Arsenic and Old Armor (20 page)

She showed him affection,
too, but she hadn’t spoken the words. She loved him, and that
terrified her. Marion had to be herself. At the same time, she knew
she wasn’t good enough for Iain in the eyes of his mother, in the
eyes of his clan. She was another of the mad McCalls. She wished
he’d continue to think differently. She wished
she
could think differently about
her family.

“
There it is,” Iain said as
they topped another hill.

Marion had been so wrapped up in her
thoughts that she hadn’t seen Fleet Tower appearing in the
distance. Emotions welled up in her, and she had to slow down her
horse. She looked at the great square tower with its parapet and
bartizans at each corner. She had spent so many hours up there,
daydreaming, keeping watch, or taking orders from Sir William as he
prepared for his legendary victory…as the Wallace…at Stirling
Bridge or for his march on York.

As they drew nearer, Marion spotted two men
riding toward them along the road from the Tower. Alan, Iain’s
right hand man, rode up to the front of the group.

“
These are our men,” Alan
said to Marion.

“
Regular visitors to Fleet
Tower, these two are,” Iain said. “You probably don’t remember
them. Their names are John and Tom. Your uncle considers them to be
two of his ‘band of merry men.’”

“
Welcome, laird,” one of
the men called out.

The two greeted them warmly and paid their
respects to Marion. She returned their greeting. She listened to
the news they were sharing with Iain about the wedding. Some of the
guests were missing and there were search groups out looking for
them.

Moments later, the two men were riding back
with them again toward the tower. As Marion got closer, the tower
house began to show its age. The stonework was in need of repair in
some places. She promised herself that she’d see to it with the
help of her husband. She looked at the cluster of cottages along
the road leading to the Tower gate. They all appeared to be
deserted.

Finally, they rode through the gates. A
thrill washed down her back as they passed beneath thick walls. She
looked up at the pointed iron bars of the raised portcullis. There
was an abandoned bird’s nest on one of the crosspieces.

The courtyard, too, appeared to Marion to be
as deserted as the village, and no one approached them to take
their horses or even greet them. Marion looked around her. It
appeared that there were no workers in the stables. In fact, if it
were not for the smoke coming from the chimney of the great hall,
she would have thought that Fleet Tower had been abandoned.

Just then, Brother Luke came out of the
stables, leading his horse. The cleric lit up at the sight of
them.

Both sisters waited until their visitor was
gone, and then Judith walked back to the table. Margaret remembered
the cup of half drunk wine she’d taken out of the cupboard. She
pulled out the pitcher and looked inside to see how much was
left.

“
Were you entertaining
anyone today, other than the guests I saw here?” Margaret asked,
curious.

Judith brought a hand to her mouth and
giggled. “As a matter of fact, I was. I didn’t get a chance to make
anything for supper, so it was a good thing that no one accepted
our invitation.”

“
And did you have any
‘special’ guests, Judith?”

“
Why, yes! Didn’t I mention
it?”

“
And how many ‘special'
guests did you entertain?” Margaret asked cheerfully.

Judith held up one finger.

Margaret smiled broadly. “And you did all
that in the short time that I was out?”

Judith nodded. “I didn’t want to wait, for I
was afraid Marion and the laird would arrive in the middle of
everything. And it was a very good thing I didn’t wait, for Brother
Luke dropped by for the visit…did you know Brother Luke was
here?”

“
Yes, I just saw
him.”

“
Well, I had no sooner
tucked our special guest in before he arrived.”

“
You managed it all by
yourself?”

Judith nodded proudly.

Margaret started across the great hall
toward the arched door leading to the stairwell. “I’ll just run
down and have a look.”

“
Oh, no,” Judith called
after her sister. “There wasn’t enough time. By the time Sir
William came down to help me, Brother Luke was already coming up
the stairs from the courtyard.”

Margaret whirled in surprise and looked
around the room. Everything was the same. She pointed to the fire
in the great open hearth. “You didn’t…”

“
Of course not. That
wouldn’t have worked at all.”

Margaret circled the hall, glancing under
tables, behind the tapestries, even under a blanket sitting on top
of her basket of mending on a settee by the fire. “Well, where is
he?”

Judith pointed with her finger. Margaret
followed the direction and smiled.

“
The window seat?” she
asked.

Judith nodded.

Margaret went toward it to see for herself,
and Judith joined her there. As the two women neared the window,
though, they were suddenly aware of more visitors in the
courtyard.

Judith leaned out the window. Margaret
rested a hand on her sister’s shoulders and squinted, trying to
see.

“
More English?” she asked
in a whisper.

“
No, lots of people. More
than…more than a dozen,” Judith answered. She leaned farther out.
“Oh, Margaret, they’re here! They’re finally here.”

“
Who’s here?”

“
Marion and the laird.
They’ve finally come.”

Thoughts of the ‘special guest’ immediately
fled, and the two sisters rushed toward the doorway to greet the
laird.

The two smiling faces made this the sweetest
of homecomings.

Margaret was the one nearest to her at the
top of the stairs, so Marion embraced her first. “I’ve missed you
both so much.”

She moved from the arms of one woman to the
other.

“
Aunt Judith.” She kissed
the plump cheeks.

Marion found herself looking down into two
bright sets of eyes. Her aunts seemed so much smaller than she
remembered them. And they’d changed. Iain was right. They had
definitely aged in the last twelve years. Margaret’s face was a
tapestry of wrinkles and Judith’s back had bowed considerably. But
to Marion, they looked wonderful.

“
Our wee Marion has grown
up,” Margaret said, taking her hand and looking her over. “You’ve
changed.”

“
Definitely changed,”
Judith said, taking her other hand.

“
You’ve become a bonny
lass, to be sure.” Margaret patted her hand.

