“I am sure,” Iona said quietly.
There was a pause.
“I think I wanted him to,” Jamie admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.
Iona’s breath caught.
“Why would ye want that?” she asked carefully.
Jamie shrugged, though the movement was small and uncertain. “Because then it would be the same as before.”
The honesty of it struck deeper than Iona had expected. She gathered her daughter closer, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head.
“It is different now,” she said. “But different doesnae mean worse.”
Jamie did not argue. She only leaned into her, as though borrowing steadiness.
Iona reached for the book again, intending to return to the story, to guide them back into something familiar and safe, when a knock sounded at the door.
Both of them stilled.
Jamie’s body went rigid against her side.
Iona felt it at once, the instinctive tension, the old reflex that had been built into her daughter over years of uncertainty. She set the book aside and placed a hand lightly against Jamie’s back.
“It is all well,” she murmured.
The knock came again, firm but not urgent.
Iona rose carefully, easing herself from the bed without startling the child, and crossed the room.
When she opened the door, Frederick stood on the other side.
He filled the space with quiet presence, a bundle in his hands and something almost uncertain in his eyes, though it was so slight she might have imagined it.
“I hope I am nae intruding,” he said.
“Nay,” Iona replied. “Ye are nae.”
She stepped aside to let him enter.
Jamie had not moved from the bed. She sat upright now, her small frame held still, her gaze fixed on Frederick with a mixture of curiosity and something more cautious beneath it.
Frederick paused just inside the room, as though giving her space to decide.
“I brought something for ye,” he said, his voice gentler than Iona had ever heard it.
Jamie did not answer.
Iona watched the moment unfold with quiet awareness, but she did not intervene.
Frederick moved closer, slow and deliberate, and set the bundle upon the edge of the bed within Jamie’s reach.
“If ye would like to see it,” he added.
Jamie looked at the bundle.
Then at him.