She would have thought that she would want to keep her maid-cum-companion rather than have her leave after less than a year, but it wouldn’t make the slightest difference to the decision she herself had made. She was not going to begin a medical degree course even if her employer had promised to finance her throughout her years of study, not now that Ruairidh was coming home. If he had stopped loving her and didn’t want to marry her, she might consider a career, but otherwise, no. There had been an air of excited expectancy in the castle, in the whole glen, since word got out that the 8th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers was being relieved of its peace-keeping duties on the Black Sea, where it had been posted from the Rhineland some months after the armistice, and the men should be home within the next week or two. Melda lingered over the thought of seeing Ruairidh so soon, her happiness so intense that her heart ached. She wished she knew exactly when he would arrive – she wanted to look her best for him – but he’d likely be so glad to see her again he wouldn’t care how she looked.
