anger. He looked at Andrew and Rosanna.
“Are you the theater people I have heard about?” he asked.
“I don’t know if, or what you might have heard of us. But it is true that we are theater people,” Rosanna replied.
“Why dishonor yourselves by standing with one who is known to be a brigand?” Angus Somerled asked.
“Duff MacCallister is my cousin,” Andrew replied. “Were he at the gates of hell, I would stand by him.”
“You make claim that he is your cousin?”
“Aye, of the self-same blood as Falcon MacCallister, he who defeated your ancestor at Glen Fruin,” Andrew said, perfectly adopting the Scottish brogue.
“
“And it is good riddance to ye, Angus Somerled!” Ian McGregor called out after the sheriff left. It wasn’t loud enough for the sheriff to hear, but it was loud enough for all in the pub to hear, and they laughed out loud.
Two days later, Duff came to Glasgow to tell his cousins good-bye.
“We have had a wonderful visit,” Rosanna said. “Especially so since we met you and were able to reconnect our family after all these years. And how wonderful it was to meet Skye. She is such a delightful young lady. I am sure the two of you will be very happy.”
“Thank you, I am sure we will be as well. And I enjoyed meeting both of you,” Duff said. “It was an interesting experience, finding out what happened to those of my family who went to America.”
“You should come to America as well,” Andrew said. “Yes, come to America after you have married, and bring your bride with you.”
“Perhaps I will,” Duff said. “I would like to see America, and I would like Skye to see it with me.”
“But if you come, you should come to live, not just to visit,” Andrew said. “You would love it in America, and Americans would welcome you. We are that kind of people.”
“I have land here,” Duff said. “If I were to come to America, how would I live? I have no land there.”
“Land is easily acquired,” Andrew said. “We have so much land in America that we give it away. It is called homesteading. All you have to do is move onto a piece of unoccupied property, work it, and file a claim. Then it becomes yours.”
“Aye, that is an interesting proposition, but Skye still has her family here. I think it might be difficult to persuade her to undertake such an adventure.”
“Perhaps not as difficult as you may think,” Rosanna said. “Skye strikes me as a young woman with an adventurous spirit. She may want to come. But, whether you come to visit or to live, you must spend some time with us.”
Chapter Four
A large banner stretched across the top of the mirror behind the bar. The banner was festooned with flowers and bore the words:
CONGRATULATIONS TO
CAPTAIN DUFF TAVISH MACCALLISTER
AND SKYE MCGREGOR
Ever since he arrived at the pub earlier this evening, customers had been coming up to him, congratulating him on the fact that tomorrow he and Skye were to be married.
“’Tis the surprise to me that after twenty days of posting banns, not one person came up with a reason why a scallywag such as yourself is nae fit to marry with the lovely and sainted Skye McGregor,” one of the customers said.
“Here, here,” another called and all laughed.
“’Tis teasin’ you I am, Duff, for sure’n I can think of no one better to be the groom of our fair Skye. Lads, charge your glasses,” he called, holding his mug aloft.
The others rushed to have their own mugs and glasses refilled.
“To Captain Duff Tavish MacCallister, long may he live and many a fine son may he sire!”
“MacCallister!” the others in the pub shouted.
Skye wasn’t here. In fact, as of one week ago, she no longer officially worked in the pub, but because her father owned it, and she had made many friends among his customers, she still came around.
“She is at home with her mother,” Ian explained. “Evidently there was some last-minute emergency with the wedding dress. And if ye dinnae realize it yet, m’lad, you will soon enough—women can find more last-minute emergencies than you can ever imagine. You’ll just have to put up with it and continue to love ’em.”
“That I can do,” Duff said.
“Tell me, m’lad, have you heard anything from your cousins since they returned to America?” Ian asked.
“I got a nice letter from them a few days ago, wanting me to thank everyone for the hospitality they were shown while they were here,” Duff said.
“You got the letter a few days ago and you are only now getting around to thanking us? Pray tell, lad, what has kept you so long?”
Ian was teasing Duff because for the last three days Duff had been busy preparing for the wedding by renovating his house to make it more habitable for Skye.
“I meant to, but I got so . . .” Duff started to say, then when he saw the wide grin on Ian’s face he knew he
