'How can I write her now, and say that ye are alive, and that the marriage she contracted in good faith three years ago is a bigamous one? That once again she must be torn from Bothwell? I canna do that to her! I canna!'
'Then don't, Jemmie. The king declared me dead four years ago. Therefore yer mother's marriage to me was legally dissolved. I came back because I love ye all. And I owed it to Cat to come back. If her feelings about me had changed, she might have wanted to return wi me to the New World. I had that in mind when I returned.
'Now, however, my conscious is clear. She is safe and happy. Glenkirk is certainly in good hands wi ye for its lord, and already there are heirs in the nursery. I would see my family, though, Jemmie. Just the bairns, and Adam and Fiona. I cannot cut myself off entirely from Glenkirk. Dinna fear, though, for no Leslie will gie me away.
'Besides, if yer to do business wi me, 'tis better that there's no secrecy. When I return there is a great deal to do setting up a link between us.'
'What do ye go back to, father?'
Patrick Leslie smiled. 'I stopped at Benjamin Kira's house in Edinburgh before coming to Glenkirk. I brought wi me furs, silver, gold, and jewels of various kinds. I can continue to supply ye wi these items, and Benjamin assures me that he can find the market for them. I am a wealthy man again, but this time in my own right. I'll need naught from Glenkirk, Jemmie.'
The younger earl was slightly, though guiltily, relieved. Knowing his thoughts, Patrick Leslie laughed. Then James asked, 'But will ye nae be lonely, father?'
'I will miss ye, and my bairns, and certainly my grandsons, who I'm soon to meet. However,' and he grinned the rakish grin that Jemmie remembered so well, 'there waits anxiously for me in St. Augustine a Senorita Consuela Maria Luisa O'Brien. She is eighteen'-and here James Leslie swallowed hard, for his father's lady was but a year younger than his sister, Bess-'with pale golden skin, blue-black hair, a good Irish temper inherited from her father, and eyes the color of a southern sea. They are so limpid, and inviting, Jemmie, that a man could drown in them!
'As your mother has remarried, I see no reason why I should not do so also. Luisa's mother was the daughter of a Spanish grandee, and her Irish father is my business partner. He will be damned glad to hae me for a son-in- law. Luisa knows of my marriage to Cat, and promised she would wait for my return.' Patrick chuckled. 'The little wildcat said she would rather be my mistress than another man's wife. Her father would hae beat her black and blue had I not declared myself then and there.'
The young earl laughed and looked at his father admiringly. 'Mother always said ye were never at a loss for the lasses,' he said.
For a brief moment Patrick Leslie's face was shadowed in sadness. He said seriously, 'Only wi her was I ever at a loss, Jemmie. We had good times, Cat and I, and we had six fine bairns. But I must say honestly that she was hesitant from the very first about being my wife. I sometimes think that, left to herself, she might never hae wed wi me.
'Ah, well, 'tis a new century we live in, Jemmie, and though he'll never know it, James did us a great favor in separating us.' He raised his half-filled glass. 'I gie ye Catriona, the Countess of Bothwell! God keep her safe and happy, for she deserves it!'
Slowly James Leslie raised his own glass and, looking with love and pride at his father, exclaimed, 'The beautiful Countess of Bothwell! God bless her!'
Bertrice Small
