Page 36 of The Scottish Island Wedding

‘I knew there was a reason we were doing this…’ Matty grinned and put his arm around her shoulder. ‘Okay. Let’s agree that my mother is totally inappropriate for coming here with a camera crew, but let’s enjoy the spectacle. What do you say?’ He reached over to a nearby tray of drinks and handed Heather a glass of eggnog.

‘Retro drink for the lady? We have to drink every time she does something ridiculous.’

‘We’ll be under the table in about three minutes, then.’ Heather rolled her eyes, good-naturedly. ‘Okay.’

She glanced into the lounge, where Angus was letting Elizabeth steal the spotlight and helping her hand out presents to the children.

‘Oh, dear lord. Take a drink,’ Matty whispered, and they both took a sip of the yellowish cocktail.

‘Yuck. That is disgusting.’ Matty made a face. ‘How did people in the Seventies think that this was the height of sophistication?’

‘Same reason they thought it was cool to cover all food in aspic.’

‘Good point.’

Heather took a moment to watch the scene unfold in the lounge: the photographers did their thing and then stepped back after they had taken pictures of Elizabeth giving presents to apple-cheeked children and laughing in a stagy way with the adults. Angus didn’t seem to mind the photos; he was chattering away to Elizabeth in the way that he did, and she was laughing along.

Heather watched as Angus said something to Elizabeth, and made her laugh and shake her head; then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a second fake beard and handed it to her.

Heather’s eyes widened; she tugged at Matty’s hand.

‘Look!’ she whispered. ‘Is that… Is your mother about to…?’

‘Surely not.’ Matty and Heather watched in amazement as Elizabeth took the beard and hooked it over her ears. Angus took off his red velvet Santa hat and handed it to her, and Elizabeth sat down on the chair. He bowed to her, and gestured to the next child to come up and get her present. ‘Oh, my… she is. Drink.’

They both took another sip of eggnog. Heather stifled another laugh as Matty elbowed her in the ribs.

‘Well, that wasn’t on my bingo card for today.’ Matty started to laugh, as a little girl in blue dungarees and a smear of chocolate around her mouth climbed onto Elizabeth Campbell’s lap and started chattering to her. ‘I cannot believe that your dad got her to do that!’

‘This is certainly turning out to be a… err… very surprising event,’ Heather agreed, as she too got the giggles. ‘I never thought I would see the day!’

As Heather and Matty watched Elizabeth and Angus play Santa and Mrs Claus, Heather felt a glow of warmth spread from her heart to her whole body.

She realised that she had everything she wanted, now: a man to love, who loved her; a loving family; a job she loved, and the promise of their own children, in the future. In her way, she’d be just like Elizabeth: she’d have her job, her own life, as well as the children. But she and Matty would be just like her parents – the hub of a community, parents of happy children, in love with each other through all the ups and downs. That was what she wanted.

She wrapped her arms around Matty’s waist and looked up into his eyes.

‘I love you,’ she whispered.

‘I love you too, Heather.’ Matty kissed her. ‘Here’s to many more Christmases, just like this one.’

SEVENTEEN

What a difference a day makes, Heather thought, as she sat down at the long, stripped pine table in her mother’s kitchen. When she’d been met with the smell of Catriona’s beef stew with dumplings, she’d almost cried. She was so grateful that things felt like they were back on track.

Matty loved her. She loved him. And that was what mattered. They’d spent a lovely couple of hours at the Christmas party, giggling at Elizabeth’s antics; Heather was sure that they would win her over together. Then, when everyone had gone home, they’d helped Angus and Catriona clear up.

While they’d been collecting glasses and plates, and helping Angus get the deer back to their owner, Matty had told her more about his childhood. She’d listened, letting him talk about boarding school, about being distant with his brothers, about his parents. Slowly, Heather felt she was starting to understand Matty on a different level. She realised one thing: that she thought she’d known him, but that there was much more she still had to learn.

That was all right, though. Heather could feel, instinctively, that Matty was a good person. She knew he was kind, that he adored her, that he was safe, in the same way that her parents and sisters were safe. And even though Elizabeth was still being difficult, she felt as though she could deal with it. At least she understood some of what was going on with her new mother-in-law: Matty was her favourite, she adored him, but they’d had a distance in their relationship when he went to boarding school. Perhaps Elizabeth felt that she’d never been able to repair that rift. Perhaps she felt guilty. Whatever it was, it would go some way to explaining why she was being so difficult about the wedding.

Heather hoped that Elizabeth wasn’t one of those mothers that thought no one would ever be good enough for her boy; that would be pretty difficult to cope with.

But even if she was, as long as she and Matty were aligned, Heather felt as though she could cope with anything.

To celebrate all the Balhennie sisters being home, all six of them had gathered for dinner at the Balhennie Inn with Angus and Catriona after the Christmas party: after an afternoon hosting what felt like the whole island, now it was just time for family. Primrose had gone to get Aunt Joan and Aunt Chrissie from the castle to join them, and now they sat at the two ends of the long kitchen table like queens. Matty sat next to Heather, and Blossom’s partner Tom sat next to Aunt Joan. Sorrel and her partner Tam sat next to each other. The younger of Blossom’s children, Archie, sat in a wooden high chair next to Catriona, and Alexander, the four-year-old, sat next to Angus.

‘I’d like tae say a few words, just before we dig in.’ Angus stood up and dinged a fork on the side of a wine glass. ‘First of all, a big welcome tae the family – official, like – tae Matty. Stand up, lad.’ Angus beckoned to him, and Matty stood up, self-consciously. ‘Ah, no need tae be shy. I just wanted tae say a proper welcome an’ congratulations for the big day ahead,’ Angus continued.