“Speak to Connor Reed?” Violet let out a short laugh and turned back toward the mirror. “Ye may as well ask a locked gate to become a doorway.”
Hannah shifted on her feet. “Trust me, Violet, I have dealt with me fair share of stubborn lairds.”
“He is the opposite of me, Hannah. That is exactly why I cannae trust him alone with Jane’s bairn.”
Hannah was quiet long enough for Violet to hear the maid picking up a comb from the vanity table. It sounded too loud in the room.
“Do ye think he would hurt him?” Hannah asked.
“Nay,” Violet answered at once, because that much was true. “Nay, I daenae think that. He would do the opposite, actually. He would feed him, guard him, wrap him in rules, and make certain no one came near him without permission.” She drew in a breath. “That is what frightens me. A bairn shouldnae be raised by walls alone.”
Hannah’s face softened, though her eyes remained sharp. “And ye think ye can balance him?”
“I think I must.”
“Must,” she repeated. “Ye have always admired that word a lot.”
Violet looked away. “It will be fine. We agreed nae to disturb each other’s peace.”
“Did ye?”
“Aye.”
Violet didn’t even need to look at her sister to know the look in her eyes. “And has he disturbed yers?”
Violet adjusted her sleeve. “Constantly, but that is beside the point.”
“It sounds like it could very much be the point.”
“It isnae.”
Hannah sighed, the exhaustion obvious in her next words. “Men like him need nay one, Sister. Ye should ken this.”
Violet dropped her hands to her sides. “But I do?”
The room seemed to shrink around that question.
Violet hated that she had asked it.Needwas a sickroom word.Needwas Hannah missing sleep, missing meals, missing her own youth because Violet could not sit up without help.Needwas her sister’s love turning into a never-ending duty.
“Ye should ken me by now Hannah,” she said.
Hannah looked at her sadly. “Sometimes that is the lie that costs the most.”
Violet blinked and kept her eyes on the mirror. Her own reflection looked composed enough to fool a stranger. That would have to do.
“I wish Ma and Da could see me,” she murmured.
Hannah’s face softened at once.
“Nae like this,” Violet added quickly. “Nae with all this muddle. I only mean…”
“I ken what ye mean.” Hannah stepped closer and smoothed a wrinkle near Violet’s shoulder. The touch was familiar, careful, and sisterly. “They would have said ye were beautiful.”
“Ma would have fixed the sleeve first.”
“Aye. Then cried into it. I daenae ken any other woman with flair for the dramatic like her.”
Violet laughed once, and the dress nearly tore in the middle.
