“I didn’t say someone poor. I just don’t want money to get in the way.”
“Get in the way?” Georgina began to laugh. “I wish.”
Amy sat stiff as a pine tree. “The executors control what I do, but if I could give you my money I would.”
Georgina stopped laughing. “You really mean that. You would give it to me, wouldn’t you?”
Amy nodded. “But they’d never let me even try.” She took a deep breath, looked Georgina straight in the eye and said, “I’ve made a decision. If I’m going to marry anyone, I want to marry Calum.”
Now Georgina wanted to cry. She plopped down on the bed next to Amy. “I was afraid of this. This is not a smart decision for you.” When Amy said nothing she asked, “How does he feel?”
“I don’t know how he feels.” Amy had a lost look, but then she brightened. “He likes to kiss me.”
“If kisses meant a life-long commitment there would be no such thing as a spinster.” Georgina thought about Amy’s situation for a second, then asked, “Are you certain this is what you want?”
Amy nodded.
“Absolutely certain?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then you’ll just have to get him to bring it up. The trick is to make him think it was his idea.” Georgina pulled her knees up on the bed, linked her hands over them, and got comfortable, figuring this kind of lesson could take a while. She looked at Amy and said, “Let me tell you all about men.”
Amy leaned closer, ready to listen. Her expression was intent enough Georgina figured she really did want Calum MacLachlan. She began her sage woman-to-woman advice with the world the way she saw it.
“First of all, you must understand men.”
Amy groaned like someone had twisted her fingers off.
“Don’t get all worried.” Georgina raised a hand. “They aren’t that complicated.”
“They seem complicated to me.”
“They aren’t. Here’s a perfect example.” Georgina gave her an easy smile. “How many men chase after homely women?”
“None.”
“Unfortunately, that’s right. Men want a girl to have beauty instead of brains.”
“Why?”
“It’s really quite simple.” Georgina gave an airy wave of her hand. “You see, men see much better than they think.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Happy hearts and happy faces
Happy play in grassy places—
That was how, in ancient ages
Children grew to kings and sages.
—Robert Louis Stevenson
Bright September sunshine had the same effect on Kirsty and Graham that the full moon had on wild banshees. They screamed and hollered and chased things through the damp grass. They ran after marsh moths and bumblebees. They sped past the wild grapes that grew up a gray stone wall, over a small rock bridge, and up a grassy hillside where the golden-rod blazed and the blueberry plants were already turning as red as firehouse paint.
At the edge of the woods, they hid in the elderberry bushes beneath the bough of a fat crab-apple tree, disappearing into the low branches like sparrows with their tails flicking.
