by Joanna Neil
Ross rolled his eyes heavenwards. ‘If I didn’t know better I’d say you had this all planned out beforehand. Have you two been making deals with Izzy and Lorna?’
‘No.’ Molly and Cameron both made wide, innocent eyes, and even Izzy, who did know better, would have been fooled—except for Molly’s soft-spoken admission. ‘But we were at the shop with Maggie, and Izzy’s mother said it was a nice idea, and Mr McKinnon said, “That would bring him down from his ivory tower, wouldn’t it?” I didn’t really understand that bit.’ She frowned. ‘Perhaps he meant Santa would be there?’ She sent her uncle a quizzical look, while his face in turn took on a faintly stunned expression, his head going back a fraction, as though she’d just poked him in the eye.
Molly’s gaze was uncertain now, and Izzy groaned inwardly, pulling a face. Turning away so that the children wouldn’t see, she said in a soft plea, ‘Ross, you don’t have to take my father’s words at face value. He’s not himself lately, with Alice being in hospital and his summer season going badly. He’s not approaching anything with a good frame of mind.’
‘Oh, I don’t know about that.’ Ross’s mouth made a flat line. ‘I think your father’s pretty much living up to expectations.’ He looked down at Molly and Cameron. ‘So, you think Santa might be there, do you?’
Molly nodded. ‘He’s going to have a grotto at the back of the community hall. That’s what Mary said, up at the shop. She said it would be a treat for us to go and see him.’
‘Hmm.’ He studied his niece and nephew thoughtfully. ‘I think I’m beginning to see a conspiracy at work here. You do realise that I might have to work tomorrow evening, don’t you? I’m on call, and I may not be able to stay with you, which means Maggie will be in charge.’
‘She won’t mind if Izzy and Lorna say they’ll look after us,’ Cameron put in quickly, sensing that his uncle might be weakening.
Ross’s mouth twisted at that, but he glanced towards Izzy with slightly raised eyebrows. ‘Are you sure about all this? Do you know what you’re letting yourselves in for?’
‘I’m okay with it,’ Izzy said, ‘and Lorna’s game, too. I’ll keep in touch with Maggie, if you like, to let her know what’s going on. And as for the baking—well, I could bring the children back to you as soon as we’re done. I’m assuming you’ll be at home later this afternoon?’
He nodded. ‘I’ll be showing the builders round the place. There are a few things that need doing—improving the damp course and pointing up the walls. I have to somehow try to turn the place into a home. I think Molly and Cameron are finding it a bit draughty and cold, especially in their bedrooms. They’ve been used to all their home comforts back in the Lake District. Which led me to thinking about your problems…I thought maybe you would be able to make use of these oil-filled radiators.’
He opened up the back of his car to reveal two mobile heaters stacked in the back. ‘I’ve asked an engineer to come and have a look at your central heating system, but he’s planned on coming along on Monday. I don’t know if that will be a problem for you.’
‘I’ll be on duty at the hospital on Monday,’ Izzy said, thinking things through. ‘It’s my on-call day. I’m not sure whether Lorna will be here to show him around.’
‘No problem,’ Lorna put in. ‘It’s my day off.’ She grinned mischievously. ‘There’s no chance he’ll be single, as well as tall, dark and handsome, I suppose?’
Ross chuckled. ‘That depends very much on your viewpoint, I imagine. He seems okay to me, but who am I to judge? As far as I know he isn’t accounted for.’
‘That’s sorted, then. His goose is as good as cooked.’ Lorna peered into the car. ‘Oh, they look just the business, don’t they? And each of them big enough to heat a large room. They’ll retain the heat for a while, as well, being oil filled. Great.’
‘I’m glad I could help.’ Ross lifted out the heaters and started to carry them into the cottage. ‘I’ve arranged for someone else to come and look at the roof, but the fence will take a little longer to put right. The carpenter has a full work-load after all the damage caused by the storm, but he’ll come and sort it out as soon as possible.’
‘That’s okay. At least we know that repairs are in hand.’ Izzy showed him where to place the heaters on the floor of the kitchen. ‘Thanks for dealing with it so speedily.’
