Page 16 of Highlander's Wild Lass
She crossed her arms hesitantly.
“What is it, dear?” he asked, his brow wrinkled.
“Well, I’ve been thinkin’…” she said, sitting on his bed. “Would ye be willin’ to teach me how to run the business?
Brannan sat a bit straighter, color coming to his cheeks at the minor exertion. “Did I hear ye right, Cellie? Ye want to learn the business?”
“Aye, Da. I do.”
“That’s the best news I’ve heard these last three months,” he told her, reaching out for her hand. “Ye’ve never been interested before, what’s made ye want to take this on now?”
“I have been thinkin’ on it for a while but had a bit of a push recently.”
“Oh, the Chief?” Brannan wondered, eyeing her with a raised brow.
“Aye.” Celestia smiled thinly.
“That’s great news,” he said, patting the back of her hand. “Those meant to be in our lives always want the best for us. Yer maither always brought the best out in me.”
Celestia allowed him to muse, not ready to tell him what had happened at the loch. She still couldn’t believe it herself.
She took hold of his hand, cool to the touch but alive. “I can do it, and then I’ll teach Chester and Hugo—” She suddenly felt very excited at the prospect. Her head was light, and her mind was racing with the possibilities. “—o-or we can all learn together.”
“Aye, lass. That sounds good to me.” Brannan McLean was unable to keep the smile from his face.
* * *
Celestia purchased some meat for the first time in weeks with their success at the market, and there was a fat piece of beef roasting over a spit in the fireplace.
The boys burst through the back door smelling of horse manure but looking overly satisfied with themselves.
Celestia stood up and did her best to tower over the boys. “Why are ye obsessed with cleanin’ the stables? I have to beg to get ye to make yer beds.”
Chester cleared his throat. “When Chief Moore was here, ye ken…the day Mr. Koll showed up…”
“He said he’d take us huntin’ if we helped him with the stables,” Hugo told her, picking hay out of his hair.
“Aye, well…” She changed the stern, matronly look and smiled at them. “Be that as it may, I need ye’s to go wash up for dinner.”
She turned to Auralia who was extracting peas from their pods and dropping them in a pot to boil. “I’m goin’ to check on Da.”
The door was wide open as Brannan had requested; he wanted his room to be filled with the rich smell of the roasting beef. Today he was sitting in his armchair next to the fire, looking over his logbooks.
“Did ye want to take dinner in here tonight or at the table with us?”
Brannan thought for a moment. “With ye’s tonight, I think,” he said. “Have ye heard from the young chief?”
Celestia froze. “Nay…nae since—”
“Have ye made up yer mind?” he asked, placing the book on the side table.
“Nay, there’s nay mind to be makin’,” she answered. “I think he’s mad for askin’.”
“I reckon it would be a fine match, ye and him,” Brannan told her, grabbing his cane. Celestia grabbed his forearms and pulled him to a stand.
“If ye think we’re a good match, then ye must be blind as well as deaf, Da,” she said, staying near him in case he lost his balance.
Brannan had prodded seemingly every other day since she told him about Anthony’s proposal. He seemed thrilled with the idea of his eldest daughter marrying the chief.
