Page 114 of A Scottish Island Summer

Chapter Thirty

The North Atlantic was arching below us and a pearly sky was fighting for superiority with shafts of marmalade sunshine.

My stomach rolled as we left Campbell’s vehicle and made our way down towards the lighthouse and the throng of cliff faces that surrounded it.

Campbell clutched a black bag containing some of his archaeological tools that he’d retrieved from his boot.

‘I hope I’m not imagining this,’ I murmured, as the sound of the sea swelled.

Campbell stopped to take in the stunning vista. ‘Please stop worrying, Darcie. It’s not costing us anything to have a look. Follow your instincts, remember?’

He fell in step beside me again as we moved off over the wavy grass, which mirrored the sea with its rippling movements.

The air was laced with the tang of seaweed and salt, and a zinging freshness that clung to my cheeks and danced through my hair. ‘So, you’ve never noticed a heart-shaped rock up here before?’ I asked Campbell.

‘I can’t say I have, although I’ve only been up here a couple of times and not for the past twenty years.’ Campbell’s face softened at my apprehensive expression. ‘And if you did dream it, well then, we go for a coffee after this and commiserate together, OK?’

‘Oh, don’t say that,’ I pleaded, scanning around myself for the rock in question.

‘Look, a lot of what we do in archaeology is based on conjecture and assumption, anyway. Some digs I’ve been on over the years have resulted in amazing discoveries. Others have failed to turn up anything except tin cans and old cleaning cloths. Them’s the breaks.’

I gave Campbell a small, grateful smile. He was a darling. His ex-wife had been a very silly woman, in my opinion.

At least if this trip to Neist Point did prove fruitless, I knew Campbell wouldn’t make me feel like a prize idiot.

The lighthouse stood tall and proud at the far end of the lip of cliffs before us, like a brilliant white sentry surveying the peaking waves.

‘It’s like another world up here.’ Campbell sighed. ‘I forgot how stunning it is.’

I agreed. ‘It’s like you can almost reset and begin again up here.’ I banished visions of Logan.

‘So, can you remember where you saw this rock?’

I looked around myself, at the rippling layers of rocks and boulders studded around. A slow, creeping panic began to grow. ‘Er … I think it was over here. No. Wait. Sorry. I meant over there.’

I made my way this and that across the grass. I moved left this time, but there was just a stubbly array of rocks that were nothing out of the ordinary.

Campbell spotted the growing concern in my expression. ‘Just take a breath, Darcie. Take your time.’

My chest deflated under my fleece.

What if I’d read far too much into Victoria’s letter? What if I’d got this wrong? I would’ve dragged poor Campbell up here for nothing, and he’d been so understanding about letting my mouth run away with me to Justine.

I fired my buffeted ponytail back from my face and over my shoulder again.

‘Close your eyes,’ instructed Campbell. ‘Go on. Imagine you’re up here with Logan again that first time.’

I wanted to say that was the last thing I should do, but I knew Campbell was just trying to help. ‘Alright.’

I straightened my shoulders and closed my eyes, conjuring up images in my head of the golden sunset swathing the cliff faces and the North Atlantic like a rippling, sumptuous gown.

Where was the heart-shaped rock again?

I could see its silhouette in my mind’s eye, with the heart-shaped angles and the cleft in the middle.

My imagination shifted from seeing Logan sitting beside me on the picnic rug, with those dancing eyes of his, to the rock again.

Wait! I could see it.