The Last Rose

Seachd

It was a week before I found the courage to talk to Alasdair.

For a week he trespassed on my every thought, sprung upon me when I thought I'd forgotten, interrupted whatever I tried to do. Despite busying myself with my work I failed to get rid of him.

There was only one thing for it, I decided.  Even if it made my heart pound and the air around me dissipate, I needed to talk to him. It was all the uncertainty, all these questions left without answers that were driving me absolutely insane. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I needed to speak with him, and if he wasn't going to seek me out I would have to find him. To make things harder, I hadn't so much as seen his face in the kitchen since I had abandoned him in the forest.

Today was probably the worst day I could have picked to confront him; what with everyone busy preparing for Ishbel's birthday dinner. Seonag, who was normally flustered, was surprisingly calm and had barely said a word to me, other than that I was to be serving the guests that night.

So it would have to be before dinner that I went to see Alasdair. The only thing worse than talking to him that afternoon was to have him try to talk to me at night and someone stumbling upon us.  At least my way I could have some control over what happened.

Crìsdean's orotund voice went straight through me. The half-plucked bird in my hands was dropped onto the wooden table top and hands wiped clean with a dirty apron.

He was delivering a letter to Seonag, the contents of which turned her pink face red. Never in my seven years in this kitchen had I seen Seonag blush.  Crìsdean craned his neck ever so slightly to catch a glimpse of what was written but she pulled the parchment close to her chest.

'You'd be minded to keep your nose out of my business!' Seonag scolded, tucking the letter into her bustier.

Crìsdean feigned innocence like a little boy. 'Dinnae fash yourself, hen. I can't read a single letter.'

Seonag raised her brows smugly and shooed him away.

As he wandered out of the kitchen I chased him, skipping over sacks of vegetables and buckets on the ground and managed to grab him by the sleeve of his shirt just as he crossed the threshold. He turned around with a scowl on his face but it instantly transformed into a grin when he saw it was me.

'Peigi! What can I do for you?' he asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Mindful of Seonag's hawkeyed gaze, I tugged Crìsdean further into the corridor, out of sight from the kitchen.

I didn't want to be on the receiving end of any of Crìsdean's teasing but couldn't think of a way to phrase what I wanted to say without making the meaning sound any better. 'Have you seen Alasdair around these past few days?' I questioned, eye contact flickering between them.

Crìsdean lifted his bushy eyebrows comically and smiled. 'I have,' he replied.

I knew exactly what he was doing to me. 'Can you tell me where I might find him this evening?'

He looked uninterestedly around the room. 'I don't know. You see, now that I have the added responsibility of tending to not only affairs downstairs but also upstairs I have to be careful about what information I give out.' His use of the word affairs did not go a-miss.  'But if you could tell me why you're after Alasdair I may be more inclined to tell you.'

I clenched my jaw. 'You know how to annoy me, Crìsdean.' He grinned. 'I need to speak with him.'

'About?'

'It's private.'

'Oh, I see,' Crìsdean nodded. 'You and Alasdair need to speak; alone. I can arrange that.' His grin went nowhere.