“He is said to enchant any woman he wants with a mere look,” Myrna related in hushed tones as she crossed herself.
“It is something to talk about besides the English raids and the destruction they have wrought here in the borders,” Annabella responded. She was a practical young woman. “Babbling about a handsome man is much nicer than wondering how we will feed ourselves in the coming winter.” But for all her brave words, she worried. Still, it was a far better match than she could have ever anticipated.
“They say he has many mistresses, for once he has loved them, they do not—will not—leave him,” Myrna chattered on. “I’m sorry we will not get to see him, but perhaps ’tis better this way. After all, we are so beautiful, and ye’re so plain, Annabella. The earl might regret his decision if he saw us together.”
“What a mean thing to say,” young Agnes spoke up in defense of her eldest sister.
But Annabella, used to Myrna’s thoughtless tongue, just laughed. “Ye’re jealous,” she taunted back. “I am to be the Countess of Duin, and ye naught but Mistress Melville. As for the earl’s many mistresses, they may come in handy if he is not to my taste. I am required to produce an heir for my lord, to keep his house in good order, to stand by his side and chatter pleasantries when he entertains. I can do all of that, Myrna—and a handsome husband is much to be appreciated.”
Myrna shrugged. “Ye’re a strange lass,” she said. “I should be furious if my husband strayed. Indeed, I should scratch his eyes out so he didn’t ever cast them on another woman again. But then I suppose ye’re just grateful to have found a husband at all. I wonder ye did not go to the old church to spend yer days in prayer.”
“I have no wish at all to spend my days in prayer,” Annabella said. “I’m grateful that Da found me a husband, but I can’t help but wonder how he did it. We live in a stone tower that has stood for several hundred years, and housed many generations of Bairds. We cannot be said to be poor, but neither are we rich. How hard our father must scrabble to find dower portions for four daughters. How has he done it? Where is it coming from? And how on earth did he find an earl for me? Why would such a man have the daughter of a simple tower laird of no importance for a wife?”
She looked at Myrna. “Ye’re good at ferreting out information.” Then Annabella added the spur she knew would encourage her sister to go snooping. “I can only hope that Da has not taken from your dowers in order to gain this earl for me.”
Myrna paled as her breath caught in her throat briefly. Recovering, she said, “Ian remarked to me recently that his father was not pleased with the size of my dower. He said his son’s bride should do better. But he also said I am healthy, and he believes I will be a good mother.”
“Ye’re not breeding stock,” Annabella said, irritated.
“Aye, I am, and so are ye,” Myrna replied. “Our dowers and our ability to give our husbands sons are our great value as women.”
“Jesu, Jesu, ye’re listening to those traveling churchmen again. Reformed Church or old Church, they all have the same opinion of women.” Annabella swore.
Myrna’s Cupid’s bow of a mouth pursed itself in disapproval. “I intend to be a good wife to Ian Melville,” she said. “I shall birth a son for his family as quickly as I can. Ye had best do the same for yer earl, sister.”
Annabella sighed. Why couldn’t a woman just
be
? she silently asked herself. Why was her only value in her ability to reproduce, and in the coin she would bring her husband? But she was curious to learn what Myrna could find out about Duin and its earl, because the day was drawing nearer and nearer when the Fergusons would come to take her away to the west, and the stranger who would be her husband.
Myrna, however, could learn no more information about the lord of Duin. Nor did she learn how their father had managed to gain the dower to betroth Annabella to an earl. With the Fergusons just a few days from Rath, Annabella went to their mother and asked, “How did Da find a dower large enough to satisfy an earl, Mama? I pray he took nothing from my sisters to do it.”
“Ye should really not ask such questions, Annabella,” her mother said. “It should not matter to ye how the deed was accomplished, and naught was taken from yer sisters.”
“But I have asked, and I want to know,” Annabella persisted.
The lady Anne sighed. Then she said, “I suppose there is no harm in yer knowing. It was nothing more than a wee bit of good fortune that put ye in the earl’s path. I will not pretend that it has been easy to find a good husband for ye, Annabella. Yer da was actually despairing over it, for a lass wi’ a plain face and a small dower has a difficult time of it. But then Lord Bothwell came to yer da and suggested that he offer the Earl of Duin that bit of property in the west yer da inherited, as a dower portion for ye. The earl has been attempting to purchase that land from yer da for several years, but Robert would nae sell, for the kinsman who left it to him feuded with the Fergusons of Duin. The land borders his own and is particularly good grazing land. The earl raises cattle.
