Chapter 24
It soon made sense why the officers thought it was important that I stay at a venue with plenty of room.
The hoolie began with a reception line. Strangers waited for the manager to desert me, then formed a loose line and ambled past my chair.
It was comical, really. They all acted like they hadn’t intended to bother me, but since we happened to be in the same vicinity, they might as well wish me well.
They’d introduce themselves, say they were glad I survived or something similar, then they’d give a little nod and wander away.
The braver ones would say something personal and hope I would elaborate, like, a pity ye didnae take a friend along.
Then they’d cock their heads and wait for something juicy.
If they said something too intrusive, the people waiting behind them would mock them or call them out on it, only to turn around and ask nearly the same question. They were looking for gossip, and if I didn’t offer any, they’d smile and walk away, usually in the direction of laughter.
A lot of elderly folks came through leaning on canes.
One man with a walker, and a woman in a wheelchair.
Through the big windows facing the street, I saw sporadic groups of people scurry across the road, coming from the train station, dressed up and ready to party.
Thankfully, not everyone felt the need to seek me out, or I’d have been shaking hands until midnight.
I didn’t have that big of a turnout for my own wedding.
Each time someone asked me point blank how I survived, I said I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet—mostly because I hadn’t had a chance to find the Martin kids and compare notes.
I spotted Nick and Tara standing beside a tall table, watching it all and talking quietly.
If things had been different, I would have run down the staircase to hug her to me.
I could have even hugged Nick and played nice.
I might have been grateful he’d come. I might have hoped that this little scare might have changed his mind…
But if things had been different, if Tara had just lied to me and met me at the airport, I wouldn’t have gotten lost in that storm, all alone, in the first place. I also would never have met Cian MacInnis…
When there was a break in the crowd, the two of them left their drinks and headed my way. Nick reached for Tara’s hand, but she shook him off. And I suddenly caught on to what Reid and Fletcher had been trying to tell me.
They gave your husband your room, they said. Your husband and a woman.
Nick and Tara are together. I’d been so stupid! They’d probably been together for a long time and I never suspected a thing! And my brain chose that moment, with them coming closer, to lay out all the proof that had been in front of my face.
All those mornings I’d found her sleeping on the couch after she and Nick watched movies into the night.
With my baker’s hours, I always went to bed early.
I never thought twice about leaving the two of them alone.
She’d been the third party in our marriage for years.
A sister to me. I couldn’t guess when I’d become the odd man out.
I watched Nick watching the crowd. He wasn’t eager to let the locals know that he was the husband who’d let me come alone. The husband who now stayed in another hotel, with another woman, instead of gluing himself to my side and counting his blessings because God had given me back to him.
But it was Cian who’d given me back—not to Nick, but to myself.
“Matty,” Tara began, nice and emotional. I ignored her and looked at her boyfriend instead.
“Hey, Matt.” He fidgeted with his hands and finally stuck them into his tight pockets.
“Nick.”
“We were so worried—”
“You didn’t have to worry long, though, did you? It was only two days ago. You must have hopped on the first plane.”
He frowned like I’d insulted him. “Yeah, actually, we did.”
“Too bad you wasted all that money. I’m just fine.”
“I noticed that. Doesn’t look like your little adventure was too hard on you.”
I smiled. “Hard on me? Maybe for a couple of hours.” I finally looked at Tara. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She tried to communicate with her eyes, but I wasn’t in the mood to read her mind.
“I hope you didn’t just hand him your money.
You were smart enough to have him sign a contract, right?
Or would that have insulted him, since you were already sleeping together?
You think there’s a chance that he was just after your savings?
” I shook my head and laughed. “Sorry. I shouldn’t think out loud.
That was rude.” I lifted my eyebrows and tried to look innocent.
“I guess I’m supposed to congratulate you both now.
How wonderful that you’ve found your soul mates. ”
Tara’s eyes narrowed. “You never suspected a thing.”
“Nope.”
