Page 264 of My Fake Dating with the Grumpiest Highlander
Maybe Mary is right.
Maybe it’s finally time to simply watch. To enjoy. To savor the victories she already has instead of immediately planning the next ones.
She picks up her pen—the same pen that wrote so many plans and manipulations over the years.
On the blank page, instead of writing Operation Connor or Operation Cameron, she slowly writes:
Well-earned retirement?
Then after a long pause, she adds beneath it:
But keep an eye open. You never know.
Hamish bleats with what sounds remarkably like amused approval.
“Don’t judge me,” she scolds him severely. “A matchmaker never truly retires. She merely enters… semi-retirement.”
She closes the notebook and slides it back into the drawer.
But she doesn’t lock it.
Not yet.
Just in case.
A soft knock sounds at the door.
Isobel walks in carrying a tray with tea and Maggie’s favorite almond biscuits.
“Everything all right?” her daughter-in-law asks as she sets the tray down.
“Everything is very well,” Maggie replies with a genuine smile. “I was simply thinking about the future.”
“Oh no,” Isobel says immediately. “Please tell me you’re not already planning something for Connor or Cameron. Or another grandchild.”
“Me?” Maggie protests with innocence that fools absolutely no one anymore. “I merely observe, as always.”
Isobel sits across from her and pours tea into delicate china cups.
“You’ve done remarkable work with your grandchildren, Maggie,” she says gently. “They’re happy. Settled. In love. You should be proud.”
“I am,” Maggie admits quietly, surprised by the emotion in her own voice. “I truly am.”
“Then maybe,” Isobel suggests carefully, “you could simply enjoy it now? Watch them grow. Build families of their own. Without having to… intervene?”
Maggie sips her tea thoughtfully.
She thinks about Callum and Jane with their little boy.
Keira and Alistair arriving for dinner later tonight.
Lachlan and Emma promising to visit Sunday.
Mary and Finn building a life together here in Glenfield.
Four couples.
Four victories.
