Chapter Twenty-One
Clem drove up to the village hall feeling nervous and excited. She hadn’t been to a gig in months. She’d watched a few clips on YouTube and realised that this was going to be like nothing else she had ever attended, but everyone seemed to be having a good time and that was the main thing. Having watched the dances, she’d realised that she was going to have to go in flat shoes. She had no issues with dancing in heels but until she learnt the steps she suspected her partners might. She didn’t want to spend the evening apologising and being glared at, but she also didn’t want to spend the evening in her stockinged feet. She didn’t actually own any flat shoes other than her trainers, so she’d gone rummaging in the bedrooms until she found what looked to be dancing slippers from the 1950s. They were also clearly meant for a child but at least they fit her. She placed her heels into a bag so that she could swap them over whenever she felt like she’d mastered the steps.
She had also quickly sewn up a short skirt with lots of petticoats that sat just above her knees. One of the servants’ uniforms that she had found was so worn out that she had had no regrets in repurposing it. And now her skirt was covered in piping and brocade. She had also created lots of pleats so that it would swing out in a kilt-like fashion, exposing the tulle petticoats below.
For a top she added a ripped white dress shirt and a zebra print waistcoat. Highland punk. She was going to stand out as a stranger anyway, she may as well feel comfortable doing it.
The carpark was already full and stragglers were heading towards the village hall. As she joined them, one of them hailed her and Clem’s face lit up as she recognised James Monroe.
‘Buttons, my dear, may I introduce you to Lady Clementine of Ruacoddy Castle, but she prefers to be called Clem or Clemmie.’
Smiling at Clem and nodding to his wife, James added, ‘And this is my delightful wife, the Much Honoured Alexandra Monroe, Lady Invershee, who prefers to be known as Buttons.’
Both women smiled and said hello, and then Buttons told her that her waistcoat was perfect. She also approved of her dancing slippers.
Clem returned the smile, happy to be chatting to someone her own height.
‘Thanks, and I love your kilt. I didn’t know they were full-length?’
‘Ha. Everything on me is full-length but you’d know all about that.’
In fact, Buttons was even shorter than Clem, which had made Clem warm to her instantly. In her flat dancing shoes she was feeling particularly short and was not looking forward to an evening of cricking her neck in every conversation.
‘But that is a proper full-length one though, isn’t it?’
‘Indeed, at my age I keep my veins to myself. Oh what I’d give to have legs as young and lovely as yours again. Ah well, gone is gone.’
Laughing, she linked her arm through Clem’s and headed through the open door that her husband was holding for both of them.
As Buttons entered the hall a shout went up, and she called out to the crowd that the dancing could begin. With a whoop, the fiddles started to tap out a merry beat as people picked out their dancing partners. A man on the stage called out a number and instantly the floor was filled with couples. James tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.
‘I’m just off to join Buttons. We always lead out the first dance but then I’ll come back for you and introduce you to a few people, if you’d like?’ and before he could say anything else, Buttons had grabbed his hand, calling to her that they would be back with her in a minute.
Clem walked behind the tables and chairs, which were pushed to the side, and headed towards a makeshift bar. She wasn’t particularly thirsty but she felt she might look a little less lost if she had something to hold.
Before she’d even got to the serving hatch, she’d been asked if she wanted to dance twice. Both men had been friendly and unconcerned when she had said she wanted to watch for a bit first.
The hall was full of mixed groups all laughing and she was keen to start dancing, but she wanted to understand things a bit better. Looking around, she saw a few familiar faces and smiled and gave a little wave, then one particular figure caught her eye. Saluting her with a bottle of beer was the most impressive stranger. He was tall and broad, with dark black hair and a huge smile. Well, she didn’t know him from Adam but that didn’t stop her from grinning back. Game on.
Deciding she needed a drink, the woman asked if she had any ID on her. Preparing one of her sneers, she heard a voice laughing across the top of her head.
‘It’s okay, Pam, Bo here is over-age. We’ll have to forgive her her youthful skin.’
Clem’s shoulders clenched; she’d really had enough of Rory calling her Bo. Turning, she started to tell him off.
‘Look, do you think you could knock that stupid—’
Her words died on her lips as she found herself looking up into the face of the handsome stranger from across the room.
‘But you’re gorgeous!’ the words just blurted out of her mouth.
Pam laughed at Rory.
‘I don’t reckon I can serve her; she’s well pished!’
