Chapter 25 #3
‘I know. I’m not ashamed of being working class.
I love my mother, and I made sure when I married Arthur that she had a lovely house to live in, a good car, a nice standard of living.
I support her now, and I’m glad to do it.
But I always knew what the press would say if they found out.
Call me a gold digger. Especially now, because I have a certain…
reputation.’ Elizabeth gazed at her two daughters-in-law who were swimming in the loch with Primrose and Violet.
‘Estella and Clara don’t know any of this. They’d be shocked.’
‘Of course they wouldn’t,’ Aunt Chrissie said.
‘My husband… he’s a good man. But he married me out of propriety when I got pregnant with Charles,’ Elizabeth said quietly.
‘He wouldn’t say that, but I know it’s true.
I’ve tried very hard to be a suitable wife for him.
I had to learn how to entertain all these upper-class people, learn to ski – yes, I learned as an adult.
I know that’s ironic, given that I lectured you about it, Heather.
’ Elizabeth cleared her throat. ‘The thing is, even though our marriage is rather… distant… these days, I can’t leave him.
I am fond of him still, and I have to look after Mother.
And I wouldn’t ever want to subject the children to a scandal.
We’re so well-known now that it would be all over the papers. ’
‘That doesn’t mean that you need to be unhappy, dear,’ Aunt Chrissie said. ‘You can talk to your husband, can’t you? He’s not a total oaf. Wouldn’t he listen to you?’
‘He might. It’s been a long time since I tried.
’ Elizabeth shook her head. ‘But anyway, Heather… what I suppose I was trying to tell you was, I know what it’s like to try and fit into this kind of world as an adult that’s never been a part of it before.
Skiing is the least of it. It’s schools, in-jokes, who knows who, a kind of shorthand that it takes a long time to pick up.
’ Elizabeth sighed. ‘Your Aunt Joan made a remark about finishing schools one day, and that really got my back up. She could tell I didn’t come from Arthur’s world, even though I’ve worked so hard to fit in. ’
‘Aunt Joan doesn’t know that. I think she was just being her usual self and needling you because she’s protective of me. Of all of us,’ Heather said, ‘you two are actually very alike. Tiger mothers.’
‘Oh. Ha. Yes, I can see that. And I don’t hold it against her at all.
She was right.’ Elizabeth smiled. ‘But then I realised, Heather, that you and Matty are very different to Arthur and me. I don’t think you feel the same need to fit in.
I think you’ll make a life in your own way.
I envy you that. But I’ll help you do it, any way that I can. ’
Aunt Chrissie reached into her handbag, rooted around in it for a minute and brought out a bottle of whisky. ‘Aha! I knew I’d brought this.’ She handed the bottle to Elizabeth, who looked shocked. ‘There you are, dear. Undo it, would you? I think we deserve a dram or two.’
‘Whatever you say, Auntie.’ Elizabeth raised one of her finely plucked eyebrows. She unscrewed the bottle and handed it to Aunt Chrissie, who took a swig and handed it back to Elizabeth. Elizabeth took a dainty sip and coughed.
‘I think, what you both have to remember – and all of us women should never forget – is that we are powerful beings. And that sisterhood makes us powerful.’ Aunt Chrissie hiccupped.
‘Look at you, Lady Campbell. You made yourself into one of the wealthiest and most influential women in the world, and you started life in a scrappy little flat in Glasgow with a single mother. No one did that for you. You worked for it. What did your husband do? He got born. All he had to do was exist.’ Aunt Chrissie shook her head.
‘Men may come and go. Sometimes they are with us for a long time. Sometimes not. But in the meantime, we have each other, and therein lies our power. I have never met a man that would fight and grow and withstand pressure as well as a woman. The women are the warriors, Lady Campbell. Never forget that.’ Aunt Chrissie held up a finger.
‘It strikes me, Lady Campbell, that you are in need of a sisterhood. A true one, that will support you and love you as you are. And you are lucky enough to have found such a sisterhood in the Balhennie clan.’
‘I think I am. Cheers to that.’ Elizabeth took a bigger sip of the whisky and handed the bottle to Heather.
‘Welcome to the family, Lady Campbell.’ Heather took the bottle and took a sip.
‘Thank you. That’s… that’s very lovely. It means a lot to me that you would say that. And welcome to the Campbells, Heather.’ Elizabeth nodded. ‘If Arthur could only see me now!’
‘I’m sure he’d love to join us for a dram,’ Aunt Chrissie said kindly. ‘And, for what it’s worth, I don’t think you should be as worried about your past as you are. It’s really nothing that unusual, and definitely not bad.’
‘I agree,’ Heather said. ‘If anything, I can imagine it would make a fantastic press story. Or even a memoir.’ She raised her eyebrow at her new mother-in-law. ‘If you tell your story, then that man won’t be able to blackmail you any more. You do know that.’
‘I know. But I’ve been too afraid,’ Elizabeth admitted.
‘You shouldn’t be! It’s inspiring!’ Heather exclaimed. ‘I’d read that book. People want to hear stories about people overcoming difficulties and succeeding. You could do that!’
‘A memoir. Imagine!’ Elizabeth looked thoughtful. ‘Perhaps I could.’
Chrissie waved at the sisters who were starting to come back from the water, shivering, with towels wrapped around their shoulders. ‘Now, then. Let’s make sure there’s plenty left for everyone to have a nip; and then, food, hot chocolate, hot tub and home for baths and electric blankets.’
‘That sounds absolutely divine.’ Heather sighed with a newfound happiness.
There was no way she could have predicted this happy ending to what had been a terrible start to her married life, but she was so deeply relieved that the women of both sides of the family had come together.
What Heather was realising was that, as much as a marriage could be the romantic dream she’d always fantasised about, it was also the uniting of families.
Once upon a time, young men and women from the Scottish noble families had married each other to strengthen alliances or combine the ownership of land.
Then, families had united to be stronger in power, land ownership and soldiers; there wasn’t much thought about love or romance.
If you were lucky, that might be something that grew with time.
Now, love and romance were the only reasons most people got married, but as Heather looked out over the loch, and at her sisters, her mother, her great-aunt and her new family splashing and laughing and swimming, she knew that this network of women around her was just as important.
Every single one of them supported her, loved her, would be there for her in the rest of her life.
Matty would be her husband, yes, but love wasn’t just the fairy tales she’d grown up on.
Her favourite tale, the Lover’s Leap, had seemed so beautiful to her.
It was still beautiful; Heather would never stop being the girl that loved romance, loved legends and fairy stories of courtly love and fair knights rescuing princesses.
But as much as love required a person to take a leap of faith, as Dorothea had in that story, it also ideally meant that there would be someone – more than one, if you were lucky – being there to catch you if you fell.
Heather stared out at the loch, a flat black mirror, glittering with the reflection of the moon and the stars, and she knew that she had one more thing left to do. Handing the whisky bottle back to Elizabeth, she took off her robe and ran into the water.