Please R&R lovely readers! Longest chapter yet!
Saturday afternoon, Margaret crept out of the house and down to the creek where Neil had been patiently fishing for several hours. He heard her stepping up behind him and looked over his shoulder at her. She was standing there, watching the water moving over the rocks. Her hands were clasped behind her back, and her long black curls hung loosely about her shoulders. He swallowed and attempted to slow his racing heart. She looked like a vision out of one of his dreams. She was absolutely lovely as she stood there on the edge of the stream, and he remembered full well how he had fallen in love with her so hard and so fast.
"You've been out here a while," Margaret commented. "Any luck?"
"Not yet. But I keep waiting, thinking the perfect one is going to come along. It's probably swam past me several times, but just hasn't decided to commit to biting yet."
She chewed on her lip, not responding to him.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked her curiously.
"That I don't understand how I could have done such a terrible thing to you, in your favorite place."
He looked down at the water moving swiftly past his feet. The drowning, or faked one, as he had later learned, had haunted him less and less each time he had made himself come out here.
"Margaret, we can't keep reliving the past if we're going to have a future," He told her softly.
She quickly looked up at him. "Do we have a future? Together?"
"I don't know. I don't know if anything is ever going to happen for us again, but I'm also not going to say that it never can. Christy has told me over and over that I should allow myself to be happy again…" He paused and looked out over the water. "I have to try."
"But do you want to try with me, Mac?"
He fell silent.
"I know you love her, Neil," She whispered.
He looked up at her quickly.
"Don't deny it. She's everything you're not, and you're intrigued. You feel alive when you're with her, and with me you've always felt dead."
"Not always," He interjected.
She smiled and looked down, leaning up onto her toes before letting herself back down. "No, not always."
Silence fell over them and she began to walk along the edge of the water, looking around. "What happened to the swing you hung up for me out here?"
"The ropes rotted and it fell down," Neil explained.
"Would you build me another one?" She asked. "I loved that swing. When you were gone for hours on end, I'd come out here and swing for hours over the water without a care in the world."
He studied her for a moment. She was putting down yet another root, and he was beginning to believe she would actually stay this time.
"If you want one," he consented.
She smiled. "Thanks, Mac. I was also thinking that we should go to church tomorrow."
"Oh?" Neil asked in shock. "Why?"
"Mother and I…we had the worst argument we've ever had the other night. Normally, I'd run after that, but I just…I couldn't this time. I couldn't leave. I knew that if I did, I'd never come back this time, and that scared me. Not coming back here, to you, to mother…"She took a shaky breath, fighting tears. "For the first time in my life, I actually want to stay somewhere and to belong. Even if you and I don't work, I have to fix things with Mother, and loving these people might be the only way to do it. Even if I am reaccepted in the Cove, I doubt Mother and l will ever mend, but I've got to try."
"It sounds like we both have a lot of trying to do," Neil commented.
Margaret nodded. "I've been so wrong about so many things. I want to do something right."
"I'll take you to church tomorrow if that is what you want."
"It is," she told him.
Suddenly, Neil felt a tug on his line and he grinned and began to pull the fish out of the water. Margaret giggled and rushed into the water to help.
"It's a nice sized one!" Neil told her as the fish surfaced on the water and flopped around.
"Look at it, Mac!" She laughed. "That's one of the best you've ever caught! I guess the perfect one finally decided it was going to let you keep it."
Margaret fearlessly scooped up the fish. She placed it on the string on the bank and as it continued to flop around, she grinned with pride and looked up at him. He had moved to just about a foot away from her. Her breath caught in her throat as she found him staring at her, eyes glazed over, a light smile on his features.
"This will make a wonderful dinner for two if you cook it the way you always used to," Neil said, his voice just above a whisper.
She nodded as his free hand reached out and took one of her curls in his fingers. He twirled her hair around his fingers, his eyes glued on her face. She bit her lip in anticipation and it sent him over the edge. He placed his hands around her tiny waist and pulled her against him, his lips tangling with hers. The kiss left both of them breathless, and they pulled back in shock.
"I'm sorry," Neil apologized, though he did not let go.
"Mac…there is no need to apologize for a husband kissing his wife," She teased, her eyes filled with merriment.
He smiled at her slowly and then looked to the fish which had finally given up on escaping. "What do you say we fry this fish and enjoy a dinner together?"
"Sounds like the perfect idea," She said, bending and picking up the fish. "Come along, husband. I will find something for you to do to help."
"I'm sure that you will," Neil teased, as he followed along behind her to the cabin.
David's sermon Sunday morning was about the commitments of marriage and the roles of husband and wife. He had been a little nervous about continuing with this topic following the tea house incident, and had practiced it for Christy, who had offered encouragement and advice. But the biggest concern that morning was one that none of them saw coming.
The first surprise that morning was, seeing Neil MacNeill walk toward that building in his Sunday best, with his wife Margaret strapped to his side. She looked prettier than ever, and Christy couldn't help but stare as she and Fairlight's conversation halted in the schoolyard, to watch the couple head up the stairs. David stepped out onto the steps and practically fell over at the sight of the couple standing before him on the stairs. Quickly recovering, David shook Neil's hand and greeted Margaret normally, sending the people back to a since of normalcy as David rang the bell. However quite a few curious glances were cast at the couple when Neil and Margaret sat together at the back.
David was fifteen minutes into his sermon, speaking on the significance of holy matrimony when Ault Allen stood at the back of the room.
"He's a lyin' hypocrite!" Ault shouted, making people jump and waking the little ones from their sleep. Everyone turned to Ault, and David froze. Neil and Margaret looked around, trying to figure out if this was a Sunday normalcy.
"Ault, what are you talking about?" David asked, wearily.
