Chapter 21 #2
‘No. Well, my workmates emailed me something, but I haven’t had time to look yet,’ Heather said. ‘Is it really bad?’
‘Quite bad, yes. Just the size they’re proposing and the building work for a large café and restaurant-clubhouse type of thing.
Parking. And the course itself. The thing is that they don’t seem to have taken into account the existing infrastructure on the island.
We’re not built for huge tourist complexes.
The land’s what people come for on Skye. Always has been, always will be.’
‘Right. How many people do they expect to even come? It takes ages to get up here,’ Violet grumbled. ‘What are they gonna do, chopper everyone in?’
‘Seems that way, hen. There are plans for two helipads.’ Claire shook her head. ‘It’s criminal, quite honestly.’
Helipads? Not again, Heather thought. The panic in Heather’s stomach grew; she felt as if she’d eaten a ball of wet wool.
‘Oh, no.’ Bluebell looked scandalised. ‘Those people are obsessed with helicopters!’
‘I hope it doesn’t affect your wedding, dear.
’ Claire frowned. ‘The protest is likely going to get a wee bit bigger, and we’re on the road from the mainland to Balhennie here.
If you have people driving in before the wedding, they might get caught up a little.
We’ll try our best to avoid that, of course. ’ Claire patted Heather’s arm.
‘All right. Thank you, Claire,’ Heather said, though she felt more panicked now than at the beginning of the conversation.
When Claire walked away, Heather exchanged looks with Bluebell.
‘This is kind of rough, huh,’ Bluebell said.
‘Yeah.’ Heather accepted a paper cup of coffee from Violet, who had got a round of drinks from a lady who Heather knew taught at the local primary school; she’d parked her truck at the edge of the road and was serving flapjacks and coffee out of the back of it.
Christmas carols played on a tinny car stereo: Silent Night, Holy Night…
‘I think this is what one might call a case of divided loyalties.’ Primrose took a flapjack from the paper plate that Violet proffered and took a bite.
‘On one hand, you have your principles, Heather. On the other, we have Matty. Or, more accurately, Matty’s family and their nefarious business interests.
You’re still set on marrying this lad?’ She narrowed her eyes at her sister.
‘Yes. I mean, I can hardly stop the wedding now,’ Heather snapped.
‘You can absolutely stop the wedding, if you want to. Please don’t marry someone you don’t feel filled with joy about marrying,’ Violet interrupted, looking appalled. ‘If you don’t want to marry Matty Campbell, say so now, and I’ll deal with everything. I’ll cancel the whole damn wedding.’
Violet stood poised like a warrior; Heather knew that she’d like nothing more than to go back to Balhennie Castle, storm into Elizabeth Campbell’s room and tell her where to go. She also knew that it was protectiveness on Violet’s part that made her fierce, not vindictiveness.
‘I want to marry him. I know that you don’t want me to, Vi, but I’m going to,’ Heather replied, stubbornly. ‘We just have some things to work out, that’s all.’
‘Hm. I don’t know why you had to get married so quickly, being truthful.’ Violet sipped her coffee. ‘You could have given yourselves much more time to work things out before all of this.’
‘It felt right. I wanted to get married. I still do.’ That was the truth of it, and it always had been.
Yes, Heather had always wanted to get married.
But Matty and she had always felt right.
There was no way to describe it apart from that.
If it was right, why wait? She had faith that they could sort out any problems they had along the road.
Or, at least, I did. Do I have enough faith to get us past everything on the horizon now?
Is faith enough to replace secure love? I don’t think it is. I want to feel secure. I don’t want to have to rely on faith.
‘So, what are you going to do about it?’ Primrose asked.
‘I don’t know. Talk to Matty about it.’ She shrugged, feeling helpless. ‘What else can I do? I can’t very well demand that the Campbell family give up all their business interests and invest all their money in charity.’
‘You could,’ Primrose chuckled. ‘See what happens.’
‘I can only imagine what Elizabeth would say about that.’ Heather grimaced.
‘It seems very unlikely that they’ll make any changes, just because you ask them to, Boo,’ Violet said, gently, as they stood, looking out onto the crowd.
‘You have to understand that the Campbells are who they are. They’re not going to change.
Your life as one of them will be a certain way, with a few of your own little tweaks, sure.
But unless you opt out totally, like Annie, then you’re going to have to find a way to live with them.
You’re going to have to learn to stand on the other side of this.
’ Violet indicated the crowd of people, all of whom had gathered on one side of the road now, as a number of trucks arrived.
‘Vi’s right, lovely,’ Primrose echoed. ‘If you want to be with Matty, you need to find a way to be okay with all of this. Because, you know, as a Campbell, you’d be the bad guy here. Is that what you want?’
Heather watched as workmen got out and started pulling out wooden posts from the back of their vehicles. Steadily ignoring the chants and jeers of the protestors, they began building a long fence along the edge of the land on the other side.
‘Are you okay with that?’ Bluebell asked Heather, as they watched the fence go up.
PROPERTY OF CAMPBELL OF GLENORCHY HOLDINGS LTD. A new, larger sign was hammered into the ground. KEEP OUT.
‘Not really, if I’m honest.’ Heather wrapped her arms around herself. ‘Not very okay at all.’