Edwina (35 page)

E
dwina heard voices. She must be dreaming. Cecelia’s laugh.
She shook the sleep from her dazed head. The Scot had kept her
awake too long last evening with his foolish demands. What did he
care about her silly novel anyway? It was only a story.

She lifted her head off the pillow. Could it
be?

On came the dress pants and blouse...
buttoned correctly this time. Edwina flew out of her bedroom and
down the stairs.

“Cecelia!” She threw herself at her
sister.

“Ed.” They embraced.

“I didn’t know you were coming.”

“I know. I made him keep it a secret.
Spencer’s here, too. They’re out walking.”

“Oh my.” Edwina sighed. “Have you met Paige
yet?”

“No, she’s still sleeping. Alex said you’d
kept her up late last evening, playing games and eating ice
cream?”

Edwina shrugged. “Aye.”

Cecelia eyed her sister. “So you’ve taken up
the Scottish accent?”

“Oh that.” She laughed. “It’s very hard not
to.”

“
Aye.” Cecelia
laughed.

“I hear Mrs. Gillespie about the kitchen.”
Edwina grabbed her sister’s hand and ushered her into the
kitchen.

“Cecelia, Mrs. Gillespie. Mrs. Gillespie, you
remember my sister Cecelia.”

“Indeed. We have such fond memories of
Chicago and your hospitality, my dear. It was a most memorable
time.”

Edwina could see the older woman’s emotions
floating to the surface, and changed the topic.

“It is good to be here Mrs. Gillespie.”
Cecelia’s voice was soft.

“We’ll get out of your kitchen so you can be
about your work.”

“Well, lass, it is good to see your family
here in bonny Scotland. Ye are welcome to walk aboot the house and
the grounds, making yerself at home. Would ye like pancakes this
morn?”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful,” both girls
chimed at once. Mrs. Gillespie winked and hustled away.

“Here they come,” Cecelia announced, “back
from their wanderings.” Spencer strode in and went straight to
Edwina.

“Hey, Winnie. You look good.” He held her at
arm’s length.

“You’ve changed, Spencer.”

“How?”

“You look more... more sophisticated.” She
eyed him. “You’ve cut your hair. Nice. You look really good!”

“Thanks to your makeover sister. She’s not
happy with having a degree in Architecture and Design, she has to
mess with people too.”

Alex Dunnegin laughed. The kind of laugh
Edwina remembered at the castle.

Hearing the commotion and new voices below,
Paige called from her room. “Father, Miss Blair, who’s come to
visit?”

Mr. Dunnegin went up to his daughter. Edwina
lagged behind, giving them a few minutes alone.

“Is she all right, Edwina? Really all right?”
Cecelia’s sympathy nearly undid her.

“Yes.” Tears sprang into her eyes. “Thank God
because... well, things could have been worse.”

“I know, but they aren’t. Everything will
turn out the way it’s supposed to.”

Edwina drew back. This was
not Cecelia talking. Cecelia
made
things happen—she didn’t believe in letting God,
or anyone else for that matter, decide anything she could control
herself.

“You’re right, sis. Very right.”

“Come on, do we have time for a walk?”

“Would you mind waiting until after
breakfast? I’d likeyou to meet Paige.”

“Okay.”

Cecelia waiting... that was interesting
too.

“Did you know the Scot has a castle too? It’s
fourteen minutes away.”

Cecelia stared at her sister. “You call him
‘the Scot’?”

“Yes. Well, not to his face I don’t. It’s
just how I think of him, I guess. He has all sorts of
titles—mister, laird. I got so mixed up, I just called him the Scot
in my mind. Does it sound disrespectful?” she wondered.

“No, I’m just surprised that’s all.” She
changed topics. “Have you had time to talk to him, Ed? Since he got
back, I mean?”

“Not much. We... well, never mind.”

“You what?” Cecelia had picked up on her
ambivalence.

“We actually got in each other’s way. It’s
nothing.” Mrs. Gillespie called and, in effect, saved her. “I’m so
hungry.”

“I’m starving, but you aren’t going to get
out of it that easy, Ed. We’re going to talk later.”

Edwina pretended not to hear and dashed off
to the kitchen.

