The girl rushed in a moment later. “I had to find my sparkly nail polish.” She climbed into her chair while Weston dished up her plate. The rest of us passed pie and gravy and mash around, and the next forty minutes were filled with good food and good conversation, along with plenty of laughter. By the time dinner was done, I was pleasantly full and Aisling was yawning.
“Do you want to say goodnight to Uncle Locke and Isla?” Lena asked.
“Wait.” Aisling pouted, rubbing her eye. “He said we’d do manicures.”
“I don’t know if there’s time for that tonight, sweetheart,” Weston said. “It’s already late.”
“But he promised,” she said, sounding on the verge of tears.
My heart lurched in my chest. “Ididpromise.”
“Maybe next time,” Lena said.
Aisling’s eyes went wide and round and glassy. Oh no.
“Hey!” Isla said, heading off a potential meltdown. “I have something that might cheer you up.” She hurried out of the room, then returned a moment later with a photo album. She handed it over to Weston and Lena. “I’m going to send you guys the file to go through, but I printed out what I thought were the best photos from the vow renewal. Just to give you a little taste.”
Lena gasped, holding her hand to her mouth. “Oh, Isla! These are so lovely.”
“I thought Aisling might want to look at them with you,” she suggested. “There’s plenty of photos of her pretty dress.”
Aisling slid from her chair, rushing around the table to climb into Weston’s lap. “Let me see!”
“How do we ask?” Lena reminded her.
“Please!” Aisling added, poring over the book with them. “There’s Kenna and Alistair!”
“I see Kenna got into the fondue fountain,” Weston laughed.
“Oh my God, is that Tess twerking on the ice sculpture?” Lena snapped a photo of the image with her phone. “I have to send this to her right now.”
“Ah, look at this,” Weston said, flipping the book in my direction. “Another one of Uncle Locke scowling at the camera.”
“You said these were the best photos!” I complained, nudging Isla.
She shot me a cheeky grin. “Theyare.”
Aisling flipped the page. “That’s me again!”
Weston kissed the crown of her head before looking over to Isla with a smile. “These are incredible,” he said. “Thank you.” He kept flipping. “Sometimes I wonder if artistic talent is inherited.”
Isla lifted her shoulder. “My mother wasn’t much for taking pictures—and in a million years, I could never draw or paint like she could.”
“But it seems to me that you’ve inherited your mother’s artistic eye.”
Isla beamed at that, and I could tell she was chuffed by the comparison.
“Either way, you have a real gift,” Lena said. She turned to Aisling. “Do you want to keep looking at the photos while I tuck you into bed?”
Aisling clutched the photo album to her chest. “Can Auntie Isla come too?”
“Of course I can,” Isla said, getting up to her feet to follow Lena and Aisling upstairs. When they’d gone, Milo rushed in, sniffing around under Isla’s chair for scraps.
“Get a dog to clean up after the baby in Edinburgh,” Weston said, pointing at him. “Highly recommend it.”
I laughed. “I’ll just borrow Ranger.”
Weston stood, collecting the plates together. “When do you think you’ll be back next?”