‘It’s the least I can do.’ He made a crooked smile. ‘Besides, I wouldn’t want to give your father any more ammunition to fire at me. Last I heard he was calling a meeting with the villagers to hatch a protest over the building work on the estate.’
Izzy wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Her father had every reason to worry about the effect Ross’s plans would have on his own tourist bookings, but as far as she could tell Ross was within his rights to go ahead with the work—unless he had extended the remit of the plans.
He bent to say goodbye to the children. ‘Be good, both of you…and if you get the chance save a gingerbread man for your mother. We could take it over to her tomorrow morning.’
Molly and Cameron whooped with excitement, before going off with Lorna to wash their hands.
Izzy walked with him back to the car. ‘I wish you and my father would try to call a truce,’ she said. ‘Could you not arrange a meeting of your own and try to iron out a few of the problems between you?’
He laid a hand on his chest, as though she had knocked him for six. ‘Do you really believe there’s any chance that he would agree to it?’ He shook his head. ‘Living in cloud cuckoo land springs to mind.’
He walked round to the driver’s side of the car and pulled open the door. ‘I don’t blame you for trying, though, Izzy…ever the peacemaker. Only I think you underestimate the extent of the problem.’
He smiled. ‘I promise for my part that I’ll try to keep things on a civil footing, but I have to bring the estate into the twenty-first century, and that means taking steps that may not be popular with everyone.’ Sliding into his seat, he added, ‘Will you give me a ring when you’re bringing the children back? That way I’ll make sure I’m able to greet you at the main door.’
She nodded, watching him as he drove away. Her thoughts were troubled as she went back to the kitchen, but the children were waiting and she put on a bright smile.
‘All right, then,’ she said, looking at them. ‘What’s the first thing we do when we’re about to bake?’
‘Weigh out the flour?’ Molly suggested.
‘That’s certainly something we need to do, but not the first thing. Good try, but no.’
‘Wash our hands?’ Cameron said, holding his up for her to see.
‘Another good answer, but not quite what I was thinking.’ She went over to the cooker. ‘We switch on the oven so that it can be heating up while we mix the ingredients. See?’ She turned the dial. ‘Right, then. Where’s Lorna? I thought she was going to help us?’
‘I’m here,’ Lorna said, coming into the kitchen. ‘I’m hungry already, just at the thought of baking. Shall we make some chocolate butterfly cakes, as well?’
An hour or so later they were all flour spattered, and a wonderful aroma of chocolate and ginger filled the kitchen. Molly and Cameron had smears of chocolate around their mouths, and Molly was putting the finishing touches to the icing on the last of the gingerbread men.
‘That one’s for Mummy,’ she said, ‘and this one’s for Uncle Ross. Do you think he’ll like his green icing tie?’
‘He’ll love it,’ Lorna answered. ‘He’s definitely the best-looking gingerbread man in the bunch.’
A short time later the children went up to the bathroom to clean up, while Izzy and Lorna tidied the kitchen.
‘They’re desperately hoping that Alice will be well enough to come home in the New Year,’ Lorna said. ‘Do you think it will happen?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Izzy said with a frown. ‘She’s still very weak, but the physiotherapist is coming in every day to work with her, and Greg is keeping an eye on things on the days
when he’s based at the hospital in Inverness.’ She rinsed the baking tray and placed it on the rack on the draining board. ‘The one thing she has in her favour is that she’s desperate to get back home to be with the children. She’s worried about how they’re settling. They’ve been through a lot of upheaval in the last few months.’
Lorna nodded. ‘It must make her feel better to know that you’re keeping an eye on them. Ross seems to be doing everything within his means, but you’re family, too, and they probably need that extra involvement.’
Izzy washed the pastry board, thinking about the time she had spent with her cousin in hospital. ‘Alice has asked me to keep track of how they’re doing—I would have done it anyway, because I think the world of Molly and Cameron. She knows Ross will do his very best for them, but she’s aware of how the villagers feel about the Buchanans, and she doesn’t know if any of that will rub off on the children. Once they start to go to school here there might be problems, and added to that Ross is a busy man, with lots of demands on his time and energy. She worries that they might be missing out on love and cuddles.’
