Quarterback's Secret Baby(112)

Chapter 6


Mrs. Clyde seemed almost slightly embarrassed at breakfast, as if she was worried she'd overstepped her bounds somehow. When she put my bowl of oatmeal and my mug of tea in front of me she allowed herself the following:

"I'm very glad to see you back here, Jennifer. You're good for the bairn."

The bairn. I'd worked out that this was the Scottish word for "child" soon after my arrival. It made me smile every time I heard it.

"Thank-you Mrs. Clyde. I'm glad we worked it out - the Laird and me, I mean."

Mrs. Clyde didn't say anything else, she just gave me a quick wink and went back to washing dishes.

I was just about ready to go back to my room for a shower and a nap after the dramatic night at the train station when Darach walked in with Cameron in his arms. Her head was nestled into his shoulder and she was obviously half-asleep, still dressed in her pink pajamas and with her blonde curls sticking out in all directions.

"Look who's here," the Laird whispered to his daughter and I felt something in my heart move at the tenderness in his voice. Cameron slowly lifted her head and turned to see who was there. When she saw me a slow, sweet smile broke across her face and she leaned out of her father's arms, reaching for me.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." I stood up and took Cameron from the Laird, sitting back down at the table with her on my lap.

"You're staying, Miss Robinson?" The hope in her voice would have been enough to shatter a much harder heart than my own.

"Yes, Cameron, I'm staying all summer. You can take me swimming in the loch now, if it gets hot enough."

"Can I? Can we ride horses to the Treacle-Eater's Tower?"

I nodded. The Treacle-Eater's Tower was apparently a stone tower a mile or so away from the castle and Cameron seemed particularly fascinated with it, frequently mentioning her desire to take me there and take me up to the very top so we could look out across the estate and see the sea on a clear day.

Later that afternoon, after a restorative nap, I found myself back at the loch with Cameron, who was busy gathering sticks for a fort we were going to build near the waterfall. Anne had come along and we were lying in the heather watching the child and chatting.

"My brother isn't always such a hothead, you know. If you could see how Diane treats that child, you'd understand why he's so wound up about it."

I wasn't sure why Anne was defending Darach to me - I hadn't left and Anne had obviously been told what had happened - she could see I was still there.

"I do understand," I said slowly, not sure what Anne was getting at, "but how he feels about Diane doesn't make it OK for him lose his temper with his employees."

"No, you're right, you're right." Anne picked at the heather we were lying on. "I just - it's really hard to explain. We've never had to deal with anyone like Diane and it just seems to be dragging on and on with no end in sight. We're all going slightly mad, I reckon. Did you know Mrs. Clyde slapped her across the face for taking a scone away from Cameron?"

I looked at Anne to see if she was joking but she wasn't. "Really? Mrs. Clyde slapped her?" I couldn't imagine Mrs. Clyde slapping anyone - she seemed far too dignified to be dealing out slaps.

Anne chuckled a little, obviously amused at the memory. "Yeah. Diane said something to Cameron about scones making her fat and tried to take it away and Mrs. Clyde just lost it. You haven't met Diane - if you're lucky, you won't."

The afternoon was perfect. About 75 degrees, sunny and with a light breeze that brought the scent of heather and wildflowers on it. We helped Cameron build her fort and then we helped her knock it down again when she decided it would be useless against invaders and she needed to start again. When we got ready to head back to Castle McLanald for something to eat it suddenly struck me that I felt happy. I didn't even recognize the feeling at first, and then I questioned it. Was I imagining it? What was this sensation of contentment, of not wanting to be anywhere else than right where I was? When I decided to accept it I couldn't help a big grin spreading across my face.

"Why are you smiling, Miss Robinson?" Cameron asked. She was a very observant kid - I'd already noted her slightly uncanny ability to detect people's moods.

"Because I feel happy, Cameron. I feel happy for the first time in a very long time."

Anne turned to smile at me when I said that, sensing the honesty in my words. But it was Cameron who pulled her signature move of slipping her chubby, muddy little hand into mine. She then looked up at me and said two words that just confirmed I'd made the right decision by deciding to stay at Castle McLanald:

"Me too."

The passage of the next couple of days didn't do anything to dampen my good spirits. In much the same way that finally feeling normal after a period of sickness turns 'normal' into 'wonderful' the experience of contentment felt even sweeter due to the emotional suffering of the past couple of years. I appreciated it more than I would have before my grandmother's passing and my heart was full of hope that she was still with me in some way, watching over me as I ran around the Scottish moors playing hide and seek with Cameron and sneaking up on rabbits and the odd sheep only to jump out at them yelling "boo!" and collapsing with laughter.