The room grew hot. Everything narrowed.

“It was Mum’s,” Tilly explained, her eyes growing bright with tears as she unclipped the veil. “Aunt Hattie kept it for me. The Reverend Mother gave it to me last night…”

Skin heating, Kate scratched at the back of her neck. “That’s, uh…that’s nice.”

With her gaze fixed on Kate, Tilly chewed on her bottom lip. “Do you like it?”

Kate’s heart ached. Did she like it? Of course she liked it. She liked it too much.

Until that very moment, the idea of Tilly as a bride hadn’t made sense to her. It was too difficult to fathom. An alien idea. But with Tilly standing in the middle of their quaint, quiet living room, the cottage still and safe and theirs, nothing had ever seemed so sensible.

Tilly was waiting for an answer. “Yeah,” Kate said. “I think…you look lovely, Til.”

Seconds passed, and Tilly’s gaze remained trained on Kate. Quickly, her expression blanked. “I’m going to change,” she said suddenly, and in a flash of white, she was gone, her bedroom door closing behind her.

“So Declan was a no-show today?” Kate asked later that night as she slid onto the lounge beside Tilly and handed her a bowl of pasta.

“I’m going over next Tuesday for dinner,” Tilly excused. “But I think I’ll take this last weekend to be sure I’m one hundred per cent. Lily likes to be picked up and I don’t think I have the strength yet. I don’t want her to think I’m still unwell.”

Kate fought the impulse to roll her eyes. “Well, you are unwell—you’re not wonder woman. You are going to mass with the sisters on Sunday morning though, right?”

As she twirled her fork through spaghetti, Tilly shook her head.

“What? I thought you were looking forward to going to mass at St. Gerard’s?”

Eyes trained on the TV, Tilly shrugged. “I think I’ll stay here and join the sisters when Father Rodney comes to say mass tomorrow morning at St. Joan’s.”

“But what about Sunday mass?”

“Father Rodney says that it’s fine to attend a Saturday service if you can’t make it to the Sunday service.”

“Right…” Kate blinked. Tilly missing Sunday mass? Well that’s new… “I don’t think I’ll go over to the mainland either,” she said casually.

“No?”

“My sister has a prenatal class on Sunday and Mum’s going with her so they can’t do lunch.”

Tilly’s gaze settled on her. “You’re telling me that you don’t want a break from Lords?”

Blushing, Kate brought her legs up beneath her on the lounge. “I mean, we have The Glass Menagerie in the city next Wednesday night—that’ll be here before we know it.” And you’ll be gone before we know it. Their together time was limited and Kate wasn’t prepared to give up having Tilly all to herself for an entire weekend just for a change of scenery.

And so that was what she chose—a weekend of sleep-ins and lunches in the convent, two blissful days spent marking essays and swimming with Tilly, Sister Ellie, and Sister Ruth in the cove. Saturday evening, when the sun swept low and the moon crept through the clouds, they went walking around the island, just the two of them.