Page 55 of The Scottish Island Inn

‘We were happy,’ he insisted, stubbornly.

‘No, we weren’t!’ Sorrel lost her temper. ‘We implies more than one person. We implies a team. We is a marriage. You and I were none of those things.’

‘But Sorrel…’ Simon tried to reach for her again and she hit his hand away.

‘Do not touch me. Let me out of this car right now.’ She fixed him with a steely gaze. ‘It’s the middle of the day. You are parked on Balhennie property. The gatehouse saw your registration number as you drove in. If you don’t let me out right now, believe me, you will be in big trouble.’

She was fibbing; she had no idea if anyone was in the gatehouse at the entrance to the estate, and, from memory, it usually only contained gardeners’ tools. But Simon didn’t know that.

‘Fine, fine. No need to be dramatic,’ he muttered, and unlocked the doors.

Sorrel jumped out of the car and slammed the door shut behind her.

Tam was already far away from the entrance, and she watched as he disappeared out of sight, heading towards the car park.

Sorrel ran towards the entrance to the car park, hoping to catch Tam up. She was so desperate to reach him, to talk to him; she was terrified that he’d misinterpret what he’d just seen, when in fact, Simon had been harassing her, and she felt rattled by the whole experience.

But as she reached it and looked around, breathless, Tam was nowhere to be seen.

THIRTY-ONE

‘Sorrel. Hey.’ Heather approached her cautiously, like you’d approach a wild horse. ‘I was taking measurements for the decorations in the great hall. For the wedding.’ She studied Sorrel’s face. ‘What’s wrong? You seem upset.’

‘Simon. He just dropped me off,’ Sorrel said, distraught. ‘He was… being pretty awful. He tried to kiss me. He wants us to stay together… I told him I didn’t.’

‘Simon?’ Heather did a double take. ‘Your partner?’

‘Yeah.’ Sorrel stared into the car park, wishing Tam would come back, but there was no sign of him. ‘Did you… I just saw Tam…’ she trailed off, taking a deep breath.

‘Sorrel. What’s wrong?’ Heather took her sister by both arms and looked at her carefully. ‘Tell me what’s happened.’

They sat on the large stone step at the base of the grand entrance to the castle, the heavy wooden doors, studded with iron bolts, behind them. Sorrel told Heather everything that had just happened: the day before with Tam and staying at the B&B, Simon arriving without warning that morning, and then, finally, Tam seeing them together.

‘I told him it was over. I don’t know why he’s so desperate to keep it going between us.’ Sorrel shook her head. ‘And then… I think Tam saw us in the car. I ran after him, but he’s gone. I don’t know what he must think.’

‘Oh, no.’ Heather looked concerned.

‘Oh, god.’ Sorrel put her head between her knees. ‘I wanted to explain, but he’s just blanking me. I think he thinks I’m back with Simon, but I’m not. I’m done with him.’ Sorrel let out a long breath and sat up again. ‘I just really don’t need all this, you know? I’ve got enough on my mind. I haven’t even told you that I found out about my biological father.’

‘Your real dad?’ Heather opened her eyes wide in shock. ‘Your biological father?’

‘Yes.’

‘Who is he? I didn’t know you knew who it was.’

‘I didn’t. I don’t. But Aunt Joan told me some guy waylaid Aunt Chrissie at the café and asked about me. And it sounds like… you know when we were there the other day? And you said some guy was staring at me?’

‘The bad aura. Right. Oh. You think it’s the same person?’ Heather shivered. ‘That’s sent a chill right through me.’

‘It must be. Why else would some random guy ask Chrissie about me? And he remembers her and Mum from way back.’ Sorrel chewed her lip, thinking. ‘That night. When I walked in to Mum and Dad talking about it, Mum was worried because my real dad had come back to Skye. She didn’t say much about it then, but she said he wanted to see me. Then I left, obviously.’

‘Well, it’s reasonable that he would want to see you,’ Heather said, gently. ‘Would that be so bad? You don’t have to build a relationship with him if you don’t want to, but maybe we should go and see him? Do you know where he is?’

‘You’d come with me?’ Sorrel looked at her sister, askance.

‘Yeah. Why not? I’m here. I might as well.’ Heather shrugged. ‘Shall we go?’

‘What, now?’