Chapters (50)
- Cover
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- The Pengarron Sagas
- The Harvey Family Sagas
Olivia felt her face flood with colour. She waved a hand about and blamed her discomfort on morning sickness. She knew better than most women the potent attraction Clem possessed, and there was so much more to him than the usual masculine appeals. If only she could paint his likeness, capture the soulful essence of him, she was sure her talent would be fully restored, but even if she did it from memory, as a gift for Catherine, she was afraid it might somehow reveal something of the secret closeness she had shared with Clem. Could Clem come between her parents? For her father’s peace of mind, and her mother’s comfort, she had no choice but to evade the issue.
‘This is indelicate talk, but I will disclose what I witnessed in my home. Clem paid my sister-in-law every attention. He loves her very much. Perhaps it would have helped if Father had known this, but even if I’d had a notion he’d intended to be so belligerent towards Clem, it was hardly a subject I could bring up.’
‘Father should have kept his head, but,’ and Luke was thinking about the caring way he had been allowed his freedom from the estate and encouraged to write his plays, ‘Mama should have trusted him. What saddens me the most, is that after so many happy years together they still do not know each other well enough.’
‘The trouble was,’ Kelynen deliberated, for she had thought it all through, ‘that there was unfinished business between them and Clem. Only they can break down those old chains and heal their marriage. We must stand aside and say and do nothing to hinder them. They studied each other wrong all these years, perhaps we are doing the same to them now.’
‘Well, Miss Clever-little-thing,’ Luke grinned at his youngest sister’s serious expression, ‘first you worry us, then you cheer us and give us hope. Do come here and rub this useless shoulder of mine, and tell me what I must do about Cordelia.’
Putting Gilly on a long lead, which was fastened to a hook on the wall, Kelynen pushed Luke forward to sit up straight, then set to work on his rigid muscles.
‘As usual, I missed the to-do at the supper table; I really must stay around longer. How do you feel about Cordelia? I mean deep down.’
‘Yes, Luke,’ Olivia eased herself down on the old backless chair Kelynen had vacated. ‘Had you no idea at all that she was besotted with you?’