Among the Heather (The Highlands, #2)

I knew from Agnes that Sarah’s mother had died when Sarah was a little girl and Collum raised her. She’d lost more than a grandfather when Collum McCulloch died of a heart attack that morning. She’d lost the only real parent she’d had.

A touch at my hand startled me, and I turned to find North and Theo at my side, clearly drawn from the dining room by Sarah’s cries. “Her grandfather died,” I whispered.

North’s expression tightened with sympathy, and he squeezed my hand.

“Come, come now.” Agnes rested an arm around the grieving cousins. “Let’s go into my office.”

I wanted to tell them I was here if they needed anything, but the words wouldn’t come as I watched Jared steady Sarah while they stumbled away. My heart hurt so badly for them.

“I’m surprised the mouse has a man,” Theo muttered.

North glowered at his friend while I cut him a dark look. “He’s her cousin.” What I wanted to say was that perhaps the asshole could show an ounce of compassion for once, but I couldn’t get away with talking to a member like that. I’d sniped at North, but that was different.

Theo nodded and stared after the retreating cousins. He frowned, gazing after them for a second too long before he pivoted and strode back into the dining room.

“He … he means nothing by it. He’s just not good with emotional displays,” North explained haltingly.

“He’s unkind,” I disagreed. “I don’t understand why you’re friends with him.” Shrugging off my annoyance, I glanced back down the hallway where the McCullochs disappeared. “Poor Sarah. Collum was more like a father to her.”

North tightened his grip. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’d like to know the answer to that too,” a familiar voice said behind us.

I whirled, heart racing harder to discover Wakefield standing next to Allegra. She looked beautiful but tired, her clothes a little disheveled. She shrugged, her expression wary. “We didn’t want to interrupt.”

A fresh round of embarrassing tears stung my eyes. It was all too much. “What are you doing here?”

Allegra’s tears spilled freely forth. “I came to tell my big sister that I love her.”





Twenty-Two


ARIA





Mamma had so many outbursts in public that I’d grown embarrassed if I showed emotion or if someone else expressed passionate sentiment in front of others. However, when I looked back on the day’s events, I’d realize that maybe I’d loosened up a little from having distance from my mother. Sarah and Jared’s grief had been public, but I’d felt nothing but empathy for them and couldn’t care less what the members thought, even though my priority was supposed to be their comfort and pleasure.

And when my little sister told me she loved me after traveling to get to me just to say it, I hugged her tight in the middle of the castle hallway while she burst into tears and held on to me like she used to as a kid.

North had pressed a reassuring hand to my back and whispered he’d check in later, and Wakefield had departed with him. I’d gotten Allegra calm enough to take her to my office, and I sent for refreshments because she looked exhausted.

“I’m sorry I upset you so much,” I told her, feeling terrible that I’d put her through the emotional wringer.

Allegra wiped at her cheeks with the tissues I’d given her as she sat across from me in a guest chair. “Don’t. Don’t apologize for giving me the truth.” She sucked in a watery breath. “You know, as awful as I felt listening to your voicemail, I was kind of relieved too.”

“Relieved?”

“You and Dad have been tiptoeing around me since rehab. You deciding not to help me drop out of college was the first sign that you were starting to treat me normally.”

Confused, I hesitantly asked, “Then why have you been so distant?”

Allegra scowled. “Because I’m a brat who couldn’t see past my own nose.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Allegra, you’re not—”

“I am a brat. An impulsive brat who conned herself into thinking she was so mature because of everything she’d been through. But listening to you on that voicemail … I realized I was doing to you what Mamma does to us, and I was horrified.” She looked horrified.

“You’re not Mamma,” I assured her. “Mamma wouldn’t have gotten on a plane to come and tell me she loved me.”

Allegra leaned forward, expression pleading. “I want you to know that I wasn’t consciously trying to hurt you. Yeah, I was pissed that I have to stay another semester in LA—hello, brat—but really I was pissed because I left here feeling like everyone else in your life.”

“What does that mean?”

She shrugged. “I thought as I got older, you’d become less of a parental figure and more of a best friend. That you’d tell me everything. But until that voicemail, I’ve felt locked out of what’s going on with you. You’re so scared to tell people how you’re really feeling in case you get hurt that you’ve even started to protect yourself from the people who love you. So, you telling me I hurt you shocked me.”

Had I done that? Had I gotten so closed off like that? “Oh, God, Ally, I didn’t even … I’m sorry if I did that. I guess I’ve always been in parent mode with you. Mamma never protected you from her feelings, and I wanted you to have someone whose only thought was to protect you.”

My sister grabbed my hand. “I get that. And I want you to know that I am so grateful for the childhood you gave me because I know that it’s not the childhood you got. But I’m nineteen, Ari, and a lot of shit has happened to me. You don’t need to parent me anymore. I just need you to be my sister.”

Understanding, I tightened my hold on her. “I can do that.”

“Okay. Then I’m sorry for being distant and making you feel like my love depended on you doing what I want you to do. Because it’s so far from the truth. You’re my calm in the storm, Ari. I love you better than I love anyone in this world.” She smiled as she wiped at her fast-falling tears, and I barely saw it through the tears blurring my vision.

I got up, pulling her out of the chair to hug her tight. “I love you so much.”

For the first time in weeks, that worry and tension I’d gotten used to carrying melted away.

Wakefield interrupted not long later, bringing in tea and snacks. After he was gone and I’d forced Allegra to eat and drink, I asked about her trip to the South of France.

“Oh, I went with some people from school. I just wanted out of LA for a bit. But I got good news … Rhode Island accepted me as a transfer. I start there next semester. And I’m excited. I showed them the glasswork I’ve been doing, and they’re already talking about making contacts for me with some East Coast galleries.”

Joy for my sister lit through me. “Oh, Ally, that’s amazing. I’m so proud and happy for you.”

She beamed, her smile chipping away at the weariness in her eyes. “I can’t wait. I haven’t told Mamma and Dad yet. Mamma is going to shit a brick.”

“Then she’ll shit a brick,” I decided. “Nothing and nobody is stopping you from attending the school you want to attend.”