The Bachelor's Bride (The Thompsons of Locust Street #1) - Holly Bush Page 0,81
Mother and Father didn’t intend to stay here. They would have wanted us to have lives and loves of our own, don’t you think?”
“Of course they would,” Aunt Murdoch said and patted Kirsty’s shoulder as she went by.
Elspeth looked up at Kirsty. “I never in a hundred years thought that she would be sad.”
“I know, but you must remember you can’t make her or anyone else happy. You can only be happy yourself, and I believe you are going to be very happy with Mr. Pendergast,” Kirsty said. “I think I heard a knock at the door, Elspeth. Come. He must be here.”
He watched Elspeth come down the staircase of the Thompson home and held his breath. He released it before he fainted dead away in front of his love and her family. She was stunningly beautiful in pale yellow that brought out the red in her upswept hair. Her skirts were trimmed in brown velvet, and she held a matching bag in her hands. She had lost the haunted look she’d worn for so many weeks, her face full and her cheeks rosy, and was now staring at him as she came slowly down the steps, one brown silk shoe nosing out from under her skirts at a time.
He held his hand out to her as she came down the last steps. Her family, all but the oldest sister, were standing in the hallway watching them.
“You are looking particularly lovely, Elspeth,” he said.
“Thank you.” She smiled up at him. “What time is the dinner?”
“Seven. We have plenty of time.”
“Let’s take the long way to your parents’ home, past the park. It is still warm, but a buggy ride might just be the thing for a breeze in our face.”
James winked at him and pulled Payden down the hallway. Kirsty and Aunt Murdoch stood together with linked arms watching them.
“Have a wonderful time,” Kirsty said with a smile. Aunt Murdoch nodded to him.
He held her arm as they went outside and helped her into the buggy. He climbed up beside her and hawed the horse forward. He couldn’t remember ever being so happy in his entire life. She reached her arm through his, and he glanced at her. She seemed different this evening, smiling in the way a woman could when she was holding a secret dear to her.
“Can we stop somewhere for just a few minutes? I want to talk to you and don’t want you to be concentrating on the horse,” she said with a raised a brow.
He laughed. “Trust me. I’m not thinking about the horse right now.” Alexander turned into the park near his parents’ home, veered off the wide trail, and set the brake. He turned to her, bringing her hand to his lips. “Now tell me what you would like to talk about.”
“I must tell you about our family. About Payden and our parents. It is not right keeping it all from you.”
“Tell me anything or nothing or everything about the Thompsons, Elspeth. It will not change my feelings for you.”
“Actually, we’re not the Thompsons. We’re the MacTavishes.”
“So I’m hoping to marry Elspeth MacTavish?” He smiled. “Is she as lovely as Elspeth Thompson?”
She smiled and leaned against him and then turned to stare out into the trees near the buggy, absently watching a young boy with a stick batting at stones and grass as he walked. “You see, Alexander . . .” she began.
She told him the whole story, starting in Scotland, the illegitimate man, Plowman, at the core of the violence, her parents’ murder, New York harbor, and a Philadelphia destination under the cover of night. Her brother was part of the Scottish aristocracy, he knew from James’s confession, but he hadn’t known that James was a cousin. Payden MacTavish was a wealthy young man, an aristocrat, who would be admitted to the most exclusive society in England and Scotland. And Elspeth was the sister of an earl.
“I wanted to tell you everything. I wanted you to know everything about our family. There may be troubles in the future for us, and I don’t really know what that means other than Payden will assume his properties, and his official title, at some point, and I may be involved in some way. I will never desert them if I am needed.”
He picked up her hand and held it between his two, rubbing lightly. “Why are you telling me this? I admit I was curious, but these family secrets are yours; they are your family’s.