before she departed for Rome.
The weather was getting colder, and the rains icy and more frequent. One morning as India lay abed, her father came to her. They had managed to exist without shouting at each other in the time since Cat’s departure, but neither spoke to each other unless it was necessary.
“Are ye well?” he asked her gruffly.
“Well enough,” she replied.
“You’re leaving Glenkirk, India,” he told her. “I’ll hae no gossip about yer big belly, and if ye remain any longer, we’ll nae be able to disguise it. Ye hae to go.”
To his surprise, she agreed, saying, “Aye. If Fortune is to have a decent husband, there can be no scandal about me.”
“I’m glad ye understand,” he said, relaxing his stern attitude just a little. “I’m happy to see ye thinking of yer sister before yerself, India. I’m nae angry wi ye anymore, lassie, but I must do what is best for ye now.” He reached out to pat her hand, noting it was cold.
“Where am I to go, Papa?” she queried him. “To Edinburgh wi Great-uncle Adam and his Fiona? Or to Queen’s Malvern? None come there now except in the summertime when my brother is in residence.”
“Ye’re going up to A-Cuil, India. Meggie will go wi ye, and Red Hugh’s younger brother, Diarmid,” the duke of Glenkirk told India.
“I’ll freeze to death in that place!” India said. “Are you attempting to kill me then, Papa?”
“The house is stone,” he said, “and there’s a good fireplace in the main room, and yer bedchamber as well. Ye’ll nae freeze, but ye’ll be isolated, and yer shame well concealed. Nae one will know of the bairn. Diarmid will light a signal fire when yer time hae come, and yer mother will come to ye then.”
“What will happen to my child?” India asked bluntly.
“We’ll worry about the bairn when it’s safely born,” he soothed her, then put an arm about her. “Lassie, lassie, I just want to protect ye. Ye’re my daughter, and I hae only wanted what’s best for ye.”
India suddenly began to cry. “Ohh, Papa, I am so unhappy! I loved him, Papa! I loved Caynan Reis! I should be in El Sinut, in the palace with Baba Hassan and the lady Azura, happily sharing the joy of our child with us.” She looked up at him. “Papa, I don’t even know what has happened to him! They said he was killed in the rebellion. What has happened to the ladies of the harem? To Baba Hassan and Azura? I should have been with them! If I had been, then maybe this would not have happened. Azura always said I was the stable influence in Caynan Reis’s life.”
The arm about her tightened, and then the duke said, “If ye hae been wi them, India, ye might hae been killed, or, worse, shipped off to some other man’s harem, or sold on the block. Thank God ye are home safe wi yer mother and me than wi that rebel!”
“You don’t understand, Papa! My husband was not a traitor,” she explained, her face tear-streaked. “The janissaries were plotting against
the sultan, and it was my husband who warned the valideh, and her son of the plot. He took a great chance, but he did it for us and our children. The valideh was certain to reward him for his loyalty, and he was going to ask for autonomy for El Sinut. The people of El Sinut would not have revolted. They were a peaceful, contented, and prosperous people. It is surely the janissaries who have killed my husband!”
“And there is nothing ye can do about it, lassie,” he told her. “The man is gone, God help him, but ye’re alive. I cannot weep for a man I dinna know, who took my daughter from me and got her wi bairn. I must protect ye, India. Tomorrow the weather will be fair, as it always is after two days of gray and rain. Ye’ll go up to A-Cuil then, lassie. Dinna fret, for ye’ll hae all the comforts ye want. I’ll nae hae my lass uncomfortable, India. I just want ye where there will be nae gossip.”
“Yes, Papa.” What else could she say? India thought sadly. She would be twenty in the summer, but had had only a small control over her personal fortune before she fled England with Adrian Leigh. Now she had not even that. They had made certain she had no access to her wealth, but for pin money, and she would not now until she married. Where could she and Meggie go without funds? She was trapped, and for the time being forced to cooperate with her parents. Let them think she was doing it willingly. And when they were lulled into believing her complacent, she would take her son, and find a safe haven where no one would care about her or her child. Eventually they would have to relent. There had to be someplace in this world where she could go. She would sell her jewelry to give them a new start. There had to be someplace where she could raise Caynan Reis’s son in safety.
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