Highland Fling (32 page)

‘Thanks Hamish and thank you Mr. Drake,’ Lizzie said smiling at him. ‘I don’t handle this sort of thing very well I’m afraid. I always panic.’

Jack senior smiled back. ‘I’m glad he’s okay. He’s a lovely chap. Is there anything we can do?’

‘No thanks. We’ll just get this cleared up and have some tea. Would you and Mrs. Drake like some?’

‘No thanks I’ve –’

‘That would be lovely,’ Evelyn interrupted, ‘if you’re sure we won’t be in the way. And please Lizzie, call us Jack and Evelyn. May I help you Jane?’

Jane glanced at Lizzie who gave a little shrug. ‘You could get the milk from the fridge if you don’t mind.’

Iain got clean cups whilst Annie and Lizzie cleared up the broken crockery, tea and the remains of the scones. Evelyn put the milk on the table and pulled out a chair and Hamish gently lifted Alastair and put him in his basket.

‘You should sit down Lizzie,’ Evelyn said, ‘you’ve had a nasty shock.’

‘I’m fine thanks. I’m just glad he’s okay.’ She stood up and walked to the bin with a dustpan full of broken china. A car pulling up outside attracted her attention. ‘I really thought ... Oh my God! What the hell is he doing here?’

All eyes turned to the window where Jack Drake junior had just got out of a taxi and was walking towards Laurellei Farm.

‘Ah,’ Evelyn said, sitting down on the chair she’d pulled out for Lizzie and all eyes turned to her.

The room fell silent and the scrunch of gravel beneath Jack’s feet as he marched towards the kitchen was amplified in the quiet. No one seemed to move during the few seconds it took him to reach the door and everyone waited, their focus now firmly fixed on either Lizzie or the open kitchen door.

‘Hello,’ Jack said, his eyes scanning the room and taking in Jane and Iain, his mum and dad, a girl he didn’t know and a man he vaguely recognised stroking Alastair, before coming to rest on Lizzie. ‘Is everything okay? Has something happened?’

Alastair was the first to respond. He lifted his head a fraction and let out a half bark, wagging his tail.

‘Well,’ Hamish said getting to his feet, ‘at least Alastair’s pleased to see you. How are you Jack? I’m Hamish, we met at the pub and Iain’s ceilidh.’

Jack dragged his eyes from Lizzie’s stunned face. ‘Oh hello Hamish. Yes I remember. I’m fine thanks, you?’

Hamish let out a deep, gruff laugh. ‘Good thanks but from the look on our Lizzie’s face, you may be needing more than a vet.’

Jack’s sapphire eyes shot back to Lizzie and he could see her initial shock was rapidly turning to fury. ‘Just let me explain,’ he said. ‘I think you –’

‘You’ve got a bloody nerve! I told you I never wanted to see you again.’ She turned away from him.

‘Actually, you told me never to call you again – and I haven’t.’

Six pairs of eyes - seven including Alastair’s – darted back and forth between Jack and Lizzie as if they were spectators at a tennis match.

Lizzie spun back to face him, her lips pursed, her eyes shooting arrows of fire. ‘Don’t be sarcastic, this isn’t funny.’ She spat the words at him.

‘I’m not. I’m just stating a fact,’ he said, a little too calmly.

‘Well! Let me state a fact,’ she hissed. ‘You’re an arrogant, cheating, deceitful bastard and you’re no more welcome here than the plague.’ She turned and stormed towards the door to the hall.

Jack senior stood in her way and Lizzie stopped sharply as if someone had her on a restraining lead. She blinked several times and blushed furiously as she realised that she’d totally forgotten Jack’s parents were in the room. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled, ‘excuse me please.’

Jack senior shook his head. ‘I don’t know what’s happened between you two and it’s probably none of my business but –’

‘Dad.’ Jack shook his head and smiled affectionately at his father. ‘I can fight my own battles.’

Lizzie spun round. ‘Oh, so I’m a battle now am I? Is that it? Just what do you think you’ve got to gain by coming here? Do you think I’m completely stupid?’

‘I don’t think you’re stupid at all. I think you’re wonderful.’

Lizzie’s mouth fell open and her eyes drifted from Jack to his father and then his mother as if they had pressed a slow motion button.

‘Doesn’t this bother you?’ she said to Evelyn in astonishment.

Iain stepped forward. ‘I think maybe you should leave Jack,’ he said gently but firmly.

‘I can’t believe this,’ Jane said at the same time.

‘What’s going on?’ Annie asked simultaneously.

‘If you’ll just give me five minutes,’ Jack was saying.

Everyone was talking at once and even Alastair started making gruff, throaty barks.

