“It is practical.”
Caitlin looked at Frederick as though appealing to a judge. “Am I raising a granddaughter or outfitting a shepherd?”
“Both, perhaps,” Erin said before he could answer.
Frederick shifted the parcels higher against his side. “Take both.”
That ended the disagreement for no more than a breath.
Caitlin turned back to the racks with renewed pleasure, and Erin gave him a look that suggested he had solved nothing but had at least purchased quiet.
The remainder of the outing passed in much the same fashion. They bought dresses fit for daily wear and one finer one Caitlin insisted every lass deserved. Stockings. Soft slippers. A cloak with enough room to last a season or two before Jamie outgrew it. Erin chose practical underthings and muttered about draughty corridors. Caitlin added ribbons in three colors and ignored every complaint made against them.
By the time they stepped back out onto the village street, Frederick’s arms were full, and his patience was being tested in fresh directions.
“And now,” Caitlin said, adjusting her gloves, “to toys.”
Erin let out a breath. “I kent there would be more.”
“There is always more with a child,” Caitlin replied.
“Aye,” Erin said. “That is what I was afraid of.”
Frederick sent one of the accompanying guards ahead with the parcels and kept only the smaller wrapped bundles with him. He had begun to think the morning might pass entirely in this strange and not altogether unpleasant warfare when something caught his eye in the next row of stalls.
A jeweler.
Not one of the finer establishments in Edinburgh or Inverness, of course, but respectable enough. Small glass pieces gleamed in the light. Silver clasps. Chains. Worked pins. And hanging near the center, modest but well-made, a bracelet with a delicate line of silver links and a single pale green stone set in the middle.
He stopped without meaning to.
Caitlin noticed at once. “What is it?”
“Nothin’,” he said.
Erin followed his gaze and made a quiet sound that was altogether too knowing. “Aye. Nothin’ at all.”
Frederick ignored both of them. “Continue on. I will catch up.”
Caitlin’s mouth curved. “Will ye now?”
“Aye.”
“And ye are being delayed for what purpose?”
“Maither.”
She smiled outright then, and it was the sort of smile that told him Ariella’s meddling had not fallen far from the tree. “Very well. We shall continue to the toy seller and pretend we daenae ken precisely what ye are on about.”
Erin picked up her basket and started walking again. “Speak for yerself, lassie. I ken exactly what he is on about, and it is about time.”
Frederick watched them go, unsure whether he should be relieved or suspicious. Likely both. He crossed to the jeweler’s stall and nodded once to the man behind it.
The vendor was broad through the shoulders and quick of eye, the sort who had likely survived years of trade by hearing more than he let on and remembering all of it. He looked Frederick over, then straightened with visible surprise.
“Me laird,” he said. “An honor.”
Frederick looked down at the bracelet again. “This one.”