The twins whispered together, then Jamie said, “Ye have to find us thrice before we find ye thrice. We’ll set a time limit to make it fair. Deal?”
Jamie held out his hand, and Alexander took it, surprised by the strength of the boy’s handshake. Alexander couldn’t help but smile at the serious expression on both children’s faces.
“Deal,” he said.
After all, how hard could a game of hide and seek be?
“Does he often play like that?” Cicilia asked, as she sat with Jeanie and Nathair at a card table next to one of the upstairs windows. The three of them wer
e watching, a little incredulous, as Annys and Jamie played some sort of madcap hide and seek game with the Laird.
Outside, Alexander uncovered the canvas cover under which Jamie was hiding, and even from here, they heard the Laird call, “Aha!”
“Nay!” Jamie shrieked and bolted off. Laughing wildly, actually seeming to enjoy himself, Alexander chased after him.
“I’ll catch ye!” the Laird was calling.
Nathair chuckled. “The last time I saw him like that, we were both bairns ourselves,” he told them. “Sandy’s nae been the same since his Mither an’ faither went. This is…surprisin’. Nice, but surprisin’.”
Cicilia felt an unexpected rush of sympathy. She had almost forgotten that this young Laird may be one of the few people who understood exactly what she had gone through with the loss of first her mother and then her father.
She’d been only three-and-ten herself when the news of Laird and Madame Gallagher’s deaths had reached the farm, and their young son had officially assumed the title. Cicilia remembered her mother had cried, and her father been very solemn for days.
“But Daddy, I dinnae understand. I dinnae think ye liked Gallagher’s laird?” she’d asked him, confused.
Cameron had shaken his head, putting his hands on her shoulders and speaking to her very seriously. “Nay, me wee strawberry. Me an’ the Laird dinnae always see eye to eye, but he was a good man, an’ his wife a good woman. They had me respect. They did well for this clan, an’ they’ll be missed.”
“That poor boy,” Lillian had added sadly. “I wonder how he’s gonnae cope all alone?”
An’ now here he is, playin’ chase wi’ the bairns. Maybe I’ve been too harsh.
Was he so stuck up and hard because of the tragedy? Indeed, Cicilia had hardened somewhat when her mother died, and again after the death of her father—and she only had a farm to worry about, not a whole clan.
To lose both of them at the same time, his only family married off to another clan’s Laird…it must have been hard. Mayhap that’s why he was so tough on everyone all the time.
“I was only ten when it happened,” Jeanie said sadly, idly twisting a loose strand of hair around her finger. “I mind everyone in the village was right sad. To be honest, he’s a harsh lawman, but the newer Laird o’ Gallagher seems a decent fellow an’ Laird, despite the coldness people talk about.”
Nathair nodded enthusiastically. “It’s an act,” he told them. “He doesn’ae ever let anyone see what he’s really like. It’s like he thinks he will nae get proper respect if he does.”
“That’s sad,” Jeanie told him, touching his arm.
Cicilia pretended not to notice the touch as she said, “It’s silly. Surely he kens he’d be better liked if he just smiled once in a while.”
Nathair chuckled. “Och, Miss Cicilia. Alexander MacKinnon doesn’ae care about bein’ liked. He just cares about doin’ his parents proud.”
Cicilia glanced out the window again, watching as Alexander caught Jamie and started to tickle him while they both laughed helplessly. She could see Annys behind a tree nearby, peeking out at the fun with a huge grin.
I haven’ae seen them laughin’ like that since Daddy died.
It gave her a strange but pleasant tight feeling in her chest. It made her miss her father more than ever, but it was also her first glimpse in a long time of something like her family used to be.
“An’ this is what he’s really like?” she asked Nathair, in a voice filled with a healthy dose of skepticism.
The Man-at-arms nodded. “Aye. Dinnae believe me if ye dinnae want to, lass, but do ye really think somebody like me would be friends wi’ him for me whole life if he was really as sour-faced as he comes across?”
Jeanie smiled. “Aye, well, ye are a lot o’ fun a’ on yer own, Nathair.”
Nathair winked at her but continued talking to Cicilia. “He’s been obsessed wi’ things bein’ neat an’ perfect since he was a lad. He used to throw mighty tantrums as a wee bairn if everythin’ wisnae neat or his routines got broken away from what he was used to. It only got worse after his parents went. Ye can imagine how yer faither’s farm gets to him.”