Page 10 of Chasing a Highland Dream

Olivia rolled her eyes. ‘You’re being picky. I think he’s got kind eyes.’

Skye fluttered her eyelids. ‘Yes, he has. Like Ben.’

‘Ugh, you two,’ Bella said with a shake of her head and a roll of her eyes. ‘You’re as bad as my granny. It’s a good thing she’s not here tonight or I can imagine the three of you sitting in a corner planning my wedding to a man I don’t even want to date. You’d be like the three witches from that bloody Shakespeare play. Anyway, I’ll leave you to swoon over PC Plod; I’m off for some more wine.’ She huffed, turned and left them.

As she stood watching the band from a safe distance, Kerr appeared beside her. The band was playing a Proclaimers number now, and the audience were, of course, singing along. Mirren and Dougie were on the dancefloor along with Innes and one of the gardeners who had been there as long as Bella had been coming to the castle. It was turning into a fun night and a great belated birthday party for Olivia.

‘They’re great, aren’t they?’ Kerr said, nodding towards the stage.

‘I suppose they are, yes,’ Bella replied as she watched Harris, the sergeant, grinning and stamping his foot as his fingertips deftly danced along the neck of the instrument resting on his shoulder. There was something innately fascinating about a man who had musical talent. She watched his hands moving with intrigue and was surprised to hear his singing voice was as good as his fiddle playing. She had only seen Harris from a distance at the day centre when he had been there to visit his mother, but he was certainly gifted, although she wouldn’t be voicing her thoughts to her granny; that fire needed no more fuel.

‘Brodie’s good for Olivia, isn’t he?’ Kerr asked out of the blue; the question felt somewhat rhetorical.

Bella glanced at Kerr. ‘He is. You should be happy she’s found someone who loves her like he does.’

Kerr nodded and clenched his jaw. Without looking at her, he said, ‘It’s all most of us ever want.’ And with those uncharacteristically philosophical words, he pushed off the wall where he was leaning and walked away.

5

Summer at Drumblair Castle was a sight to behold. The trees were filled with lush green leaves and the grounds were awash with a sea of colour. The gardeners did an incredible job at planting and maintaining the gardens, the beds were bursting with blooms, and even when it rained, the droplets of water simply added to the beauty, appearing like tiny diamonds on the petals.

After thinking things through over and over about Kerr, Olivia and the invitation list, Bella decided it would probably be a good thing for him to be seen doing something supportive without being cajoled into it. Hopefully when Olivia found out how helpful he had been, things between her and her brother would take one more step towards healing, and if Bella could be instrumental in that, she felt it had to be the right decision.

The siblings had never been close and it had always saddened Olivia. She had tried so hard to have a relationship with Kerr, but he’d harboured jealousy for such a long time and her inheritance hadn’t helped matters, but now Kerr was trying to make amends, Bella wanted to help – for Olivia’s sake.

Kerr had already started on his journey to be better; he had assisted Olivia in sorting through their parents’ belongings and paperwork, he had met the new staff and chatted to them about the history of the castle. He’d been friendlier towards Bella too when he’d been around, making cups of coffee when she was working, holding doors open when he saw her with arms full of paperwork. It appeared he had finally got the message and a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Bella had – still with a little trepidation – handed the guest list over to Kerr while she dealt with other pressing matters around the castle from enquiries about the open day, to acquiring raffle prizes for the event, to staff training. She checked in regularly to ensure everything was on track and was told the same thing repeatedly: ‘You can trust me, Bella. Everything is going exactly as it should be. I’m doing this for my sister, and for you… my friend.’ She couldn’t help noticing the sadness in his expression when he called her that.

With so much going on at the castle, Bella was frazzled, arriving home tired out and ready for sleep by seven in the evening. Her granny was understandably worried about her burning the candle at both ends but Bella did her best to assure her it was temporary and she really was fine.

Olivia had spent less time doing ‘castle stuff’ and had spent more time with the seamstresses and models when she wasn’t with Brodie, preparing her segment of the corporate launch event. She was even more in love with Brodie than she had been they’d gone away and had reported on her return that his divorce was on track. Bella guessed it was only a matter of time before there would be another castle wedding. But in the meantime, they had an event to organise. An event that would showcase the castle and its potential as a venue for meetings, training days and team building as well as a wonderful place for a day out with the family. And even though there would no doubt be a substantial financial outlay, Olivia had insisted you had to speculate to accumulate. And the expense had been drastically reduced now Nina Picarro and her team from New York were not attending.

