Page 39 of A Highland Family Affair

At this bolt out of the blue, Olivia gasped. ‘Really? Oh, my word, that’s amazing.’

Harper nodded. ‘I know, right? I’ve never been remotely broody until her. The other night we were discussing how your old room in the apartment would make a beautiful nursery.’

‘Wow, yes, I suppose it would.’

‘I mean, she already pretty much lives at my place so I’m thinking of asking her if she wants to move in, you know, make it all officially official.’

‘You definitely should ask her. She clearly adores you.’

Harper placed her hands under her chin and fluttered her eyelashes. ‘Well, that’s because I’m adorable. Well, I suppose I should get back to work. I’m shooting accessories today and they’re kinda fiddly. Nina has designed some jewellery pieces and getting the shots just how she wants them is driving me crazy.’

‘Okay, it’s been so lovely to chat to you. Tell Nina I said thanks for letting me steal you for a while. Speak soon. Love you.’

‘Love you too, congratulations again. I’m so damned happy for you.’

The call ended and a wave of emotion washed over Olivia. She missed her friend terribly and saying goodbye was always hard. As if reading her mind, Brodie enveloped her in his arms and held her.

15

Olivia and Brodie walked through the doors of the castle on their return home, and all was eerily quiet. It was a week until Christmas. Olivia was still reeling from the events that happened on Skye and she had hoped to be greeted by the ones she loved so they could share in the excitement too.

‘Where is everyone?’ Brodie shook his head with a huff as he placed the cases down. ‘I told them what time we’d be home.’

Kerr appeared from the direction of the kitchen. ‘Oh, hi, guys! Welcome home.’

‘Thanks, how come it’s so quiet?’ Olivia asked.

Kerr shrugged. ‘Dunno. I’ve been at the nursery all day and I came back, took a shower but the place was in darkness. I’m guessing Dougie and Mirren have gone home.’

Olivia exhaled a long, disappointed breath, as if deflating. ‘Oh, right. I thought they might have hung around for a while. We brought champagne,’ she said, gesturing to the bag containing the bottles they had purchased on their way home.

‘Go take your bags to your room and I’ll give them a call if you like,’ Kerr suggested. ‘Oh, and there’s some flowers for you in the dining room. They were delivered this morning. I think they may be from Nina and the staff at the fashion house.’

Brodie picked up the suitcases again. ‘That’s nice. We’ll come and have a look once we’ve dropped our bags off. Come on, Liv.’

Tired and a little fed up, they tramped up the stairs to their room and placed their bags down. The two newly acquired pieces of artwork were placed, propped up, on the dressing table for safekeeping.

‘Can you believe we didn’t get a nicer welcome home?’ Olivia asked. ‘It’s really strange. Like nothing’s happened.’

He slipped his arms around her waist. ‘We don’t need everyone else, though, Liv. We can have our own celebration.’ He grinned and kissed her neck. As nice as that was, she still felt a little sad. Brodie clearly sensed this as he took her hand. ‘Come on, let’s go look at the flowers. That’ll cheer you up.’ He led her down to the dining room and pushed the door open to…

‘Surprise!’ Party poppers exploded, sending coloured streamers floating through the air and Queen’s ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ began to play over a pair of Bluetooth speakers that had been set up on the fireplace mantle. The table was spread with platters of canapés and bottles of champagne alongside crystal flutes, and a huge cake sat in the middle iced with the words ‘Congratulations Olivia and Brodie’ in a fancy font. Beside that there was a huge bouquet of flowers, just as Kerr had mentioned.

Olivia and Brodie shared a wide smile and Olivia felt a tad guilty for doubting her friends and family.

Applause and whistles travelled the room. The whole castle staff was there as well as Skye and Ben, Innes, Adaira, Dougie, Mirren and the dogs and some other friends. Uncle Innes came over to greet them with hugs, followed closely by Wilf, Marley and Sir Lancelot. Olivia crouched to greet her canine friends and buried her nose in their fur each in turn as they wagged their tails frantically.

‘I’m so happy for you, my darling girl,’ Innes told Olivia as she stood, and he hugged her. ‘Your mother and father would be very proud and so, so happy for you. Don’t you think Kerr has done a great job of getting everyone together at such short notice?’

Olivia widened her eyes. ‘Kerr has done this?’

Innes nodded. ‘He sure has. I’m pretty impressed, I have to say.’

‘Me too,’ Olivia said as she looked over to where Kerr stood, a wide smile on his face as he raised a glass of orange juice to her. As Brodie chatted to friends, Olivia made her way over to her brother. ‘Thank you,’ she said, kissing him on the cheek. ‘This is amazing.’

‘And you thought we’d all forgotten,’ he said with a grin and shake of his head. ‘As if we would.’

‘You had us both fooled, you rat.’ She whacked his arm playfully. ‘I’m not sure how you pulled it off but we both appreciate it.’