“Lass, since we have guests, we will eat in
the dining room.”

“Oh, right.”

“The lass is used to eating with the help,”
Mrs. Gillespie explained to Cecelia.

“Does she wear shoes?”

“Nay,” came the curt reply. Cecelia laughed.
Edwina could not remember her sister laughing. Perhaps the Scot had
drawn her out. If that was the case she wished her sister
happiness.

The Scot seated the women first, insisting
the Gillespie’s eat with them.

Mrs. Gillespie nearly had a heart attack. In
her day things were not done like this.

Edwina gently reminded the woman that the
year was 2008, and it certainly was not improper to eat with one’s
employer, most especially if they were invited by him.

“Aye, there is little respect for station and
class in this manor,” Mr. Dunnegin said and gave Edwina a look.

Her eyes widened. She didn’t like him talking
like this in the presence of her sister or Spencer. They would
think her childish and not able to take care of herself.

Everyone started talking at the same time.
Even Paige. Mr. Gillespie had rigged a chair for the lass and
carried her down. She seemed so happy, and Edwina nearly cried when
she looked around the room. Her loved ones were around her again.
And Paige was here too. The only person she missed was her
father.

“How are things with my father, Cecelia?”

“He and mother are doing fine. They paid off
a huge chunk of their condo and are thinking of coming to visit
this fall.”

“
If I’m still here,” she
reminded her sister. Indeed it would be Cecelia who stayed with the
Scot. And then there would be no need for her, since the agreement
ended in September.

Every head at the table turned. Edwina
started to squirm. What had she said? Cecelia looked at her like
she was moldy bread, then said the strangest thing to Spencer. “She
doesn’t know,” she whispered under her breath, but Edwina heard it
with her own ears because she was sitting right next to her.

So there
was
an engagement to be
announced. She was probably the last to know.

Chapter 54

“A
lex tells me you’ve written a novel.” Cecelia effectively
changed the topic.

“Oh... yes. In my spare time. While Paige was
working on her school papers, I wrote a story.”

The Scot looked as though he enjoyed watching
her squirm.

Spencer smiled at her. She felt her face warm
slightly at his gaze. She was so glad he’d come along. Perhaps he
would fly with her back to the States. And probably make some crack
about her dauntless knight in shining armor. Well, what would he
think when the engagement was announced? That’d show him.

Before breakfast was finished, Paige wanted
her father to bring the wagon up to the manor and asked Mrs.
Gillespie to get some quilts. She wanted to be outdoors.

Mr. Dunnegin and Mr. Gillespie went for the
wagon while Mrs. Gillespie gathered old blankets.

“Edwina, would you take a walk with me?”
Spencer held out his hand, and she took it. From the sound of
things, they would be paired up. She gathered her shoes at the
front door and walked with Spencer.

“
There is a really pretty
place I’d like to show you.” She pulled him ahead. They walked in
silence for a long time, the beauty before their eyes taking
precedence.

“You’re looking good, Winnie,” Spencer
whispered, rubbing his thumb across the top of her hand.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” She mussed
his hair. “I like the spiky do. Did Cecelia do the cut?”

“Yeah, she insisted.” He shrugged almost
shyly.

“She’s good at everything she does,” Edwina
said happily.

“Not everything.”

Edwina glanced sideways. Was this
conversation turning serious?

“Cecelia is predictable. You’ve changed,
though. You’re not the same woman.” He sounded so serious.

Edwina laughed lightly. She didn’t want to
hurt Spencer’s feelings. “Why? I’m not different.”

“Yes, you are, Winnie. You’re happier. Your
practical nature is still there, but you’ve become...,” he stopped
to think, “freer.”

“I was always free, Spencer. I just didn’t
know it.” She smiled.

“Well, it looks good on you.” He kissed her
cheek.

“Thank you. Now enough of
this serious talk. Tell me about your restaurant. I couldn’t
believe you named it
Winnie
.” She laughed. “Why in the
world would you want to do that?”

Spencer couldn’t believe his ears. How could
she not have noticed he cared for her? He had kissed her twice
before she left. Apparently she hadn’t noticed. Now it was too
late. He had lost her to her Scottish knight. He had seen the way
the Scot looked at her, but Winnie was naively indifferent to it
all because she never thought anyone would love her.

