Bedazzled

El Sinut would not have revolted. They were a peaceful, contented, and prosperous people. It is surely the janissaries who have killed my husband!'

'And there is nothing ye can do about it, lassie,' he told her. 'The man is gone, God help him, but ye're alive. I cannot weep for a man I dinna know, who took my daughter from me and got her wi bairn. I must protect ye, India. Tomorrow the weather will be fair, as it always is after two days of gray and rain. Ye'11 go up to A-Cuil then, lassie. Dinna fret, for ye'll hae all the comforts ye want. I'll nae hae my lass uncomfortable, India. I just want ye where there will be nae gossip.'

'Yes, Papa.' What else could she say? India thought sadly. She would be twenty in the summer, but had had only a small control over her personal fortune before she fled England with Adrian Leigh. Now she had not even that. They had made certain she had no access to her wealth, but for pin money, and she would not now until she married. Where could she and Meggie go without funds? She was trapped, and for the time being forced to cooperate with her parents. Let them think she was doing it willingly. And when they were lulled into believing her complacent, she would take her son, and find a safe haven where no one would care about her or her child. Eventually they would have to relent. There had to be someplace in this world where she could go. She would sell her jewelry to give them a new start. There had to be someplace where she could raise Caynan Reis's son in safety.

The duke of Glenkirk kissed his daughter's forehead. 'I am glad ye're being reasonable, sweeting. I know ye've had a terrible misadventure, but dinna fret, sweeting. Papa will make it all right for ye just as I always hae done, eh?'

God's boots, India thought, as he left her, does he really still think of me as a child? Certainly he saw the woman she was, or did he? James Leslie had been a wonderful father. He loved all his wife's children. The three she had had by her second husband, Rowan Lindley; the son she had had by Prince Henry Stuart; the sons she had given him. He loved them so well that not one of them but India had left the comfort of their family.

Since her departure, however, her brother, Henry, the marquis of Westleigh, had made the decision to live at his seat at Cadby in England, but the rest of them were still at home. Papa might complain about Fortune's not being able to go to her estates in Ireland and seek a husband, and he might blame India's disappearance for it, but he didn't really seem too enthusiastic about sending Fortune off next summer. James Leslie was a patriarch, and he obviously enjoyed having his children about him.

But he would not welcome his first grandchild, India knew. What he meant to do with her child she had no idea, but she would have time to make her escape once the baby was born. Mama would protect them, she was certain. For now she knew she needed rest, and the security of knowing that she would be safe and well cared for while she carried Caynan Reis's son.

Who was he? she wondered not for the first time. While she had been with him, it hadn't mattered at all, for he was Caynan Reis, the dey of El Sinut. But he had been someone else before he had been Caynan Reis, and now she desperately wished she knew who that someone was. She wanted a name for her child who would never know his father.

***

The next day dawned bright and cold, as James Leslie had predicted. The small caravan was prepared by midmorning, and ready to depart. India had decided to accept the comfort of a cart as opposed to riding her horse. A baggage wagon was ladened high, as was another wagon with enough provisions to last them the winter. Jasmine was very teary, for she didn't approve of sending her daughter into the mountains to the family's hunting lodge. A-Cuil was small, she knew, for she had spent time there herself, but it was far more isolated than Jasmine would have wished. What happened if India's child decided to come in a snowstorm? How could she get to her daughter?

'Please, Jemmie, don't send her to A-Cuil,' she begged her husband at the last minute.

'Mama, it's all right,' India said. 'I am quite content to go. Meggie will be with me, and Diarmid will do the heavy work, such as cutting us wood for our fire and hunting for our game. I won't be the cause of spoiling Fortune's chances in the marriage market. My situation is rather unique,' she finished with a wry smile.

'The lass hae more sense than ye do, darling Jasmine,' her husband chided his weeping wife.

'And I'm going, too,' Fortune announced suddenly.

'You most certainly are not!' Jasmine snapped.

'Aye, I am, Mama,' Fortune declared with a toss of her red head. 'Come, Mama, we are very isolated here at Glenkirk. Who will know if I am here at Glenkirk, or in Edinburgh, or wherever? I want to be with India. I lost my sister once, and I'll not lose her again.'

'There!' Jasmine cried to her husband. 'Are you satisfied now, Jemmie? I will lose both my girls because of your stubbornness and excessive pride.'

He knew better than to argue with her. He knew better than to argue with Fortune. 'Go along, Diarmid, and take yer party of ladies up the ben.' He looked to his second daughter. 'Dinna come down the ben alone, lassie. If ye go, ye stay. Would ye miss Christmas and Twelfth Night at Glenkirk? 'Twill be yer last if I let ye go off to Ireland next year.'

'I've enjoyed many a Christmas and Twelfth Night at Glenkirk, Papa,' Fortune said quietly. 'Now I would be with my sister, for I believe she needs me more than you do.' Then Fortune climbed upon the large gray gelding she favored, and followed after India's little train.

Jasmine swallowed back her tears, saying to her husband, 'Does she know what you intend doing with her child, Jemmie?'

'Nay,' he said. 'There was nae need to distress her. Ye saw. She was almost herself again. I dinna want to spoil it.'

'Aye,' Jasmine agreed. 'You were wise not to do so.' She looked after her two eldest daughters, and thought she heard India laugh as Fortune caught up with the cart.

***

'Is Mama still weeping?' the younger asked her elder sibling as the gelding danced dangerously near the wheels of the vehicle.

'No, she stopped,' India replied. 'What made you come with me?' she asked Fortune. 'Have you ever been to A-Cuil? It's tiny, old-fashioned, and dull, not to mention very small. We'll probably end up killing each other.'

'I'd rather be with you than stuck at Glenkirk all winter,' Fortune responded. 'You can tell me all about your adventures, and what it's like to be loved by a man. I have that ahead of me next summer.'

'If Papa lets you go,' India said.

'Mama won't let him stop us this time,' Fortune replied. 'So you noticed it, too; how suddenly he does not want to let his Iasses go away.' She laughed. 'Poor Papa. He really does love us all, doesn't he? But by this time next year, you and I will have husbands. Henry is already settled at Cadby, and the king has written to Papa that after this winter, Charlie must become part of the court and take his rightful place at Queen's Malvern as the duke of Lundy should. He'll just have to be content with Patrick, Adam and Duncan.

India laughed in response to her sister's question. 'I don't know, but I think it will be up to us to help her escape, Fortune.'

'It's so good to hear you laugh again,' Fortune said.

'There hasn't been a great deal to laugh about lately,' India answered.