Page 55 of A Secret Scottish Escape

Chapter Twenty-Five

I tried to ignore the rustling of waterproof jackets as the tourists crunched their way back along the path towards their coach.

There was the final rattling and snapping of buttons on cameras and mobile phones.

“They’re all definitely coming?” I asked again, shoving the DNA kit back into my pocket and trying to steady the hesitant tone in my voice.

“Yep. All four.”

“Where are they all going to stay?”

Dad pushed his hands deeper into the pockets of his combats. “Jack, Mikey, and Stan have just texted me to say they’ve managed to book into Mrs Clover’s B&B.”

“And Ed?”

Dad pressed his lips together. “I insisted he stay over at my place.”

I stared at my father as another smattering of rain hung suspended from the trees like Christmas decorations. “Do you think that’s a good idea, Dad? I mean…”

This was all moving so fast. I wanted to find out for sure who my biological father was, but now that it looked like I would have to address the situation so quickly, the prospect made my stomach twist over.

Dad shrugged his shoulders. “It will give me a chance to talk to him without the other guys around, to finally find out after all these years whether there was something going on between him and your mother.”

He read my face. “I thought you wanted closure on this too, sweetheart.”

“I do. Really. It’s just … now it looks like it could happen, I’m not so sure.” I could detect fearful tears behind my eyes. Dad gave me a fierce hug. I bit my lip.

“We need to know. There’s no point putting it off. We need to do that DNA test.”

He was right. I knew he was.

“Oh, I meant to say to you. Is Faith OK?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m not sure. The couple of times I’ve chatted to her up here, she hasn’t seemed her usual chatty self.”

I let out a sigh.

Dad frowned. “You’ve got that look, Layla.”

“Which look?”

“The one that says you’re plotting and planning something which could have dire consequences for the person or persons involved.”

“Why, thanks for your belief in me, Dad.”

“Ah! So, I’m right then.”

My father knew me better than I knew myself at times.

I stuffed my hands into my jeans pockets and revealed all about Faith really liking single dad Greg, but letting her infamous commitment issues get in the way of her happiness.

“She’s making a big mistake, Dad. I think she’s trying to conjure up excuses not to get involved, even though she admits she really likes him.”

“And she’s using the little boy as an excuse too?”

“I think so but she won’t admit it, of course. She doesn’t want the guilt of disappointing or confusing Sam if things did go wrong. I wasn’t going to do anything,” I protested, “but even you’ve noticed how low she is too. I couldn’t leave things.”