Ian’s question felt like a renewed blow to his mid-section, and Finn merely stood and stared at his friend while another part of him could not help but return to what Ian had said before. Everybody knows how ye two feel about one another. Why is it that ye canna see it?
Was there truth in Ian’s words? Or was he merely angry and−? But why would he say something like that without truly believing it to be true? What reason could he have? After all, Ian was one of his oldest friends. They had always gone through thick and thin together. Finn had no reason to doubt his word.
“Nah,” Ian said, shaking his head rather absentmindedly, as his fingers tensed around the axe in his hand. “She shouldna marry him. She shouldna!”
Strangely relieved to have another agree, Finn nodded. “Aye, they dunno suit. He’s too−”
“They shouldna marry,” Ian hissed, advancing on Finn with a blazing fire in his eyes, “because she doesna love him! That’s why! If she marries him, she’ll doom Vaughn to a loveless marriage, tied to someone whose heart he canna win. Does that seem fair to ye?”
Stunned, Finn looked at his friend, and for the first time, Ian’s anger and bitterness seemed to make sense. “Does Maggie−?”
“It doesna matter!” Ian snapped, his chest rising and falling with each agitated breath. His hand was still clenched around the axe he held, and his jaw was tense to the point of breaking. Still, it seemed he was fighting to regain control and calm the emotions that had all of a sudden run wild. “Ye still have a chance,” he finally said, his body strung tight, but his voice quiet, almost breathless. “Ye still have a chance to be happy. Dunno waste it, and dunno doom others because ye’re afraid.”
Finn swallowed, overcome with the sorrow he saw in Ian’s eyes. “Thank ye, my friend, for speaking so plainly. I canna say anyone ever has.”
Ian nodded. “Then do us both a favour and heed my advice. Dunno thank me and then carry on as though ye havena heard a word I said.”
“Did ye truly mean what ye said?” Finn asked, remembering the way Emma sometimes smiled at Vaughn, the way he gazed at her like a love-struck fool. Finn could not for the life of him remember her ever smiling at him. Did that not mean that her heart belonged to Vaughn? “How can I be certain she cares?”
Ian’s lips pressed into a thin line as he once more rolled his eyes at Finn. Then he took a step closer, his blue eyes dark and thunderous as they held Finn’s. “Go and ask her!” he snapped, his voice cutting through the still winter air like a whip. Then he spun on his heel and walked away, his angry footsteps dulled by the soft snow covering the ground.
Chapter Five
Silent Sorrow
“Sorry,” Maggie mumbled as she hastened toward Emma, her arms filled with cut branches. “I turned my head once, and he slipped through my fingers.” As she lowered her treasures into the cart, her gaze travelled to Vaughn, who had come walking back with Emma a few minutes ago and was now attempting to chop another branch off a fir tree.
“’Tis all right,” Emma mumbled, unable to hide her anger and disappointment. “Finn was a horrid person. No matter what I do, he always snaps at me as though my presence alone offends him.” She shook her head, willing anger to supersede disappointment. “If he canna even be civil, then there’s no point in talking to him.” She scoffed, her hands coming up to rest on her sides as righteous indignation spread through her heart, pushing aside the pain that tended to linger. “I canna stand him one bit, and I feel awfully sorry for the poor English lass he’ll choose for his bride.”
Finished with her tirade, Emma turned to Maggie and found her friend all but glaring at her, her bright blue eyes dark and filled with utter annoyance. “Ye’re a fool,” Maggie hissed, grabbing Emma’s arm and pulling her aside. Glancing around them, she dropped her voice to a whisper. “Why do ye so stubbornly ignore how ye feel? Why can ye not see that Finn cares for ye? Are ye truly blind? Or do ye enjoy having two men vie for yer hand?”
Shocked, Emma blinked. “What do ye mean?” Never had she seen Maggie quite this agitated, this angry, this…hurt. “Two men? ‘Tis only Vaughn who−”
Gritting her teeth, sweet, cheerful Maggie seemed to be fighting for control. “D’ye truly think ‘tis a coincidence that the moment Vaughn started smiling at ye, Finn couldna seem to stand the man any longer? He’s jealous,” she hissed, her blue eyes holding Emma’s as though wanting to make certain that her friend understood.
Emma swallowed, ignoring the little dance her heart was currently performing in her chest. “Jealous? Nah, ye canna mean that. He hates me. He only ever glares at me. He has ever since that morning when−”
“Oh, I wish I had known ye back then,” Maggie interrupted, hands gesturing wildly as she began to pace. “I wish I’d come to Seann Dachaigh Tower a year earlier. I wish I’d been here for I would’ve pushed ye to seek him out again the next day and steal another kiss.”
“What?”
Maggie stopped, her eyes hard, before she walked over to Emma with sure steps until their noses almost touched. “I’ll never believe he’s been angry with ye for all these years because ye kissed him. That’s nonsense. Even if he hadn’t liked it, he wouldna have acted like
