Free Bound by Wish and Mistletoe (Highland Legends, Book 1.5) by Kat Bastion

lowered her body down onto the seat. She moaned softly and closed her eyes, relaxing back against a black velvet, rectangular pillow with gold-braided edges and tasseled corners.
    Susanna let out a soft laugh. Apparently, life had been rough for more than just herself.
    Isobel opened a single eye and peered at her, snorting with a smirk on her face. “Iain forbids me to strain myself in my condition. I’ll not let that man govern my every finger lift and step. But on occasion, I’m grateful to take a much needed break and rest.”
    Isobel dropped her head a degree and squinted at Brigid before she directed a severe look at Susanna. “Don’t either of you dare breathe a word of that to Iain.” She winked at Susanna.
    “Och!” Brigid said. “I’d no sooner give information to my brother than he’d give it to me.”
    “Amen, sister,” Isobel said.
    Both women laughed with unguarded abandon, and their light-hearted banter amazed Susanna. A jovial bond between two women was something she’d never experienced before—and immediately loved.
    Susanna dipped a linen square beneath the steaming water and brought it up, rubbing the lavender-scented soap into the material as she enjoyed another luxury she’d never had before. After a cloud of fragrant suds formed, she ran the decadent cloth from her wrist up her arm to her shoulder, pressing hard in a long stroke. A thousand muscles slowly relaxed, including her mind. She failed to remember a time when she had no cares, when she and Mama hadn’t worried about the very next minute ...each minute of their lives.
    The peace and safety of Isobel and Brigid’s home, the happiness abounding everywhere—the love evident in the hearts of the people she’d encountered—ran directly against everything she’d been taught. It opposed everything she believed about the world.
    All men are bad. They’re at the root of every woman’s sorrow.
    Susanna exhaled, lowering the cloth beneath the surface as she cleaned the rest of her body. She decided to worry about the greater world later, opting to enjoy this glimpse of happiness God had granted.
    She cupped water into her hands and tried to wet her hair, but more splashed outside the tub than within.
    Brigid laughed. “Doona drown us. Relax. I’ll help.”
    Her volunteer bath attendant crossed the room, fetched a ceramic pitcher off a far table, and gripped the vessel with one hand on the handle and the other cradled beneath as she carried it over.
    “Why are you both bein’ so kind to me?” Susanna bit her lip the moment she inadvertently voiced the candid question.
    Brigid rested the water pitcher on the lip of the tub and looked down at her, tilting her head. “I doona know any other way to be to someone in need of a friend.” She glanced up at Isobel. “On a rare occasion, a person comes into your life and you doona know how or why, but you know them. You feel connected in ways you canna explain. I never question the uncommon gifts of friendship and love—I embrace them.”
    Isobel smiled. “Brigid, you are a generous soul. Were it not for you, who knows what would’ve happened to me.” She glanced at Susanna. “We’re here to support you. It’s not easy being thrust into an unfamiliar situation. Trust me. I so know about being a stranger in a foreign land. Relying on the strength of the people around you will help you discover the same within yourself.”
    “Close your eyes,” Brigid said.
    Susanna began to process what Isobel had said as she closed her eyes. An unexpected rush of warm water flowed over her head and face, and she sputtered as it splashed into her nose and mouth. She laughed, wiping her face with a hand.
    Brigid took the soap from her, dunked her hands in the water, and rubbed them together, creating a thick lather. She dropped the soap into the tub and buried her hands into Susanna’s hair, pulling the locks up into a heap atop her head and rubbing her scalp with firm fingers.
    Relaxed by