Page 57 of Sweet Home Highlander
“What is it?” Aisla pressed.
Her sister-in-law sighed. “Only that as well as he’s done for himself, he isnae satisfied. He’s never satisfied, never at ease. I ken I only see him a few times every year, but my mother writes, and she’s always concerned Niall isnae truly happy.”
Aisla didn’t know how to reply. She sensed the same thing about Niall now. That he worked hard, but never allowed himself any pleasure or time to enjoy what he’d accomplished. She wondered if he feared resting; if he worried he might somehow fall back into his old, disorderly ways if he stopped. She knew she’d often felt the same way in Paris—the more balls and soirees and dinners, the better to keep her mind off her regrets and the broken pieces of her past.
“He seems content,” Aisla said, diffidently.
Makenna gazed up at the clouds, which were white puffy blotches in front of a steel-gray horizon. She frowned, her eyes on the sky, but somehow farther away than that. “People can get rather good at pretending.”
Aisla stopped her with a hand on her wrist. “Is there something the matter?”
Makenna shook off the pensive expression, and smiled. “Just concerned for my baby brother. Come, here’s a shop ye might like.”
She led Aisla across the street, into a small shop filled with glittering pieces of jewelry and trinkets. The sunlight cut through the pieces on display in the windows and set the whole shop into a kaleidoscope of warm amber colors.
“Oh my,” Aisla whispered, her heart caught in her throat and her feet coming to an abrupt halt in the doorway. Her lips parted in awe as she took in the sheer magnificence of the shop. Practically everything on the shelves and in the display cases was topaz, the same gemstones she’d seen on various things in the castle, on swords and shields, and also on Makenna herself. The brooch her sister-in-law had worn before, the one Aisla had admired, must have come from this shop.
There was a little of everything here; necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and all manner of trinkets.
“These are all so gorgeous,” she said, picking up a small blown-glass paperweight cast in the shape of a hawk. Its eyes and beak and many of its feathers were carefully carved pieces of prismatic yellow topaz.
“Thank ye, my lady,” an older gentleman said as he came out from a back room. “The gems are mined right at Tarbendale.”
She set down the paperweight hawk and was drawn toward several bracelets. The jewels set in the bands were all different sizes and carved into different styles, and each one was a slightly different hue. One, a clear yellow; another, a marbled amber; and a third, a rum-colored jewel darker than the rest. All were stunning, the silver and gold settings carved in detailed filigree.
“I thought ye’d like this shop,” Makenna said as she ambled around the room.
Aisla stopped to admire a shelf of hollowed, blown-glass animals, each one with a flare of topaz. A bear with jeweled snout and claws, an elk with glittering antlers, and the most beautiful one of all, a wolf with a topaz heart set inside the animal’s clear glass chest.
“These must have all been done by the same artist,” Aisla said, moving on to a row of silver and topaz goblets.
“Why, yes, my lady, o’course. The l—”
“Aisla, come have a look at these.”
She peered back at Makenna, surprised her sister-in-law had interrupted the shopkeeper, but curious at the excitement in her voice. When she reached Makenna’s side, she understood why.
Her hands had minds of their own, and they reached for the first in a line of several bejeweled throwing daggers. They were on display in a long wooden case, a bed of jet velvet accentuating the bright clarity of the topaz set into the handles of each dagger. No design was alike…some handles were dainty and curved, while others were more regal and solid-looking. The blades of each were polished to a high shine, the edges stone-ground to lethal sharpness, and each one had a glittering array of topaz jewels. And when she lifted the first dagger, she could feel the quality of the design. The balanced weight between the blade and the handle.
“These are…well, they’re simply…” Aisla was at a loss for words. Beautiful wouldn’t do the daggers justice.
“Something ye would like to purchase?” Makenna prompted.
Aisla laughed, setting down the first dagger and selecting another one that had caught her eye. This one was polished silver, and the topaz had been inlaid into the shape of a craggy mountain. It nearly looked like the mountain that stood at the back of the Montgomery stronghold, where she grew up.
“Yes,” she said, admiring it, and looking forward to the first chance she had to throw it. “Most definitely. The craftsmanship is exquisite. Pieces like these should be in a museum, on display. Why, in Paris, I don’t think I saw anything in any jeweler’s shop that was its equal. Pray tell, who made these?”
“A recluse, if you would believe.” Makenna took the dagger carefully from Aisla, and with a puckish grin, extended it to the shopkeeper. “Please have this boxed and wrapped for her ladyship, and add it to the laird’s account.”
The man looked puzzled for a moment, but then bowed and reached for the dagger.
“Oh, no. That’s not necessary,” Aisla said, her stomach crimping at the thought of sending yet another bill to Tarben Castle. “I’ll purchase it now. And I’ll take the wolf over there.” She paused with a smile. “And that bracelet with the braided filigree.”
Makenna frowned. “But—”
“I insist,” she said, not wanting to explain. She wasn’t sure she knew how. Only that yesterday, Niall had forgiven her, and she him for past deeds, and she had even more apologizing to do when she saw him next for acting the way she had. She just didn’t feel right buying this dagger on his credit. And the wolf, well she’d decide what she wanted to do with that, if and when the time came. But something about it reminded her of Niall. The bracelet was purely an impulsive purchase.
“Please have that delivered to the keep,” she said, watching as the shopkeeper wrapped the glass wolf with infinite care. Her heart felt like a bird caught in her chest. She would thank Niall, she thought. Forhiscare. A heated blush scorched her face, and she sucked in a shaky breath, hoping Makenna would not notice her suddenly flushed countenance.
