Mystic Mountains

and stepping back when Tiger reached down to touch her. "Would you believe my word? The promise of a slattern and a whore?"
    "Bella." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Just get along inside. Here 's Thelma, she'll be glad to see you. And look now, Dougal has been roused from his sleep."
    "Bella, is that you?" Dougal was struggling into his shirt as he came from the back of the house. "Well, bless me, what a sight for sore eyes. We thought you dead." He came at a run, almost throwing himself at her. But at the last minute he pulled up, staring at her as if he expected her to disappear at any moment.
    "Aye, 'tis her," Tiger said, taking her arm and pushing her before him as he handed Dougal the reins. "Put Satan away for me, Dougal, then you can ask her all the questions you like."
    Isabella smiled at Dougal, then shrugged out of Tiger 's hold to walk straight backed towards the verandah, where Thelma waited to greet her.
     
    * * *
     
    Isabella put the bucket down and slumped beneath an apple tree. The sun was poking its head up over the horizon, promising another hot March day. One year since they'd arrived. It didn't seem possible. How the time had flown, and how much had happened.
    She gave a huge sigh, breathing in the scented air, but the nausea returned and she dropped to her knees at the base of the tree. Her stomach gave up her breakfast. Wiping a hand across her brow she shuddered. What was she to do now? He would surely throw her out when he found out, send her to the female factory. What would Tiger want with her baby? He didn't desire her for a wife so he would want her child even less.
    "Bella, how do you feel?" Dougal asked, and she quickly wiped her face on her apron and put a false smile on her face as she turned and went to sit beneath another tree. He sat beside her, staring at his dusty boots.
    "Oh, I'm fine Dougal. Why do you ask?" She tugged her skirt over her knees as she pulled them up in front of her.
    "I saw you bringing up your food. 'Tis useless to try and hide the truth. Everyone knows you're with child. Thelma's just waiting for you to tell her so she can shower you with attention." He toyed with a blade of grass.
    "Everyone knows?" Isabella pressed her face onto her knees, groaning softly.
    "Well, all except Tiger." Dougal snorted. "He just thinks you still have the sulks. What are you going to do?"
    "Do? There 's not much I can do, is there?" She shrugged, feeling more desolate than when she'd run away. "I'll likely get tossed out on my ear. He won't want a baby."
    "He 'll not throw you out, silly. He was as pleased as me to see you back. Well, maybe not quite as pleased." He smiled and took her hand in his, gently squeezing her fingers.
    Isabella wondered for the umpteenth time why she couldn 't love him as something more than a friend. "Oh, Dougal," she sighed. "What did I do to deserve such a friend?"
    "Is that all I 'll ever be to you, Bella?"
    She heard the yearning in his voice and wished with all her heart she could be all he wanted.
    "Oh, Dougal." She reached out and stroked his cheek. His skin quivered beneath her fingers.
    "It's Tiger's baby, isn't it?"
    The question was asked so low she barely caught it.
    "Of course. But he 'll not accept it as his. We both know that. He doesn't want anything to do with a convict. He's got his sights set higher." Isabella wiped her knuckle across her mouth.
    "I 'll marry you, Bella. I know you don't love me as I love you, but the feelings I have for you will do for both of us. I'll love the baby as my own because it's a part of you. If you say you intend to marry me he won't put any bars on us and you'll have someone to care for you and the child. We can stay here together where we're both welcome, then when your time is served we'll apply for a tract of land. I'll have a bit saved by then. Just think, Bella, we'll have our own place. Something we never dreamed of when we set foot on this land. What do you say? Make me the happiest man alive and I'll do my best to make a good life for you." Uncertainty and hope mingled in his eyes.
    Dear Dougal, what could she say? "Can I think about your offer for a bit, Dougal?" she asked tentatively.
    And meanwhile she could tell Tiger she was expecting his child. Surely he would not be able to spurn his own flesh and blood. He'd ask her to marry him and forget all his notions of wanting a wife from the gentry. No man could turn his back on his own baby.
    "Right." She saw Dougal 's disappointment