Chapter 28
They stand together beneath the lights, the hush of the audience settling into something expectant and reverent.
Isla sits at the piano, her fingers hovering for a heartbeat before she lets them fall.
The first notes unfurl, clean, deliberate, alive, and then Callum joins her, his guitar threading through the melody like a promise kept.
They don’t look at each other right away.
They don’t need to. The music knows where it’s going.
This is not inheritance.
This is choice. The music began with her father, but in her hands and Callum’s, it becomes something shared, love shaped gently from what he left behind, a quiet reverence for the man she never truly knew.
The audience listens as if holding its breath. The piece builds, swells, resolves, not into triumph, but into belonging. When the final note fades, the silence lasts a beat longer than applause ever does. Then the room erupts.
Backstage, Isla laughs, breathless and bright, and Callum catches her around the waist, lifting her just enough to make her yelp. They’re giddy in that way that comes from doing something hard together and surviving it intact.
“We did it,” she says, as if she still needs to convince herself.
“We keep doing it,” he replies. “That’s the trick. We love music, we love each other, and we show the world what we can do together.”
“I love you, Callum,” she says almost reverently.
“I love you more. Now let’s go home,” he says.
“Home?” she asks.
He doesn’t hesitate. “Home.”
The drive is familiar now, the road curving toward stone and sky. The castle rises out of the dusk, solid and welcoming, not a monument, not a test, but a place they return to because they want to. Because someone is there.
Inside, the air is warm. Lived-in. Music stands lean against walls. A kettle hums. There are signs of presence everywhere, shoes by the door, a scarf on a chair, a guitar resting where it can be reached.
Six months ago, they were married on the lawn of the castle. Her mother even came from the States. It was a simple ceremony with friends, music industry guests, and old friends of her father.
Now when they’re not touring, they reside here in the castle, but it’s been changed. Updated to reflect their lives and not Keir’s. It’s now a place that feels like home.
Isla pauses, taking in their sanctuary. “It doesn’t feel like it used to.”
Callum squeezes her hand. “Good.”
“It feels good. Like the walls are accepting.”
“It’s our home,” he says quietly. “Yours and mine.”
They set their cases down and move through the rooms together, not as caretakers of a legacy, but as two people who showed up and stayed. The castle holds them, yes, but gently, without demand.
Love, Isla has learned, isn’t inherited. It isn’t claimed by stone or paper or name.
It’s chosen.
And tonight, like every night, they choose each other.
Going into their bedroom, she sighs and looks around the room they had decorated together. There are painted musical notes above their bed. Their song of love to one another.
A smile fills her face as Callum walks in. “Are you happy?”
“Oh, yes, my love,” she says, moving into his arms. “I love our life together, making music together. I even love this old castle now.”
Callum kisses her. “We’ve made it our home. Even the castle feels happier now. I only wish your father had been here to see our happiness.”
“Me too,” she says. “But in some ways, I think he brought us together. He knew that you would help me see him as the man he was and help me heal from the pain of his absence.”
Callum puts his forehead to hers. “Love, I think you’re right. I’ve never considered it that way before, but your father did bring us together. And I’m so thankful he did.”
“I think it’s time you took me to bed,” she said softly.
“All I want to do is make you happy,” he said, kissing her softly.
After all the turmoil, Isla knows that she and Callum have made the castle theirs in every way, and soon, she hopes they will have a little one running around listening to the music that reverberates within these walls. And their child will know both of their parents.
Thanks for reading Inheriting a Scottish Castle.
I so wanted this book to be funny, but these characters just wouldn’t let it be.
I loved the musical aspects of their relationship.
I hope you enjoyed the book. Authors love it when you leave a review, whether you liked the book or hated it.
Next up is Inheriting an Alaskan Gold Mine in late 2026.