Page 64 of A Highland Family Affair

Will shook his head, the crease between his brows reappeared and deepened. ‘But… how come you didn’t know? It’s pretty hard to miss your girlfriend’s belly getting bigger.’

Kerr cringed and sighed. ‘This is probably too much information but… me and your mum… it was a one-time thing. I returned to Scotland a day or so after. We had swapped numbers but…’

‘It was never meant to go anywhere?’

Kerr nodded. ‘I don’t mean any disrespect to your mum. But we were young. Neither of us expected… you.’ Will’s eyes filled with sadness and Kerr continued. ‘But that doesn’t mean you weren’t wanted, Will. Your mum wanted you. And had I known about you back then, I would’ve wanted you too.’

‘So it’s all my mum’s fault,’ he spat, his words almost venomous.

Kerr held up his hand. ‘No. No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. Your mum was trying to protect you. She made a mistake in not telling you sooner, admittedly. But she did it for the right reasons. She didn’t want any harm to come to you. She thought that Tabor was going to be a father to you. He offered her security and she thought that was the best thing at the time.’

Will scoffed. ‘So it was better to be with some geezer who didn’t even talk to me instead of knowing my real dad?’ His anger was still evident in his red cheeks. ‘I spent all that time trying to make him love me, liking the things he liked, and all for nothing. I even watched Star Trek for that wan⁠—’

Kerr held up both hands. ‘Whoa! Will! You have to try and see this from your mum’s point of view. She was doing her best to protect you. For all she knew, I could’ve been a gambling alcoholic with narcissistic tendencies.’ He glanced at Olivia, who gave a wry smile. ‘And back then I probably wasn’t much better than that. But I’m making changes now. I’m trying to be a better person. Your mum waited to find me and, to be honest, she probably did the right thing. But I want you to know that I’m proud to be your father, Will. Since getting to know you and working with you here at the nursery, I’ve seen what a great kid you are. We have things in common, you and me. We laugh at the same things and we both love the trees and the plants, don’t we?’ Will nodded. ‘So maybe… if you’d let me… I could be your friend first, and then… maybe some time down the line you’d let me… be your dad.’

Will stared at him for a moment before grappling him into a hug. ‘We were already friends,’ he said.

24

The following morning, Olivia awoke after a fitful night. Her legs and arms were heavy and her head fuzzy. Perhaps, she thought, I’m a little more stressed than I realised about the wedding. The frustration of being so ridiculously tired but unable to sleep annoyed her. It was having a knock-on effect to her appetite and her mood. She had thought she was relatively calm about her impending nuptials. Everything was in hand, after all. Her stomach roiled with hunger but at the same time the thought of food didn’t appeal at all.

She made her way down to the kitchen before anyone else and prepared a fresh pot of coffee. She was relieved to know that the castle and grounds were closed in the lead-up to the wedding, it made life a little easier and preparations would be smoother without having to navigate the public. She took two mugs back up to her bedroom for her and Brodie and relayed the events of the previous evening to him.

‘Bloody hell,’ Brodie said as he sat propped upright on the pillows against the tall headboard. ‘That poor kid. He’s been through such a lot.’

Olivia sipped her coffee, but the earthy aroma didn’t help her unsettled stomach, so she placed her mug down. ‘He has. But it was quite sweet to see him and Kerr sort everything out.’ She paused as everything sank in. ‘Kerr’s a dad,’ she said with a shake of her head. ‘I still can’t get my head around that. It’s crazy to think that the same person from only a few months ago is so remarkably different that he’s handled this whole thing so well. He really stepped up for Will.’

‘Good on him. I mean, it’s what he should do but after the way he found out about having a son, it could’ve gone very differently for someone in such a vulnerable state. I know it might sound a bit smooshy, but I’m quite proud of him.’

Olivia turned her face to Brodie. ‘Smooshy?’ she asked with a giggle.

‘Aye, I made it up, I think, but it fits.’

She narrowed her eyes. ‘It does, weirdly. I think you’ll make a lovely dad someday.’

‘And you’ll make a lovely mum,’ he replied with a smile. ‘So, what are you doing today?’ he asked, slipping his arm around her shoulders.

‘I’m interviewing again.’

‘Really? You didn’t want to leave it until after the wedding? It’s Wednesday and we get married on Saturday, you’re not expecting to hire someone and train them up by then, are you?’

Olivia shrugged. ‘Not really. But it would be nice to know that I’d at least made some progress with things.’

‘So, who are the candidates this time?’ he asked with an intrigued tilt of his head.

‘There’s a woman who’s around fifty-five, quite experienced in hotel management and says that her skills would transfer quite easily. There’s a guy who has just finished at Strathclyde university doing an MA in marketing, I could really mould him. There’s a man who took early retirement from the police in Aberdeen, not really sure what to expect there. And there’s a woman who is looking for work after taking a year out following her travel and tourism degree.’

Brodie nodded. ‘A few decent candidates, then. Good luck, sweetheart.’

Olivia sighed. ‘Thanks, I feel like I need it. Charlotte was good at the job, and it irks me that I had to let her go.’

‘But the trust was gone, there wasn’t a lot you could do.’

Olivia pursed her lips and huffed. ‘No, I suppose not. Right, I’d better get up and ready. What are your plans?’

‘I’m going to have one last check through the stuff for the new book.’

‘It’s a good thing you’d finished it when you had your accident.’