‘There’s not much chance of that,’ Lorna said with a smile, drying the mixing bowl with a teatowel. ‘Every time they come round you give them a big hug, and from what I hear Alice does the same at every visit.’
Molly and Cameron came into the room, arguing noisily. ‘I’m giving Mummy the chocolate cake with icing on it,’ Molly said in an emphatic tone. ‘You’re giving her the one with the butterfly wings.’
‘I want to give her one with icing,’ Cameron insisted. ‘I said it first.’
‘You could both give her one of each and a gingerbread man,’ Izzy said, cutting in. ‘That way she’ll have a treat for nearly every day of the week.’
Satisfied, the children accepted that compromise, and some time later Izzy set off with them along the path to Ross’s home, taking with her a couple of rugs from the attic that might go well in the children’s rooms.
The castle was a grand stone building, with a square turret and long rectangular windows. It was situated towards the end of a long, rocky promontory, almost an island in itself, where the waters of the loch lapped gently against the craggy shoreline.
From some distance away the sea washed into the loch, and depending on the tide part of the land leading to the promontory might be flooded with water. A wide stone bridge spanned this stretch of land between the mainland and the castle, and Izzy paused there for a moment to gaze at Ross’s Highland home. It was beautiful, golden in the dying sunlight of the December day, a majestic edifice set against the clear blue of the sky, with a backdrop of wooded hills and distant mountain peaks and the glassy surface of the loch all around.
Ross met her at the main door, as promised, and immediately Molly bombarded him with the delights of her baking session. ‘I’ve made you a gingerbread man,’ she said, ‘and Cameron’s made you a chocolate cake.’
‘Just what I wanted,’ he said, ushering the children into the large hall and turning to relieve Izzy of the parcels she was carrying. ‘Here, let me help,’ he said, placing them down on an elegant side-table.
He laid a hand lightly on the small of her back. ‘Come in, Izzy. It must be years since you’ve been up here. Will you stay awhile and have a drink with me? I can offer you tea, coffee, or something stronger…A glass of mulled wine, maybe, or perhaps you’d like to try one of our special fruit wines?’
‘Well…I ought to go back and give Lorna a hand with the chores,’ she said in a diffident fashion, wanting to back out, but searching for an excuse. It was one thing to watch over the children, or meet up with Ross because of their work commitments, but it was quite another to deliberately fraternise with the enemy.
She hadn’t bargained on the intimacy of his touch, though. It undermined all her defences. He was only welcoming her into his home, but his greeting felt very much like a caress. Even now it was doing strange things to her nervous system, so that all her senses had erupted into a feverish flurry of excitement.
‘I…um…I just wanted to drop off these wool rugs,’ she told him, indicating the parcels. ‘My aunt gave them to me when I moved into the cottage, but I’ve never had occasion to use them since my mother also gave me some. I thought they might come in handy for the children, though. They said the floors were bare in their rooms, and it might be nice for them to have them at the side of their beds. They’re very colourful, and they seem to like them, so it’s a shame for them to stay up in my attic. Unless you object, that is?’
‘I think it’s a great idea. It saves me wondering what to put down for them.’ He smiled. ‘The chores will wait for a while, won’t they? I know you’ve been in to work this morning, and now you’ve had a busy afternoon, so I’m sure you could do with a break. Let me show you around.’ He let his hand fall from her, and with that action her head began to clear a little.
‘Shall I take your jacket?’ he asked. ‘I’ll hang it up for you.’
She gave in, curiosity about the house overcoming her reluctance to linger and be lured into his silken trap. ‘All right, I’ll stay for just a little while.’ She shrugged out of her jacket and he went to put it on a hanger in the cloakroom, then fetched the rugs from the table.
‘Maggie left a ham and some cheeses out on the table in the kitchen,’ he said, ‘and we could share some of her fresh-baked bread if you’ve a mind to. I haven’t eaten yet, and I could do with a snack. I expect the children could, too—unless they’ve filled up on cakes and cookies.’
