The Whaler's Treasure

Chapter Five, Scene 1

A farm wagon, rough planked and open, blocked the entrance to Gordon's tavern when Beth stumbled around the corner, her breath heaving from her precipitous flight from Captain Thorpe. Auld Dougal Hambly had slipped by the excise men with a shipment of whisky from the Glenlivet again.

She reached a shaking hand to the shaggy beast still hitched to the rackety conveyance. "Ah Balloch, you are a sight for sore eyes." His tangled mane and dusty coat brought tears to her eyes. "What news of Gran?" she asked running her fingers through tangles and rubbing her nose on his. "Still keeping you working hard, eh? You look none the worse for it." Indeed he did not. The beast may be aging, but he stood proud, strong, and well. She hoped Gran could say the same.

The old horse blinked at her and nestled her hand. "Want a treat ya greedy dobber?" she laughed. "I'll have to see what I can snatch from the kitchen under Janice's nose." She smiled at the thought that Dougal would have news of the Braes and of Gran.

She found him in the kitchen shouting at her stepmother and almost turned away when she heard her mother's name.

"Yer a lying bitch Janice Morgan, not fit to touch the hem o' Alice Gordon's cloak."

"I'm a Gordon y'old fool, and don't forget it," Janice shouted back. "He married me. He got his only son on me. He left me this tavern and all that's in it including his worthless daughter."

"Aye, I heard the stories yer telling about Elsbeth and Alice. Heard them meself. Yer a jealous strumpet and that's a fact, spreading poison like a slitherin' snake about a bairn who did y' no harm."

"She's nae bairn! The girl's old enough to earn her keep."

"I heard how ye want her to earn that coin. Boys from down th' way told her grandmother too."

Gran knows what Janice has been saying? Beth groaned, drawing all eyes to herself. "Gran knows, Dougal?" she asked out loud.

"Aye, Beth," the old man said sadly. "She heard the stories."

Beth had not thought she could feel any worse. All of Speyness believed that Janice's lies or at least thought they held the ring of truth; Rob Thorpe believed her to be a loose woman; and now Gran knew of the stories. Her heart felt cold in her chest, frozen in despair. She wrapped her arms around herself as if to protect the frail organ.

Dougal took a step toward her. "Ne'er think she believes the lies, Lass! The auld woman is that angry. She want's ye back home where people love ye as they ought."

"Gran wants me home?" She glanced up sharply.

Her grandmother hadn't interfered when her stepmother insisted that she stay in Speyness after her father died. She had actually encouraged Beth to believe her chances of a good marriage would be better in town than in the Braes of Glenlivet, isolated as it was. More fool she. The only man I've met worth knowing thinks I'm a strumpet.

An overwhelming desire to see the mountain slopes and pastures of home wrapped itself around her. She could leave the tavern. She could escape Janice. She could avoid Rob Thorpe's advances. Ruthless honesty told her she had fled her own weakness in response to his intense gaze, gentle fingers, and searing kisses, not from the captain himself. The man had awoken hopes and longings, ones with no good ends. His kisses put her heart in danger, and probably the rest of her. Aye, she could run from that too.

Still she hesitated. Thoughts of Alec tugged at her. He would have to fend for himself, but maybe it was time. She thought of his conversation with Matt Thorpe. The lad stood taller by the day, and he would find his own way, perhaps faster than Beth could. Her mind settled on one thought, home.

"I'll go Dougal. I'll go with you now."