"I suggest ye no' worry about her saying she did no' want to go to Sinclair," Ross said quietly. "The fact is, ye're married now. She will be going, and what happens between ye from here on out is up to the two o' ye." When Cam merely nodded and continued to stare into his ale, Ross added, "However, I should point out that yer dallying down here rather than going up to bed her is no doubt just reinforcing her belief that ye do no' want her."
Cam's head jerked up at the suggestion. The man was right, of course. Standing, he said determinedly, "I am going up."
"Good. Then me wife will stop comforting her and come down," Ross said dryly, then caught his arm as Cam stepped over the bench. "A moment."
"What?" Cam asked with a frown. Now that he'd decided to go up, the delay was a bit annoying.
"Ye're satisfied she was innocent the first time ye were together?" Ross asked, eyes narrowed.
Cam stiffened. "Aye. I told ye that when we first talked o' me marrying her. She still had her maiden's veil."
Ross nodded. "But there's the matter o' the sheet fer proof."
Shoulders relaxing, Cam nodded. "I shall see there is proof."
"Good," Ross said releasing his arm. "I shall see ye in the morning then."
Cam nodded and turned to leave the table, but halted abruptly to avoid crashing into Payton, Ross and Annabel's son. The nineteen-year-old stood with several men behind him, a wide grin on his face.
" 'Tis time we took ye up to yer bride," the young man announced.
Cam stared at him blankly, then turned to peer at Ross for help.
"Well, I was gonna let ye get away without this indignity," the MacKay said with amusement. Getting to his feet, he added, "But, what the hell? I had to suffer it, so why no' you too?"
"Damn," Cam muttered as the men suddenly converged on him.
"WHAT IS TAKING THEM SO LONG?" Annella asked with irritation.
"He's not coming. Cam doesn't want me," Joan said unhappily, watching her cousin pace the room. She would be up pacing with her if she weren't completely naked. They hadn't even allowed her a shift to sleep in, claiming the bedding ceremony called for her to be stripped and put abed, and then Cam to be as well. Who knew nobles were so barbaric? Joan thought. She had never slept naked in her life . . . well, barring the few times she'd fallen asleep after Cam had bedded her. Before that she wouldn't have even considered it. The hut she and her mother shared had been too chilly at night once the fire went out; she'd have frozen to death had she slept naked. It was indecent.
"O' course he wants ye," Kenna said with amazement, rushing over to sit on the bed and claim her hands. "Why ye're beautiful, and smart and nice. How could he no' want ye?"
Joan smiled faintly at the girl's words and pointed out, "I'm pretty enough but not beautiful, and how would you know I'm smart or nice? You only met me today."
"Aye, but ye're me cousin," Kenna pointed out.
"So I must be nice and smart?" she asked with amusement.
"Aye," Kenna said simply.
Joan smiled, but then sighed and shook her head.
"Kenna, dear," Lady Annabel said suddenly. "I forgot to ask the servants to bring up wine, cheese and bread for Joan and Cam. Could you--?"
"I'll get it, Mama," Kenna interrupted, popping up off the bed.
"She's such a good girl," Annabel said with affection as the door closed behind her youngest child.
"Aye," Joan murmured.
"Both of my girls are," Annabel added, smiling at Annella. The sixteen-year-old smiled back and then moved to the bed and sat where Kenna had been a moment ago.
"Ye don't really believe Cam does no' want ye, do ye?" Annella asked with a frown, rubbing Joan's cold hand between both of her warm ones. "Kenna's right, ye're beautiful, and ye do seem smart and nice."
Joan grimaced. "It matters little if I am nice or smart. Raised in the village as I was, I don't know the first thing about being a lady, let alone running his keep or . . . I'm sure he fears I shall embarrass him in front of his parents . . . and I probably will. "
"Ye were raised in a village?" Annella asked with amazement.
Joan blinked, surprised the girl didn't know that, but then realized that all Annella and Kenna knew was that she was their cousin and was marrying Cam.
"Yes, dear," Annabel said when Joan remained silent. "Your Aunt Kate, my sister, died giving birth to Joan. Fortunately, the midwife, a healer from the village, was a kind and loving woman who raised her as her own."
"In an English village?" Annella asked with dismay.
Joan couldn't tell which horrified the girl more, that she was raised in a village, or an English one.
"Aye, in Grimsby," Annabel said calmly.
"But why was she no' sent here?" Annella asked, turning to frown at her mother. "Ye and father should ha'e raised her."
"Aye," Annabel agreed. "But we did not even know she existed until today."
"How could ye no' ken she--"
"Not now, Annella," Annabel interrupted quietly. "We can talk about this later."
The girl hesitated, obviously curious to have her answers, but then suddenly turned to Joan and hugged her. "I'm sorry."
"What for?" Joan asked with amazement, hands automatically rising to hug her back.
"Ye should no' ha'e been raised in a village with strangers. Ye should ha'e been here with us. We are yer family."
"There's nothing for you to feel bad about," Joan said, hugging her with more feeling now. "My mother was a good woman. She loved me and taught me much, and we did better than most. We were rarely without food, and usually had wood for the fire. I was lucky," she assured her, but for some reason her assurances seemed to upset Annella. She could see it in her expression and tell by the way her grip on her hand tightened.
"We will teach ye how to be a lady," Annella announced suddenly, and then glanced to her mother. "We will, will we no'?"
"Aye, of course," Annabel said, smiling with pride on her daughter.
Nodding, Annella turned back, "I shall teach ye to dance, and play music, and all those things, and Mother can teach ye how to run a castle and such. I can help with that too but she is better at it, and--"
"They are coming!" Kenna squealed, bursting into the room with a tray of food and drink in hand. She rushed to the table by the fire to set it down, adding, "The men were lifting Cam onto their shoulders to carry him up here as I reached the stairs."
"Off with you two then," Annabel said, ushering her girls toward the door.
Joan frowned as she watched the girls leave the room. The moment her aunt closed the door behind them and turned back, though, she asked with dismay, "He wouldn't come on his own? Was he so reluctant the men had to drag him up like a--?"
" 'Tis part of the bedding," Annabel interrupted soothingly. "The women lead the bride up and put her abed, then the men carry the groom up, strip him and put him abed next to you."
"You mean a bunch of men are going to come in here and--?" Her words died as the door suddenly burst open and a dozen MacKay soldiers spilled into the room, bearing Cam overhead like a wild boar they'd hunted down. They had obviously celebrated the wedding well and were the worse for drink. They nearly dropped Cam when they started to lower him to the floor, and then she suspected they unintentionally hurt him a time or two as they tore off his clothes . . . and it could only be described as tearing them off. They certainly didn't strip him as calmly and carefully as her aunt and cousins had done with her.
Joan watched the whole thing with something akin to horror. Perhaps she'd had a sheltered upbringing, or perhaps this was a Scottish tradition. She'd never attended a wedding in England, not even between commoners, so couldn't be sure this didn't happen in England as well, but it all seemed terribly barbaric to her.
Fortunately, it was also fast, and Cam was quickly naked and tucked into bed next to her. The men then began to file out, the laughter and ribald jokes that had accompanied them into the room fading as they moved off down the hall.
"Well, thank God that's o'er."
Joan glanced to Ross MacKay at that comment, noting only then that he'd been amongst the men and hadn't left but stood by Annabel, his arm around her waist. The man--her uncle, she reminded herself--gave her a wink that she suspected was supposed to cheer her. It didn't, any more than Annabel's reassuring smile reassured her, but she forced a smile and the couple slipped from the room, pulling the door silently closed behind them. She and Cam were alone.