Chapter 30
MAIRI
Mairi stood beside the entrance of Holly Berry Lodge clutching her suitcase and watching snowflakes flutter from the sky as she gazed over the mountains, feeling bereft.
‘You don’t have to go yet, lass. The taxi is going to be half an hour early, you can make it wait,’ Effie said, sounding worried. ‘I’m not sure where your brother is. I think you should come inside so you can say goodbye to everyone properly.’
‘I said goodbye to Quinn at breakfast, and I’ll catch up with him once I’m in Edinburgh,’ Mairi soothed, searching for the taxi, willing it to come.
She just wanted to get away. It was torture being at the lodge, knowing she might bump into Jed at any moment.
She hadn’t heard from him since she’d returned from the hospital yesterday, even after she’d asked Kenna to push the divorce papers under his bedroom door.
A part of her had hoped he’d come and tell her she was making a mistake. That he didn’t care about his father’s debt or anything else; that they were supposed to be together. But he hadn’t – which was probably for the best.
‘I told them not to come early,’ Effie complained as headlights appeared at the top of the hill. She glanced over her shoulder into the reception area and frowned as Margo came wandering out of the dining room with two of the cats.
‘Safe travels, lass. I hope I’ll get to see you here again soon. I’ll definitely be returning. I’m often quite lonely when I travel alone, but I haven’t been here, the company is excellent,’ Margo said joyfully, bending to scratch Shadow under the chin before heading towards the sitting room.
Adam immediately came running out. He was dressed in a sparkly purple Elvis outfit and gave Mairi an odd look. ‘You can’t be leaving already, lass?’ he gasped. ‘I thought your taxi was booked for ten o’clock?’ He gazed at the empty stairs before pulling a face at Effie.
‘The taxi’s early,’ she hissed. ‘Quinn’s gone to—’ She spun her fingers in a circle, but Mairi had no idea what it meant.
She didn’t really care. Her head hurt and her hip ached, she’d hardly slept and all she wanted to do was crawl into the taxi and make her way to the station so she could get on the train to Edinburgh.
Once she was home, she’d find a way to salve her aching heart and to forget about Jed. Perhaps she’d just leap into the pages of her novel and make herself write the happy ending she so clearly wasn’t going to get herself. She swallowed as the headlights grew brighter and the car drew closer.
‘It’s almost here.’ She turned and almost bumped into Kenna.
‘You didn’t need to see me off,’ she said, surprised.
‘We said goodbye upstairs. How’s the manuscript?
’ She’d left her friend reading Greer Abernathy’s tome.
Kenna planned to stay at the lodge for another day, hoping to catch up with work – and Mairi suspected she was hoping to see more of Quinn too.
Kenna frowned. ‘It’s good. Really good.’ She shook her head.
‘Which is… annoying actually.’ Her mouth pinched.
‘I’ll need to see what I think at the end – I hope to finish it this morning if I can, but, dammit.
’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I can’t stop reading it.
The woman is really talented. She’s got a knack for complex and evil characters that I can’t fault.
I suppose she’s just modelling them on herself. ’
The taxi pulled to a stop in front of the lodge and her friend gave her a quick hug. ‘I’ll see you at home,’ she promised.
‘Can’t you just wait a few more minutes?’ Effie begged as Mairi tugged her suitcase towards the taxi as the driver got out.
‘I can’t, I’m so sorry,’ Mairi said. She could feel her eyes welling with tears, could feel the weight of disappointment flooding through her limbs.
If she didn’t go now, she was going to lose control and end up sobbing all over Jed’s aunt.
‘I’ll see you soon,’ she croaked, quickly sprinting back so she could give Effie a hug, before heading to the taxi.
She shut the door and clicked on her seatbelt as the car glided away. Then she lay her head on the rest and shut her eyes, trying not to think about all the things she was leaving behind.
When the car crested the first hill, Mairi opened her eyes again and pressed her forehead to the window so she could survey the mountains as the car slid past. The trees were glittery and heavy with powdery snow and from here she could see an assortment of sharp inclines, tight trails and narrow tracks.
Some were packed with skiers who’d decided to brave a fresh December snowstorm, some were unoccupied, waiting for the next valiant expert to trace their curves in graceful arcs.
