Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
As Heather walked arm-in-arm with Angus into the castle’s large ballroom, she looked around her and took a sharp, indrawn breath. Suddenly, she felt shaky.
Everything was so beautiful that Heather hardly knew where to look first.
She’d planned everything with Evelinda and Catriona, of course, but it was one thing planning the day, and even seeing the flowers come in and the decorations going up the day before, but now that the ballroom was full of people, and everything was lit up, arranged and aligned, it was awe-inspiring.
As it was Christmas as well as the wedding, there were a number of lavishly decorated Christmas trees throughout the public areas of the castle, all dressed in gold baubles and bows made of the Balhennie tartan.
As part of the wedding prep, Catriona and Heather – enlisting the help of all the Balhennie sisters – had painstakingly prepared a gift for every single wedding guest, wrapping them in tartan paper and arranging them under every tree.
The plan was to hand them out at the end of the evening, when everyone was leaving.
The gifts were either a locally made fruitcake or a delicious local cheese, both presented in a lovely festive red box.
The whole place smelled deliciously of cinnamon and spiced berries; on every surface, Catriona and Evelinda had positioned matching scented candles in white wax in beautiful glass holders, which Catriona and Heather had found from a local artisan candle maker.
They’d put in a special order for five hundred candles, from normal household size to some huge, two-foot-wide candles with ten wicks each, which sat on wooden plinths in a column leading up to the grand entrance of the castle.
‘You all right, poppet?’ Angus said in a low voice. They paused, right at the back of the ballroom. ‘Take a minute. This is a big moment.’ He squeezed her hand.
‘I’m okay,’ Heather whispered. ‘It’s just… wow. Everything is just… sparkling. I’ve never seen the ballroom look like this.’
‘Me neither, pet. It’s quite the vision, I have tae admit. As are you.’ He shook his head in wonder. ‘You really smashed it oot o’ the park, as they say,’
‘Yeah. You look amazing, babe.’ Violet stood behind Heather and Angus and pulled out the full skirt of Heather’s pure white silk gown.
The top was a fitted bodice that accentuated Heather’s curves, and the dress featured little cap sleeves.
When she’d put it on that morning, Heather had understood people saying that they felt like a princess on their wedding day.
This was part of what she’d looked forward to her whole life: the dress, her sisters as bridesmaids, her dad walking her down the aisle.
‘Thanks, Vi.’ She gave her sister a kiss on the cheek. ‘You all look fab, by the way.’
‘Sage green is growing on me.’ Violet did a little twirl. ‘You did good, twinnie.’
‘How you made Lady Campbell happy, I’ll never know,’ Angus added. ‘I thought she wanted you to do everything by her rules.’
‘I just appealed to her better nature,’ Heather chuckled.
‘This is the dress Mum and I chose. I said no to the one that Elizabeth wanted me to wear. I tried it on, and it didn’t fit, and there wasn’t time to find someone to alter it.
But I’m wearing the Campbell veil, and this.
’ Heather showed off the cameo pendant that Violet had given her. ‘Violet gave me this. Isn’t it lovely?’
‘Wow. That is gorgeous! Well done, Vi,’ Bluebell cooed, peering at Heather’s neck.
‘Yeah, well done, Vi.’ Blossom and Primrose agreed. ‘Beautiful.’
‘My twin’s getting married. I had to give her something special.’ Violet looked pleased.
‘You know, you’ve been amazing with Elizabeth, Heather,’ Sorrel said, lowering her voice. ‘I think I would have killed her thirty minutes after she arrived.’
‘Well, actually, Elizabeth’s been a huge help today: I don’t think the wedding would have happened without her. And after she had a chat with Aunt Chrissie at the beach the other night, I don’t know. Something changed.’ Heather shrugged. ‘They had a real heart-to-heart.’
‘Trust one of the aunts to sort things out,’ Blossom laughed. ‘Aunt Chrissie’s way more dangerous than Aunt Joan. You think it’s the other way around, but don’t be fooled.’
‘Ha. I’ve said it before, an’ I’ll say it again.
Your great-aunts could’ve given Genghis Khan a run for his money.
’ Angus smiled wryly, looking around him.
‘Though it seems I’m fated tae a life o’ strong women, what wi’ Lady Campbell addin’ tae the ranks.
Look at the tartan runners over the windows!
Campbell and Balhennie.’ He nodded. ‘You know, if you’d told me you were goin’ tae do that, I wouldnae have thought it’d work.
But it does, wi’ the light shinin’ through. Just stunnin’, hen.’ He shook his head.