“Angus Ferguson is ready to take a wife. He doesn’t need a rich wife, for riches he has aplenty. He doesn’t object to having a wife whose features are modest in appearance. But most important, he wants that acreage that yer father holds, and so ye have gained him for yer husband in exchange for that land. Land has always been an acceptable dower, Annabella. Yer da has rented that land to Duin since he inherited it. The coin he earned for the rental has been put aside for yer dowers.
“Last month when yer da and the earl met, Robert was assured that Angus Ferguson wanted only the land in exchange for making ye his wife. He declined any purse, saying the land was more than enough value for a wife. Yer da and I will take the coin we saved for ye and now divide it among yer sisters.”
“Nay,” said Annabella. “If the earl declines my purse, then it should be mine, Mama. What if he dies, and I have need of another husband? Ye cannot take back the land ye have given the Fergusons, which leaves me in poverty wi’out my gold. I will not be left helpless to the Fergusons, and married off to some retainer for their benefit. If the earl does not want my gold, I do.”
Her mother was surprised by her daughter’s clever reasoning. She saw the wisdom in Annabella’s words. “Say nothing to anyone, my daughter,” she told the girl. “I will speak wi’ yer da. Ye will have what is yers; I promise ye. Ye will be far from the Bairds of Rath at Duin. You do need to be able to protect yerself.”
“My sisters have inherited yer beauty, Mama, but I seem to have inherited yer wisdom,” Annabella remarked to her mother.
The lady Anne smiled. “Thank ye, daughter,” she said. “Now learn this from me as well. Men, husbands in particular, dinna like discovering that their wives are intelligent. Keep this knowledge from yer bridegroom, and always keep yer own counsel. Ye will have a happier marriage if ye do, Annabella.”
“How will ye get Da to let me keep my gold?” the girl asked, curious.
“By letting him believe ’twas all his own idea,” her mother said mischievously.
Annabella laughed. “Oh, Mama, ye’re really quite wicked,” she teased her parent.
“Being a wee bit wicked,” the lady told her daughter, “can also intrigue a husband, as long as he does not feel threatened by yer behavior. Now, there are other things we must discuss if ye’re to be properly prepared for yer marriage bed.”
“I know a man’s form is different,” Annabella said. “I recall that ye bathed Rob and me together when we were little ones. Yet girls dinna have breasts as children. They grow them as they grow older. Do men grow anything extra?”
“Nay,” her mother said, “but their man parts do grow in keeping wi’ the rest of them. Some sprout hair on their chests, while others do not. We are all furred in many of the same places.”
“Myrna says the earl has many mistresses,” Annabella told her mother.
“Aye, a man will have his extras,” the lady Anne said calmly.
“Does Da have a mistress?” Annabella asked her mother. “How do you bear it?”
“Your father has not the means to keep a mistress.” Her mother laughed. “But I know he tumbles the village lasses now and again. It means nothing. He is my husband, and my lord. He gives me his love and his respect. I want nothing more.”
“The earl is rich enough to keep a mistress,” Annabella said thoughtfully.
“Aye, ’tis said he is rich,” her mother responded. “But if he keeps a mistress you will never acknowledge her, my daughter, should you learn of her existence. Give yer husband the bairns he wants and must have. Give him yer loyalty. He will respond in kind, no matter his wandering eye. You may even fall in love wi’ him.”
“Will he love me?” Annabella wondered aloud.
“If ye’re fortunate, perhaps he will,” her mother said, “but his respect is more important. A woman respected by her man is secure in her place.”
“Do ye love Da?” the girl boldly inquired.
“Aye, I suppose that I do, and I’ve always enjoyed our bed sport,” the lady Anne said. Then she smiled. “But we have strayed from the knowledge ye must have for yer wedding night.”
“I think I know what I must,” Annabella said, suddenly a bit shy. “I’ve seen the creatures making the beast with two backs, Mama.”
