Wanting to please her, he spoke, for no other reason than he didn’t want her to have to implore him to talk to her.
“You look lovely, Eveline. Surely there’s never been a more beautiful bride.”
She beamed. Positively beamed back at him.
Her mother looked stunned. Not at the compliment that Graeme had given Eveline. She was staring at her daughter, her lips parted in clear shock. Then she glanced to Graeme, confusion reflected in her gaze.
“What is between you and my daughter, Laird?” she asked in a quiet voice.
Graeme frowned and when he did, Eveline immediately turned to her mother, a frown now replacing her smile.
“My lady, I assure you that what is between your daughter and myself is marriage. Isn’t that what we’re all gathered in your great hall for? It surely isn’t to exchange pleasantries or for the Montgomerys to enjoy a visit to a neighboring clan.”
“She reacted to you,” Robina said, her lips trembling. She completely ignored the tinge of anger in Graeme’s words and the reproach as well.
Graeme’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t follow, my lady.”
Robina shook her head and brought her hand up to her temple to rub it. It was then that Graeme really saw the exhaustion in her face and eyes. As if she hadn’t slept in many days. He found himself pitying her when it was the very last thing he wanted to feel. Sympathy for the enemy. It went against his very soul.
Robina’s other hand went up and fluttered as if she were at a loss as to how to explain. “Eveline isn’t aware most times. She’s happy enough. She’s sweet. She’s good. But she rarely pays any attention to what goes on around her. I’m not even sure she has any understanding most of the time. But she responded to your compliment. Just as any normal woman would.”
“And this isn’t normal behavior for her?” Graeme asked.
He knew damn well that Eveline understood what he said when he conversed with her. There was no mistaking that, and it was why he wanted to be careful now. Her mother didn’t seem to worry overmuch about discussing her daughter’s condition freely in front of Eveline. Graeme didn’t want her hurt by the conversation. Was this the way her entire family treated her? Like a mindless idiot?
“Come away with me for a moment, my lady,” Graeme said, offering his arm to Robina in a courtly gesture.
Eveline frowned even harder and glanced up at Graeme, hurt in her eyes.
“I’ll return in a moment, Eveline,” Graeme said. “I would like a moment with your mother to assure her that you are in good hands. It will ease her mind on your wedding day.”
Eveline’s expression softened and she glanced at her mother, clear love in her eyes.
“Come,” Graeme said again, before Robina could speak again in her daughter’s presence.
Robina went away almost blindly, her mouth still drawn in shock. When they were at a distance where Graeme thought they could talk without hurting Eveline, he stopped and stared down at Robina.
“I admit to some confusion, my lady. Eveline has responded to me. I would even go as far as to say we’ve had discourse, though of course she doesn’t speak to me. But that certainly hasn’t prevented her from letting me know in no uncertain terms what it is she wants and moreover what kind of information she wants.”
Robina openly gaped at him, her reaction too raw to possibly be feigned.
“You act as though this isn’t normal,” Graeme said with a frown.
“Not normal? Laird, what is normal for Eveline is to be the sweet, gentle soul she is. She does respond, yes, but to family. Never to strangers. I know not if there are simply times when she does not understand or if she’s just more oblivious on some occasions than at others. Most of the time she does what she likes and we’ve been quite content to allow it because we want her to be happy.”
The fierceness in Robina’s voice registered with Graeme. How much this woman loved her daughter and how much it hurt her that Eveline wasn’t a normal girl looking forward to a normal future.
Again he found himself softening. Toward an Armstrong. If he didn’t leave the cursed Armstrong holding soon, he’d be sympathizing with the lot of them.
“All I can tell you,” he said carefully, “is that while we haven’t conversed in a normal fashion, we have most certainly communicated. Moreover, she is absolutely aware of what’s taking place today and she’s unafraid.”
“How do you know this?” Robina demanded. “She doesn’t speak. How could you possibly know what she is thinking?”
Graeme shrugged. “We communicated. You’re asking me to explain something I do not understand myself, my lady. But I feel that the more time I spend with Eveline, the more I will come to understand her vision of the world around her and just how much and what she comprehends.”
Robina glanced to her daughter and then back to Graeme, clear uncertainty in her eyes. “Be kind to her. She seems taken with you, Laird.”
Then without a by-your-leave or even a hasty pardon, she left Graeme’s side and hurried over to her daughter.
Robina spoke in earnest and a moment later, Eveline’s gaze shifted over her mother’s shoulder and found Graeme. And she smiled. It was all she did, but what an extraordinary smile that lit up the entire room. It took his breath away and made his chest tighten to the point of discomfort.
Then her mother drew her into a tight hug and Eveline disappeared from view. Just as well, because at that moment, a hand slapped down on his shoulder and he turned to see Bowen and Teague standing just behind him.