“
Quite bonny,” Judith
mimicked her sister’s motion.

“
Tall, too.”

“
Very tall.”

Marion was beginning to feel embarrassed
with the attention. She knew it was useless to try to interrupt
them, though, for they wouldn’t hear her. Listening to them, she
recalled that once they began a certain train of thought, it was
almost impossible to break into it. This was very much the same as
it had been before. The two repeated each other’s words until a
person wasn’t sure which of them was saying what. She would just
wait until it was her turn.

“
You won’t fit into your
old clothes,” Margaret was saying, shaking her head as if in
regret.

Marion laughed. “I should hope not, I’m no
longer—”

“
She won’t fit in my
clothes, either.” Judith shook her head, as well.

“
The wedding gown!”
Margaret looked at her sister with alarm.

Judith nodded. “Yes, the wedding gown will
be a problem,”

“
It belonged to your
mother,” Margaret said, turning to Marion. “We kept it for
you.”

“
We kept your mother’s
wedding gown for you to wear to the church,” Judith explained as if
Marion hadn’t heard.

Margaret pulled the front of her cloak back
and touched her waist. “You are far too thin. But we can do
something about that.”

“
We can definitely do
something about that,” Judith agreed.

“
And too tall.”

“
Definitely too
tall.”

Marion slouched, but it didn’t seem to make
much of a difference. Compared with her aunts, she was too
tall.

“
We can’t do anything about
that.” Still holding the edge of the cloak, Margaret looked down
Marion’s skirt, obviously disappointed.

“
We’ll add a panel of
different material at the bottom,” Judith blurted out. It was the
first idea of her own. “I can sew it on, myself.”

Marion hoped her aunt Judith’s aptitude with
needle and thread had improved over the past twelve years. She
remembered even from her childhood how ghastly her aunt's projects
had generally ended up. When it came to the art of running
different aspects of the household, Margaret had definitely been
the more talented of the two. Judith was better at taking
instructions and executing them.

“
A panel of material will
do nicely,” Margaret agreed. “But we still have to put some
additional weight on you.”

“
You two are the dearest
aunts, but Iain and I…” Marion paused at the touch of her husband’s
hand on her back. She wanted to tell them that it really didn’t
matter, that she was already married to Iain, and she would be
happy with any dress for the wedding. She looked at him over her
shoulder. He gave the slightest shake of his head. “Aunt Margaret,
Aunt Judith, you remember—”

“
Her betrothed,” Iain
finished for her. “Of course they remember me.”

“
Indeed we do,” Judith
said, smiling. She let go of Marion’s hand and took Iain’s instead.
“You told us you’d bring our Marion back.”

“
And you did just that.”
Margaret took Iain’s other hand. “Now come and sit, the two of you.
You must be starved after your journey.”

Marion was not offended that the two women
appeared more excited to see Iain than her. She took off her cloak
and dropped it on a bench and followed the three to a table by the
fire. Her gaze surveyed the great hall. The same long tables and
benches, the same tapestries and armor on the walls. Everything
looked a little worn, but everything still looked pretty much as it
had twelve years ago. She glanced across the hall at the arched
doorway that led to the kitchens and to the circular stairwell. She
wanted to go and see the rest of the tower house, too. Especially
her bedchamber. She’d just moved into it from the aunts’ chamber
when she was taken to Skye. And she wanted to go and say hello to
her uncle William. But there was time for everything. This wasn’t a
dream. She was back at Fleet Tower. She was home.

“
We have some meat pie left
over for supper. You wouldn’t mind such simple fare, would
you?”

“
Would you mind?” Judith
repeated.

Marion noticed that the question was
directed at Iain and not at her.

“
Not at all.” Iain said. He
motioned to the table and the pitchers and cups. “But could I
trouble you first for something to drink?”

“
No, not at all,” Judith
said, reaching for one of the pitchers.

“
No, not this,” Margaret
grabbed the pitcher out of her sister’s hand and put it on a shelf
in the cupboard. “We’ll go and get you some wine and clean
cups.”

“
Yes, clean cups.” Judith
took Iain’s hand and led him to one of the seats.

Margaret began stacking everything up on a
tray. Marion walked to her. “Can I help you with these?”

“
No, dear. Judith is,” the
older aunt said, glaring over her shoulder at the
sister.

“
Oh, yes, I’m helping.”
Judith rushed over to help.

Marion wasn’t a guest. This was her home.
“Please, Aunt Margaret, just allow me to carry this for you to the
kitchen.”

The older woman shook her head firmly. “You
sit here and entertain the laird. Judith will help me to bring back
new drinks and some food for the two of you. Now be on your way.
Sit down and keep him happy.”

Marion heard Iain chuckling behind them. She
could guess what was running through his mind. Entertain him,
indeed.

“
We want you two to feel at
home,” Margaret said.

“
Yes, indeed. Feel at home,
you two,” Judith repeated as the sisters left the hall.

Marion waited until they were gone before
turning to her husband. “They don’t know, do they?”

He shook his head. “Lady Elizabeth appears
to have intruded. She told Brother Luke to keep our marriage a
secret. She didn’t want the word of our hasty marriage to reach the
ears of the two groups of emissaries from the English and Scottish
courts.”

“
Then you cannot stay here
with me. That would be totally improper.”

“
I’ll show you what’s
improper.” He took her by the hand and pulled her onto his lap. He
kissed her long and deep.

“
You heard your aunts,” he
whispered against her ear, biting on the lobe. His hand slid upward
along her ribs and he cupped her breast through the dress.
“Entertain me.”

She reluctantly pushed his hand away. “I
knew you’d be acting like this.”

She tried to get off his lap. He held on
tighter. She tried to glower, but with no success. He was too
tempting. She kissed him again, and then whispered in his ear.