The good lady laughed softly. “’Tis a bit different when a man mounts his woman,” she said. “Ye’ll be on yer back, not yer belly. There is an opening between yer legs where his manhood will be fitted. Some think of it as another form of riding. The first time he enters yer body will hurt, but only briefly. That is because his cock will pierce yer maidenhead. When he has pleasured himself, and hopefully ye as well, he will water yer womb with his seed. The seed will not always be implanted, but once it is, a bairn will grow within yer belly, and after several months, usually eight to ten, the bairn will be born. Being my eldest daughter and second child, ye’ve seen the process of birth, so I need not tell ye of it. Do ye have any questions, Annabella?”
“Nay, Mama, thank ye,” the girl said politely. Actually she had several questions, but she was too embarrassed to ask her mother.
“’Tis better ye not be too knowledgeable,” the lady Anne said. “Yer husband will want to lead the way, and ye should let him.”
And finally her possessions were packed and ready. Her wedding gown was sewn. And on a fine morning toward the end of September, Matthew and James Ferguson, in the company of their sister, Jean, arrived at the tower house of the laird of Rath. They came with a large troop of men-at-arms wearing the blue-and-green plaid of the Fergusons of Duin, with its thin red and white stripes. Two pipers accompanied them, and Jean Ferguson, riding astride like the men she rode with, led a pristine white mare. From the moment they had entered onto Baird lands, they had been accompanied by the bride’s clansmen. There would be no delay. The marriage would be celebrated this very day, and on the morrow the bride would depart with her husband’s kin for Duin.
“Ohh,” Myrna squealed, gazing from a window on the arriving visitors. “What a fine mare! Who is the woman leading it, do ye think?”
“The Fergusons are well garbed and well mounted,” Sorcha noted.
Agnes began to weep. “We’ll never see our Annabella after today,” she sobbed.
“Ye’re not promised, nor will Da permit ye to wed until ye are at least sixteen,” Annabella said quietly to her youngest sister. “Ye shall come and visit me next summer, Aggie.” She put a comforting arm about the girl. “I’m sure the earl will permit it, and send a fine escort for ye too,” she promised.
Agnes sniffled, but then, looking up through her wet lashes at Myrna and Sorcha, both of whom were always lording marriage over her, she said, “Ye two will probably be wed by next summer, so ye’ll not get to visit our sister in her fine new home, but I will!” There was an air of triumph in her voice. Then she added, “Maybe Annabella will even find a rich husband for me.”
Myrna and Sorcha looked distinctly put out by Agnes’s words, but then Myrna said meanly, “If I were our plain-faced sister, I would certainly not invite my beautiful little sister to visit. What if the earl fell in love wi’ ye, and magicked our sister away so he could have ye?”
“Oh, Annabella, I wouldn’t steal yer man!” Agnes burst out. “I swear it!”
“I’m sure ye wouldn’t, Aggie,” her elder sister said, “and if my husband turned out to be that fickle, I wouldn’t want him. As for ye two, eventually ye’ll come to Duin to see me. Ye’ll always be welcome, sisters.”
Their brother, Rob, entered the chamber. “Da wants you downstairs in the hall immediately, Annabella,” he said. “Ye should be there to greet yer bridegroom’s kinfolk.” He was a handsome young man of twenty-two, with their mother’s blue eyes and their father’s dark hair. “Ye three are to remain here until ye’re invited into the hall,” he told his younger sisters. No need for the Fergusons to be blinded by their beauty until they had grown used to Annabella, Rob considered.
“Do I look all right, Rob?” Annabella asked anxiously. She was wearing the gown in which she would shortly be wed. It was lovely, but not quite the right color for the pale girl. The bodice was a light gray velvet embroidered with silver threads and black jet beads. The heavy silk skirt was a blue-gray. On a lass with golden hair it would have been stunning, even if it was a bit old-fashioned. But it did not really suit Annabella’s coloring at all. Her dark hair was left loose to proclaim her innocence.
“Ye look fine,” he said dismissively.
Brother and sister descended down the narrow staircase that led into the hall.
Once there, the laird waved to them to come quickly forward, indicating they should stand with him. The lady Anne reached out to take her eldest daughter’s hand in hers, giving it a little squeeze of encouragement as the Fergusons entered the hall.
“Welcome to Rath,” Robert Baird said, smiling.
“Thank ye, my lord. We have not met, but I am Matthew Ferguson, the laird’s half brother, and steward of Duin. This is James Ferguson, the laird’s brother, a priest come to inspect the contracts and perform the ceremony.” Matthew bowed politely.