Clem laughed and turned back to Pam.
‘No, seriously he’s gorgeous, isn’t he?’
Pam laughed again in surprise at the forthright stranger.
‘Aye, he is that but he never believes it.’ Turning her attention to Rory: ‘So when did you shave the beard off? I thought the bet was until midsummer. Callum must be over the moon? Callum’s one of Rory’s brothers,’ Pam told Clem, ‘bet him that he couldn’t stop shaving for a year. They both put a thousand pounds on it for the local children’s ward.’
Rory rubbed his face and grinned sheepishly, looking about ten years old.
‘It got too itchy. Besides which, I thought it was making me look old.’
‘And when have you ever cared what you looked like?’
Now it was Clem’s turn to blush. Underneath that terrible beard had hidden the most stunning bone structure and now that she could see his mouth clearly, she groaned in embarrassment as her thoughts ran ahead of her. Excusing herself from the two old friends she dashed off to find a spare table to sit at or a hole to die in. As she sat down at an empty table, she was dismayed to hear someone call out, ‘Lady Hiverton, cooee!’
Lydia and Joshua made their way through the chairs towards Clem as people craned their neck to see exactly who was Lady Hiverton. Hole to die in it was then.
‘What fun! We do like to come along and support these events. It’s so important to integrate with the local community, isn’t it?’
Clem looked them up and down. They were both in what appeared to be a traditional dress complete with tartans and lace ruffles. But somehow they didn’t blend in with similarly dressed couples. She couldn’t decide why and she realised it was probably just her own prejudices.
Lydia continued, ‘Couldn’t you find anything to wear? I know! Next time, why don’t you come over to ours first? What do you say, Joshua? Let’s have Lady Hiverton over to ours for supper and then she can borrow one of my outfits.’
‘Good call. That’s quite a novel outfit you’ve got there.’ He guffawed. ‘We find it best to try and blend in. The locals prefer it if we make the effort.’
Clem bit her lip.
‘No, you’re good. I like what I’m wearing. I was never born to blend in. Look at me!’
She saw that Rory was walking towards her with two bottles of beer, and standing up she took his bottles, placed them on the table and led him to the dance floor. As they walked towards the dancers she called back over her shoulder, ‘And it’s Clementine, or Clemmie or Clem but never lady. Cheers,’ and with that, Rory put his hand on her waist and whisked her into the column of dancers.
‘Sorry about that and for the record I don’t know what I’m doing.’ She smiled up at him, thinking how nice his hand felt resting on her waist. However, she was grateful as the music came to an end, as she didn’t have a clue what she was doing. ‘Perfect timing!’ Her relief was short lived as another dance started up straight away, and she pulled a worried grimace. Rory advised her to watch carefully and told the other six couples to mind their feet.
The evening continued with Clem laughing her way through the sets; she loved dancing and gradually got the hang of it. She seemed to dance with everyone in the hall and accepted every invitation, apologising as she began each time.
At one point in the evening, Lydia joined her at her table where she was recovering her breath.
‘Lady Hiverton—’
‘No seriously. Look, Lady Hiverton is my sister, I’m just Lady Clementine, but please just drop the lady, please. Just call me Clem; like you said earlier, I just want to blend in.’
She tried to smile and take the sting out of her words and it appeared to work, as Lydia beamed back at her, delighted to be on first name terms with a peer of the realm.
Clem was wondering if she could get rid of her when some women from the post office made their way over to her and asked about Mari’s veil. Clem told them what she had in mind and told them to spread the word. Soon various locals were popping over to book a slot. She was filling up her phone with names and numbers. This was turning into exactly the sort of community project that she was hoping for. As the baker and his wife left, Lydia leant over. ‘You know everyone! What’s going on?’
Clemmie laughed. ‘Honestly, I don’t know any of them but they’re volunteering to take part in a small scheme I’ve got running.’ Clemmie explained how she was trying to help a local lass have a special day.
‘So I thought if I make the dress, I can get all the locals to embroider bits onto the train.’
‘What a fabulous idea. Can I join in?’
This stumped Clem. ‘Do you know Mari then?’
Lydia looked blank.
‘She’s the barmaid at the Cock and Feathers?’
Lydia shook her head. ‘Not really if I’m honest. I’m not like you, I didn’t grow up here so it’s taking a while to get to know everyone, but I’d love to be involved.’
