I step into the room and, exactly as expected, every head turns toward me.
“Mary!” Jane exclaims, springing from her armchair to throw her arms around me. “We missed you so much!”
Her rounded belly forms an obstacle between us as she hugs me tight.
“It’s been three months, Jane. Not three years.”
“Three months is a long time when you miss someone,” she replies with the warm smile that’s always disarmed me.
Jane Carter-McGregor has that rare gift of making you feel instantly better, even when your life is spiraling out of control. It’s probably why Callum fell in love with her.
“Mary,” my cousin says, getting to his feet to kiss my cheek. “Glad you’re back.”
“Thanks, Callum.”
My cousin Keira waves at me from the sofa where she’s curled up against her husband, Alistair.
“So tell us. Did you run away from Europe, or did Europe run away from you?”
“Keira,” her mother Isobel scolds gently from her chair beside the fireplace, “let your cousin sit down before interrogating her.”
“I’m not interrogating her. I’m taking an interest in her life. Completely different thing.”
“It’s exactly the same thing,” Alistair comments with an amused smile.
The door swings open and Lachlan and Emma walk in hand in hand, grinning like newlyweds in a toothpaste commercial. It’s both adorable and mildly irritating.
“Mary!” Lachlan calls, crossing the room to hug me. “Welcome home.”
“Technically, this isn’t my home,” I point out.
“That’s just a detail,” he says with an airy wave of his hand.
Emma wraps me in a warm hug.
“I heard you’re taking over the veterinary clinic. That’s wonderful!”
“Wonderful,” I repeat weakly. “Sure. Let’s go with that.”
And then, of course, comes the voice that dominates all the others.
“Mary, darling! Come sit beside me.”
Maggie sits in her usual armchair, a throne from which she rules the family with terrifying efficiency. She pats the seat next to her, and I obey like the good granddaughter I am.
Because that’s exactly what I am.
A puppet in Maggie McGregor’s theater.
“You look beautiful,” she declares, studying me from head to toe.
Then she addresses the butler.
“Jamison, everyone’s here. We may go to dinner now.”
The butler nods and disappears, likely to orchestrate the arrival of the feast Mrs. Finley the cook has prepared.
We all head into the dining room, and I end up trapped between Jane and Lachlan. Across from me, Keira watches with that barely concealed curiosity that instantly puts me on edge.
