Page 55 of A Virgin for the Icy Highlander
Holding her hand to her mouth so as not to contaminate the various herbs, Grace chuckled. “Therewerefireflies.”
“It’s November, Gracie,” Maddie pointed out. “You can’t fool me.”
“Nay, she’s right,” Ailis chimed in. “There are fireflies down in this one meadow. They’ve glowed in autumn and winter all me life. Nay one kens why, but they do. In the spring and summer, nae one to be seen.”
Maddie’s eyes widened, gleaming with the excitement of a scholar who had just discovered something entirely new. “You must show me! I could write an entire book about them! Oh, this is big news, indeed.” She jumped off the high stool. “Can we go now? No… wait, what am I doing?” She slid back onto the stool. “How are you feeling about everything, Grace? Did you… experience anything other than fireflies last night? Butterflies, perhaps?”
A few began to flutter in Grace’s stomach, though she worried she might be mistaking them for their cousins, the nervous moths.
Ailis swept the bags of herbs to the other side of the workbench in a symbolic gesture. “Och aye, lassie, I want to hear the answerto that one, too. I’ve been longin’ to ask all mornin’, but I didnae think it was me place.”
“And here I was, thinking we were being perfectly discreet.” Grace dropped her chin to her chest, laughing softly through the swell of embarrassment that crawled up her face.
Ailis waved a dismissive hand. “What’s there to be discreet about? I’m on yer side, lass. I’ve been waitin’ for the day I’ll get to see him smile again and enjoy life, ye ken?”
“Even though I’m English?” Grace half-joked because concern still niggled at the back of her mind.
“What’s that got to do with aught?” Ailis replied. “I’ve become very partial to the three of ye English lassies. So, put me out of me misery—will ye be marryin’ me nephew, or must I brew somethin’ for the melancholy he’ll be sufferin’ when ye leave?”
Grace chuckled, only to realize that Ailis wasn’t laughing. She seemed quite serious about the melancholy, but Grace doubted a man like Hunter would let anything like that bother him if she were to decide against marrying him. He would be grumpy for a while, at most, and then he would be less grumpy again shortly after.
“I think we can be a good match,” she confessed, unable to hide the smile that crept across her face and made her cheeks ache. It had barely left her face since last night.
That moment in the meadow had been extraordinary, and no mistake, but it wasn’t a love confession or a promise of more than he had already offered. As such, to ensure she didn’t end up disappointed, she’d promised herself that she wouldn’t get carried away. She’d let things… unfurl as they would, and would be glad of every additional layer that developed, like the emotions she’d coaxed out of him.
Ailis clapped her hands together. “Well then, what are we waitin’ for? We need to get ye a weddin’ gown, invitations need to be sent to anyone ye would want to invite, and this castle will need a good cleaning and a bit of decorating for the festivities.” She sighed. “Och, we’ve needed a celebration here at the castle. Ye cannae ken how much we’ve needed one.”
“Now?” Grace gaped.
She’d assumed there would be some sort of process, with the engagement period she would have expected back in London.
Indeed, when Hunter had said he would marry her after the week was over, she’d thought that meant their engagement would be confirmed and the wedding would take place several weeks later.
“There’s nay time to waste.” Ailis got up and walked swiftly to the far doors with all the giddiness of a woman half her age, before calling back, “We have a mountain of work to do! Move, lassies!”
It had been three years since she’d last seen London, yet Grace realized she needed to remember that she wasn’t there anymore. Things were different here. Quicker, certainly. And with the threat of her father’s reaction looming over her, the swiftness could only be a good thing.
With a breath, she got off the stool and readied herself to race after Ailis.
Maddie grabbed her by the arm, stalling her. “Are you sure about this?”
There was no judgment or doubt in her hazel eyes, but a gentle probe—the look of a friend who wanted nothing more than for her friend to be happy and not to make a disastrous mistake.
“I am,” Grace replied, surprised by the confidence that chased those words out of her mouth. It puffed out her chest and straightened her posture, widening the already gleeful smile that stretched across her face.
A matching grin appeared on Maddie’s face, smoothing out her slight frown and making it seem as if it had never been there. “Very well, my dearest Gracie, let us go and arrange this joyously hasty wedding before your father hears a word of it.”
She wove her arm through Grace’s, and the two of them hurried through the healer’s chambers to the door.
“We must divide and conquer, Gracie. I shall send an invitation to Miss Sutton and…” she trailed off as that faint frown returned. “Is there anyone else you want to invite?”
Grace shook her head. “The other girls at Horndean are welcome, of course. Other than that, an invitation should be sent to my father and brother, and my sister too, but make sure they are not sent with theactualinvitations. They should be sent the day before the wedding. That way, there will be no chance of them arriving on time, and they won’t be able to say that I did not send invitations.”
“You sly fox.” Maddie winked, pressing an emphatic kiss to the side of Grace’s head. “I’ll write all the invitations and only send out the ones for Horndean. You can trust me, Gracie; I will not let you down. Now, you go and drag Lilian out of her room, fetch Ellie on the way, and have fun to celebrate this momentous day!”
There was a little too much cheer in Maddie’s voice. Her enthusiasm was not at all false but tinged with something else. There was a slight tremor in her tone and a shimmer in her eyes that created an undercurrent of complicated sadness.
“But what about you?” Grace asked, grabbing her friend’s hand and squeezing it tightly.
