Sadie laughed. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
She wasn’t sure. “I mean, I look like those girls who put flowers in their hair and giggle when a boy looks at them.”
“That means you look young and fresh. And you don’t have to giggle if you don’t want to.” Sadie took her hand and spun her around to face Iseabail who was watching them with serious eyes. “What do you think?”
Iseabail tilted her head left and right before a slow smile warmed her face. “I think you are so used to stomping around brutish men that you never learned how to be a girl. And by that, I mean young and giggly.”
Mairi winced. “I’ll never giggle.”
“Want to bet?” Iseabail challenged.
“What?”
“Sit down,” she said as she pulled out the chair to the vanity. “I’ll bet I can make you giggle inside of five minutes.”
Mairi snorted, making sure it was a very masculine, very loud sound. “Not possible.”
“I bet it is.” She grabbed the brush off the table and began to straighten Mairi’s curls. Her strokes made Mairi wince, but she’d suffered worse at her father’s hands when she was little. Once the worst of the knots were out, Iseabail began to braid the front part of her hair up while the back fell in gentle waves. “How do you want it done up top? A bun, crisscross, or—”
Sadie and Mairi answered at the exact same instant with the exact same words.
“Just keep it out of my eyes.”
Mairi’s startled gaze locked with Sadie’s through the mirror. “I am not that predictable,” she said.
“You are,” Iseabail said as she twisted the braids around. “It comes from being raised by men. Believe me, I know.”
“But you’re very girly!” Sadie exclaimed.
“My mother died only recently. If it weren’t for her—”
“You’d be like me?” Mairi asked, her tone only half teasing. She didn’t like to think she was deficient in any way, much less in being female. But it would be stupid to deny the truth. Up until a few weeks ago, she was a person who worked and who already had a husband selected for her. She’d been set to marry Liam and all he’d care about was how well she managed his home. Which is what she’d done to perfection. Now he was married to someone else, and she was suddenly adrift without a feminine wile.
“You’re naturally beautiful,” Iseabail said. “Just remember to smile. You’ve got a scowl that sets the footmen shaking in their boots, but you’re trying to attract a husband tonight.”
She scowled at herself in the mirror. After all she’d done to become the most capable woman around, what she really needed was to know how to be a simpering girl. “This is not going to work,” she moaned.
“Of course, it will,” Sadie said. Then when Mairi turned desperate gazes on her, the girl shrugged. “At least you won your bet. No giggles.”
“Not yet,” said Iseabail as she picked up the feathered monstrosity. “So, where shall we put this?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, let’s just see, shall we?” She began first by pushing the comb up the side of her face, causing the feathers to flap distractingly out the side of her head like a growth.
“Not that!” she gasped.
“Yes, that does look odd. How about this?”
She tried setting it along the top of her head to rest backwards like a hat. It seemed fine at first because she couldn’t see it, but the moment she tilted her head down it looked like a bird’s nest sat in the center.
“That’s very strange,” she said.
“Very strange,” Sadie agreed, “but you are rather tall for a woman. Maybe no one will see it.”
“Connall’s taller than I am. He’ll tease me mercilessly about it.”
Iseabail pulled it out then set it to the back of her head. “How about this?”