The stage crew would be here early on 26 June to set up. Brodie had arranged a local band to perform to show the versatility of the castle and an outside catering crew had been arranged by Mirren, who would be overseeing the food service. There would also be a castle tour given by Olivia herself, where she would tell the attendees all about the gift shop, café and children’s play area that would be in place for visitors to the castle when it opened to the public. There were lots of pieces to this puzzle and they all needed to fit together perfectly for the whole evening to be a success.

The week of the corporate event arrived all too quickly, and in a blink of an eye the castle was bustling with people setting things up. A team of people arrived to construct Olivia’s runway in the castle’s beautiful long gallery and one end had been separated off with curtains to act as a dressing room. Rows of chairs had been brought in especially and placed facing the runway, which would also double as a stage for the local band Brodie had booked; sadly Coppercaillie weren’t available due to their day jobs. A crew of electricians worked on installing temporary lighting to spotlight the models in Olivia’s fashion show, where she would be showcasing her Drumblair Tartan designs. It looked totally different to the night of Olivia’s birthday party, proving how versatile it would be as a venue.

On the morning of the fashion show, Bella was up, showered and dressed early. Isla was sitting in her chair by the window watching people going about their daily routines, with Beau at her feet. The dog jumped up to greet her, tail wagging and eyes bright.

‘Morning, Beau,’ Bella said as she scratched the dog behind his ears. ‘And morning, Granny.’

‘I’ve made a pot of tea and a pan of porridge, hen. You should eat before you leave. You need to keep your energy up.’

‘Tea is fine, Granny, but I’ll take it to go in my travel mug if you don’t mind, I don’t have time to sit and eat now. I’ll grab something at the castle, I promise.’ She kissed her granny’s cheek and dashed out of the door.

Bella arrived at the castle earlier than usual. She had insisted to Olivia she would be there to help with the last-minute preparations, even though Olivia had tried to encourage her to sleep in and rest.

Olivia was definitely stressed but it was a happy kind of stressed, Bella decided; her best friend was in her element. Olivia’s own Drumblair Tartan designs were absolutely stunning and Bella watched with a proud smile as Olivia buzzed around models at the final fitting, ensuring every sliver of fabric hung right. It had to be perfect, Bella was very much aware of this fact. It would mark the beginning of Drumblair Castle coming into its own as a venue, a tourist attraction and a retreat destination. Olivia’s legacy and future hung on this and Bella was determined to help it be everything Olivia wanted.

The atmosphere was electric and even though Bella was exhausted, she was the happiest she had ever been. Not only was she working at a stunning, dream location for her best friend but she’d had a hand in creating the wonderful setting people would enjoy for years to come. It was now simply a matter of everything falling into place.

As Bella walked through the long gallery, sidestepping people with clipboards, walkie talkies and mobile phones, she glanced up at the portraits that seemed to be watching everything unfolding with guarded interest and she wondered what they would say if they could speak.

The guests would begin arriving at five in the afternoon and would be served with canapés and Champagne. This would be followed by a tour of the castle at 5.30 p.m. to show off all the work that had been carried out to prepare for the public opening and finally the fashion show would take place at 6.30, followed by live music by the local band who, as it turned out, Brodie had convinced to play for free seeing as the local and national press were to be attending.

Bella had never realised how much work went into to putting on a corporate publicity event and was relieved the majority of her tasks were already complete. She was excited and looking forward to watching the models parading down the runway in Olivia’s wonderful designs, and to breathing a sigh of relief when it was all a massive success. Because, again, it had to be.

At four o’clock, Bella closed the door on the library and changed into a black slim-fitting dress that hugged her curves. She applied make-up and tidied up her blonde waves. A glance in the large over-mantel mirror showed her neatly presented and fresh-looking in spite of the sleepless nights she’d had in the run-up to the event. She took a deep, calming breath before leaving and making her way to the long gallery for one last check.