Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
TRUE FAMILY
James
At the England-Scotland border, the road sign read Fàilte gu Alba.
Welcome to Scotland.
Through the Lowlands and past Glasgow, I took my turn behind the wheel, and we were on the home straight. Beth insisted on taking the final hour of driving, and despite the wet road and the dark skies, no fear held me.
Apart from what on earth my sister was up to. She hadn’t left Belvedere. Mr Hinchcliffe called and told me she’d disappeared from their cottage and wouldn’t answer her phone, only replying with a text to say she had something to do. She sent the same one to me.
She needed rescuing. Now.
So, I placed my trust in my closest friend and made my biggest demand.
When I’d lived at Castle McRae, I’d rarely asked for anything, hating being a burden, but I knew the McRae brothers had my back. Now was the biggest test of that allegiance.
On my screen, Gordain’s name flashed, him calling, as asked.
I needed support, and he was the best man for the job.
“G,” I answered with relief.
“Heard all about it. I’m leaving barracks. I’ll be at the castle at twenty-hundred hours.”
“You’re coming home?” I laughed loud, and Beth grinned at the sound, her gaze glued to the road.
“Aye, of course. You’re in need. I’ll be there. Is Beth with you?”
“She is.” Permanently, if I had my way.
“And your sister?”
“She’s still at Belvedere, hiding out somewhere, I think, until I can go back for her. But—” I started my question, but Gordain cut in.
“Fuck that.” A revving noise vibrated—Gordain’s motorbike, I recognised—then he came back on the line. “I’ll head to Inverness airport instead, borrow a heli from the flight school, and go fetch the lass.”
It was exactly what I wanted. I thanked him, and he chuckled, his engine roaring now.
“Hell, yeah. Send her my number then consider it done.”
He hung up, and I blew out a breath then prepared to tell my sister to expect a pickup.
“Gordain’s going to fly a helicopter to get Ella,” I told Beth, my fingers flying over the keys.
Beth’s eyes widened, and she broke out with a laugh. “She’s going to love that.”
Ella shot me back a curious message. This is the guy who’s into search and rescue, right? I’ve got a mission for him before we leave. See you on the other side.
I relayed it to Beth, and she raised a quizzical brow then squeezed my hand. We’d been holding hands the whole of the second part of the journey.
“Does she know what her friend did?”
Her friend? Then something clicked in my mind.
“The Vandenberg woman. She was Ella’s friend at the college.
I just made the connection.” It hadn’t even occurred to me.
I’d been so caught up in my uncle’s betrayal that I’d barely paid attention to his final choice of bride. “Ella’s going to be devastated.”
Beth made a sound of agreement, but her expression darkened, I guessed at the horrible memories of when we’d walked down the stairs. I’d carry the blame for that until the day I died, but in the meantime, I’d spend every waking minute making it up to her.
She changed the subject. “You haven’t told me how you like my driving.”
I gave her hand another squeeze. “I’ll pay all your speeding tickets.”
Beth gave a short laugh then launched into an explanation on the precise degree to which she could break the speed limits before getting fined, but I’d already started constructing a plan. I knew exactly what I was going to do to make Beth happy again. Forever.
Bright floodlights lit the castle. We drove over the bridge with a sense of safety encompassing the car. Beth parked and, before we’d even unclipped our seatbelts, Callum threw open my door.
“There ye are,” the big laird almost shouted, his eyes wide in alarm. “Thank God you’re home. Get inside where I can see ye in the light.”
Behind him, Mathilda hurried over. She and Callum shared the same anxious expression as they looked us over.
“How does he know I was hurt?” I side-mouthed to Beth, unclipping our seatbelts. I hadn’t told him.
“I texted Mathilda. Besides, you’re meant to have a doctor coming, so he’d find out sooner or later. Forgive me?” She gave me a pretty smile.
I leaned over and kissed her, not caring who saw. “Always.”
We hopped out and joined our friends. Callum shepherded us inside, holding back from his usual bear hug. In the great hall, the twins waited by the fireplace, bristling like barely contained balls of energy.
“Callum forced us to stay here on pain of death. He didn’t want us to be all over you,” Ally explained, gripping onto the back of a chair. “I’m to be sure you’re not ill before anyone touches you.”
“I’m fine—” I started.
“Good enough,” the twins said in unison before leaping up. They sandwiched me in a crushing hug, and my smile hurt my cheeks.
“It’s good to see you, too.” I ruffled Ally’s hair, hugged Wasp, then shoved them away.
The two boys clutched one another, beaming, before launching on Beth.
“Are you sure?” Callum asked me. He raised a hand to my temple, pushing my hair back from the bruise. I’d caught a glimpse of it in the car’s mirror, but it would appear worse now. “Your uncle hit ye, did he not?”
I glanced over to Beth, deep in conversation with Mathilda, and my heart swelled. “I’ll tell you everything, though none of it matters. Beth’s here with me. Ella will be once G collects her. I have everything I need.”
