Page 67 of A Scottish Highland Hideaway

“Jacob’s been cheating on your brother with Samuel,” she interrupted me, her tone brittle, and I shut my mouth. Her words hung in the air like acrid smoke.

“Samuel Lawson… from Marcus’s work?”

My mother’s gaze bore into me as she nodded. “It’s true. I wish it wasn’t, but it is.”

Samuel and Marcus had worked together for a few years and become friends. I knew that Marcus and Jacob had gone on numerous double dates with Samuel and his partner, Lee.

“N-no,” I stuttered, watching my mother stride backwards and forwards in front of the window in her expensive clothes. “Who told you this?”

Mum’s jewellery rattled. “I didn’t want to be right about this. I really didn’t.”

This couldn’t be true. For the last few months, Marcus had been brimming with excitement and anticipation at spending the rest of his life with Jacob.

Mum laced and unlaced her fingers as she continued to stride backwards and forwards in front of me, like a traumatised zoo animal. “You might not believe me Anastasia, but I didn’t want any of this. I was hoping it was just my imagination. But you must understand that I had to protect your brother.” Her voice cracked. It was as if she were fighting to get the words out. “And my daughter, although I didn’t do a very good job of that.”

I blinked up at her.

She stopped in front of one of the two big windows. The naked trees out in the grounds weaved and swayed like exotic dancers in the wind.

“I’d had my suspicions for a few weeks. Jacob began cancelling when he was supposed to be meeting Marcus to visit wedding venues or go out, citing work pressures, and then when he visited here, I noticed he was distracted by his phone. He always seemed jumpy.” A pleading look stole over her serious features. “You have to believe me. I didn’t want to be right.”

My head was muddled, struggling to accept what my mother was telling me. “I can’t believe he and Samuel would do that to Marcus.”

“Well, they did.”

Poor Marcus. Oh God. To be betrayed by your fiancé, but to also be betrayed by one of your friends. My anger was stoking up. “How did you get him to admit to it? Jacob, I mean?”

Mum flicked me a hot look out of the corner of her eye as she examined the graceful mermaid water feature tinkling outside. “He couldn’t deny it. Not after they were spotted together in public. It was Ruth Keegan from my Women’s Institute days who saw them – holding hands and sharing an intimate dinner in a hotel restaurant in town.”

I felt sick. I could hardly believe it.

Mum turned away from the window. “Ruth asked to meet me for lunch just the other week and she told me what she’d seen,” she said, folding her arms, her bracelets jangling. “That’s when I decided to confront Jacob about it.”

My frustration was all-consuming. “Mum, don’t you think you should’ve spoken to Marcus instead?”

Mum sank down again opposite me in her armchair. The anger in my eyes must have registered with her. “Yes, well, on reflection, I should have. We all make mistakes, believe me.”

“What, even you?” I asked dryly.

She bristled. “All I could see was that Jacob was making a fool of your brother.” She shook her head, as if playing through the events again. “I let Declan do that to you and I wasn’t prepared to let history repeat itself again with Marcus.” Her voice took on a more brittle edge. “I’ve met men like that before.”

An odd, faraway look clouded her eyes, before she composed herself. “Anyway, even before Jacob had the chance to sit down, I told him I knew what had been going on and that he and Samuel had been seen together in some gaudy restaurant.”

“And how did he react to being found out?”

Mum snorted. “Would you believe Jacob denied everything at first? He said he was having regular catch-ups with Samuel because they were discussing the wedding!”

She let out a snort. “He even had the cheek to say that he and Samuel had been meeting in secret because he was planning some major surprise for your brother as part of the wedding ceremony.”

“And then?”

She got up and paced again, her heels placed deliberately one in front of the other. “I wouldn’t let it drop. I said I had been suspicious when he was always glued to his phone while visiting here.” Her pointed chin shot forward. “Finally, he admitted that he and Samuel had been having an affair.” Mum’s lip curled. “He was like a cornered animal in the end,” she sighed. “Despite my suspicions, I couldn’t believe it when Ruth told me.” Her brow furrowed. “He and Marcus made such a wonderful couple – or so I thought – and I always considered Jacob to be a principled young man, especially when you consider his environmental work.” Then she snorted. “If all of us who’d been deceived by someone we trusted were lined up side by side, the bloody queue would stretch to Mars.” Her features twisted into a mask of hurt and she fell quiet.

“Mum? Are you ok?”

She steadied herself. “Oh. Yes. Of course. I’m just being silly.”

I reached up to massage my temple.