Aaron had not convinced her to tell him about the books. She had told him of her own accord, but she would rather take it to her grave than admit that she opened up to him about something.
Scarlett nodded, agreeing with her. She walked toward the corner table, her eyes immediately catching the drawing materials and the piles of parchment by the edge.
“Edith Woods!” She quickened her steps to get a closer look. “Ye didnae tell me ye could draw!”
Edith’s face flushed slightly as she caught up to her.
She was nowhere near becoming an artist. She considered her charcoal skills subpar at best. Nothing worth mentioning in her letters to her best friend.
“Ye daenae want to see those,” she said as she stopped beside Scarlett, craning her neck to see the stack of parchment in her friend’s hands. “Me drawings are only practice pieces.”
Scarlett shook her head, clearly impressed by the sketches of herbs and flowers. “Pray tell,” she said, awe written all over her face. “What other talents have ye kept hidden from me?”
Edith pushed herself up onto the edge of the table so that she was now facing Scarlett. “None, me dear friend,” she said, folding her hands in her lap. “I have no talent besides me love for herbs.”
Scarlett smiled softly, shaking her head. “Daenae say that, Edith. I fancy these. They are better than the illustrations in most books.”
Edith’s face brightened. “Truly? I only began practicing after ye left,” she said. “Perhaps I can someday draw for healers in the Highlands.”
Scarlett laughed softly. “Kenning ye, ye will draw illustrations for yer own book instead.”
The words warmed Edith’s heart. She watched her friend, her own smile widening as she took in the excitement on Scarlett’s face when she identified some flowers in the drawings.
Soon, she had gone through an entire stack of parchments. She reached for the next, and Edith froze, suddenly remembering something she should not have forgotten in the first place.
“Nay!” she blurted, lunging forward to snatch the stack from Scarlett’s hand, but her friend was faster, holding it out of her reach.
Scarlett’s brows arched. “What is it?”
I cannae let her suspect a thing.
Edith swallowed, composing herself as best as she could.
“Daenae go through that stack,” she said carefully, but her tone only seemed to convince her friend otherwise.
Scarlett glanced at the parchment on top. “Why nae?”
“Because.” Edith’s voice was now several octaves higher than normal. “They arenae good.”
Scarlett’s lips curved, her eyes glinting with mischief. “I would like a look.”
“Nay, Scarlett. I promise ye.”
Edith reached for the parchments again, but Scarlett moved away, going through the stack as she avoided Edith’s hands.
“I will judge them for meself.”
She moved around the empty library until she finally stopped in her tracks. “Is this…?”
Edith stilled, hoping that it was because of anything other than the drawing she suspected might be in that pile.
“Edith…”
Goodness me.
Surely it was the image of Aaron’s kiss against the back of her hand, the same image she had subconsciously drawn the first time she caught herself thinking of him.
She dropped her face into her palms.
