Macbeth's Niece (40 page)

“I know. Eleanor’s letter planted the
suspicion, and I began watching him carefully after my return,
looking for proof. I had no idea he was planning to blame all his
crimes on me. When the box with Eleanor’s letters came up missing I
was alerted, then a friend warned me of my impending arrest and I
went into hiding. I didn’t dare to seek him at Brixton for fear of
arrest, but I thought I owed it to him to face him with my
accusations. Learning Aidan was to be at the Ballard’s tonight, I
was determined to make him confess. Then I saw you there, and
things became more complicated.”

“Why?”

“Aidan has lied to us both all along. He
told me before I was lost at sea that you and he—” Jeffrey let the
words trail away.

“He hinted you were having an affair with
Eleanor,” Tessa murmured, embarrassed that Aidan had been able to
encourage her own jealous suspicions.

“Eleanor and I? No, I loved Eleanor as a
sister only, as she deserved. But when I returned to Brixton Manor
after seeing you in London, Aidan told me that you and he were to
be married. He led me to believe you were in love with him. If that
were true, I told myself, I had ruined your life once and shouldn’t
do it again.”

“I never loved Aidan. I tried to tell him
that months ago, but he—”

“I know. Aidan was focused on two things in
life: becoming Lord of Brixton Manor and having you as his lady.
Tonight, after our conversation, I realized you were not in love
with my brother. I knew I had to expose his doings, but Aidan had
arranged the evidence carefully. Only crimes that could be placed
at my door were revealed, and none seemed to have occurred once I
went missing. He even cast himself in the role of innocent dupe.
Supposedly I had convinced him to let me handle some of William’s
affairs, which I turned to my own profit.”

“He admitted tonight that he poisoned
William.”

“I wondered,” Jeffrey murmured sadly. “It’s
well known I had no love for William’s treatment of me, so some
concluded I’d repaid my brother by cheating him. My year at
Hawick’s also incriminated me, for who’s to say I was a prisoner if
Ian and Mairie say otherwise?”

“I would!” Tessa vowed.

“If your husband would allow you to speak,”
Jeffrey reminded her.

“So you came to the masque tonight to face
Aidan?”

“Yes, but I ran into some unexpected
complications. First, I saw Aidan talking to Mairie and decided
they must be plotting something, the three of them. If Mairie was
in England, Hawick would not be far away. I didn’t realize they
were counting on my coming there so they could frame me for
Cedric’s murder as well as other crimes. Mairie recognized me
despite the mask, and she lured Cedric to the stables. I didn’t
realize how long you’d been gone from the hall until it was too
late to stop Aidan from carrying you off. When the crime was
discovered, Mairie accused me. You should have heard her tears and
screams.”

“She was quite calm when she faced me over
Cedric’s corpse,” Tessa commented, shaking her head wonderingly.
“What fiends she and her brother are!”

“Because of her story I was taken into
custody by Sir Roger and locked in a room.” He smiled grimly. “His
wife was ready to have me drawn and quartered at dawn. Then Lady
Acton wanted the crime laid at your door. She swore you had paid me
to murder her Cedric. Fortunately, Francis—Mary, of course—didn’t
believe a word of it.”

“Mary has ever defended you, even from me,”
Tessa said with a smile.

“And for that I am grateful to her also.”
Jeffrey touched Tessa’s face tenderly. “At any rate, Mary and
Francis distrusted Mairie, so they decided to watch the woman once
she thought she had accomplished her purpose. Francis saw her hand
a note to a churl for delivery to her confederates. He stopped the
man and took the note, which revealed enough to prove my innocence.
However, once I was freed, Mairie was nowhere to be found. As
usual, her instinct for self-preservation was strong.”

“Then how did you find me?”

“The hired messenger was easily persuaded to
describe his destination. Francis went for help, but I knew I had
to get to you.”

“That was wise on your part. They would have
been gone in a short time.”

“I am sorry it was my brother who brought
you to this.” Jeffrey said, disbelief still in his voice.

“But he saved my life at the last,” Tessa
reminded him.

“He truly loved you. Aidan made a good
choice for his last act on earth, even if his earlier choices were
deplorable.”

