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" Lily began to stroke his head, and the boy closed his eyes Her voice faltered as she realized she didn ’t know if her sudden emotion was because she missed home or because she was finally there
She couldn ’t re, and repeated the same verse a few times, even after it had become clear that John had drifted off Lily watched as the boy’s face became slack, mouth parted in the deep sleep of a child, and she wondered at the will of the universe to send her here And was struck that, for the first ti while, she felt a real connection
She just didn’t know if she was supposed to embrace it, or sih the doorhen he heard the sound of her voice Kat had told the laird that Lily and John spentfor them in John ’s room to see what the matter was But noen pulled back into the shadows, listening to Lily Her singing was strong and, although not perfect, sweet to his ears, her voice hesitating with an e to stifle He wondered for a s had so for him so frantically
But the bedtime scene he spied on was a peaceful one Maternal even
The laird had held his own mother dear to his heart For the little while he ’d known her, his uided him, buttressed him as the small keystone supports the whole John did not have such a mother All John did have en
His throat clutched with grief He didn’t pay e and guidance Seeing John solely as heir and successor had been a way for Ewen to distance hi been too painful a reminder of the mother
Ewen ’s heart broke to realize that he had pushed away his own child His child whoan with John, the boy had responded like a plant to sunlight Subtle changes unseen to others glared obvious to Ewen He hadn’t realized that the boy fought insecurities until he saw the lad bloom with a newfound self- assurance His demeanor, even his stride had been different in the past days And, curse him if John didn’t remind Ewen of hiy with curiosity that burned like a hot coal It was not uncommon for the laird to discipline his son only to turn around, privately thrilled by the boy ’s cleverness and spirit
He resolved to be more than just an instructor to his son He would truly be a father
Ewen leaned his head and shoulders against the door and listened, mes her way along the path, Lily fingered the carrots tucked in the pocket of her skirt and wondered if Morag had dropped her foal in the night She had pilfered the treat for her new favorite horse when cook’s back was turned Lily wondered if she would soon notice how her carrot supply was slowly di brown and black mare have a penchant for them, but the cook seemed a surly sort and Lily didn’t want to see ould happen if she crossed her In fact, Lily was so cowed by the woman that she hadn’t even had the nerve to introduce herself yet--she just continued to refer to her as "cook " She was just as Lily would iine a castle cook to be: as thick as her cast-iron soup pot, with doughy jowls and a permanent scowl thata bushel of onions
She’d just have to trust that her luck would hold, andabout as well Morag would definitely love an apple Lily snapped the tip off one of the carrots and started toshe probably shouldn ’t hold her breath on the whole fruit thing Though always a fan of ht if she had to face yet another meaty stew, slab of meat, or meat pie, she ’d cry Granted, she realized what a luxury it was to be so well fed, and she appreciated all Ewen had done for her, but she longed for soood, fresh produce A salad, soo with theht to find the horse some apples when, at this point, a sweet and juicy hunk of fruit felt like nothing short of the Holy Grail Lily discovered the stables in her secondsince It was unlike her to rise at dawn--back home she didn’t become human until she choked down at least two cups of coffee But she found the chill Highlandher more than any caffeine While the rest of the household buzzed with the day’s preparations, the stables at daere a haven of cal lazily in the air, and sunlight shone through the slats of the ancient barn, cutting draly, it had been Eho had encouraged her to explore the stables He had blurted out one evening that she should see the pregnant mare, and Lily couldn ’t resist the offer Besides, she didn’t want to risk offending the laird just in case what she understood to be a suggestion was actually some kind of order He could be impossible to read sometimes
She had been nervous on her first visit but was made to feel immediately at home by Lennox, the effusively kind--if somewhat dim--stable hand He was a short e blurred by a lifetime of whisky and a hard life outdoors As far as Lily could tell, he could be anywhere between thirty and fifty years old His hair was light, and again Lily couldn ’t tell if the color was a product of sunshine or age But Lennox’sfeatures were the deep creases etched at the corners of his eyes by the perrin affixed to his face
He wasted no ti her to Ewen ’s prized bay mare, thick with her first foal Lennox cooed and chatted to Morag as if she were his truest confidante and continually doted on her with tiny gestures--brushing her forelock out of her eyes, shooing flies, discussing the braw foal that she ’d drop any day, and otherwise encouraging her in an exaggeratedly slow turn around the paddock
Lennox’s love for the animal immediately endeared hiuile, she found him an easy person to trust Since then Lily felt free to coh the stables in near silence andvelvety rin and the occasional whinny
Like , and visiting the stables had been a bal about stables that she found reassuring The rhythm of the day was the same wherever--or whenever--you went: horses up to be fed and watered at dawn, exercised in the late , tack cleaned in the early afternoon, horses fed and watered again in the late afternoon Never an exception nor alteration in schedule So only h, loved the rich anireeted her whenever she entered; they were so distinct and universal--a ht her back to her childhood with an immediacy that only the sense of smell could do
She was in a particularly expansive ray thunderheads thatto storm; she could smell the ht she was becohlander to find the bleak sky overhead so exhilarating
"Morning, Lenny! "
She had used the nickna and Lennox seemed so thrilled by her familiarity that she decided to keep it
"Mornin ’, mum " The stable hand pulled his threadbare bonnet off his head and clutched it to his chest