Page 16 of A Highland Family Affair

She stood before the full-length mirror to assess her finished appearance and glanced at the photo of her mother that was lodged into the frame there. The older she was getting, the more she could see of herself in that photograph. She reached out and touched it. In the picture, her mother was sitting on one of the benches in the castle grounds with a beaming smile on her face. It had been the height of summer around five years ago when Olivia had snapped the image and the sun highlighted her mother’s Titian hair, creating a sort of golden halo around her.

She was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. She missed her mum so much that her heart ached. She closed her eyes for a moment when the stinging of threatened tears needled behind her eyes. She didn’t want to ruin her make-up. ‘Well, if he doesn’t propose to me tonight, Mum, there’s something seriously bloody wrong,’ she told the photo. She could imagine her mother’s reply. ‘It’ll happen, darling, give it time.’

She took a deep breath and grabbed her big, smart, warm black coat with the faux fur collar and flung it over her arm. She usually felt like the Michelin man when she put it on, but it was freezing out and she wasn’t prepared to suffer in the name of beauty. At twenty-nine, she was past that point of her life where a flimsy little top could miraculously fend off the winter chill.

As she descended the stairs, she was greeted by Kerr in the foyer. ‘Wow, you look beautiful, sis,’ he said with a genuine smile. She still couldn’t get used to him calling her sis so naturally as if it had always been that way.

‘Thank you,’ she replied with a smile. ‘Have you seen Brodie?’

He pointed towards the corridor. ‘I think he’s in the drawing room.’

‘Thanks.’ She walked along and opened the large oak door. Sure enough, Brodie was standing by the piano looking at her family photos. ‘We need to put one of us on there,’ she told him as she joined him.

He turned to face her. ‘That’d be great. Let’s do it soon. Perhaps we can get a photo of us this evening. Maybe Kerr will take one before we leave.’ He bent and kissed her cheek, and the deliciously familiar smell of his cologne infiltrated her senses. ‘You look stunning,’ he told her.

‘And you look so handsome,’ she replied.

There was a knock at the door, and it opened a crack. ‘Erm, sorry to interrupt… again… but your taxi’s here,’ Kerr said through the sliver of an opening, without entering the room.

‘Kerr, mate, could you take a photo of us before we go?’ Brodie asked, holding out his phone.

Kerr walked in smiling widely. ‘Sure. Absolutely. Why don’t you stand by the fireplace?’

Brodie held Olivia’s hand and they walked over to where the fire was roaring as usual. ‘Here?’ he asked.

Kerr took the phone. ‘Perfect. Say gorgonzola,’ he said with a grin.

‘Gorgonzola?’ Olivia asked with a scrunched nose.

Kerr shrugged. ‘Bit more interesting than just “cheese”.’

Brodie and Olivia looked at each other and laughed. ‘Aye, I suppose,’ Brodie said.

Kerr quickly snapped the photograph while the couple were smiling at each other. ‘That’s a really nice photo of the two of you,’ he said as he looked at the screen on the phone. ‘You look really happy. Here you go.’

Brodie took the handset and smiled. ‘You’re right. That’s really good. Cheers, Kerr.’

Olivia walked over and kissed Kerr on the cheek. ‘It’s lovely, thank you.’

Kerr’s face flushed and he cleared his throat. ‘Och, stop it, you two, my head’ll not fit through the door. Anyway, enjoy your evening, I’m going to take Lancey for a walk around the grounds.’ He scuttled off, clearly embarrassed and possibly a wee bit emotional too.

As they left the castle to climb into the waiting taxi, Olivia was thankful she had chosen the huge coat. The temperature was definitely in the minus figures and, even with the thick layer of wool between her and the evening air, she shivered as she sat in the back seat.

Brodie immediately took her gloved hands and rubbed them. ‘It’s bloody Baltic!’ he said with a shiver. ‘I’m really looking forward to this evening.’ He patted his breast pocket as if checking something was there and Olivia’s stomach flipped.

The journey into Inverness was punctuated by music from the local radio station. A string of old hits that Olivia hadn’t heard in ages wafted over the airwaves as she rested her head on Brodie’s shoulder.

Simply Red’s ‘Stars’ played, and she closed her eyes to absorb the beautiful lyrics which seemed very apt in that moment. She hadn’t been born when it originally came out, but she had heard and loved it plenty of times since.

Brodie rested his head on hers and squeezed her hand. ‘I love you,’ he whispered.

She lifted her head and gazed into his eyes. ‘I love you too.’

The taxi came to a halt outside the Glenmoriston Town House and Brodie paid the driver before getting out and walking around to open Olivia’s door.

‘M’lady,’ he said with a flouncy gesture of his hands.

‘Why, thank you, kind sir,’ she replied, taking his offered hand and climbing out too.