Tessa found herself smiling despite all she
had been through. “And a very good choice you made, Lord Brixton,
coming to my rescue. I believe that evens the score between us.
Once upon a time you ruined my life, but you have redeemed yourself
and saved me—more than once.”

Jeffrey put his hands into Tessa’s dripping
hair and turned her face up to his. “Mistress macFindlaech, we have
a conversation unfinished between us. I could not let our chance to
settle things between us be confounded by circumstances, could I?”
He kissed her then, with a warmth that made them both forget the
cold around them.

“Hallooo!” came from above the bank, and
they clung to each other as sounds of Francis and the other
rescuers drew closer in the night.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Mary insisted Tessa stay with her for
several days, sending word to Banaugh so he would not worry. A day
later he showed up at Mary’s side door, asking humbly to see “his
lass.” Running down the stairs to meet him, Tessa hugged the
grizzled old man, causing him to turn various shades of red and
sputter, “Now, Tess,” several times.

“I hope things are well at the grog shop,”
Tessa said with raised eyebrow.

“Oh, aye, things are well enough, there,”
Banaugh replied. “That widow is qui’ a woman, ye know.”

“I like her very much,” Tessa said
honestly.

“Do ye, lass?” He seemed ready to say more,
but scratched his head and was silent.

“I also think,” Tessa continued, “she is
quite taken with you.”

Banaugh let a small smile cross his
features, but he shook his head. “I’ve no business at m’ age t’ be
takin’ a woman. Besides, I’ve got ye t’ look after.”

Tessa crossed to him again and hugged him
even harder than before. “Banaugh, you have done more for me than
anyone else could have. But now you have a chance to be happy with
this widow of yours, and I believe I have a chance at happiness,
too. We shall always be friends, but you must marry Sarah Goode if
it pleases you.”

“Ye are certain?” He was torn, it seemed,
between duty and desire.

“I can stay here with Mary as long as I
like, she says. I will go wandering no more and will need no strong
protector, I promise.”

Banaugh looked innocent and sly at once.
“I’m thinkin’ that there be one nearby, if ye have need.”

Tessa said nothing. Jeffrey had gone to
Brixton, and she had no idea what was next for the two of them.

“I will tell ye this,” the old man said, his
eyes narrowing with conviction. “Sarah Goode is qui’ a woman, bu’
she’ll never tak’ th’ place i’ this old heart tha’ is yours, lass,
an’ that’s God’s truth.”

Once Tessa reached London, she had sent word
to Miriam and Ayla Arbeen that she was safe. At the Mace and Thyme
Inn, Banaugh had found a letter for Tessa from them, which he now
handed her. She read it aloud so he could hear the news.

Tessa,

We were most happy to hear of your safe
return to London and your luck in locating friends there. We have
had no further troubling visitors since the night you left. My
mother is well and sends her best regards. She says you will
understand that she is, under present circumstances, considering a
return to her homeland. I will accompany her on the journey in the
spring and then return to Arbeen, for I am to be married at the new
year to a man I believe you can identify. I will only say that, as
well as being affianced, I have become quite expert with a bow over
the last few weeks.

Tessa stopped reading briefly to explain the
courtship of Hamish to Banaugh.

“Why is it ye can gie others all sorts o’
advice i’ matters o’ th’ heart bu’ canna tell yer own man hae much
ye love him?” Banaugh asked her. “It seems t’ me—”

“Never mind, Banaugh,” Tessa reproved
teasingly. “I am waiting for the right moment, and I hope it will
come soon.” She returned to reading.

We hope when you return to Scotland, as I am
sure you will someday, that you stop to visit. We would be most
glad of your company.

Your friend, Ayla Arbeen.

“A fine lassie, i’ spite o’ her bein’
ferrin,” Banaugh announced. “It took courage t’ do wha’ she did
tha’ night, an’ we are beholding t’ her and her mother.” Tessa
nodded agreement, promising herself if she did return to Scotland,
Arbeen would be one of the places she would be sure to visit.

