But Abigail had been thrilled to discover her husband had listened to her and given the other woman another chance. She hoped that meant he would not be too hard on the rest of the clan as they got to know her as well.
Una appeared to take the lairds directive to heart this time and spent time each day familiarizing Abigail with the domestic working of the fortress. Abigails suggestions for meals and changes to the great hall were accepted without rancor, though she soon realized doing things as they had been done in her fathers keep was not always possible or desirable.
One thing she stood firm on, and that was a rotating invitation to each of the clanspeople and their families to dine with their laird. Talorc noticed immediately that different clan members now joined him at the long banquet table for evening meals. Rather than get angry, he had thanked Abigail for thinking of it and made sure he spent time speaking with each evenings special guests.
While her husband trained his forces and oversaw improvements to what Abigail already considered an impenetrable fortress, Guaire helped her to become acquainted with the clans many industries. Not only did the Sinclairs keep several herds of sheep and harvest the wool for their own use, but they produced goods for trade with other clans as well.
Their blacksmith and his two apprentices provided services for the surrounding clans, and Guaire boasted that other Gaels came from as far as Ireland to trade for the weapons Magnus forged. Despite the fact that its own laird did not sleep in a proper bed, the Sinclair holding even boasted a carpenter and his apprentice son.
Abigail was more than a little impressed by their hard-working creativity and told Guaire so. He nodded, Aye, weve a good, strong clan, but we can thank the sound leadership of our laird for a lot of it.
A burst of pride warmed Abigails insides to be married to such a fine
man. She did not know what her sister Emily had found so lacking in Talorc of the Sinclairs, but Abigail thought him to be a king among men. Her feelings for him grew steadily with each passing day and her plan to rejoin her sister became a secondary consideration to the hope of staying with the man she was coming to love permanently.
All was not blooming roses and sunshine among the Sinclairs for her, however. Hiding her affliction became increasingly difficult the more people she came to know and the greater the clans acceptance of her grew. Every night she went to bed thanking God for another day that her secret had not been revealed.
And while Unas attitude had markedly improved, Osgards had not. Oh, he was careful enough in her husbands presence, but when they were alone, he often made hurtful comments to Abigail. Una told her to ignore the old mans words as he wasnt really pleasant to anyone.
Sometimes that was a harder task to undertake than others. Like one morning when he kept her company while she mended one of Talorcs shirts in the great hall.
I suppose youve noticed youre never left alone.
It was difficult to sew and watch the older mans lips, but Abigail had spent years learning to do this sort of thing. Thank goodness. The last person she wanted learning of her deafness was the crotchety old man.
Yes, I had noted it. How could she not? Shed assumed her husband was watching out for her safety and felt good because of it.
Ye know tis because your laird and your clan dinna trust you.
She stared at him, at a loss how to respond. She could not be sure he was lying, but she hated to think his words could be true.
He nodded, warming to his theme. Ye cannot be left without supervision lest ye betray us in some fashion.
Tears burned the back of her eyes, but she absolutely refused to show weakness in front of the cranky old man. She focused her attention completely on the small stitches she made with her needle, unwilling to dignify the barb with an answer.
It was easy to ignore him since she didnt even know if he was speaking unless she looked at him, and that she refused to do. Hed pricked her with enough poison for one day.
Over the next few days, she wondered which was the truth: that her constant escort was the result of her husbands concern for her safety or her trustworthiness? She was too disheartened by the prospect of the latter to ask one of her new friends for their opinion.
Even with Osgards animosity and the stress of hiding her inability to hear, Abigail found her life among the Sinclairs the happiest it had been since her sister Emily had come north.
The only thing missing was Emily herself. Even though Abigail no longer wanted to go live with the Balmoral, she desperately wished she could see her sister. To be so close and yet still unable to speak to her beloved sibling was hard indeed, but Talorc would not consider a trip to Balmoral Island right now. He said he had spent too much time away from the clan already.
Abigail suggested going by herself with an escort. However, he was even more intransigent on the subject of her traveling there without him. She would not complain, though. Magnus and Susannah had taken Abigails gifts and letter to Emily and returned with gifts and a long missive from her sister.