Chapter 2

After he had drunk his ale, Cameron looked up at the sky. It was partly sunny and partly cloudy, but there was no rain in the air. The soil was damp from rain that had fallen a few days before, but not soggy, so it would be a good day for plowing.

There was one field that had been lying fallow since the previous summer, and this was the one that was about to receive his attention first. Fortunately it was not a huge piece of land, no more than half an acre, and Cameron was a veteran at steering a plow, so it took no more than a few hours to complete the job.

Afterwards, sweating and exhausted, he went to find Ava again. He came across her in the kitchen garden, where she was digging the soil preparatory to planting onions and turnips for their supply of winter vegetables.

He watched her for a few moments. Even though her hands were buried in the dark soil and her arms filthy up to the elbows, her face smeared with mud where she had wiped sweat away, she was lovely. Her long golden-brown hair had been tied back that morning, but most of it had escaped from the thong that was securing it. Now it formed a shining curtain that hung down on either side of her face.

Seeing Cameron's shadow falling over her, Ava looked up. In the weak sunlight her hazel eyes were pure gold, and for a moment, he stared at her, mesmerized. He longed to sweep her against him and fulfill the dreams he had been having lately. He wanted her in his arms, in his bed, in his life, now and forever, but he realized that would be completely out of the question while her father was alive.

He had not realized that he was staring at her until she stood up and gave him half a smile. "What are ye lookin' at?" she asked, laughing as she wiped her hands on her apron.

He laughed, embarrassed at being caught staring. "I was just thinking how hard ye work," he answered. "It is no' fair. Ye should be dressed in silk, an' married to some rich fellow with gold tae spare instead o' grubbin' about in the dirt." His voice was bitter. He wished he could be the man who could give Ava the kind of life she deserved.

Ava chuckled, then shrugged. "It is a nice dream, Cam," she remarked, "but I will never marry a rich man. I will likely no' marry any man at a', the way things are goin'!" She sighed, deeply and wearily, then bent to her task once more.

It was on the tip of his tongue to say, ‘marry me,' and he had just taken a breath to say the words when Rona came out of the cottage holding a cup of ale for each of them. She looked up at Cameron adoringly as she handed him the cup. It was no secret that she had a passionate crush on him. Cameron knew it, but he never teased her about it.

"Thank ye, Rona," he said gratefully, smiling and making her blush with self-consciousness. He raised the cup and looked at each of them in turn, smiling broadly. "To beautiful lassies," he said, before drinking deeply.

"To handsome lads," Ava echoed, chuckling.

Cameron finished his drink and handed the cup back to Rona. "Time I was going," he said regretfully. "There is plenty o' work to be done today."

"Thank you for helping us." Ava put an arm around her sister as she spoke, for she never wanted her to be left out of anything.

Cameron had often noticed this and frequently wondered if Ava felt like more of a mother than a sister to Rona. Her affection for her much younger sibling was touching in its tenderness, and he suddenly saw her with a tiny baby in her arms - his baby. The thought took him by surprise to such an extent that he almost gasped in shock, but cleared his throat at the last moment instead.

"I am always glad to help ye," he replied, smiling. "Please give my regards to your Da. I will be thinkin' o' him, an' Ava, if there is anythin' else I can do, send a message an' I will find a way to help ye."

Ava nodded, because she could not speak. His kindness had touched her deeply, and her throat had closed with tears.

If Cameron had noticed, he gave no sign of it, not wanting to embarrass her. He mounted Jimmy and they rode away, waving.

Rona sighed. "What a kind man he is."

"Indeed, he is," Ava agreed, watching as Cameron disappeared into the trees. "I have never met a kinder or a better one than Cam."

Fortunately, Ava's father slept well that night, and although he still coughed the next morning, it was nowhere near as bad as it had been the day before.

"I hope he is able to rest and have a better day than yesterday," Rona remarked as she dished up their porridge. "He deserves a bit o' peace." Her young, pretty face was anxious as she gazed at him.

Ava had often thought that Rona loved her father more than she and Janet did because she had never known her mother. She knew that Rona would be devastated when the end finally came. However, she chased the thought out of her mind and decided to worry about it when it happened. She did not feel that she was being hard-hearted, since there was nothing she could do about his death. It was inevitable.

"I wish I could do some wee thing for Cam," she said as she ate their midday meal, "he has been so good tae us, an' we have never paid him back."

Janet shrugged. "He has never asked us tae pay him," she pointed out.

"I don't mean payment in money," Ava said. She felt irritated with her sister. "I mean somethin' nice. Rona, could ye do some o' his mendin'? You are good wi' a needle."

"Aye, I could dae that." Rona was eager, her golden brown eyes shining with enthusiasm.

"We have a lot o' hay this year," Janet suggested. "I know he doesnae have enough land to grow hay on, so we can give him a wee bit o' ours."

