"Oh, no, Fi! Ye canna do it!" two young voices cried in unison.

The two girls pushed through the Gordon clansmen to where their elder sibling stood. They were auburn haired, amber eyed, and identical in features. Their distress was more than evident.

"The bargain is now struck, sisters," Fiona said.

"But if ye give him yer maidenhead, who will have ye to wife one day?" asked Elsbeth, tears in her bright eyes.

"If I don't give him my maidenhead, who will have ye to wife, Elsbeth? Or Margery either?" Fiona asked. "The Forbeses and the Inneses will have their dowries or they will not have ye, I fear. Besides, by the time I see Jeannie and Morag safely wed, I'll be much too old to marry. I won't mind growing old here upon the ben." She patted her sisters, comforting them as best she could.

"But what if he gives ye a child?" asked Margery.

"The Gordons take care of their own, Mistress Hay," the laird reassured her. "If yer sister bears my bairn, I will not desert either of them."

The twins began to weep simultaneously.

"Flora," their elder sibling said, "take my sisters to our chamber and stay with them until I call for ye."

The older woman shepherded the two girls off, alternately scolding and cooing at them as they went. "Now, hush, ye two. Up the stairs with ye! Embarrassing yer sister. And her so brave and only looking out for yer happiness."

"Tam, where are ye?" Fiona called out to Flora's husband.

"Here, mistress." An old man shoved through the clansmen.

"Have we cider enough to quench the thirsts of all these men?"

"Aye," he answered dourly.