terse skin?

Is my mind making things up again?

I wrote this phrase:

Her mother would have forgiven her by now. She would hug her with worry cut permanently into the terse skin of her face, notably older, Mary would notice, just happy to see her only daughter.

Click to expand...

Where did this phrase come from? Did I mean something else? I looked this up and couldn't really find a link to match the phraseology.

I'm meaning to imply the skin is rubbery or leathery but I don't like either of those words.

Thoughts?

Damn. I suspected as much.

Indeed I am.

PS sorry for the crappy sentence; first draft and all. (Notably older, she noticed? WTF am I thinking? I need a break.)