Page 56 of A Virgin for the Icy Highlander
“You know I amterriblewith fashion, Gracie. I will be no help with choosing a gown, and I have the tastes of a dusty old professor, so I can’t help with the decorations or the planning of the festivities either. But Icanwrite a bloody good invitation,” Maddie insisted. “Go, have fun.”
Grace hesitated. “First, a question…”
“Very well.”
“How areyoufeeling?” Grace replied.
A sweet, sad smile replaced the merry grin. “I am beyond happy for you, my dear Gracie. I have never been very good at hiding my feelings from you and Lilian, so I should have known you would find me out.” Maddie paused and expelled a sigh. “I am sad because this is the end of the three of us, as we have been. But I am not sad because you are marrying, much asIresent the institution. Truly, I would be just as sad and happy if we were merely leaving Horndean together.”
“Are you sure?” Grace murmured, taking Maddie’s other hand.
Maddie nodded and tried to step away. “I swear it. Now, let me get on with the invitations.”
“One more thing,” Grace said, pulling her back.
“If you try and rope me into wearing something ridiculous, I will not do it,” Maddie groaned. “I will spill ink on it, on purpose.”
Grace laughed heartily and threw her arms around her dear friend, hugging her tightly. “This is all I want before I face the challenge of actually preparing for a wedding, though there is no gown in the world that could make you look anything other than sublime,” she whispered, squeezing her. “Later tonight, I wantthe three of us to get together and have another hug, just like this. To celebrate us.Ouryears together.”
“I shan’t miss it,” Maddie whispered back, squeezing twice as tight. A moment later, she pulled away and fanned her face with her notebook. “Come on, it won’t do for the bride to be weeping on the day she announces her engagement. There are things to be done, Gracie. Things to be done.”
Fanning her face even more furiously, Maddie broke away from Grace and headed out of the healer’s chambers, before disappearing around a corner.
Grace watched her leave, surprised to have seen her toughest friend almost get teary. In three years, she had never seen Maddie shed so much as a tear.
It isn’t the end, Maddie. It is just the beginning for all three of us.
22
Grace smiled through the carriage window at the stern face of her future husband, who was riding alongside, mounted on his impressive war horse. They weren’t journeying far, but the relative peace and quiet within the carriage was proving to be a welcome reprieve from the chaos of the castle.
Ailis had ordained chaos. No servant was left without a long list of tasks, and no one was safe from her frenzied planning.
Pulling the window down, Grace poked her head out. “What do you see on the horizon, soldier?”
A subtle smirk lifted the corner of his lips. “I see trouble.”
“You do?” A flicker of true concern caught her in the chest.
He nodded. “Fatal damage to me coffers.”
“Oh!” Grace rested a hand on the center of her chest, her unease relaxing into the judder of a surprised laugh. “I must be certain, Hunter, but did you just make a rather good joke?”
“It wasnae a joke,” he replied evenly. “Ye dinnae ken what the dressmaker is like in this village. Ye’ll find yerself agreein’ to things ye never asked for—adornments and the like—until yer purse is empty.”
She smiled regardless, knowing very well that hehadmade a valiant attempt at humor. “How do you know so much about the dressmaker? Is she the one who makes your kilts?”
“Me maither, among others,” he replied, his brow creasing.
A funny feeling fluttered in her stomach, like drifting cinders, leaving tiny prickles of heat. He had made no secret of the fact that he had been married before, but it hadn’t bothered her until now.
The mystery surrounding his first wife’s death—yes, that had given her pause for thought—but the actual marriage part hadn’t given her any sleepless nights. Had his first wife visited this dressmaker? Was that what he meant by ‘among others’?
“She wouldnae have worn a gown from anywhere in me lands,” Hunter said, answering the questions she hadn’t asked. “If it wasnae what the French lasses were wearin’, she didnae want to ken. She didnae admire anythin’ about this part of the world.”
Does that include you?
Grace held her tongue. It wasn’t the moment for such a discussion, with Lilian and Ellie in the carriage, too. Yet, it gave her hope that he might finally be willing to tell her the forbidden story of what had come before her.
