The Lady's Highlands

Part 7

Sorry about hos long it's been! I've had MAJOR computer issues, and I just got them ALL fixed today! I now have a new touchschreen laptop that I bought all on my lonesome :). Her name is Ace. Now, about the story:

I know this chapter is short, but it is just there to set up for the next one. I forecast one more chapter until the Epologue. Will I be wanting to write extra scenes? Most likely. I'm a sap for romance, and I want to show just how sappy and romantic Evertt can be, especially after he ralizes how deeply invested in Scarlette he really is. I also may want to show the same thing but for Scarlette towards Evertt. Hint Hint ;) One may even be more adult than others *cough cough* if you catch my drift. Tell me what you think :).

The next chapter... well it will be up MUCH sooner than this one was :) Love you guys. 

Alex

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She did not want to tell Lillia about her newly found husband, and Lillia knew that something she was keeping something from her. Lillia sat across from her sister in the carriage and eyed her with much suspicion. Scarlette was glowing. She had a smile on her face and she was actually staring out the carriage window... dreamily.

Lillia had never seen her sister daydream! Never in her lifetime from childhood until that very moment. And now, there she sat, obviously a moment away from heaving a deep and dreamy sigh.

Lillia was disturbed. This... was not her sister. This was an imposter. She had half a mind to start screaming her head off for help.

Instead she simply asked, “Who are you?”

Scarlette looked at her sister sharply, “What?”

“I asked, who are you? You are not my sister. You look like you are daydreaming and that it not something that my sister has ever done.”   

Scarlette laughed, “Sure I do. Everyone daydreams. I just dinna daydream much.”

Lillia wrung her hands together, “Scarlette, will you please tell me what has you in such a state? Whatever it is has made you happy, and I would like to know about it. I am your sister, your only sister, and no matter what misfortune may befall me, I will always be happy for you in whatever happiness you find yourself in. Are you in love, Scarlette? It seems to me that you are.”

Scarlette laughed yet again, “Nay, I’m no’ in love. But I will be one day I hope. One day soon.” She watched Lillia closely, searching for the smallest hint of a reaction. If Lillia was anything, she was a genuinely good person. She bounced in her seat and clapped her hands in glee for her older sister.

“Oh, Scarlette, who is he? Did we ever meet? Oh, was it that dashing friend to the Duke? The swarthy one with the shy smile?”

The elder sister shook her head with a smile, thinking about her own swarthy lad in the highlands, the one with a smile so far from shy that the thought of it made her heart race with excitement and adoration.

“Tell me!” Lillia jumped across the carriage and settled next to her sister, eyes wide, and hands clutching at Scarlette’s own. Scarlette smiled at her exuberant sister. Even in the wake of her own heartbreak she could still react to the fortune of others with the excitement of a hound puppy.

“Lillia, I’ll tell ya. I’ll tell ya all about it if ya wish, but I donna want ‘ta hurt ya, lassie.”

Lillia sighed, “What happened was horrible, but I am starting to believe that I never loved the Duke. I simply loved the idea of the Duke.” Lillia wisely said. Scarlette was proud of the girl, but she could still see the bitter hurt in her sister’s eyes.

“Aye, Lillia, you’re right. But ya still are hurtin’ and I donna want ‘ta rub any salt in those wounds.”

Lillia huffed, “Will you simply tell me, Scarlette? I am starting to become rather cross with you. Kindly allow me to live vicariously within your love story, please. It will distract me.”

Scarlette sighed and settled into her seat with her sister still holding tightly to her hands. “Alright Lillia. Ya win. I’m a married woman as of this mornin’.”

Lillia gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, “Who?”

Scarlette smiled, “The Laird Evrett Hogarth is my husband.”

Lillia’s eyes widened and began to tear up, “Oh Scarlette, did he capture you? force himself upon you? We can get you help, Scarlette! That brute will not get away with this!”

Scarlette covered Lillia’s mouth, “Child, I was no’ forced. I even proposed to him. He is a good man, a strong man, a man of the land.”

Lillia watched her sister in horror, “But, Scarlette! Have you not heard the stories?”

“The stories I’ve heard, though I’ve no’ heard any truth but from my heart when I was with him.”

Lillia slumped in her seat, “It is not like you to be such a romantic.”

Scarlette laughed at the young woman and smiled adoringly, “My sweet sister, don’t ya know I’ve always been a romantic? What’s the difference between bein’ wild and bein’ a romantic?”

And Lillia could not answer such a question because she did not have one. Instead she asked for details and an explanation. Why would she leave her newly made husband behind? Scarette smiled and winked her eye, “Donna ya worry about tha’. I’ve got it all under control. Ya’ll see.”

Lillia eyed the elder girl worriedly. What could Scarlette have gotten herself into this time?

 ***

The king asked himself the same question two days later when he was informed that his dear cousin Lady Scarlette requested an audience with him before she resumed her journey. What he never expected was for that damn willful, wild woman to make changes that lead to fixing the political relations between Lundmar and Darkumbia.