The Handfasting Read Online Free Page B

T’was more than bunched cloth, which meant Caitlin's words were
truth.
     “You’re
not telling me anything I don’t know.” Muireall bragged, “My own Malcolm, God
rest his soul, was no little tyke.”
    “No,”
the others laughed together, “no he was no small man, and a shame it was he had
to go so soon. He’s missed.”
    “The
missing wouldn’t be so bad,” Muireall confided with a laugh, “if it could be
shared with someone like the MacKay, now. And as he’s been widowed these three
years, well . . .”
    “Och,
Muireall,” Nigel’s wife, Leitis, humphed, “he’s not looking for a widow such as
yourself.”
    “And
why not?”
    Maggie
snorted. There was no need to turn around to see the glances passed from one
woman to another. They’d all be looking about, wondering who would do the
telling. It was Leitis who finally admitted, “He’s not going to look for a lady
willing to share the warmth in any bed. A man
such as the MacKay will show more discretion.”
    You tell her, Leitis , Maggie thought sourly, only to feel guilty moments later when Muireall
countered, “Say what you like, but you can’t ken the loneliness of an evenin’
alone. You don’t know what it’s like to have your man taken in his prime, not
even married a full year and no bairn to wake me in the night with cries. The
loneliness, och, it’s a terrible thing.”
    “Oh,
aye, Muireall,” Leitis admitted, “it is a sad thing, I’m sure, but you know
it’s a worrying thing as well. You have to watch yourself. Too many see, too
many tell. And what that means is there’s just too many.”
    The
women burst into laughter, all but Muireall, who looked about, her brow
furrowed. “Too many what?” She asked.
    Laughter
descended to snorts, as Leitis quipped. “Too many men in your bed.”
    Both
Sibeal and Caitlin offered, “That’s not being fair to cousin Muireall, now. She
didn’t take on Puny Piers.”
    “He
had Maggie’s eye, then, didn't he?” Leitis chided.
    “Well,”
Muireall defended, “I’ve never warmed myself with Babbling Birk the bard.”
    “For
the same reason.”
    “And
now there’s Maggie’s Hamish the tailor,” Agnes tossed in, “Muireall hasn’t gone
near him!”
    Once
again the room erupted with laughter as women called out, “Who else would
notice those scrawny buggers but our Maggie?”
    “They’re
not fit for anyone.”
    “'Tis
Maggie and her love for the runts of the litter.”
    “Stop
it!” Maggie swirled about, anger as wild as her wind-tossed hair, “you know
nothing about it. They are good men, each and every one of them. Just because
they aren’t as big as a mountain and as thick in the head doesn’t mean there
isn’t some goodness to them.”
    “Oh,
aye, Maggie, I’m certain you have the right of it.” Caitlin eased.
    “Besides,”
Maggie swallowed pride to loyally defend her men, “it was I who was not good
enough for them.”
    “Don’t
be daft.” Sibeal snipped.
    “Aye,
it’s fact," back straight, chin up against the humiliation of reality
Maggie admitted. "Not one of those men would have me now, would they?” The
silence of the room told her what she already knew. It was the truth.
    “Ach,
lassie,” Muireall sighed, “you should be praising God that you weren’t landed
with those boys.” Maggie kicked the fire's coals.
    “Come
on now, Maggie girl,” Neili and Roz beckoned her, “Don’t be listening to them.
We’ve need of your light hand with the pastry here.”
    Fine
ones to talk, those two. The same age as Maggie and they'd been married for
years and before that they'd been courted by a number of good, decent men.
Warring men. They could have them.
    “Flattery
now?” Maggie mumbled, but she went to help them as two men sidle in through the
back doorway. Maggie snorted. If they wanted to be invisible, let them try, but
with their size, their sex, and the fact that they were MacKay Clansmen, and
therefore unfamiliar, they weren't likely to be