Everything stopped for a moment while she looked at him. The island, always quiet, was completely silent, muffled by the snow.
‘Me?’
‘Yes.’ There was an expression of resignation on his face. He half-shook his head, hands open in a gesture of defeat. ‘I’ve watched you fall in love with the island. I thought: maybe . . . But no. Finn got there first.’
‘Finn?’ Kate could hear the laughter in her voice.
Roderick groaned. ‘Don’t rub it in. I feel like a complete fool. I made a mistake leaving the island without speaking to you, and by the time I got back he’d made a move.’
‘Finn?’ Kate repeated. She knew she sounded stupid, but she couldn’t stop herself.
‘I saw you at Christmas and realized it was pointless. I’m as bad as my bloody father. Like I said, I’m going to spend the rest of my life here on my own. A ranting, cantankerous old git.’
‘I quite like cantankerous old gits.’ Kate reached out and put her hand on his knee.
He looked up at her, laughing. ‘Just as well, if you’re planning to work for one.’
‘I’ll drink to that.’ Kate took a hefty gulp of her wine, and tipped one-third of the bottle into Roderick’s glass. ‘More?’
‘Are you trying to get me drunk?’
‘Come back over here,’ Kate stood up, picking up his glass. Emboldened, she held out her hand to him and pulled him up from the coffee table. You’ve only got one life, she thought to herself. Morag’s words bolstered her confidence.
‘What are you up to?’
She reached into the cupboard and pulled out the second bottle of wine, then brandished it at Roderick.
‘I think we’re going to need more wine.’ Placing the second bottle on the table for insurance, she motioned to him to sit down again. She tipped some more wine into her glass, catching his eye, suddenly feeling certain.
‘What on earth are you looking so pleased with yourself for?’
‘Sit down.’ She pointed to the sofa.
Roderick raised his eyebrows at her and sat down as instructed. ‘I like this new assertive Kate,’ he said archly. ‘What’s next?’
She took a final swig of the wine and sat down on the sofa, curled up again, glass cradled in her hands. Now she was facing him, her knees touching his thigh.
Reaching forward, she placed the glass very carefully on the table in front of them. She looked into his eyes. Now or never, she thought. She reached out, curling a hand behind his neck, feeling him tense suddenly.
‘There is . . .’ and she leaned forward, hair swinging over one shoulder, a tiny, triumphant smile on her lips, ‘. . . nothing . . .’ she leaned closer, so the words were not more than breath in his ear, and she could hear a catch in his breathing ‘. . . going on between me and Finn.’
And with that, she ran her other hand through his hair, just as he would have done, and then kissed him, very gently, before pulling away.
‘I just thought maybe you needed to know that.’ She raised one eyebrow, cheekily. This was the best wine she’d ever drunk, or maybe it was the snow, or letting Flora go, or . . . well, whatever it was, she was in control for once, and it felt amazing.
‘You,’ he said, running the backs of two fingers down her cheek in a gesture so tender it caught her breath, ‘are absolutely bloody impossible.’ He twisted a hand in her ponytail, running her hair through his fingers, pulling her closer towards him so that she could feel his heart thumping through his T-shirt.
With a burst of sudden laughter he pulled her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly, and for a very long time. When they came up for air, night was falling. The little sitting room was glowing in the firelight.
‘You’ve driven me mad, you know that, don’t you?’
‘I have? Well, you make absolutely no sense.’ She tangled her fingers in his as they spoke. ‘If you hadn’t marched off the island the night after the fireworks, I wouldn’t have had to drive you mad.’
‘And if you hadn’t spent the next few months making it obvious you’d rather be with Finn, I might have been able to admit I’d fallen in love with you.’
‘You have?’
Roddy reached across to the table, picked up both telephones and switched them off. ‘I don’t think we really want to be rescued tonight. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be stranded than here with you, beautiful Kate.’ He turned back, tipping up her chin, mouth almost on hers, eyes blazing with love and happiness. ‘And yes, incidentally. I have.’
‘You love me.’ She tried the words out. She suspected it was something she’d never tire of hearing.
