Chapter 134

Later that evening, Lea fed Flossie and let her out for a comfort walk. When she got back, the old dog began to snore almost as soon as she settled back in her wicker basket in front of the fire in the old Borthman’s study, a few doors away from the kitchen. There was a pet door in one of the back doors off the kitchen, but Flossie was too arthritic these days to get through it.

It was sad to see the old girl’s decline. Lea had only been at Brathellae a couple of weeks when Angus McLaughlin brought Flossie home as a playful and needle-toothed puppy. She had often wondered if he had bought the dog to help her settle in. She had asked him once, but he’d dismissed the suggestion in a gruff and off-hand way.

Lea had spent many a happy time playing with Flossie, brushing her silky coat, and taking her on walks about the estate, which had seemed so huge and terrifying when she had first arrived. But with the company of the ebullient puppy, it had suddenly become a home. A home she could not