Keep yer face plain and yer words plainer.
Take nay cup ye didnae watch poured.
If ye must sleep there, sleep near the lights.
Erica dried her hands and folded the cloth. She went back to the bed and stood between the dresses again.
If she wore the grey-blue one, she would be hard to fault. If she wore the green one, she would be harder to move. The line between those two felt thin and important.
She thought of Leah in the garden, the way her fingers had tightened when Erica joked about straight lilies. This place watched for order. It wanted proof that a person could hold to the line without being asked twice.
A knock sounded at the door at that moment, breaking into her thoughts. She turned and heard the second bell ring.
“Come in,” she called.
The door opened, and Grandmamma stepped in with her cane and a small smile. Her eyes took in the room in one sweep. The green dress on the bed. The grey-blue one beside it. The pins set out in two neat groups. Erica’s hands on the rail, steady but tight.
“Ye are settled,” Grandmamma noted. “Good. I thought I would look in before ye come out to dinner.”
“Ye are kind,” Erica said.
“Keen, lass,” Grandmamma said, and the smile held. “Kind if it suits me. May I sit?”
“Aye.”
Erica pulled the small chair from the fireplace. Grandmamma sat down and set the cane near her knee. She looked around again, slower this time. She noted the clean basin, the folded cloth, the way Lady Bryden’s shawl lay on the chest in a careful square.
“Ye had a bath,” Grandmamma said. “That helps after a road.”
“It does,” Erica agreed.
“Did ye walk through the garden?”
“Aye.”
“Good,” Grandmamma said. “Folks who look at what grows tend to be easier on a house.”
She left the line there, light enough to miss. Erica heard it. She stood easier by a hair.
“Tell me of the festival,” Grandmamma said. “I havenae attended in years. Me knees daenae love a field, and I have had enough songs to last.” Her tone was easy. “How did ye and me grandson find each other in that crowd?”
Erica kept her voice calm as she explained what had happened. How Alex protected her from someone who meant harm, andthey both decided in that spot to get married. She described it as she would describe her dream encounter: love at first sight.
“Ah, I see,” Grandmamma murmured.
“It was quick,” Erica said. “I counted as I could. I had nay better road.”
“So it was a rescue.”
“Aye,” Erica said. “I owe him me life. It felt right to repay that debt.”
Grandmamma hummed, soft in her throat. Not convinced. Not unconvinced. She poured from the small jug on the table into the cup by her hand and took a sip.
“Ye speak plain,” she said. “That helps.”
“I mean to,” Erica said. “If I can.”
Grandmamma’s gaze shifted, sharper under the warmth. “So ye’re afraid of him.”
