“I will say it again, Lily. This place is remarkable. And ye seem to belong here. It’s as if ye’ve been running this home forever. The servants already treat ye as their lady.”
“They are likely only polite because I am new,” Lily said.
Brigid’s laugh was sharp. “Daenae give me that. I saw it meself. They like ye because ye look at them as though they matter.That maid…” she trailed off, snapping her fingers in a bid to remember her name
“Daisy,” Lily supplied.
“Aye, Daisy. I saw how ye spoke to her. I saw how she brightened when ye thanked her. That isnae fear. That is affection. They follow because ye are kind. Plus, Alasdair seems changed. So why are ye still in doubt?”
Lily gave a faint sigh but did not answer.
Brigid, perhaps understanding her silence, did not press further. She stood up, went to one of the boxes by the wall, and bent over it. “Enough of this. I have a surprise for ye.”
She rummaged for a moment, then pulled out a long parcel wrapped in cloth. She turned with a grin and laid it on the bed before Lily.
“I was sure ye wouldnae have packed a dress fit for a cèilidh, so Valerie sent one.”
Lily unfolded the cloth, and the nearby candlelight fell on the green silk dress.
A breath escaped her lips. “Ye didnae?—”
“I did,” Brigid responded.
Lily pulled it out completely, held it up, and her mouth fell open. The fabric shone, soft and daring, the neckline deep enough that she gasped.
“Good God,” she muttered.
“Beautiful, is it nae?” Brigid asked, her eyes gleaming.
“Beautiful?” Lily stared at it, then at her sister. “This is the most revealing thing I have ever seen. Ye can see down to the third rib!”
Brigid burst into laughter. “That is the point. Wear it and drive Alasdair mad.”
Lily lowered the dress quickly, her face flushing. “Drive him mad at the cost of me dignity?”
“Perhaps nae dignity,” Brigid teased. “But think of the reward. Still, it is yers if ye change yer mind.”
Lily sighed, folded the dress carefully, and placed it on the chest at the foot of the bed. “Alasdair already had dresses made for me before I even came here.”
Brigid froze. “Did he? And how, pray, did he manage that?”
“He claims he guessed me measurements.”
Her sister’s eyes narrowed. “He didnae guess.”
“That is what he says. I found a trunk of dresses and another trunk of what he planned to return because he didnae like them. I have been picking dresses from the pile he meant to return.”
Brigid shook her head. “Yer stubbornness is a fearsome thing.”
Lily gave a small smile but then grew serious. “I am certain there are things he is hiding from me.”
Brigid sat back on the bed. “Like what?”
Lily’s voice lowered. “Ye were young, too young to notice, but I always wondered how he came aboard Faither’s ship in the first place, and what happened to him all those years away. He hasnae told me anything.”
For a while, Brigid said nothing. She only reached across and clasped Lily’s hand. “Do ye remember what Maither told ye? Never try to heal a wound that willnae stop bleeding?”
Lily clenched her jaw. “How could I forget?”