Pine trees dusted with sparkly ice lined the tight bends – and light from the sun reflected on their glimmering branches.
She saw a sudden flare of glitter and jerked upright, trying to make out what it had come from.
She squinted and pressed her nose to the glass, searching, and spotted the flash of a ski pole before the skier disappeared.
They were going ridiculously fast. She watched as they reappeared around a bend, admiring the steady zip of their legs as they thundered back and forth, tearing down the mountain, clearly intent on getting to their destination as soon as they could.
Seemingly unconcerned about the risk to limb or life.
As the skier drew closer, she instinctively knew it was a man – there was something about the movement of his hips and the power in his arms. She watched him draw closer, straining to see more as he zigzagged back and forth. Then she felt the breath snag in her throat.
She squeezed her eyes tighter, feeling the tight knot in her stomach unfurl. Whoever it was, he was carrying something in his right hand. She swallowed, imagining that she might recognise the shape, and her jaw dropped as she realised that he was holding a pair of glittery high-heeled shoes.
Jed?
Her heart began to beat a tattoo, her body went cold and shivery and then hot all at once. Her breath heaved, the weight of it slowing her blood and her limbs went heavy as if under a spell.
She fought a smile. Was he coming for her?
‘Please stop, you must stop,’ she croaked and felt the car slide to halt.
‘Everything okay?’ the driver asked, and she nodded because now she couldn’t talk. Her throat had closed up, as emotion drenched her. She opened the door and slid her feet onto the road. It was icy, so she kept one hand braced on the edge of the car.
Jed was closer now and she could see the flash of his helmet as he whooshed left and right, making turns she hadn’t seen him achieve since before the accident. Where had all the new confidence come from?
Her chest was vibrating, and she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Half of her was terrified that he was going to fall, and the other wanted him to speed up so she didn’t have to wait. She’d waited too long for him already.
When Jed crunched to a stop in front of her and flipped up his visor, she could only stare. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were dark and he’d never looked more perfect.
‘Why are you here?’ she asked.
He held out the shoes. ‘You forgot these,’ he said.
‘I was going to give them back to you at the lodge.’ He glanced over his shoulder and shook his head.
‘I had it all planned out. I was going to do it in the sitting room in front of everyone. Adam was going to sing an Elvis song.’ He frowned.
‘I wanted to give you this too.’ He tugged off his glove and dug around in the small, zipped pocket in his ski suit, then he held something out.
It was a small box, and he flipped it open to reveal a ring – a beautiful, huge, totally perfect diamond ring.
‘What’s happening?’ Mairi said faintly. Was this a dream? She tried to move closer to Jed and her foot began to slide out from under her. She would have ended up flat on her back, only Jed caught her just in time, dropping his poles on the ground so he could swing her into his arms.
‘It’s for you,’ Jed said gruffly, staring into her eyes. ‘We’re doing this in the wrong order. But I wondered if you’d consider marrying me again? This time, Quinn and Effie will be there. This time, we’ll be telling everyone our news.’
‘You want to marry me?’ She shut her eyes and opened them. ‘Have I still got concussion?’
‘Nae, lass,’ Jed laughed and pressed a tender kiss to her cheek.
‘You skied down a mountain.’ She swallowed, still in shock. ‘You didn’t fall.’
‘Aye.’ He nodded. ‘Perhaps because my prize was more important than a trophy this time. And I think I’ve finally accepted I deserve a happy ending, after all.’
She smiled, her beam widening as she gazed into his eyes. ‘What about your da, what about the debt?’ she whispered, leaning closer so she could press a kiss onto his mouth. Her forehead bumped on his helmet, but she didn’t care. She’d get him out of that soon enough.
His chest rose and then slowly fell. ‘I’ve got a plan for paying that off,’ he said.
‘But we’ll talk about that later. For now, Mairi Murray nee Fraser, will you put me out of my misery and tell me if you’re going to marry me properly this time?
And if you do, will you please wear these shoes? ’ He grinned.
‘Aye,’ she said huskily, feeling her heart swell as he slowly put her on the ground. Then he tugged off his visor and helmet and captured her face in his hands, before kissing her again, his mouth fierce and hot as he claimed her for his own.
Declaring to everyone who dared to look that they were going to be together from this day forward. To hell with what anyone else thought.