“Nothing.”
“Then ’tis just your own foolishness to blame?”
“Aye.”
“’Tis plain as day ye don’t wish to go,” Una said. “Tell me the reason you’re throwing away what ye want for what ye don’t.”
Margaret shook her head and swallowed back her tears.
“Put on your cloak. I’m taking ye to the spring,” Una said, and turned toward the door. “I’ll fetch Ella from her nap.”
“Why the spring?” Margaret asked, calling Una back.
“To see if I’m right about your future.”
“I don’t understand.” Did the old woman think she was a seer? And what did a spring have to do with it?
“There’s a pool fed by the spring that comes out of a faery hill,” Una said in a hushed voice, though no one could hear them.
“A faery hill?” These Highlanders and their faeries.
“Aye, the faeries come out of the hill to play in the water,” Una said. “If they favor ye, they’ll sprinkle their magic healing dust over ye.”
“If we go, how will I make the faeries favor me?” After all, Margaret could not be sure there were no faeries.
“Ach, do ye know nothing of faeries, lass?” Una shook her head.
Margaret searched her memory for stories her old nursemaid had told her about faeries. “They like shiny things, like silver coins.”
“Aye, though ye never really know with the faeries,” Una said, and then pointed her finger at Margaret. “Just be careful not to insult them, or instead of sprinkling their magic dust, they’ll cause ye to lose your footing in the pool and drown.”
The old woman had been kind to her and her daughter, and this seemed important to her,so Margaret put on her cloak.
As they started down the path along the river, Ella skipped ahead gathering flowers as usual. Seeing how happy her daughter was, Margaret felt guilty for taking her away. Ella was blossoming here, and she’d become attached to Una and Alex—and, of course, Finn.
Ella adored Finn.
Ella came running back, her smile gone, and lifted her arms to be carried. When Margaret looked up the path to see what had frightened her, she saw Isabel kneeling on the ground with a basket, gathering herbs. Margaret could not face the surly woman today.
She and Una exchanged a look.
“We’ll take the other path,” Una said under her breath, and without another word, they changed directions before Isabel saw them.
“Is the spring much farther?” Margaret asked when she noticed Una was leaning heavily on her cane.
“’Tis a bit longer this way,” Una said. “This is the path to my grandson Lachlan’s cottage, but it will take us by the spring.”
A short time later, Una ducked through the bushes beside the trail. Margaret followed, holding Ella’s hand, down a gentle slope shrouded in greenery
“’Tis lovely!” Margaret gasped when they pushed through the last tall bushes to find the dark pool with white and pink water lilies floating on the surface.
Margaret could imagine little winged faeries leaping from lily to lily. Whether it was truly magical or not, it was a beautiful, restful spot.
Una placed a small silver coin on a flat rock among the reeds at the edge of the pool.
“Do we have a gift for the faeries?” Ella looked up at Margaret expectantly.
Una had been filling Ella’s head with stories of faeries since they met, and Margaret did not want to disappoint her. Besides, if faeries did exist, this was a place they would be—and Margaret could not afford to offend them.