Page 14 of A Highland Family Affair

‘Hey! Come on!’ He gestured to her. ‘It looks colder than it is, honest.’ She laughed, knowing from the few seconds she had been standing there that he was fibbing. She made her way over to him. The two dogs nuzzled her hands and Brodie kissed her cheek, his nose like an ice cube against her skin. ‘The gates are closed; the public have all gone, and the snow is keeping things a bit brighter, so we’ll be able to see without torches for a wee while. I thought we could have a wander down to the chapel and look at the stars when the sun has gone down.’

‘That’d be lovely.’

The little chapel in the grounds was another of her favourite places. It was where her parents had had their marriage blessed in a family-and-friends-only ceremony. This had, of course, been after their grand, official wedding at Inverness Cathedral. Olivia had always maintained that she would rather skip the ‘grand’ bit and have her own wedding solely in the pretty chapel by the loch. It was perfect. Big enough to make sure all the important people in her life could attend but small enough that it wouldn’t be some Hello magazine-worthy event. Although she knew, as Lady MacBain, there would no doubt need to be some officiality and press coverage. A cross she had to bear as custodian of Drumblair Castle, and her parents’ legacy.

As they walked, Olivia told Brodie all about the conversation she’d had with her brother. She relayed the sincerity he had shown but that she was still unable to fully trust him.

Brodie took her hand. ‘We just need to take this thing one day at a time. There’s been a lot of issues in the past so he can’t expect you to just accept everything he says.’

‘That’s just it, though. He doesn’t expect that. Or at least he says he doesn’t.’ They continued to walk in silence and Olivia took in her surroundings. The bare branches of the trees were bowing with the weight of the recent snowfall and the sky above and in front of them was a stunning mixture of pinks, oranges and lilacs, blending into blues that became darker the further up she looked. Tiny pinpricks of light were becoming visible in the darker parts of the sky, meaning it was going to be a very cold night.

When they reached the water’s edge, Olivia turned and gazed back at the castle. It stretched skyward from the ground, its surface glowing almost golden in the early evening light, and the remaining sunlight, albeit not much, glinted off the snow that sat in the striations of the stonework. Far off in the distance, the mountain Ben Blair could be seen wearing a snowy cap too. It really was stunning, something she could appreciate as an adult but had never really understood as a child. Her father used to wax lyrical about the mountains and the scenery that surrounded them but back then she put that down to being an old person thing. They always seem to like trees and views and flowers and things like that, she had thought. Looking back now, it was funny to think that her dad had probably only been in his late thirties when she had considered him old. And here she was heading for thirty herself; suffice it to say she had certainly changed her mind about that now.

Brodie stood peering out across the water as the two dogs sniffed and trotted along the water’s edge. His exhaled breaths clouded in front of him like cigarette smoke. ‘This place is something else, isn’t it, Liv?’

She smiled. ‘It certainly is.’

She could understand in a way why Kerr had been angry to not inherit the place. But what he failed to realise was that along with the castle came a mountain of responsibility that daunted her more than she cared to admit. But the place was part of who she was and even though she had sacrificed a lot – a life and friendships in New York, her dream job – to be here, she knew she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Not really.

‘You know how I’ve gone back to longer walks with the dogs?’ Brodie said after a few moments.

‘I had noticed. I’ll be getting a complex.’ She laughed.

He grinned. ‘It keeps me fit so I can keep up with you and your ideas,’ he replied with a knowing wink. ‘Anyway, I’ve had another book idea.’

‘That’s great! What about this time?’

‘Walks around Drumblair. The number of visitors we’re getting is set to increase year on year so I’m thinking a book of guided walks would do well in the gift shop. And even better if someone who knows the place has tried and tested and mapped them all out. There’s lots of different paths up Ben Blair, suitable for a wide range of capabilities, so it would be good to be able to signpost them.’

‘I think that’s a brilliant idea.’ She loved that he was so involved with the castle these days and how keen he was to bring fresh ideas to the table. His first book on the history of Drumblair Castle had sold so well in the shop so far that she had no doubt another would do the same.

‘I’ll just need to get out and up the mountain a fair bit with my sketchpad and voice recorder.’

‘Go for it,’ she said as she turned and walked closer to him. ‘You’ll be a modern-day Wainright.’ She snuggled into his chest as they looked out over the water together, watching a bird diving into the water and retrieving fish for its dinner. The water lapped at the shoreline, the sound soothing and a little soporific.

‘I’ve also had an idea about the old barn.’

Olivia’s ears pricked up. ‘Go on.’

‘I think we should renovate it and turn it into a kind of workspace for local artisans. We could section it off and install a second floor. That way we could create another revenue strand. And it could lead to more stock for the shop too. A perk of renting a space could be the artist’s work is put on sale in there.’

‘Oh, wow! I love that idea! But… what about funding for such a project?’

Brodie sighed. ‘That’s the only issue. Although we could get some quotes and see what we’re aiming for? See if it could work?’

Olivia paused for a moment as she imagined the old ramshackle barn refitted, humming with a buzz of creativity. ‘Let’s do it.’

Brodie squeezed her to his side. ‘Fantastic.’

Eventually the sun was completely gone, and they stood, holding each other as the vast canopy of sky above them became scattered with diamonds and every so often a shooting star zoomed across the navy blue, evaporating into nothing as quickly as they had spotted it. A sense of calm came over Olivia and even though she wasn’t quite able to grasp and hold on to the thought, something in her mind told her everything was going to be okay.

6

Olivia awoke on the Saturday morning to find that Brodie had already left on his morning walk, meaning she could finally stretch and luxuriate in her empty bed a little longer. It was Dougie’s Saturday to be on duty in the grounds so she could have some real, honest-to-goodness leisure time. She planned on taking her time to prepare for the evening out with her man and noticed a flutter of excitement in her belly when she thought about it. She checked her phone and saw a message from Bella.

Hey honey! We’re all settled in. The house is really nice but needs my touch. Granny Isla may already have a fancy man! Talk about quick work. Harris has today off so we’re heading out for a day touring Skye on his motorbike. I’m getting used to it now. And apparently, I’m improving as a pillion passenger. I miss you already though. Make sure you call me or message me as soon as Keanu Reeves proposes to you! Love you xx

Olivia smiled. Her friends had compared Brodie to the famous actor since they saw him at her mother’s funeral and didn’t recognise him. He had simply been a dark-haired, handsome and mysterious stranger then.