Wedded to the Highlanders by Katie Douglas

Chapter 5

After he left Lucy behind the whisky store, Steen quickly washed his hands in one of the water butts collecting rainwater to nourish the village flower beds, and he made his way to the shop and fetched the baking powder. The romantic interlude with Lucy had taken time, and he hoped he wasn't in trouble with his parents for being so slow to bring back the ingredient they were waiting for.

He arrived back in the bakery. Papa Seoras folded his arms and raised a stern eyebrow.

"Did ye wait for the baking powder tae grow in a field, lad?"

"Nae, Pa, I'm sorry. Here."

"Where were ye? I could have got it myself if I'd thought it would take ye so long."

Steen knew better than to ever lie to his parents. "Lucy. I saw Lucy. And I needed tae talk tae her."

"Well, if people come in later and they wonder why the cakes are nae ready, I'll tell them it's all well because young Steen got tae speak wi' his lassie."

Steen sighed. Sometimes, being stuck in a family business was very irritating.

After what he had done with Lucy, however, nothing could detract from his mood, and he was soon washing pots and pans in the big square sink and humming a folk tune about a young maiden from Inverary.

Not that Steen was interested in the girls in Inverary. Lucy was all he wanted. He hoped the spirit world would bind them together at the Circle Dance.

***

After Steen left the alcove, Lucy waited a few minutes before following, to ensure nobody knew the two of them had been together. She walked around the corner of the whisky store and bumped straight into Hugh. She gazed up at him as her face coloured red. She knew she wasn't exactly well-dressed right now.

"Sorry! At least I didn't knock you over, this time!" she said, furiously trying to rearrange her dress so she looked less like she'd just been rolling in the hay.

"There is that," he remarked dryly. "Although I'm a little curious about what you were doing behind the whisky store."

She flushed even more furiously and wished she could turn invisible like the fey did.

"Just... looking for something." She tried to sound casual but cringed inwardly, because her voice couldn't sound more guilty unless she made some sort of confession.

"You've lost something? Again?" He sighed heavily. "When will you stop losing things and finally start being more responsible, Lucy?"

She took a step back, stung by his words. "What's it to ye, Hugh? Go an' find someone else to judge!" Seizing her skirts, she turned and ran.

Not feeling like being around her family, she hurried out of the village, across the green and into the woodland. She had been so happy, minutes earlier, and yet somehow, one swift cutting remark from Hugh completely destroyed her. She began to cry.

As she walked, she trailed her fingers against the white bark of the silver birch trees, until she reached the more ancient, dense evergreens.

Fallen leaves crackled on the perennially-brown floor as the last of the bluebells tried to collect some vestiges of the afternoon sun, filtering through the leaves of the trees, and Lucy wondered, not for the first time, why they even tried to grow, here, when they would surely be happier in the bright sunshine of a meadow. And yet, she had never seen bluebells out in the open; they were always on the forest floor.

As she kept going, Lucy got the distinct feeling she was being watched. She looked over her shoulder and thought she saw something scurrying away behind a tree. Pausing, she watched the landscape for a long moment, daring it to do anything peculiar. When nothing happened, she turned and resumed her journey into the forest, following the same pathway she'd walked upon a dozen or more times in the past.