Page 40 of The Cottage in the Highlands

Harley flopped onto her belly.

“It’s been a bit of a strange time for me,” I admitted after a few moments.

“Milk or sugar?”

“Just milk, thank you.”

She nodded her silver head. Another pause. “So, are you going to tell me then or will you mime it and I have to guess?”

I watched her flit between the teapot and a mug tree. Should I tell her? I didn’t know her. Was I being propelled into stupid mistakes, after my break-up with Miles? Maybe my head was still scrambled after all that.

It was as Lily was fussing over the teapot that I noticed her pause. She set the teapot to one side by the sink. One hand fluttered up to her chest. Her breathing became a little laboured, just like it had before when she spoke to me from her doorway.

“Mrs Cruickshank? Lily? Are you alright?”

I shot up from the kitchen table and moved towards her.

She dropped her hand back down by her side, drawing a steadying breath. “I’m fine, young lady. No need to make a fuss.”

“Are you sure? You’ve gone rather pale.”

Lilly batted her hand in mid-air, like she was swatting an annoying fly. “It’s called old age. I’ll be fine in a minute or two.”

I examined her.

“Stop looking at me as though I’m some old, decrepit museum piece. I might look like one but I don’t bloody feel it most of the time.”

I wasn’t convinced she was all right

She took a couple more breaths. After a few more minutes, the colour returned to her cheeks and she busied herself with the teapot again.

“Are you sure you’re feeling all right now? I could call a doctor…”

Lily rolled her eyes with irritation. “No thank you. I’m fine. So, are you going to tell me why you were getting so upset out there?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m not. Not until you tell me the truth, Mrs Cruickshank. That’s twice now I have seen you look frail.”

I sat back down at her kitchen table. What a stubborn woman she was.

“Well?”

She pulled an irritated face. “That’s blackmail.”

“I know.”

Lily pressed her lips together in a disapproving way. “All right! All right. I was just recently diagnosed with a heart condition, so I have to take things a little easier.”

“I thought as much.”

Lily glowered at me. “Since when did you qualify as a doctor?”

Now it was my turn to pull a face at her. “What I mean is, I knew there was something wrong.”

“There isn’t anything wrong as such,” she insisted, glugging some milk into a dinky milk jug. “I’ve just got to not rush around, that’s all.”

She eyed me. “My young lady doctor is nice enough, but she’s overreacting. They don’t know everything.”

My lips twitched.