Well, there were other sweet treats to eat that weren’t shortbread.
Now, for instance, the breakfast table was laden with Laurie’s favorite foods. The keep cooks made sure that her favorite dishes were served at every meal, and that there were plenty of them. She was recovering day by day, looking less pale. Children were resilient, after all. The nurse reported that Laurie had fewer nightmares and, in a few weeks, would be sleeping as soundly as ever.
Nora wished that she could say the same.
“Come on, lass,” Margaret said kindly, leaning forward and spooning some scrambled eggs onto Laurie’s plate. “Shortbread is all well and good, but ye need some goodness in ye, too. And some apple! Take a few slices.”
Laurie pushed out her lip good-naturedly, but did not argue. She liked Margaret. Even after only three days, Margaret felt like a regular fixture at the keep. She knew the servants’ names—even the grim-faced ones who filled Nora’s bath—and made friends with them. She made Theo laugh, and even coaxed a smile out of Marcus.
Creighton, she left alone.
Andrew seemed to be another particular friend. There was no danger of his thinking thatshewas a witch, apparently. Andrew sat at the breakfast table now, there at Margaret and Nora’s express invitation.
“I daenae want the apple,” Laurie decided.
Andrew leaned forward, smiling softly at her. “Ah, but apples are good for ye, lassie! God made them sweet and crisp, especially for us, to tempt us into eatin’ them. Ye wouldnae want to offend Him now, would ye?”
Laurie eyed the sliced apple uncertainly. “God made the apple sweet just for me?”
Andrew nodded seriously, keeping his face straight. “Especiallyfor ye. He wants ye to eat up and get strong, aye?”
Nora suppressed a smile. If Margaret couldn’t get Laurie to do what she was told, Andrew certainly could. The poor nurse’s life had never been easier.
Nora sipped her bitter herbal tea in lieu of a real breakfast. It seemed to sear all the way down into her stomach, sloshing around in the emptiness there. It would be sensible to eat, of course, but she had no appetite.
But then, what was the point? What was the point of any of it?
Swallowing down this bitter thought along with her herbal tea, Nora set down her empty cup.
“Well, Laurie, are ye nae off doin’ yer lessons, then?”
Laurie pulled a face. “I daenaewantto learn geography. What’s the point in learnin’ about any part of the world beyond the Highlands? I livehere.”
“Ah, but the world is so much larger than Scotland,” Margaret chimed in, eyes lighting up.
Laurie scowled. “Do ye mean England?”
“Aye, England, but there’s more than that, too. Much, much more.”
“She’s right,” Andrew added. “Do ye ken, there are places where elephants walk, larger than anythin’ ye have ever seen. There are lions, and tigers, and places where no rain ever falls, and places where there is so much rain a jungle grows green and tangled. People are different, ye ken, all over the world. They look different, they act different, they have entirely different traditions and languages, and yet at the heart of it all, we’re all thesame.”
His eyes had taken on an almost feverish light. Margaret was staring at him intently, as if seeing him for the first time.
“Daenae ye want to see all of that, Laurie?” Andrew continued dreamily. “Or at the very least, read about it. None of us here might ever go to such places, but we could read about it.”
Laurie blinked, momentarily taken aback.
“Well, all right, then,” she mumbled and slipped down from her chair. Chuckling, the nurse got up and followed her, and Andrew followed them both.
Margaret watched him go thoughtfully.
“He’s the right person to act as Laurie’s bodyguard,” she said, once they were gone. “He’s carin’ and gentle, and obviously lovesthe wee lassie, but I’ve seen him fight on the trainin’ fields. He kens what he’s doin’.”
“Ye have watched him, have ye?” Nora mocked. “Oh, I’m sure ye have.”
To her surprise, Margaret reddened a little.
“I was just passin’ by,” she responded defensively. “Which ye never do, I notice. If ye had, ye might have seen Creighton. He was trainin’ this mornin’, too. He throws himself into it as if he has a vendetta against his sparrin’ partner. And himself,” she added, shaking her head. “He’s been strange since we returned from MacCrimmon Keep.”
