Page 91 of A Scottish Highland Surprise

Ophelia’s hands rested together in her lap. She angled her head to one side. “You can tell me to mind my own business if you like…”

I trained my eyes ahead, as the lazy evening light glanced against my windscreen.

“But when I mentioned that young man’s name, there was a look that passed across your face.”

I felt my back stiffen. “What sort of look?”

Now it was Ophelia’s turn to stare ahead. She aimed the tiniest glance at me out of the corner of her eyes. “One that I had on more than one occasion in my younger days. A trouble-of-the-heart look.”

I was determined to continue driving and drop Ophelia home, but she maintained her concerned air. In the end, I found myself turning into the entrance of Briar Glen Park, with its wooden picnic benches.

Ophelia unfastened her seatbelt and angled herself round, so that she was facing me. I switched off the ignition and watched the dappled light reach down through the network of tree branches like golden fingers.

I didn’t want to talk about Xander. I didn’t want to think about his sea-coloured eyes or his lopsided grin. Or the way his expression twinkled when he talked about his favourite paintings. But there was something hypnotic in the way Ophelia was waiting for me to speak that lulled the words out of me before I could pull them back.

And so, as the noise of children laughing and the fizz of birdsong rang out around my car, I blurted out everything to Ophelia: how my feelings for Xander had crept up on me; his rivalry with Jake Caldwell over Nadia; his reaction to seeing me out for dinner with Jake and then Jake snatching a kiss from me and his petty behaviour.

Then I told her about Saffy Clements coming to see me at The Cup That Cheers.

“It’s obvious Saffy adores Xander,” I continued, a sense of relief in my chest at being able to open up, “but she told me that she wanted me to know the truth about him – about what a decent, good man he is.”

Ophelia shifted further round in the passenger seat. “And?”

My fingers tapped around the circumference of my steering wheel, while a young couple pushing their sleeping baby in a buggy ambled past, sharing an intimate moment. “I rang Xander after Saffy came to see me. I wanted to tell him how I felt. I also wanted to apologise for believing Jake’s warped version of events but he didn’t answer the phone. Nadia, his ex-girlfriend, did.”

I ran a frustrated hand over the top of my hair, before it slid down to fiddle idly with my ponytail.

“You’re making a number of assumptions,” responded Ophelia.

“Maybe I am,” I admitted, “but he was crazy about her. When she went off with Jake, Saffy said he wasn’t in a good place for a long while.”

“That doesn’t mean he has forgiven her,” pointed out Ophelia.

I felt despondency building up inside of me. “I beg to differ on that one. She described herself as his girlfriend on the phone last night.”

I reached forward for my car keys dangling out of the ignition. My keyring, a glittery pink heart which Mum gave me, swung this way and that. “It’s all too messy,” I protested, despite my heart screaming otherwise. “There’s no way I would be prepared to be a substitute. for Nadia.” I fired up the ignition, a strange combination of relief and melancholy settling on my shoulders.

“So,” I exclaimed with fake brightness, “let’s get you home, otherwise Hal will think we’ve gone clubbing.”

Ophelia laughed. “Chance would be a fine thing.” But she carried on eyeing me as we drove back.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Tuesday morning felt odd, like a severe anti-climax.

After last night’s series of startling revelations about Jonathan Gray and his monstrous parents, it was as if all the loose ends had come together at last and arranged themselves into a huge, pretty bow.

Nevertheless, I still felt like I did when 27th December came around – deflated.

We had discovered Briar had spent the rest of her days happily with Ernest Telfer and George and that Isadora had purchased the tea set at auction, quite likely as an act of defiance and an almighty “Up Yours!” to her estranged husband.

When I’d dropped Ophelia back home last night, she had taken the tea set. I knew she was going to contact Xander and tell him what had happened and about Carson Gray being able to answer all our questions.

The tea set belonged with Ophelia, but she wanted to do something positive with it and auction it, which I thought was a wonderful idea. Establishing an organisation in her late sister’s name to encourage and support arts students from underprivileged backgrounds would be such a fitting tribute. And if anyone could ensure that the peacock tea set created a stir and sold for a handsome sum, it would be Xander.

I pushed him to the edges of my mind. There was nothing I could do, if Xander was unable to fight his feelings for Nadia and if he was capable of forgiving her over Jake. If anything, that stoked my emotions for him even more. It said so much about his character, if he believed they could put the past behind them and have a future together after all.

Cass wasn’t silly. She had noticed I wasn’t my usual self and, when she thought I wasn’t looking, insisted on giving me long sideways glances across the shop. She didn’t mention Xander by name, but emphasised that if there was anything I wanted to talk about, she was there for me.