As he spoke he led the way through the wide oakpanelled hall into the drawing room. Light flooded in here through windows that were almost floor-to-ceiling, casting a gentle late-afternoon glow over everything. Across the room there was an oak beam fireplace, where glowing coals in the grate sparked yellow flames, giving out warmth that filled the room. The furniture was luxurious, with deep-cushioned sofas and armchairs upholstered in light-coloured plush fabrics, and Izzy saw that there was a lovely Sheraton writing table to one side, along with a bookcase made of the same beautifully polished rosewood.
‘That sounds tempting,’ she said, ‘but I think you’ll find Molly and Cameron are stuffed to the gills. They tried a little of everything as we went along.’
‘You didn’t?’
She shook her head. ‘Lorna is the one who likes cakes and buns and biscuits. She’s lucky. She can eat anything and not put on an ounce of weight.’
He studied her, his gaze shimmering over the clinging lines of her cotton top and smooth denim jeans. ‘I don’t believe for one minute that you have a problem on that score.’
A flush of heat ran along her cheekbones, and to distract him from the subject, she gazed around. ‘This is a beautiful room,’ she murmured. ‘Is it your doing? I don’t remember it from when I was here last.’
He nodded. ‘I organised the renovation when I was here on one of my brief visits. I aim to improve the whole building—even if I have to do it one room at a time. In fact, I could show you the rooms where the children are sleeping. Maybe you could give me some advice on how to change the decor in there. I was thinking about laying down carpets, but in the meantime the rugs you’ve brought will be very useful.’
‘I could do that,’ she said carefully. After all, Alice had asked her to keep an eye on the children, hadn’t she? ‘I expect it’s been difficult for you, figuring out what’s best for Molly and Cameron?’
‘You’re right. It hasn’t been easy. Though of course I did have contact with them before the accident. I used to visit my brother and Alice whenever it was possible. But my work took me around and about, so it wasn’t possible to see them on a regular basis.’
He looked around. ‘The children seem to have disappeared. I expect they’ve gone to play in their rooms.’ Childish voices from a short distance away seemed to confirm that, and he said, ‘Shall we take the rugs up there?’
She nodded. ‘That might be a good idea.’
‘I know Alice worries about ho
w the children are getting on,’ he said, ‘and I’ve tried to reassure her. But if you see how things really are, you might be able to set her mind at rest.’
‘I’m sure Alice appreciates everything that you’re doing for her and for the children,’ Izzy said. ‘She told me how marvellous you’ve been, helping ever since the accident.’
‘I couldn’t stand by and do nothing, could I? Robert was my brother, after all, and Molly and Cameron are his children. As for Alice—I’ve always looked out for her.’
They went back to the hall and started up the stairs. Izzy said carefully, ‘Is that why you came back here—to bring Alice closer to her family? After all, you could have found a hospital nearer to where you were living, couldn’t you? Up until now you’ve never shown any interest in coming back here to stay for any length of time.’
He sent her an oblique glance. ‘That was part of it. I knew that she would want to be near to you and your mother, and it was difficult for both of you to visit as often as you would have liked while she was in the Lake District.’
‘And the other part?’
He made a brief smile. ‘That’s a little more complicated. I was always conscious of the need to deal with the estate, and I’d been thinking about moving back here for some time. But I was always busy with my work. I enjoyed what I was doing, and I had no real reason to come back to this place while Jake was looking after things. As far as I was concerned it was being managed well enough with my input from a distance.’
He paused at the top of the stairs, looking around. ‘I knew this was what my brother had always wanted. I offered him the chance to take over, to run the estate, but Robert wouldn’t consider it. He saw it as second best. If he couldn’t be the true Laird, he didn’t want any part of it.’
‘I’m sorry. That must have been difficult for you.’
‘Maybe a little. It stuck in his throat that I had the inheritance but didn’t have any inclination to take it up wholeheartedly. It caused more than a few problems between us, though in the end he and Alice decided that they would come back home to Glenmuir. I think they were hoping that they might eventually put things right with your father, and Robert was planning to develop his business interests back here. I’d have been happy for him to live at the castle, but he wouldn’t take me up on it.’