"I heard you! I heard you and the teacher talkin' outside the mission house the other mornin' about the baby she's expectin'."
Christy paled and sunk lower in her seat as everyone gasped and turned to her with looks of disapproval. Fairlight even, pulled slightly away from her spot next to Christy. Christy raised her tear-filled eyes to meet David's.
"I…" David couldn't find the words. This was unexpected, and he had no idea how to handle it. If only Alice was here to help.
"Is it true Miss Huddleston?" Uncle Bogg asked. "Are ye expectin'?"
Christy closed her eyes, a tear slipping out, and nodded. The room grew so quiet, that you could have heard a pin drop. Christy stood slowly and hurried from the building, noticing that the only men who stood at her exit out of courtesy were Jeb Spencer and Neil MacNeill.
"Christy!" David called after her.
She kept going, and when she reached the bottom of the steps, she took off on a run.
"I'll go," Margaret whispered to Neil, before standing and hurrying after Christy.
As David admonished and yelled at the congregation, explaining their mistake to them, Margaret found Christy sitting by a tree, crying loudly and trying to catch her breath. Margaret moved toward her carefully.
"Christy…" Margaret said, sitting beside her.
"Did Neil tell you?"
"Yes," Margaret nodded. "I'm sorry."
"This is exactly why I kept quiet about all of this in the first place."
Christy's tears continued and she leaned into Margaret's offered embrace.
"I noticed that you're showing a little bit…" Margaret said, trying to make the subject lighter. Christy responded with a louder sob. "Christy, David will mend it. Everything will be alright. These people are just so quick to judge. I remember mother telling me a Bible story once about a plank in a person's eye or something like that. I think your Reverend Grantland could preach that message every Sunday, and they still wouldn't understand."
Christy shook her head. "Not all of them are like that…"
Margaret shrugged with a small smile. "No, I suppose not. But it sometimes feels that way, doesn't it?"
Christy nodded, backing away. "Why did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Why did you come help me?"
Margaret sighed. "I'm trying to change, Christy. I've spent my whole life being concerned about myself, that I hurt so many people around me. I'm trying to not do that anymore. I admire you, Christy."
Christy smiled. "Thank you. Neil's fortunate to have you back."
"Oh, he most certainly is," Margaret teased. "I made him a wonderful fish dinner last night."
Christy laughed and Margaret joined her.
"Now here is a sight I never thought I would see."
Margaret and Christy both looked up to see Neil standing in front of them.
"What's that?" Margaret asked.
"The two of you getting along."
"People can change, Mac," Margaret informed him.
Christy noticed the way they held each other's eyes. So much more was being communicated between the two of them in that moment than Christy could see. Neil then turned toward Christy.
"Are you alright, Christy?"
Christy nodded.
"David's clearing this mess up as best as he can, but Ault Allen managed to get his family and several others out the door before he had a chance."
"This is the second time they're going to falsely accuse me of having an affair. Now they're accusing David too," Christy said, sinking back into her glum mood.
Neil nodded, thinking back to the first time. He stood and lent Margaret his hand, pulling her effortlessly up, before handing Christy his handkerchief. After she had dried her tears, Neil pulled her to her feet as well. "Let's get you both back. Neither of you are in the condition to be sitting out here in the cold, damp air without coats. Especially you, Christy Huddleston."
"Mac, be nice to her," Margaret admonished as she stood watching, arms crossed.
Neil chuckled. "My apologizes, Christy."
"No, you're right," Christy sighed.
"Oh, don't tell him that," Margaret exclaimed from behind them. "He'll gloat about it for hours."
"Margaret…I'm not that terrible," Neil argued
"Yes, Mac, you are."
Christy sighed as the three of them walked back toward the school. She might be forced to leave the cove after all and that thought broke her heart. She placed her hand over her expanding abdomen. She loved this baby…but the problems it was causing were painful.
When they reached the mission yard again, everyone was gone and David was coming down the school steps. When he saw them, he ran toward them.
"Christy, are you alright?"
Christy nodded and reached for him. She was quickly pulled into David's arms. Christy cried into David's neck quietly.
"Shh…don't cry, love," David whispered as he wrapped his arm around her waist and led her into the house and to the living room. Neil and Margaret followed behind them.
"Do you know when Mother will be back?" Margaret asked as they all were in the living area, Christy and David on the loveseat, Margaret in the rocking chair and Neil standing before the fire, leaning on the mantle. He appeared to be a thousand miles away as he mindlessly watched Margaret rock back and forth in the chair.
"No," David responded. "Not for sure. She should return by the end of the week, but when she hears of this, she'll likely return early to help clear everything up before the church falls apart."
"David… I'm sorry. You're reputation," Christy breathed out.
David shook his head, stroking her face. "Don't worry about that. We have the Spencer's and McHone's on our side this time. We'll be alright."
"This isn't the first time that a false scandal like this has happened," Neil reminded both of them, returning suddenly from his thoughts. "The truth will come out and everything will die down."
Christy nodded, although all she wanted to do was give up, cuddle into David and let him hold her. She knew it would be inappropriate, especially with Miss Alice gone. Neil and Margaret left, denying the offer for lunch, and Ruby Mae brought in hot tea, blabbering on about the drama that had just unfolded. When she left the room, David sighed heavily.
"It's my fault, Christy. I should have been more careful in what I said."
"They were going to find out eventually," Christy sighed. "I knew there would be speculation. The girls in class have already started to notice that I'm showing. I'm sure it wouldn't have been long before others did too."
"But it could have been so different, Christy. And I'm sorry."
"It was not your fault, David."
"When you ran out of that schoolhouse earlier, part of me feared I'd lost you forever."
"David, I'm not going to leave."
David leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Christy Huddleston."
Next chapter will include a much needed conversation between Neil and Christy.