She nodded, expecting him to say that. “Then she doesn’t condemn you for what you did.”
“It wasn’t what I did I regret, Veronica, but what I didn’t do.”
“I didn’t check the lamps. I didn’t ensure the wicks were trimmed.”
He frowned at her.
“Caroline could have told you. She could have come out, and said, come home, Montgomery. We’re starving. We need help.”
“She wasn’t reared to be as direct as you,” he said.
“So you were supposed to guess what she meant? You were supposed to infer all her thoughts and wishes? I have a Gift, Montgomery, but even I could not have done that.”
“You ridicule my past, Veronica.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t. I can understand regretting your actions, Montgomery. But how can you regret something that never happened? Besides,” she added, “Caroline wouldn’t have wanted you to.”
“And how do you know?” he asked, the beginning of a smile curving his lips.
“Because you feel her. Because her thoughts are with you. Because you loved her, and she loved you.”
“That’s enough? Love?”
She nodded. “Of course, Montgomery. Of course it is.”
He would have said something, but a passenger abruptly appeared at the base of the steps. Montgomery moved aside, grabbed her elbow, and whispered in her ear. “Come back home.”
“I’ve an errand to perform,” she said, and told him about Elspeth’s grandmother.
“That damnable mirror.”
“Had it not been for the mirror,” she said, “we wouldn’t have met.”
He smiled, the expression deepening his dimples.
“We would have met, Veronica. Something tells me that. Fate would have made certain of it.”
She couldn’t be certain he said what she heard next, because it was such an odd remark for Montgomery to make.
“Or maybe my ghosts sent you to me.”
Chapter 29
The peaks of the Highlands gave way to the hills of Perth, as if this part of Scotland were older, the mountains worn to nubs. Kilmarin, the home of the Tullochs, was located atop the highest of these hills, the only approach up a winding mountain road. The stolid Scots fortress, at least four floors tall, was constructed of deep red stone and didn’t look the least welcoming.
“Granny’s cottage is a ways from Kilmarin proper,” Elspeth said. “Granny never did like people much.” She glanced at Montgomery, embarrassed. “Her cottage gives her a good command of the road. Like Kilmarin,” she added, staring up at the castle. “She’s been known to throw things down on people who get lost and take the upper road.”
“Perhaps it would be best if you go ahead,” Veronica said.
“Oh, she won’t know me,” Elspeth said easily. “Her eyesight is going, too.”
Montgomery glanced at her, a faint smile haunting his mouth. “Your Granny sounds like my aunt Maddie,” he said.
Veronica turned to look at him.
“My mother’s sister,” he said, “who took to wearing her shift outside her clothes.”
She pressed a hand to her lips.