Evelyn Drake banged her fist on the kitchen table and all the crockery danced. Silence descended and everyone stared at her, even her husband.

‘Jack is not married to Kim, Lizzie, Ross is, and the baby isn’t Jack’s it’s Ross’s. Ross and Kim got married this week. My son is single and, I can assure you, he is neither deceitful nor a bastard but he can be arrogant and he does cheat at Monopoly. There. Is there any chance of a glass of wine Jane dear? I really feel in need of a drink.’

Evelyn smiled sweetly at Jane, whose mouth, like Lizzie’s had fallen so wide open that a toy train could have used it as a tunnel.

Jane and Lizzie stared at one another in disbelief then Lizzie slowly turned her eyes towards Jack.

‘I ... is that true?’ she said, clearly stunned.

Jack’s mouth curved slightly at one corner. ‘Which part? That I cheat at Monopoly or that I’m single?’ The curve turned into his devilish grin.

‘But ... but how? Why didn’t you tell me?’

Jack gave a little cough. ‘I have been trying to.’

‘God!’ Jane said, ‘Kim and Ross? When did that happen?’

Everyone looked at Jane.

‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘It’s just sunk in. I’ll get the wine.’ She turned, grabbed three bottles from the wine rack and handed them to Iain to open. Annie got glasses.

Jack and Lizzie were staring at one another. ‘Apparently, Ross has been in love with Kim since before I knew her and when I was in Hong Kong on a business trip a few weeks before we came here, it seems Kim realised she felt the same way about him. They just forgot to mention it to me.’

Lizzie’s eyes softened. ‘And ... the baby. How –?’

‘How do I know it’s Ross’s?’

Lizzie nodded.

‘Pure mathematics. I won’t go into details – Phil said it was too much information – but because Kim was five weeks pregnant at the time of the accident, it couldn’t possibly be mine.’

Hamish let out a raucous laugh. ‘I cannae believe this,’ he said, taking the glass of wine Jane was offering him. ‘This is better than any soap opera.’

‘When did you find out about Ross then?’ Iain asked, taking Jack a glass.

Jack was still holding Lizzie’s eyes with his. ‘The morning after we went back. I did the maths and when Ross came round later, it all came out. He proposed to Kim, she accepted and they got married on Wednesday. I was at the reception and there are photos to prove it.’

Hamish sniggered.

‘So why has it taken you so long to come and tell us this?’ Jane asked.

Jack briefly glanced at Jane then back to Lizzie. ‘I hadn’t planned to tell
you
! I’d planned to tell Lizzie. I thought you had gone back to Max. I saw you together on that Saturday night, after we got back from here.’

‘What? Where?’ Lizzie said.

‘Outside a restaurant, you were arm in arm and you were balancing on one foot. I now know you’d hurt your ankle but then I thought ... well. How is it by the way? Your ankle?’

‘Better thanks. But why did you think we were together? Because we were arm in arm you mean?’

‘Yes, but also because later, Phil overheard part of a conversation Max was having with you, and Max then said you were staying with him and that the weekend had given you both the push you needed to sort things out. Phil and I thought that meant you were giving it another try. I only heard this week that you were getting divorced.’

‘And ... that’s why you called me and asked to come and see me? I thought ...’

The devilish grin spread across his face. ‘I think I know what you thought.’

Their eyes locked.

‘What about the woman in the pub?’ Jane asked, still filling wine glasses and failing to realise that this wasn’t the time to ask.

Jack’s brows furrowed. ‘Which woman? What pub?’ His eyes darted from Lizzie to Jane and back to Lizzie again.

Lizzie looked as if she had just remembered. ‘Yes, Jack. What about her? The stunning nineteen year old with the black, curly hair. The one you couldn’t take your eyes – or your hands off in The Black Swan that day we ... met by chance. Who is she? And don’t tell me she’s just a friend because any fool could see she’s much more than that.’

He was clearly perplexed.

‘That sounds like Emma, darling,’ Evelyn Drake said, her wine glass hovering just below her lips. ‘But she’s eighteen. You went to her birthday dinner a few weeks ago didn’t you?’

Jack’s expression lifted, as if everything had suddenly become clear to him. A huge smile spread across his face and his eyes sparkled with delight. ‘Ah! Now I understand. So that’s why you were so ... unpleasant to me that day. You were jealous! You thought ... Oh Lizzie. That was Emma, Phil’s baby sister! It was her eighteenth birthday and I’ve known her since the day she was born so yes, ... she means a lot to me – but not in that way. I could never –’

‘Phil’s baby sister?’ Lizzie interrupted.

