Finding Hope at the Loch (Loch Lannick Book 7)

by Hannah Ellis

  “Yeah. We all got dresses. It was surprisingly easy.”

  “What’s your dress like?”

  “White satin with an empire waistline and––”

  “Isla!” Logan snapped. “Don’t really tell me.”

  “Why did you ask then?”

  “It was a joke. You were supposed to tell me to shut up, not describe it to me!”

  “Well, I’m fairly sure you’ve no idea what an empire waistline is anyway so all I’ve told you is white dress. I presume you’d already guessed that.”

  “A white dress and a veil is all I need to know.”

  “Well I’m not wearing a veil so you can get that image out of your head.”

  “Why not?” He looked genuinely surprised.

  “I don’t understand the appeal of wearing a piece of gauze on your head. It’s a weird tradition.”

  “What about the tradition of something borrowed, something blue and all that.”

  “I’m not doing that either. Superstitious nonsense.”

  “You realise if our marriage doesn’t work out, it’ll all be your fault?”

  She reached for her drink, a smile playing at her lips. “I take full responsibility.” Glancing around, she caught Lexie’s eye and looked away again quickly. “I’m such a weirdo,” she muttered.

  “Yep,” Logan chimed.

  As she snapped her gaze to him, she gave his leg a kick under the table.

  “Sorry!” He took a swig of his pint. “Why are you a weirdo?”

  “I was looking at Lexie before and she caught me. She probably thought I was checking her out. Now I almost did it again.”

  “You were checking Lexie out?”

  “No. When we were shopping today, Leana and Elspeth chose dresses in the same colour but slightly different styles. There was one in another style and I kept thinking it would look great on Lexie. When I saw her, I could totally imagine her wearing it. I wanted to ask her if she’d be a bridesmaid but I chickened out.”

  “I’m sure she would have said yes.”

  “I don’t think she would. I asked her if she wanted to hang out and talk weddings and she even gave me the brush off for that, so there’s no way she’d want to be my bridesmaid.”

  “Maybe she just turned you down because you’d been checking her out and she was worried about your intentions.”

  She gave his arm a quick slap to shut him up. “Can you be serious, please?”

  “Yeah. But if you want me to be serious you probably shouldn’t start conversations by telling me you’ve been checking out women. I’m having trouble moving on from that thought.”

  “I didn’t say I was checking her out!”

  He stretched his legs out and looked thoughtful. “If she turned down your offer of talking about weddings, it was probably just because she knows it’s not a subject you’re overly enthusiastic about. She probably just didn’t fancy an evening of listening to you complaining.”

  “That’s pretty much what she said.”

  “There you go then. If you asked her to do something that interested her, I’m sure she’d be happy to hang out with you.”

  “Do you think so?”

  “I guess so. I’m not sure why this is an issue.”

  “Because I realised I don’t have a best friend. Most people have a best friend, don’t they?”

  “You’ve got me,” he said with a seriousness to his gaze that made her smile.

  “That’s the truth of it. You’ve been my best friend since we were twelve. Which is nice, but I feel as though I should have female friends too.”

  “You’ve got Elspeth and Leana.”

  “Sisters don’t count. Especially given the fact they’d probably never be friends with me if they weren’t my sisters.” Her gaze drifted across the room. “Lexie’s my friend,” she said more confidently than she felt.

  “Will you ask her to be a bridesmaid then?”

  “No. I don’t think so. I wish you’d never mentioned it. You made me completely over-think it.”

  “I might have known it would be my fault.”

  “How do I look?” Lexie asked, standing in the middle of the living room. She’d got home from work to find Nick sprawled on the couch. She always liked it when he was still up when she got home.

  “I feel like this is some sort of trap.” He shifted onto his back.

  Lexie looked down at herself. Jeans and T-shirt were her usual combo for a shift at the pub, and she was sure she didn’t look different to any other night. “Isla was looking at me strangely,” she said.