A few days later a messenger arrived from
Brixton Manor with a packet for Tessa. Her heart leapt, but the
feminine handwriting on the outside told her it was not from
Jeffrey. Still, she was pleased when she opened it to find a letter
from Auntie Madeline, and within that, a note from her sister Meg.
She read the note first:

My dear sister,

I have asked Father Madoc to write this for
me, and I will send it by messenger to the Brixtons of York whom
you spoke of in hopes they will know where to find you. We are all
well, and no harm has come to us under the rule of King Malcolm. He
asked only that Donwald, representing the clan macFindlaech, swear
fealty to him on Moot Hill at Scone, bringing soil from our
land-hold in his boot heel, as is customary. That done, we are free
to live as we wish. The castle at Inverness has been granted to one
of Malcolm’s clan, I am told.

I hope you have found what you sought when
last we met, and you will someday return to your home in the
Highlands, to visit us or to live, whichever pleases you.

With love, Meg

Below her name was a mark such as Kenneth
macFindlaech had used to identify his sheep, which made Tessa miss
her home vividly for a moment. Scotland was a beautiful land, and
again she promised herself she would return there someday.

The letter from Auntie Madeline was longer,
and the hand that wrote it a bit shaky. Still, the old lady’s
warmth came through as she wrote:

Dear, dear Tessa,

Jeffrey has told me of your adventures since
you left Brixton, and I marvel at what you have done. He tries to
stand on dignity, but his pride in your courage and determination
shows in his every word. I, too, am proud of you, although
distressed at Aidan’s treatment of you. He ever resented his
brothers, but now it is over. May God have mercy on him. Cecilia is
here with me now, the last of my girls, and she will soon marry.
Alice is very happy with her young man, and I believe you know
Mary’s little secret. I am so thankful that all of them had their
chance, and it was largely due to you, Tessa. You were the impetus
that nudged dear Eleanor into action, and because of it, all the
Brixton girls benefitted. I only wish she were here to see them
well matched, each according to her own choice.

Ethelbert visited on his way back to the
abbey. What a surprise to hear that you and he met. He will spend
some time in renewal and then be on his way. Healing is a gift he
has discovered in himself, and so he is content with his choice in
life.

Jeffrey has been busy setting things to
rights on the manor. He insists on making amends for the girls not
having a proper dowry settled on them, and he has made a large gift
to Ethelbert’s abbey as well. The house is being repaired, and the
sound of hammers and saws dins at one’s ears from morning to night.
I believe he looks forward to something, but I cannot say what, it
not being my affair.

Please, come to see an old woman when you
can.

Yours with affection, Madeline Brixton

Tessa sat back in the window seat of the
solar, the two pages clutched in her hand. She had been so lucky in
her life to have around her warm, caring women: her sister Meg, the
beautiful Eleanor and the kind Auntie Madeline, and Miriam and Ayla
Arbeen. Women were judged in the world by their ability to capture
a husband, and yet these women were very different. Meg had married
for love and found happiness, Eleanor had married for security and
been required to make her own happiness, and Auntie had made a life
for herself without marriage and seemed happy with that. Miriam had
been happy despite society’s disapproval of her marriage, and Ayla
would make herself content with Hamish, having known no other
eligible man at all. Each one of them was loving and loved, no
matter what her marital situation. Society was wrong. It was not
marriage that showed a woman’s worth, but the woman herself.

The weird sisters danced again through
Tessa’s memory. They had been correct in their predictions, she
knew not how. She had come to England, she had married two men who
never possessed her, and the man she loved had forgotten her name.
Had they been trying to trick her, help her, or were they merely
creatures who spoke the words given to them with no intent one way
or the other? Tessa decided the answer probably was the last. They
had not meant to destroy her or her uncle. The information given
was just that: information. How one acted upon the information made
all the difference. If Macbeth had chosen to perform evil deeds
while trying to make their prophecies come true, that had been his
mistake. For men as well, happiness came from within. She hoped God
would forgive him for not listening to his own heart.

Over the next week the story of Aidan’s
association with Ian Hawick became public. Unfortunately, Hawick
had disappeared without a trace. By morning two dead bodies, the
boat, and marks in the mud of the bank were all that was left to
tell the tale. Hawick had melted into the darkness. “Best for him,”
Mary commented, “and for you, too, Tessa. You need never see them
again.”