‘Yes, I bloody well do. Have done,’ he said, kissing her again, ‘since you fell at my feet the first day we met.’
‘Excuse me, Roddy Maxwell,’ said Kate, laughing, ‘that’s not quite how it happened.’
‘Maybe not,’ said Roderick with a grin, ‘but it’s a good story to tell the grandchildren.’
Epilogue
‘She’s absolutely adorable, aren’t you, darling?’ Roddy looked at Kate, then smiled down at the baby girl cradled in his arms. He looked as if he’d been born to it, his face gentle as he bent forward, dropping a kiss on her forehead. The baby let out the tiniest of sighs in her sleep. Kate ran a gentle finger down the perfect cheek, feeling the velvet-soft skin.
It was autumn once again, and they were standing in the long kitchen of Duntarvie House, waiting, as ever, for the kettle to boil. Roddy was sitting in the armchair beside the Aga, with Kate crouched down beside him. It was late afternoon and the shadows stretched long in the courtyard. There was a sound of happy yelling from somewhere outside.
On the table a baby car-seat joined a pile of box files, and the contents of several shopping bags were spilled out, as if someone had been distracted halfway through the job of unpacking.
Pulling out a tin from the larder cupboard, Jean looked pleased with herself. ‘I knew we had one of my fruitcakes left. Here, Kate, if you cut this up, we can have it with tea.’
‘Pass her back over, Roddy – she’s going to need a change in a moment.’ Emma reappeared, a muslin cloth still thrown over her shoulder from earlier. Kate jumped up, giving her friend a hug of excitement.
‘I can’t believe you’re all here. All of you.’
‘You can’t? Believe me, this morning at six, when we were trying to get out of the door, I didn’t think we were going to ever make it. This one,’ said Emma, scooping her third daughter, still milk-drunk and fast asleep, into her arms, ‘was sick three times, all over herself and me.’
Kate watched as Emma curled her sleeping daughter into her shoulder with the practised air of early motherhood.
Roderick unfolded himself from the chair, stretching unselfconsciously, his shirt riding up slightly. He caught her glancing at his stomach, with a quick grin. God, he was gorgeous!
‘Sweetheart,’ his voice was loving, ‘I’m going to grab Sam and the twins from the garden and then I’ll sort out lunch. I promised them they could help me make the salad.’
He sneaked a kiss as he passed her in the doorway, inviting a tiny wolf whistle from Emma.
‘You two are completely gorgeous. And, you have to admit, Lady Roderick of Posh does have a certain ring to it.’
Kate rolled her eyes.
‘This place, Kate – it’s unbelievable.’ Settling herself against the Aga, Emma looked at her oldest friend with huge eyes. ‘I still can’t believe it’s taken you nine months to move into a bloody castle. I mean, I know the cottage is sweet and all, but . . .’
‘Look, I wasn’t going to rush it. I’ve told you already.’ Kate carefully passed Emma a cup of tea, watching as she shifted the weight of the tiny, sleeping Charlotte.
‘Well, I think Kate’s done the right thing, myself.’ Jean was counting plates, and her voice came from within the larder. ‘Those two did everything upside down – they’d been so busy playing cat-and-mouse they hadn’t done a bit of courting.’
‘That�
�s true, I s’pose.’ Emma drank some tea, looking at her friend appraisingly. The old Kate wouldn’t have had the self-assurance to make Roderick wait. The island had been good for her.
‘Anyway, so now you’re giving up the cottage – have you got plans for it?’
‘I’ll explain over lunch. We’ve had an idea.’ Kate gnawed her thumbnail.
‘Oh, come on, give me a clue?’ Emma looked eager.
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have one person onside with the idea, before she and Roderick dropped the bombshell over lunch. She felt another lurch of fear in her stomach.
‘Well, you remember that enormous bill for the repairs to the roof lining?’
‘The one where you had to talk Roddy out of selling the house and giving it all up, to live on a yak farm in Peru?’