  “How do you mean?”

  “Like maybe she fancies me.”

  Nick made a noise that was something between a laugh and a cough.

  “I’m serious. She looked me up and down with this dreamy look in her eye.”

  “Isla’s my ex-girlfriend,” Nick said, dropping his legs off the couch to sit up.

  “Yeah. I know. So what?”

  “So any images you put in my head around the idea of her having a thing for you is purely your own fault.”

  Sitting beside him, she gave him a playful nudge. “She also asked me if I want to hang out and talk about our wedding plans.”

  “That’s nice. It might be fun.”

  “Isla and I don’t have the kind of friendship where we hang out alone. So it felt weird to start with. But she also seems to hate the subject of weddings so I’m not sure why she suggested that.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I didn’t really say anything, just sidestepped the question. I don’t want to spend an evening with her telling me it’s not too late to decide to elope.”

  “It’s not the worst idea,” Nick said. “I wouldn’t mind a quick ceremony, then a week sipping cocktails on a tropical beach.”

  “When you put it like that it does sound pretty good,” Lexie said. “It would also put an end to my dad’s protests.”

  “What’s he complaining about now?”

  “He thinks we should have a long engagement. Apparently getting married next year would be rushing things.”

  “Let’s elope then.” Nick’s eyes sparkled with mischief as he pulled his laptop onto his knees.

  “I would never actually do it,” Lexie said, while Nick’s fingers flew over the keyboard. He went quiet as his eyes focused on the screen. “What did you find?”

  “I forgot the tropical beach part and just searched for places to elope to.”

  “What came up?”

  “Gretna Green is top of the list.”

  Lexie smiled. “You definitely need to refine the search.”

  “My great grandparents got married at Gretna,” Nick said. “It’s a very romantic story. The history of the place is fascinating.”

  “I thought it was just a big tourist trap?”

  “It’s quite commercial now. But it’s so steeped in history that I imagine there must be an incredible atmosphere. These days people elope to save money or avoid the stress of family issues, but imagine if running away was the only way you could get married? Rushing across the border and racing to get married before someone stopped you.”

  Lexie felt a surge of affection for Nick. She loved the sparkle in his eyes when he talked so passionately. If anyone else was telling her this stuff she’d probably find it completely boring. She knew if she encouraged him he’d keep talking.

  “So back in the day,” she said, “in England you had to be eighteen to get married but in Scotland you only had to be sixteen?”

  “Twenty-one in England,” he said. “The Marriage Act of 1784 said you had to be twenty-one and get married in a church. Scotland refused to introduce the same law, so couples would flee over the border to get married in Scotland. They had these handfasting ceremonies. You could turn up and get married there and then.”

  Lexie pointed at the picture on the website. “What’s the anvil all about?”

  “Blacksmiths started performing handfasting ceremonies. They called themselves anvil prie
sts and would bang the anvil to signal that a marriage had taken place.” He shifted to look straight at Lexie. “It was said that in the same way as they forged metal, they joined couples in the heat of the moment, binding them for a lifetime.”

  “That is quite romantic,” she remarked.

  He nodded. “You wouldn’t believe the number of historical romance novels set in England that mention a couple rushing off to Gretna Green in a mad dash to get married.”

  “Nick?” she whispered when he turned back to the computer screen. “Do you secretly read historical romance novels?”

  His cheeks turned a deep shade of red. “No.”

  “You do, don’t you?” she asked, amused but not overly surprised by the idea.

  “No!” He laughed at her when she gave him a look that said she didn’t believe him. “I might have read a few,” he finally admitted. “But so many of them are factually inaccurate that I got frustrated.”

  “You’re so cute,” she said.

  “I was only reading them for the history.”

  “Sure you were!”

  He rolled his eyes. “Do you want to run away to Gretna Green with me or what?”

  “Probably not.”

