The Family Legacy

Chapter 5

James had disappeared for the day. Margaret later advised he was gone for some meeting and would return the following day. Well, good, that was good, Grace decided. The last thing she needed was to waste her time thinking about him, talking to him, and thinking of talking to him.

"Idiot." Grace muttered to herself, as she washed her face in her cream and navy blue bathroom, after lunch "You're an absolute idiot. You know, for someone in her thirties, you sure are behaving like a giddy teenager."

Grace brushed her teeth harshly, she felt her gums whine as the bristles went back and forth. Looking in the mirror, she squinted her eyes at her own reflection.

"He is not that cute, anyway. Come on, girl."

Writing. That was her call, the reason for being there, and priority. Men were not that priority.

"Go write a couple more chapters, and then dinner," She told herself in the mirror.

It wasn't like she was forcing herself to hide in her room for any other reason other than for work. She wasn't making herself work to the point of exhaustion on that day because she wanted the day to go by faster! That was definitely not the case.

She joined her sister and Lord Seamus in the study before dinner was served. The two of them sat around with tons and tons of books and documents. Grace knew her younger sister was leaving the dream there in Scotland. Mary Faith Campbell was even considering getting her doctorate and having the MacInnes be her study subject. Grace thought that to be a wonderful idea, and she was sure her sister would be successful - there weren't many things, or people, in the world that Mary Faith could not win over.

"Ah, Miss Campbell." Seamus smiled at Grace, as she knocked on the double doors "Nice of you to join us. Come in, come in! We've uncovered the most amazing clue!"

"Oh, do tell" Grace smiled, immediately excited.

Seamus gestured for her to join him and Faith at his desk. They had multiple letters over the desk, all of them covered with some kind of protective film or see-through wallets. Grace imagined these were necessary to protect the documents, they had to be that old.

"We've been sent these documents by a dear friend" Seamus started, gesturing for a small pile of letters "of letters that Lord Alexander exchanged with his good friend and neighbouring clan laird."

"That is fantastic!" Grace gasped as she shifted her eyes to her giddy sister.

"Isn't it just!?" Faith giggled "We're so excited. We've received them this morning, and have done nothing else the whole day other than reading all of it!"

"And there's so much of it!" Seamus added in.

Grace chuckled. Both of them were giddy. They were so good together, and Lord Seamus was the father figure Faith had never had.

You never had it either, remember?

Grace felt a sting at that. That was a selfish thought. That wasn't fair to her sister. Truly, Grace was so happy Faith had found a paternal figure who shared the same interests and treated her with kindness and respect. So what if Grace continued to be alone in the world?

Stop this nonsense right now.

Shaking her head and forcing out a smile, she gestured at one of the letters with a questioning brow.

"Please!" Seamus quickly smiled, handing her some letters "Would you like to help? We could really use more eyes!"

"Oh, I don't want to intrude-"

"You are absolutely not intruding, Grace." Seamus frowned as if offended "Your company is very much wanted, and your intelligence could help us immensely."