‘Yep.’ God, that had been hard work. The trouble with working together was that there was no escape from each other, and the upkeep of a huge estate was an enormous stress. There were times when she’d been very glad to march off to the cottage, which she’d insisted on keeping.
‘Well, once we’d had our first major argument, we sat down and talked about the future . . .’
Although she’d resisted moving in for what she considered a respectable amount of time – despite Roddy’s constant insistence that nobody on the island would even notice what they were up to (‘Seriously, Kate, d’you think they’ve got nothing better to do than keep an eye on what our living arrangements are?’) – Kate had already made some changes in the big house. The huge dining room that had lain untouched had been opened up, the permanently closed shutters folded back with a cloud of dust and dead moths. Together with Susan, she’d cleared the whole room, allowing the beautiful carved furniture to speak for itself. But it was so hard to get a sense of scale in a house this size – Kate had come home with the hugest bunch of flowers the afternoon they had finished, certain it was going to look beautiful atop the shining walnut table. They had balanced there, a tiny exclamation mark in the centre of the room, until Roddy had come home to find Kate sitting there, covered in dust, eating a pot-noodle at one of the sixteen chairs. He’d burst out laughing, and dinner that night had been forgotten.
Today, though, the same big table was surrounded by most of the people Kate loved best.
‘Kate, look, I’ve got all the bread – and I’ve only dropped three pieces.’ There was Jennifer, arms outstretched, a wide platter of freshly baked rolls slipping precariously sideways.
‘Oops, Jen, let me give you some help with those.’ Scooping a balancing hand under the tray, Kate managed to flip it across to the table without any further casualties occurring. ‘What happened to the ones you dropped? Have the dogs eaten them?’
‘No!’ Jennifer looked proud. ‘I picked them up and put them back on the tray.’
‘Oh-kay.’
Nobody seemed to have noticed, because they were all engrossed in conversation.
‘Daddy says there’s a five-second rule, and we don’t have to tell Emma when I spill my breakfast on the floor when she’s feeding the baby. Shall we just make it a secret, Kate?’
Jennifer cast her a sneaky, gap-toothed grin of complicity.
‘I won’t tell if you don’t.’ Kate looked at the parquet. ‘The floor’s sort of clean, isn’t it?’
Elizabeth looked at her daughter across the table, her expression suspicious. ‘What are you up to, darling?’
‘Us? Nothing at all, Mum.’ Kate winked at Jennifer, who giggled.
Looking unconvinced, Elizabeth turned back to her conversation with Morag and Ted. They’d become good friends as a result of her regular trips back to the island, ostensibly to visit Kate, although over the summer months they had often seemed to feature ‘a little drive’ with Bruno, or an evening when they’d take a stroll along the little promenade, before watching the sun set over a drink at the Bayview. Kate watched them with love. After so many years of loneliness and misplaced guilt, it was wonderful to see her mum enjoying herself, and Bruno was completely entranced. He leaned closer as Kate watched, whispering something in her mother’s ear, making her laugh.
Sam’s arrival was heralded by the now-familiar squeak of Jean’s hostess trolley. Both shelves were loaded with big bowls of Roderick’s favourite Greek salad, hummus, pitta bread and assorted olives. Discovering his love of cooking had been a genuine surprise, and a real pleasure. And not great for the figure, thought Kate, aware that her jeans were definitely getting a bit tight.
‘Ooh, yum.’ Katharine reached forward to poke a finger in the dip, but had her finger swiped away just in time.
‘Leave that, you.’ Her dad handed her a placatory piece of bread.
The room was designed for this, thought Kate. It needs a huge gathering of people to make it make sense. This house is far too big for me and Roddy to rattle around in, occasionally taking off the dust sheets to let visitors come round. She scooped up some dip with her bread, half-thinking, listening to Jean and Susan.
‘A “mindfulness centre”?’ Jean scoffed. ‘Too much money and not enough to do, if you ask me.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Susan, thoughtfully. ‘First of all, I quite like a wee bit of yoga myself.’
‘You need a nice walk – that’s what you need – not tying yourself up in knots. That’s not proper exercise,’ muttered Jean.