  “Put it on the list, though,” he said, pointing at her phone. “I quite like the idea.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” Lexie asked her mum the following Friday evening. They were tidying up the pub and Lexie was looking forward to getting home and into bed.

  “I’m just thinking how gorgeous you’ll look in a wedding dress,” Mary replied. “You’ve such a great figure. I can’t wait for us to go dress shopping.”

  Lexie was excited about the prospect too. She’d never been someone who got particularly excited by fashion and shopping trips, but a day out with her mum and Leana, trying wedding dresses on, would be great fun.

  “I thought you hadn’t decided on a venue yet,” Angus said, up-ending a couple of stools and setting them atop the table. “Surely you won’t be dress shopping for a while.”

  “That doesn’t mean we can’t get excited about it already,” Mary said.

  “I can’t wait,” Lexie said. “We can go over to Inverness and make a whole day of it. Have a fancy lunch somewhere. I’ll definitely invite Leana along. And maybe Elspeth too.”

  “Will you have both of them as bridesmaids?” Mary asked.

  “I think so.” Lexie hadn’t actually given it much thought. “We can shop for bridesmaid dresses at the same time. And you’ll need a new outfit too.”

  “And a hat,” Mary said, flashing Lexie an excited grin.

  “It’s all sounding very expensive already,” Angus said.

  Mary shot him a fierce look. “Will you stop your grumbling? It’s your only daughter getting married.” Her features softened as she turned her attention to Lexie. “Money is no object. You choose whatever you want and we’ll take care of it.”

  “Thank you.” Lexie had presumed they’d pay for some of the wedding but it was nice to have it confirmed. “You definitely don’t need to pay for everything, but if you could help out with some of it we’d really appreciate it.”

  “Don’t be daft,” Mary said. “We want to pay. Don’t we, Angus?”

  When his wife glared at him, he forced his lips upwards. “Of course.”

  “Thank you,” Lexie said.

  “You could always have the reception here,” Angus said. “That would help keep costs down.”

  “I just said money’s no object,” Mary snapped at him. “She doesn’t need to keep costs down. She’ll only get married once and it needs to be perfect.”

  After feeling grateful for their offer to pay for the wedding, Lexie felt a sudden pang of worry that it might cause problems. Angus had always been a bit of a penny pincher. There was a chance the wedding planning would end up with a lot of quibbling over the price of things.

  “We could dress the place up nice,” Angus said, turning and sizing up the room. “Put covers on the chairs and get some nice tablecloths and decorations.”

  “Could we have a marquee out the back so we have more space?” Lexie asked.

  “Aye,” Angus said. “I don’t see why not. And having it here would mean you can pick whatever date you want. You won’t have to worry about availability. Just pick your date.”

  It almost sounded as though her dad was coming around to the idea of the wedding. “So you’re not going to insist on a long engagement?” she asked.

  “Well don’t get married too quick.” He rolled his eyes. “But I think next summer might be nice.”

  Lexie felt a lightness in her chest and moved to plant a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you,” she said. Given the hint of smugness to Mary’s smile, Lexie was fairly sure she had something to do with Angus’s change of heart. Lexie didn’t care what it was, she was just happy that she wasn’t going to have to fight Angus every step of the way.

  Scanning the room, she imagined it decorated with white tablecloths and balloons and streamers. She could absolutely imagine it. “To be honest, I thought it might be a bit awkward for Grandad to come here.” Lexie was fairly sure Angus had told Wesley he wasn’t welcome there at some point when she was small. “But if you think it would be okay, I’d really like to have the reception here. It would be quite fitting, wouldn’t it?” she said to her mum. “This place is where Nick and I got to know each other.”

  “It’s completely up to you,” Mary replied. “Just don’t decide on this place because it’s cheap! You can have whatever you want.”

  “You’re inviting Wesley to the wedding?” Angus asked, his eyes trained on Lexie.

  “Aye.” She felt her features tense. “He’s my grandad. Of course I’ll invite him.”