“
Cecelia says she wants to
buy another building.”

“Oh Spencer, how wonderful! Can you believe
how far you’ve come, just since I left? It hasn’t even been a year.
I’m so proud of you,” she gushed and picked up their pace. “There’s
a beautiful spot I want to show you. You can see for miles.”

“
Father, can we go down the
lane?” Paige asked from her perch in the wagon he pulled behind
him. “Can I get another bike?”

“Whoa, lass, one question at a time.” He
looked at her, then answered, “Yes to both.”

“I was scared you wouldn’t let me get another
bike,” she said happily. “Now I don’t have to be scared
anymore.”

“Right, but no more chasing hats in the
wind—or anything else for that matter. You always look both ways
and never cross without looking twice.”

“I know Miss Blair told me already. I
forgot,” she admitted.

“Yes, I know, and see what happened to my wee
lass?” He did not want to make it too big of an issue. Life was
short, so recently proven to him in more than one way.

Paige chattered happily, her little girl
voice mixing with the winds.

He saw movement from the corner of his eye.
Edwina... with Spencer standing on a knoll. A piece of him wanted
to go, but his better judgment forbade it. Things would turn out as
they should. He would not hurry nor push.

Still his eyes did not leave the two as they
walked... hand-in-hand... he could see now. Was it possible Edwina
had feelings for Spencer? He had written her letters. He noticed
them in the post.

Perhaps he had assumed too much. Edwina did
not play with emotions. That he knew. She had plenty of
opportunities to grab the position as his wife, yet never once
posed as anything other than what she was. And he liked what she
was. He had read enough in her face and by her comments, not to
mention the novel, that she thought Cecelia was more suited to
him.

He’d not thought from Edwina’s viewpoint. He
and Cecelia had been together in Chicago and South Carolina... had
worked with the same attorneys. He could see how she might derive
from those things that they had become a couple.

That meant... she might have feelings for
Spencer. And they were out together alone, holding hands. Maybe he
had been foolish in not declaring his own intentions. Twice he’d
hinted at them, but they had been apart so much, he was not sure
she would accept any forward attempts to reveal his heart.

Warring with his thoughts, he headed back
down the lane toward the manor. There was no way he was going to
lose this woman.

Chapter 55

“F
ather, you’re going fast!” Paige held onto the sides of the
wagon and laughed. “I like it,” she said as she bumped along. Alex
smiled. He was on a mission.

“Do ye miss yer mommy?” he blurted out.

“I didn’t know her. You did,” Paige said
quietly. He stopped and fell to one knee.

“
Ye are right. Did I ever
tell ye what she was like?”

“No, but Miss Blair did. She showed me
pictures and everything.”

“Everything?”

“Aye, she said mommy was pretty and you loved
her. Did you, father?” The brown eyes wide with anticipation,
waited with childish innocence.

He thought his heart would break. “Yes, I did
love her. So much we had you.”

“That’s what Miss Blair said.” Paige
squirmed. “Can we go now? I have to go to the privy.”

Alex stood. So the bairn knew all these
things. “We’re goin’, lass.”

“Hurry, father,” she called from behind.

“
Aye.” Alex picked up his
pace. So this was what he would be doing these next years. He liked
the idea.

“
Mrs. Gillespie, we are
taking our guests to dinner tonight. Ye and the mister are coming
along,” Alex said as he stuck his head into the kitchen
doorway.

“Ach, go along with ye. Me and the mister
have plans o’ our own.”

He looked his housekeeper in the eye. “And so
that is the way of it, is it?”

“Aye. It is. Go on, have ye’re fun. We would
be aboot being alone here this eve if ye don’t mind. And,” she
crooked her finger, “leave the bairn wi’ us. Lass needs some rest,
and her father out pulling in a wagon all day, bouncin’ ’er like
she was a sack of potatoes. And her wi’ two broken legs. Unfit it
is.”

“Paige didn’t mind,” he said stubbornly. “And
what does a bairn know, I ask ye?” He left Mrs. Gillespie to her
work. He could not argue