My mentor followed my gaze. “Aye, when you put it like that, man, I’d take a bump on the head to secure everything I loved.”
I hugged him now, taking my rightful place in my true family. Callum thumped my back, then we settled around the blazing fire to tell the story.
“What’s the plan now?” Ally asked. He sprawled on the rug in front of the great hall’s huge fireplace, his empty dinner bowl balanced on his chest.
Callum had whipped up a stir fry, and good food and warmth filled me. My sense of alarm ebbed.
The local doctor had been and gone, and I’d been given advice but confirmed as healthy. All I needed was my sister and the last member of the McRae clan to land and join us in the warmth.
Beth rested on my lap, her head tucked against my shoulder, her scent in my lungs. The next part of this was easy for me. I had a particular question to ask her, and I hoped to God she agreed.
In two days, I’d see Howard Marks from the trustee board. He’d answered my message and would come to meet us at Castle McRae. I had made my peace with my decision, whatever he said. There was only one woman I could ever marry, and she lay almost as close to me as we could be. With our clothes on.
If she said yes, I’d be happily married by my twenty-first.
If she said no, I’d wait.
Now I knew the extent of my uncle’s deceit, I couldn’t fully believe the part about my bride needing to bring money to the deal. Even if it was true, I had Beth, and that was all that mattered.
I hugged her closer, breathing her in. Addicted.
“Earth to James.” Ally waved, and a ripple of laughter came from the group.
My face heated. “What was the question?”
Beth’s chuckle vibrated through my chest. “What are we going to do next? Once everyone is here, probably go to bed.”
“Aye, and lock the place down tight,” Callum growled.
“What about calling the police?” Mathilda asked. “Your uncle assaulted you. He needs to answer for that.”
“He can’t get away with it,” Beth added.
But in her tone, and in the way she’d talked about it earlier, I picked up on something more. She’d quipped that the car we drove here was effectively stolen, and I half wondered if that could be a problem for her. Not that I’d let her take any heat for it.
I ran my thumb over Beth’s fingers as I pondered the point. My fingers grazed the underside of her breast, and we both shivered.
Then a hacking sound rattled through the hall.
The helicopter? The noise grew louder, and we all sat up, a ripple of excitement passing over the room.
“Let them land in peace. Hold your guns, they’ll be here soon enough,” Callum ordered the twins who were poised to move.
For a minute, silence held the open space of the hall, then the door flew open, and my sister appeared, Gordain at her side. She held a bright, dangerous smile on her face and, clutched in her fingers, one handle of a large, heavy bag.
Ella advanced forwards. Whatever was in the bag clanked. Gordain held most of the weight, and he watched her like she was going to disappear from sight at any second.
“Hello, McRaes.” She waved gleefully at the group then looked past me to Beth. “Is he okay?” she asked.
Beth nodded, her hand tightening around my arm.
My stomach dropped. My sister was upset with me?
“I’m glad you made it safely.” I gave her a short smile then switched my gaze to Gordain. “Thank you.”
“Nae problem. Apart from a wee diversion Ella here insisted on.” He dipped his head at my sister, and she beamed up at him, patting his cheek with her free hand.
“You loved it,” she replied.
Gordain only frowned at her, looking unsure if he had or hadn’t.
“Ella, what’s in the bag?” Beth asked in a dramatic tone.
“Ah, well. With you both gone, Richard went out of his mind. I hid out in one of the state rooms—”
“You were supposed to wait with the Hinchcliffes,” I interrupted.
“And I chose to do something better,” she barked back. Then she lifted up on her toes, her excitement palpable. “I went on a raid.”
With care, Ella tipped the bag onto the flagstone floor.
All manner of priceless items tumbled out.
Silver plate. Antiques. Some shapeless lumps wrapped in cloth.
She’d taken the highest valued items from around the house.
Stolen them. Then I set my eyes on a small painting done of our family when Ella and I were tiny children—of no true cash value but precious to me.
“No way was Richard getting his hands on these.” My sister’s blue-green eyes turned fierce. “Not after what he did. They are yours by right, and now he’ll never see them again. All these objects the bastard valued more than us.”
I placed Beth carefully onto the sofa, then strode over and embraced my sister in a hug, too choked up to talk.
That answered the police question. If I charged him, he’d have more than enough ammunition to charge me in return.
Legally, none of this was yet mine, plus perhaps this way would be better for Beth.
There was time enough to work that out later.
“I took all the papers from Mum and Dad’s room. Plus one other thing from the back of the safe.” She stepped back, and her eyes flared. “Unless I’m too late, I think you’ll need this.”
Ella slipped a small box into my hand. I instantly knew the contents.
“Are you sure? If you wish it, it’s yours,” I said. By tradition, it went to the countess, but Ella had lost so much, I wanted to find anyway to bring her back in.
My sister gave me a thump on the arm. “Go to it, brother. Let some good come from all the bad.”