‘And anything that brings in a bit of money to the island has to be a good thing, don’t you agree, Kate? Have you heard about the plans for the old primary school?’ Susan looked over at her friend.
Kate nodded. ‘Finn was telling us the other day – we were off to the pub for dinner, and he was all dressed up when we bumped into him.’
‘You’ll be surprised to hear this, Susan,’ said Roderick. ‘Apparently he was off out for the night, taking the new owner of this “mindfulness place” out to dinner.’
Susan snorted. ‘Aye, that’d be right. I heard she looks like a supermodel. He’s got no shame, that one.’
‘Anyway, you two said you had something to tell us?’ Sam gave Kate a knowing look. He’d been making comments all afternoon about Roderick being broody, and Kate could tell by his expression that he thought he had them figured out.
Kate cleared her throat and took a deep breath. She felt Roderick reach for her hand under the table.
‘Um. Well, as you’re all in one place, I think now might be the time to talk about this idea we’ve had.’ Emma looked up, giving her friend a nod of encouragement.
There was a scuffle of plates and a clatter of cutlery as everyone, realizing there was An Announcement being made, stopped eating. Kate felt a wave of panic rising, but took a breath. She and Roderick had talked for ages about the way forward for Duntarvie House, and they were both aware that the changes they planned to make would affect everyone in the room.
‘Come on then, you two, my salad’s getting cold.’ Laughing at his own joke, Bruno turned to Elizabeth, who gave him a fond look.
‘This isn’t the kind of announcement I’m hoping for, is it?’ Susan wiggled her wedding finger at Kate and Roddy, a hopeful expression on her face. Sam patted his stomach suggestively.
‘Not quite, no.’ Roddy turned to Kate with a smile. ‘But it does involve a wedding, so you’re not that far off.’
‘We need to find a way to make Duntarvie pay, and everyone here knows the estate isn’t exactly flourishing.’ Kate looked at Jean, who was sitting with her hands together, plate pushed slightly to one side. Her expression was unreadable. Morag looked at Ted, who raised a questioning eyebrow. She shook her head. No, Kate could tell she was saying, I have no idea what these two are up to.
Kate realized yet again just why Roddy had seemed so irascible when they first met. The responsibility of owning an estate was huge. He – no, they (she gave his hand a squeeze, feeling it returned immediately) – had to consider the needs of the people who lived there, and balance them against some pretty terrifying financial questions. She’d never considered that Roddy had to
worry about money when she first met him; and it had been a long time before she’d realized that it was the rental of Oak House down in Oxfordshire that kept the estate afloat. With Kate by his side, he’d finally felt able to sell the house in England, and the profit had covered the astronomical cost of the roof repairs, as well as paying for the development of the visitor centre they were planning. It had also repaid an overdraft so eye-wateringly huge that Kate had counted the number of zeros on the end three times before she could believe it.
Roderick spoke, his low voice breaking through her thoughts. ‘What we realized, when we looked into it, was that this place is the perfect situation for an island wedding. We’re lucky to be close enough to the mainland that we can catch a lot of people who might not want to travel right up to the Highlands, or to the Western Isles. We’ve come up with a plan. We’d like to host weddings here, at Duntarvie.’
There was a long moment of silence. Elizabeth looked at her daughter, a slight frown stating very clearly that she felt she should have been first to know. Kate couldn’t help a small smile – old habits die hard, she thought. Or perhaps that’s just being a mother. She cast a glance at Emma, who had been the first to know, and who, standing in the kitchen earlier, had declared it a brilliant idea. Emma gave her a very discreet thumbs-up sign. Jennifer and Katharine both caught her in the act and echoed their stepmother, delightedly. Kate felt a wave of love for them all.
At last Morag spoke. Glancing at Ted, she said, ‘Well, Roddy, I think your father would be very proud to hear of your plans. Estates like this have to move with the times.’
Ted nodded.
Kate felt Roddy relax slightly. One down.
‘It’s an amazing idea.’ Jean smiled at Roddy fondly. ‘You know, I’ve watched you two pull together on the cottages, and if anyone can make it work . . .’
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