  “Well, there’s not much chance of him turning up if you have the wedding here,” Angus said.

  “Only because he’d think he wasn’t welcome. If you talk to him and tell him it’s fine it won’t be an issue.”

  “I haven’t spoken to him in twenty years, and I’m not about to start now. He’s not welcome in my pub.”

  Lexie felt tears stinging her eyes. There’d been about twenty seconds when she’d thought the wedding planning might turn out to be wonderfully easy. But apparently Angus was set on her not getting the wedding she wanted.

  “What about Stephanie?” Angus asked. “Will you be inviting her too?”

  Lexie felt her insides tighten. “No. Why would I invite her?”

  “Because she’s your birth mother. I know things didn’t work out when you went to live with her, but I thought you might still invite her.”

  If he knew the full extent of what had happened when Lexie went to live with Stephanie, he’d know there was no way in the world she’d ever invite her. “She’s definitely not coming to the wedding.” Lexie blinked back tears. “And if Grandad’s not welcome at the pub we’re back to the drawing board. We’ll choose somewhere neutral. I presume you can at least be civil to him for one day?”

  “If you’re hell-bent on him being at the wedding, I suppose I’ll just have to ignore him.”

  “Oh my God.” Lexie gave up on trying to keep her cool. “You’re going to make it awkward, aren’t you? It’s my wedding day. Can’t you put your differences aside for one day?”

  “Like I said, I’ll ignore him. As long as he stays out of my way I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

  “You realise your feud is ridiculous?” Lexie said, feeling suddenly more exasperated than angry. “And you’re not the victim of the situation? Grandad has every right to be angry with you, but I’m not sure why you have a problem with him.”

  “That’s because you don’t really know what happened,” Angus said huffily.

  “Do you?” she asked. “Do you even remember why you’re angry with him?”

  His features were set in a hard frown and he didn’t reply.

  “I didn’t think so,” she said.

  There was no sign of Nick when Lexie g
ot home. As she strode up the stairs, she hoped he was still awake. She really needed to vent. Thankfully, he was only just getting into bed.

  “I was trying to wait up for you,” he said. “But I was falling asleep on the couch. How was work?”

  “Awful.” She began to undress.

  “Why?”

  “I got into a conversation with Mum and Dad about the wedding.”

  “And?”

  Lexie pulled her pyjamas on and sat on the bed. “It started well. They offered to pay, and Dad even suggested we have the reception in the pub.”

  “So that’s an option?” Nick asked in surprise.

  “I thought it might be. Dad seemed fine with it. Until he said Grandad wouldn’t be welcome.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” She lay back against the pillows, snuggling into Nick. “And now I get the feeling that wherever we get married, having Dad and Grandad in the same room is going to be an issue.”

  “Are you thinking of not inviting Wesley?”

  “No,” Lexie said quickly. “I’m just starting to think eloping might not be such a bad idea after all.”

  Nick’s lips twitched to a bemused smile. Clearly he wasn’t sure if she was serious or not. Lexie wasn’t even sure herself. Organising the wedding should be fun and exciting. They’d insisted they wouldn’t get stressed by it, but that wasn’t working out so far.

  “You’re not serious, are you?” Nick asked. “You wouldn’t really want to elope?”

  “I don’t know.” Her dream wedding seemed impossible, so maybe they should do something different.

  “You’re just upset. Once the dust settles everything will be fine. Angus will get used to the idea of having Wesley at the wedding and it won’t be an issue. Maybe it will even be a good thing. Getting them in a room together might force them to settle their quarrel.”

  “That seems unlikely given how stubborn Dad is. And it would be nice if that experiment didn’t happen on our wedding day.”

  Hugging her tighter, Nick dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ll make sure you get the wedding you want. Don’t worry about anyone else.”

  “I try not to. But I also get the feeling that Dad thinks he’s entitled to an opinion on everything if he’s paying for the wedding.”