Free Highland Promise by Amanda Anderson Page A

against the walls of her skull, but no sound would come out of her mouth.  There were no tears, she just felt cold and empty.  Her whole life was nothing.
    “I still don’t understand why I cannot go to my own family.  Why can I not be with my family?  They are all together are they not?  This doesn’t make any sense and why can’t I wear my own clothes?”
    Margret stopped in her fussing.  With a sigh that seemed to weigh on her like a great stone she spoke the words that finished killing Anne.
    “Go one now Marie.  I will take care of this from here on.”
    Margret waited for the girl to scurry out of the room before she spoke.
    “They are not your family dear.  They were only hiding you to keep you safe and now it has brought them danger.  My child I am so very sorry.  I promise it will all be explained to you in time, but now we must look to your safety.  I am sorry I never told you anything of it, but you needed to grow up and be happy.  I couldn’t risk it you see.  No one could know.”
    “And you seek to find my safety with those burly Scotsmen?  How could I be in any more danger than with them?  How?  Why can’t we go somewhere else?  I can’t live the way they do.”
    “I am sending you to my dear friend.  Moira.  Moira MacGregor.  She is a good woman.  I am a good woman and you have trusted me your whole life, Moira is the same sort as me.  She will be good to you and keep you from harm.   She will love you as her own and she will teach you all you need know of life in the highlands.”
    Anne felt her heart breaking anew.  Her family was not her family.  Her life had only been a dream.
    “I do not wish to learn how to live there.  I don’t want to stay there any longer than I have to.  Please tell me it won’t be for long.”
    Margaret took her hands.  “Look at me child.  You have grown into a strong young woman.  I am so proud of you.  You will be fine my dear.  Be strong and listen.  You will figure it all out and you will shine just as you always have shined.”  She looked uncomfortable and Anne’s heart finished crumbling.
    “I’m never coming home am I?”  She whispered in a tortured voice.
    “Perhaps this never was home.  Perhaps it is time to find where you really belong.”
    Anne followed as Margret led her down the grand staircase for the last time.  She stepped out of her front door and watched as her bags were loaded into a carriage she did not recognize, one of lower quality than she was accustomed to.  It was a clear reminder of how far she had fallen.
    “I am sorry Miss Anne, but no one would think to look for you in a carriage such as this.  I will see you very soon.  I must go and see to your future.  Everything will be for naught if you are discovered before I have made everything ready for you.”  Margret kissed her cheek.  “You are taking my very heart with you dear child.  Stay safe and have faith.”
    The carriage pulled away and Anne watched her life grow smaller in the distance.  How had this happened?  She didn’t even know who she was.  She was a tiny ship tossed into the sea and expected to make it to the destination with no way of knowing where she was to go. 
    She let a single tear track down her face before she wiped it away.  Nothing could be gained from crying.  She would trust in Margaret and in God and she would get through this one way or another.  Somehow she would get through it and somehow she would find a way to be happy again. 
    She slowly let go of her dreams of grand ballrooms and gentleman callers.  There were no gentlemen where she was going.
    She would never be married and have a grand home the way some her friends were.
    She would be the mistress of a hovel in the wilderness if she was lucky.
    She had wondered why her father hadn’t spoken of making a match for her.  Her sisters were already discussing possible matches and they were younger than she.  It all made sense now though.  She