‘Phil’s baby sister! Of course!’ Jane said as if it should have been obvious.

‘Did you know Phil had a sister?’ Lizzie asked her, astonished. ‘I didn’t.’

Jane shook her head. ‘Nor did I. But they always are aren’t they? In romances I mean. The mystery woman always turns out to be the sister.’ She offered Lizzie a glass of wine and everyone nodded in agreement.

Jack sighed good-naturedly. ‘Look Lizzie. As much as I enjoy discussing my love life in front of an audience – including my parents, and as much as I appreciate Jane’s input, I somehow think this might work better if it were just the two of us. Perhaps we could discuss this in private.’

‘What? Oh yes.’ Lizzie let out a little squeal. ‘How embarrassing.’ She shot Jane a telling look.

Hamish gave a brief clap. ‘Well, I enjoyed it anyway – but you’re right Jack. Some things a man needs a bit of privacy for. I must be off. Going to Dougall and Isabel’s Hot Cross Bunnies night.’

‘Ooh, us too!’ Jane said. ‘We’ll dash off as well then. Come along darling.’ She grabbed Iain’s hand.

Lizzie’s eyes were transfixed by something she could see in Jack’s. Without looking at Jane she said, ‘I’ll be staying with Alastair, so don’t worry about me.’

‘Okay,’ Jane said, ‘call if you need me.’ She glanced between Jack and Lizzie. ‘Not that I think you will. Annie, you come with us. Bye you two. Evelyn, would you and your husband like a lift to the pub? There’s room.’

Jack glanced at his mum and then his dad. ‘I think I can take it from here.’

‘Right son. We’ll head off to the Hot Cross Bunnies thing then. Come along love,’ he said to his wife.

‘God!’ Lizzie said, as Evelyn got to her feet and walked towards her son. ‘I’m really sorry about the things I said. You must think I’m dreadful!’

Evelyn kissed her son on the cheek then hurried towards Lizzie and to Lizzie’s astonishment, did the same to her.

‘No dear. I just think you’re a woman in love. Don’t wait up for us Jack, your father and I are going to make a night of it.’

Jack’s father patted Lizzie on the arm. ‘Have a good evening and I hope Alastair’s up and about before long. See you later son.’

‘Thanks Mr. Drake.’ Lizzie smiled at him, then turned back to Jack.

Neither of them spoke until they heard the front door close then Jack took one slow step towards Lizzie. ‘What’s wrong with Alastair?’ he asked, his eyes fixed firmly on her face.

‘Too much cream tea,’ Lizzie said taking a step towards him. ‘He should be fine in a few hours but I’ve got to keep an eye on him.’

‘We can do that together – if I’m now more welcome than the plague,’ he grinned.

Lizzie looked forlorn. ‘I’m sorry about everything I said Jack.’ She took another step forward.

‘You can make up for it later.’ He matched her step for step until they were just inches apart. ‘I love you,’ he said, ‘you do know that don’t you?’

‘I do now. And I think I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you with that stupid inflatable doll.’

The devilish grin spread across his handsome face. ‘Don’t be mean about one of my ex-girlfriends,’ he joked, his sapphire eyes dark with passion.

‘That relationship was just hot air, this one’s for real.’

‘I think this one’s forever,’ he said, kissing her before she could respond, his arms encircling her, pulling her to him.

Several minutes later, Lizzie raised loving blue eyes to his. ‘I thought you wanted to talk.’

Jack smiled. ‘Talk is highly overrated.’ Then he pulled away slightly and gave her his most serious look. ‘Besides, someone once told me I talk too much.’

The grin Lizzie loved, reappeared.

‘Shut up and kiss me,’ she said, grinning back at him.

Jack didn’t need to be told twice.

***

Thanks for reading Highland Fling. I hope you enjoyed it.

COMING IN AUTUMN 2012

“Lizzie Marshall’s Wedding”

Becky Cooper has "let herself go” – at least, that's what her friends say. But as a thirty-two year old widow, Becky hasn't got time to worry about the way she looks. Her husband wasn't the man she thought he was and she's struggling to pay off his debts, raise their five year old daughter and come to terms with the past. Make-up and new clothes are way down on her list of "must-haves" and as for romance – forget about it. A man is the last thing she needs.

Her friends think she’s wrong, and when the undeniably gorgeous, divorcee, Max Bedford, arrives in the village, they decide he would be perfect for her. His mum's just moved into Beckleston Hall and he's staying for a while. But Becky’s already met him, and feels he’s far from perfect; he’s rude, arrogant and annoying. Besides, if the gossip is true, he can have his pick of women, so he wouldn’t be interested in her.