“Tara.” Nick tried to shut her up by just saying her name. It’s what he’d done to me a thousand times. “None of this is helpful.” He directed that at me. “We just wanted to let you know that we’re relieved nothing happened to you.”
“Oh, I didn’t say nothing happened to me.” I could almost feel Cian standing at my shoulder, waiting for permission to drag my ex-husband outside to knock him around. From then on, he’d just be a ghost to me. And I chuckled at the irony.
I remembered the heels I was wearing just for Nick and got to my feet. He took an unconscious step back so his shorter stature wasn’t so obvious. But I took a step too, grabbed his shoulders, and pulled him close for a nice long hug and spoke loudly.
“Thank you so much for coming. I’ll have papers drawn up as soon as I’m home. Nice, simple ones that will settle things quickly. You two can be married as soon as you like.”
I released him and grabbed Tara in the same way, held her tighter than necessary, then spoke low enough that Nick couldn’t hear.
“I owe you sooo much for taking him out of my life. And especially for sending me here. Otherwise, I would have never met…” I pulled away and shook my head.
“Nevermind. I realize now how badly you wanted everything I had. And now you have it. All of it. I hope you’re content for a long, long time. But I guess we’ll see, huh?”
Nick tried to drag Tara away, but she yanked her hand out of his. She couldn’t look away from me, still waiting for me to finish that sentence, to see what else I had that she might like.
How had I been so blind to the real her?
“Who did you meet, Matty?”
I laughed. “I was just teasing.”
Those eyes narrowed again. “There’s nothing wrong with me wanting to be happy too.”
“You’re right. There isn’t.”
I noticed the crowd had slyly shifted closer without my notice. The noise had died to a low buzz, and the music had stopped. About fifty sets of ears were straining my way. But I refused to hold back.
“That’s why you and I are so much alike, Tara.
We both know exactly what will make us happy.
For you, that’s my husband, my restaurant, and my house.
But after coming to Scotland, this literally magic place, I can honestly say that Nick—cute little manipulative Nick—could never do it for me anymore. ”
“Come on,” Nick said, and grabbed Tara’s hand. “She’s out of her gourd, delusional. We’ve taken enough crap from her. No one can say we didn’t drop everything to come help. Now we can go home.”
“Delusional? No, Nick. I’m delirious—deliriously happy, thanks to this place.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin when the entire space erupted.
One cheer, in unison. You’d think I’d just scored the winning goal in an important soccer tournament, and I looked around to see if the people of Aviemore were watching some match on TV.
But they were all grinning my way, shouting over each other for a minute before they settled down to listen for more.
Nick realized he was the villain to these folks and tried to drag Tara toward the door, but she was furious and dragged him down a hallway instead.
I tried not to watch, but soon understood what was happening.
Tara wanted Nick to come back and defend her.
She was telling him what he needed to say, and he wasn’t going to do it.
With them out of the way, and the drama apparently over, the line formed again, only now, the patrons of the Cairngorm Hotel were eager to have a turn.
They no longer congratulated me on my survival skills.
Instead, they offered vague praise, a lot of “Well doon, lass.” A lot of thanks—for putting in a good word for their beloved country, I assumed.
And a lot of grins and silent handshakes.
But none of those smiles came from a balding man with spiked hair and a beauty mark beside his eye.
I’d been waiting all evening for John the Amorist to introduce himself so I could pull him aside and tell him what had happened, and hopefully find out if Cian had visited him that day.
Not knowing was killing me. I wasn’t sure which would be harder on my heart—knowing he had turned back when I headed into town, or if he’d gone to John’s and left when I didn’t show up right away.
Probably the latter. The latter would have been my fault.
So many men bought me drinks that I had to start handing them out to whomever was close by. When I asked the waitress if she could just tell people I didn’t need any more, she just smiled and shook her head. So I just kept handing them off.
In my periphery, I noticed a man in line who was much taller than the crowd, but the old gentleman in front of me held my hand tight and demanded my complete attention. When he finally moved on, I looked up to find a familiar face grinning down at me.