"That is a very good idea," Ava said, nodding in approval. "We could ask him to come over wi' his cart an' help him load it."

"When would we have time to dae that?" Janet asked. "We work every hour the sun shines, an' there is nae time left."

"Sunday," Ava replied matter-of-factly. "We can do it then."

Her two sisters looked shocked.

"We cannae work on a Sunday!" Rona gasped. "It's a sin."

Ava shrugged. "I won't tell if you don't," she said mischievously.

Rona and Janet looked at each other, then Janet nodded reluctantly. It would mean a lot of extra work for her, and she looked forward to her day of rest, but Ava was right. Cameron did deserve a huge amount of gratitude for all the help he had given them over the years, especially since Colin Struthers had been ill.

"I will take a walk over to his place an' tell him," Ava declared. "I can collect his mendin' an' tell him about the hay." She looked up and saw that Rona was just about to ask to go with her before she shook her head. "Somebody needs to look after Da," she said firmly. Janet stifled a giggle.

Ava left early on Sunday morning. Cameron's little parcel of land was about a quarter of a mile away from their croft and the road was a straight, smooth one, so she knew it would not take her long to get there. She felt light-hearted and cheerful at the thought of seeing ‘her' Cameron again.

Then she caught herself up short. ‘He is not ‘my' Cameron,' she told herself sternly. Granted, he had put his arms around her and held her close, but that was because she had been distressed and he was a kind-hearted soul who wanted to help. He was fond of her, as she was of him, but would they go as far as marriage? She sighed. Why was it always the man who had to ask the woman? Why could women not be the same as men?

Ava shook her head as if to chase the thoughts out of her mind and continued walking, trying to force herself to think of other things, but the more effort she made, the less she succeeded. Thinking about him was so much more pleasant than thinking about anything else at all!

She was so completely absorbed that she did not realize that she was close to Cameron's house until she heard the sound of two men's voices raised in what sounded like a fierce argument. One voice was deep, gravelly and extremely loud and aggressive while the other was much higher in pitch, so piercing that it cut through the air like a needle.

Ava rounded the last bend in the path before coming upon the two men who were shouting and gesticulating wildly. The deep voice came from Cameron, who was standing very close to the other fellow.

The smaller man was older and much shorter, with a shock of pure white hair and a big-nosed face that was red with rage. He was poking Cameron in the chest with his forefinger, obviously to make a point, but Cameron was so much taller that he had to tilt his head back to look into his eyes.

They were both shouting at the same time so that Ava could barely make out what they were saying, but it seemed to be some dispute over money. Ava watched them from a short distance away as they argued, standing just out of sight for a while. When she thought she had heard enough, she stepped out from behind the bush behind which she had been hiding and walked towards them.

As the two men saw her, silence fell almost immediately. Both of them froze and stared at her for a few moments, then Cameron stepped forward and reached out his hand to her. Tentatively, Ava took it.

The smaller man glared at her with beady brown eyes and asked loudly: "who are you?"

"She is my friend, Ava Struthers," Cameron answered, before Ava had a chance to reply. He turned to her. "Ava, this man is no' my friend. His name is Ben McCluskey, an' he owns the plot of land next tae this one. I owe him some money for barley seeds, but as I explained to him, my harvest was terrible this year an' I can't afford to pay him. I have offered to work for a few hours a week tae help him wi' his haymaking to pay off the debt, but he wants a bit o' this wee bit o' land my Mammy left me. It is a' I have to support myself."

Ava felt rage boil up inside her as she looked at the mean face of the short, rotund little man who did not look as if he had ever done a day's work in his life, but she curtsied politely, and saw him puff up with pride. "May I ask how much land ye have, sir?" She was careful to sound respectful in order not to antagonize the little man.

"Twenty acres," he replied proudly.

Ava raised her eyebrows and smiled at him. "That is a nice big bit o' land," she remarked. "Ye have done well for yourself. I would love to know your secret! Cameron has only five. Do ye think, since you have so much land, that you could maybe give him a wee bit more time to pay off his debt? I know he would be very grateful, an' so would I." She gave him her most winning smile.

For a moment McCluskey just stared at her, then he looked at Cameron again. "How much time?" he asked.

Cameron tried not to look as stunned as he felt. "If I helped wi' the hay, that would likely take about two weeks," he proposed. "I would work for free, an' ye could take my wages as payment, as I said before."

"If ye take his land he will never be able to make enough money to pay ye," Ava pointed out. "Because there will be hardly any crops, an' he would no' even be able to eat never mind sell anythin'."

McCluskey nodded. "Aye, that makes sense." He held out a hand to Cameron, who shook it. "We have a deal. But you will have tae work hard, ye hear me?" He turned, then looked back and twitched a smile at Ava, mounted his big chestnut mare, and rode away.