Page 38 of Snowy Surprises in the Highlands

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Harris glared at the screen on his phone; his knuckles turned white. ‘What the hell do you mean you have my mother?’ he growled through gritted teeth. ‘If you so much as⁠—’

‘Whoa, wait! No! No! I don’t mean I have them, have them.’ The man on the screen widened his eyes in apparent alarm. ‘I mean I have them here, with me. But not in a sinister, kidnappy kind of way.’

‘In what way do you mean then?’ Harris snapped.

The man glanced off to the side. ‘Maeve, Isla? Come here! I think you’d better speak to Mr Donaldson.’

The phone was fumbled and suddenly they were looking at the gravel for a moment, and then the sky, until a new face could be seen on the screen.

Bella’s heart leapt as her granny beamed at them. ‘Hey, my loves! It’s Granny Isla,’ she said loudly as if they couldn’t see her.

Relief flooded Bella and her legs weakened so she clung to Harris. ‘We can see that! Are you okay?’ she asked. ‘Where’s Maeve?’

Isla gestured with her head and suddenly Maeve appeared on screen too. ‘Hi, ma wee darlins,’ she said, sounding a little tipsy.

‘What the heck is going on, Mum?’ Harris asked. ‘We’ve been worried sick.’

Isla held up her hand and wiggled her fingers towards the camera where a new, gold addition was visible. ‘We got married!’ she announced with a wide smile.

Bella, her parents and Harris all shared questioning glances. The rest of them were stunned into silence but Bella snatched the phone from Harris and glared at her granny. ‘I’m sorry, what? You and Maeve have got married?’

Isla laughed. ‘Och, you wee dafty, I’m not a thespian. No, me and Tam have got wed! Maeve was my flower girl and witness.’ Tam’s face appeared beside Isla.

‘Oh! So, Tam is there!’ Bella said, turning to her parents.

‘His daughter must be so worried,’ Bella’s mum said, with one hand on her face and the other over her heart.

‘Hello, bella Bella dearie, I’ve made an honest woman out of your granny,’ Tam said, smiling proudly.

Bella’s nostrils flared. ‘I’m sorry but that’s debatable at this point because she totally lied about this!’

Bella’s dad slumped onto the sofa. ‘Oh God, she’s finally lost the plot,’ he said with a sigh. ‘She’s actually gone and lost the bloody plot.’

‘I did not lie, Arabella,’ Isla said tersely. ‘I just didn’t tell you what I was doing, that’s all.’

‘Granny, that’s what you call a lie by omission. And it’s still a lie. You have some serious explaining to do,’ Bella snapped. ‘Where the hell are you for starters?’

‘We’re in Gretna, of course.’

Bella gasped. ‘What! The Gretna that’s a five-and-a-half-hour drive away?’

‘Aye, the very same,’ Isla said, brushing the comment off as if that was a normal, everyday journey for her. ‘We’re talking to you on Murray’s phone! He’s the hotel manager. He was the nice man you spoke to earlier. He saw you on the news and told us we should contact you. But I don’t know why you were so worried.’

Bella shook her head, trying to understand what on earth was going on because she felt like she had somehow fallen into a parallel universe where things made even less sense than normal. ‘Oh, no, nothing to worry about at all when three octogenarians suddenly disappear without a trace.’ She realised the sarcasm was unnecessary but couldn’t help herself. ‘And… why aren’t you using your phone? Or Maeve’s for that matter?’

Isla rolled her eyes. ‘Ah well, you see, Maeve dropped hers in the loo on the day we got here, and I told her to put it in a bag of rice, but we didn’t have any and the kitchen was closed at that point. But she didn’t want to put her hand in to get it oot the loo anyway. And I said, “Well, I’m not putting my hand in there, Maeve Donaldson. I know we’re best friends, but I have to draw the line somewhere.” So, we had to wait for the cleaner to come with rubber gloves, and then they only had couscous in the kitchen because the rice was for something on the menu, and I wasn’t sure if that would work the same as rice. So, by that time I think the phone was totally up the swanny and we just didn’t bother.’

Bella was exhausted just listening to the explanation. ‘Okay, so that explains Maeve’s phone but what about Tam’s? Or yours?’ She was none the wiser at this point.

‘Tam doesnae have a mobile telephone because he thinks they’re bad for your health. You do hear all sorts about radiators getting into your brain, so I can understand his concerns. I may be almost eighty but I’m no ready to pop my clogs yet.’

Bella shared a smirk with her dad, who she guessed was thinking the same thing: actually, you’re kidding no one, you’re almost ninety! Oblivious to what they were thinking, Isla continued, ‘But I do like my phone to watch the tick tack videos on and that’s what I told Tam. Love me, love my mobile phone. But anyway, it ran out of juice, my phone, not my brain, that is, I’m still totally compos mental in that department.’

You’re half right, Bella thought. ‘And the portable phone charger I bought you for occasions such as this?’

Isla’s face tinged pink and she cleared her throat. ‘Ah yes, well, I sort of discovered that it doesn’t work if you don’t actually charge it to begin with. And I forgot to pick up my other one that plugs into the wall socket thingy.’