‘That wasn’t actually me. I think that’s Lady Campbell’s work,’ Heather chuckled.
‘But you’re right. It does look remarkable.
’ She gazed up at the tall, lead-lined windows on the right-hand side of the ballroom, which had been covered with sheer fabric blinds or runners that covered the whole long length of glass, but were transparent enough to let the light through.
The effect was as if the ballroom was bathed in the coloured light of both families’ tartan: like stained glass, Heather thought, wonderingly.
The ballroom was huge, displaying swords, shields and other weapons from the Balhennie clan’s history in intricate crisscross patterns and circles on its high walls.
Its ceiling featured another mural, a little like the astrological one in the drawing room, but this one featured a repeating pattern of stars, thistles, unicorns and roses in gold against a dark blue background, like the night sky.
In front of Heather, around two hundred people sat in rows of seating, facing the front of the ballroom.
Down the middle of the seats, there was a wide aisle which had been sprinkled with white rose petals.
They gleamed against the buffed, rich brown parquet flooring of the ballroom – they reminded Heather of the fairy-tale breadcrumbs Hansel and Gretel sprinkled in the woods to avoid getting lost. Only she wasn’t lost. She was exactly where she needed to be.
And as she gazed down the aisle, she saw Matty standing at the end, waiting for her.
‘I’m ready. Let’s go,’ she whispered to Angus.
‘All right, hen.’ He nodded, and they began their slow walk down the aisle.
Violet and Bluebell held her train, and Sorrel, Blossom and Primrose followed behind.
Left-together, right-together. Heather hadn’t told her dad to walk in that way; he just did it, and she did too.
Some things were instinctive, it seemed, without anyone knowing.
The need to love – and the urge to give love – was instinctive, Heather thought, as she walked down the aisle.
The walk was a dream; she was dimly aware of people at the ends of the aisles closest to her sprinkling them both with rose petals.
The music she and Matty had chosen for this part of the ceremony, a traditional Scottish piece, was being played by a piper in full regalia to the right of the seating.
The nostalgic sound of the bagpipes filled the air, weaving its light and the history of the two families into a unique network.
A spell, thought Heather. A spell, weaving all of our hearts together, in this magical moment.
Yet, like walking, humans still had to learn how to love.
Heather had been lucky: she’d been shown how to love from a young age.
She’d been surrounded by love; her parents had always made her feel wanted.
She loved her sisters. Love came easily to Heather; she had the gift of an open heart.
And yet, even though it was something you learned how to do – refining your ability to love as you grew up – love was still an instinct.
Every human wanted to love, and be loved.
Family was where you learned how to do it right, do it wrong, or sometimes, heartbreakingly, not at all.
I have been lucky, she thought, as she looked around her at everyone who had come to wish her and Matty well.
Her sisters, who followed her and Angus down the aisle.
Everyone she knew in the local community, who filled the left-hand side of the ballroom.
Her teachers; her friends; even people who had become regulars at her parents’ Inn and had become family friends, over the years.
And then, at Matty’s side: all the Campbells that she knew, and the many in the extended family that she didn’t yet.
I am lucky. I love Matty, but there is so much love here for both of us. We are lucky.
As she walked to the end of the aisle, Heather reached out to touch the velvety petals of the white roses: they were at the end of every aisle, a profusion of perfection that enveloped her in the sweetness of their scent.
Life is sweet, she thought. Seeing Aunt Joan and Aunt Chrissie sitting at the end of the first row, she picked out two roses from the arrangement closest to her and handed them one each, kissing them on the cheek.
Aunt Joan took the rose and put it in her buttonhole; she wore a purple trouser suit with a white camisole underneath, and she’d dyed her short hair lilac for the occasion. Heather grinned.
‘Very smart,’ she whispered to her aunt.
Aunt Chrissie wore a knee-length floral dress with a pink rose pattern, with a matching white cardigan, embroidered with pink flowers.
When Heather handed her the rose, she teared up and started sobbing.
Aunt Joan rolled her eyes, took the rose, made sure it had no thorns, and then tucked it behind Aunt Chrissie’s ear.
Heather felt a swell of love in her heart for her aunts. She was so very lucky to have such wonderful women in her life.
Thank you, Heather looked up to the ceiling of the ballroom, where the ancient mural of the stars, thistles, unicorns and roses glowed in gold against the dark blue, to whatever ancient powers have protected this family and this castle, thank you.
To the spirits that guide me, thank you.
To my ancestors, thank you. To the powers of love, thank you.
Finally, she looked up and saw Matty, who reached out his hand for hers.