Page 22 of Reviving Her Highland Spirit

Aunt Lyla tied off the bandage and glanced up at him with a smile.

“Thank ye, Callum. I’ll not forget this kindness tae my niece. Ye are a good man.”

9

One Week Later

“I wondered where you’ve been going so early all these mornings.”

Maggie flinched, spinning around to find Amilia standing in the doorway.

“Amilia, ye scared me,” Maggie said, laughing nervously. It wasn’t quite dawn yet, and there were only a few candles lit in Maggie’s room, providing a faint, flickering light for her to dress.

Maggie wasn’t sure whether her daily riding exercise had made her lose weight already, or whether her sturdy leather breeches were molding themselves to her legs, but she felt more comfortable in her riding things than before.

Or perhaps it was neither of these things, and it was something inside that was making Maggie feel more comfortable.

Amilia was dressed in her night things, a long, thick nightgown with a tartan shawl wrapped around her to ward off the early morning chill. Her dark hair was wound back in two plaits, hanging down her back, and she carried a small brass candlestick to light her way. She must have crept along the drafty hallway from her room to Maggie’s very quietly.

“I saw the light on under your door,” Amilia said quietly. “Why are ye up so early, Maggie?”

Maggie cleared her throat. “I’m going riding, Amilia. Ye know I’m trying tae start riding again. Aunt Lyla came to see me a week ago. She knows.”

Amilia pressed her lips together. “Ma said nothing to us.”

“Well, she did,” Maggie answered defensively. Amilia wavered for a minute, then came inside, closing the door behind her.

“And ye go riding with that stable boy?”

“Callum,” Maggie said at once, feeling a little irritated to hear him spoken of so disrespectfully. Callum meant something to her.

A friend, she told herself. He’s my friend. That’s all.

Amilia sighed. “I know ye were going out riding with him. I followed ye yesterday. Every morning this week, ye have sneaked out before dawn. Ye must be very keen to learn tae ride again.”

Maggie narrowed her eyes, taking a step towards her cousin. “What are ye saying, Amilia? Are ye accusing me of something?”

“I’m trying tae talk tae ye, Maggie, cousin tae cousin. I’d be remiss if I saw ye doing something I thought was wrong and said nothing about it.”

Maggie sucked in a breath. “What do ye mean, doing something ye thought was wrong? Ye know I’ve wanted tae ride again ever since the accident. How can ye say I shouldn’t be trying tae be myself again? Aunt Lyla and Bonnie were supportive. Why can’t ye just be happy for me?”

Amilia set down the candlestick and came forward to grasp Maggie’s shoulders.

“Maggie, I am thrilled tae see ye on Stardust again. I know how hard ye have worked, and how ye have suffered. That’s not what worries me.”

Maggie resisted the urge to shrug off her cousin’s hands. There was something strange in Amilia’s serious face.

Amilia could not have been more different from her sister. Bonnie was loud and extroverted, with plenty to say, and an easy smile and laugh. She was a good hostess, and resembled her father more than her mother in personality and temperament.

Amilia, on the other hand, was quiet, serious, and difficult to impress. When they were younger, everyone was entirely sure that Amilia would become a healer, rather than Bonnie. They were wrong - Amilia was more interested in politics and study than herbs and surgeries.

She had her mother’s sharp eyes, and missed nothing.

“Ye know that you’ll need to marry well one day, Maggie,” Amilia said suddenly. “Ye are the oldest. Other clans will want tae ally with us, and marriage is the way it’s always been. All of us will likely end up married to some laird, or laird’s son or daughter one day.”

Maggie frowned. “Aye, but not yet.”

“Ye think? Maggie, ye are nineteen. How much longer do ye think that Da and Uncle Bryce will wait before finding ye a match?”