Clem wanted to correct her but it didn’t seem important and she felt sorry for her. Clearly, despite their best efforts they weren’t really part of the community.
‘Okay, I’ll book you in a slot, but I can see the bride now, so let’s talk about something else. This is supposed to be a surprise.’
Clem looked across as Mari made her way around the dance floor.
She was short of breath and desperate for a chair. Seeing a space by Clem she headed over.
‘My God! Would you look at that heifer?’ sniggered Lydia. ‘I wonder what she’s called, do you reckon it’s Nessie?’ she screeched with laughter, expecting Clem to join in.
‘That’s Mari. The bride in question and my sodding friend,’ she hissed. Lydia’s face fell in horror as Clem jumped to her feet stalked over to join the young bride-to-be, grabbing some bottles of water for her.
Mari gratefully grabbed a bottle of water from her and finished it in one go. ‘Jesus, this is fun. I reckon I need to get all my dancing in now while I can. Are you having a good time? It’s lovely to see you here.’
The two found a bench and sat and chatted over the music, whilst Clem complained about how short she was. She was determined to dismiss Lydia’s ugly words from her mind.
‘Some bloke asked me if I wanted to join the children’s reel, so I told him to fuck off. He got all offended and said I had a potty mouth and I was uninvited after all!’
Mari snorted with laughter. ‘Ah you’re not the shortest anyway. I saw you come in with Buttons and she’s got the biggest personality in the room. Speaking of which, did you agree on buttons, zips or ties for the dress?’
Clem shook her head. ‘I think the way you’re expanding we might need to go for Velcro panels!’
Laughing, the conversation wove on with a fitting arranged for the following week. But just as they began to get down to details, both were pulled back up on to their feet for more dances. Clem thought she had picked it up pretty well, but it was clear that Mari was a natural. She skipped on her feet like thistledown and as the evening wore on she undid her plaits and her thick blonde hair swung out around her, her red sweating face beaming at Clem as they passed each other in the circle. ‘This baby’s going to come out dancing, so he is.’
Grabbing more drinks for the pair of them, Clem and Mari took a quick breather. Taking a quick swig out of her bottle, she pointed it in the direction of Rory and a girl who kept bowing her head and taking deep sighs. Clem watched as he tipped her chin up and she took a step towards him, smiling.
‘Who’s that with Rory?’
‘Where?’ Mari followed Clem’s direction but the dancers were weaving in and out, blocking the view. As they stepped back, creating a ring, Mari let out a small groan.
‘Oh no. That is Janet Strathclyde. Jesus Rory, do not encourage her.’
‘Who is she? They look close.’
Clem wasn’t sure why she was bothered but she had thought that Rory was single. Not that she cared. She was here to launch her career and save a castle. But still.
‘Too close if you ask me. They used to date. Actually, it was more than that; they were practically wed. Everyone assumed it was only a matter of time. Then one day it was all over.’
‘Why? What happened?’ Clem was still watching the couple between the dancers. Rory had taken a step back, and Clem gave a silent cheer.
‘No one really knows. Rory wouldn’t talk about it except for saying that Janet was blameless.’
‘What did she say?’
‘At first, nothing. She just kept greeting like a bairn. Any place where Rory walked in, she’d suddenly turn on the waterworks. Then, when that didn’t work, she started bad-mouthing him. He led her on. Et cetera et cetera. Never meant to get so serious. Blah, blah, blah.’
To Clem it sounded like a good enough reason to end a relationship. Still, she was surprised by Mari’s reaction. Janet had been upset after all.
‘Do I sound like a bitch? Sorry. She was a nightmare. She kept calling him a liar and a loser to anyone that would listen. When she was drunk, she would shout abuse at him. In the end, he became a bit of a recluse until she buggered off down south.’
‘And now she’s back.’
Mari took a quick drink of water.
‘And now she’s back.’
Clem stood up and smiled wickedly. ‘One good turn deserves another.’
‘What?’
‘He rescued me from a sheep. I’m going to rescue him from a shrew.’
Mari spluttered her water and then hooted with laughter, but Clem had already started to make her way around the edge of the hall.
***
Rory had been having a smashing evening until he saw Janet. Thank God Callum had warned him she was back on the scene. Now as he stood on the side of the dance floor, he listened as she told him how unhappy she had been down south. She missed home too much and felt like a fish out of water.
‘You know, I really wanted to apologise to you.’
She tipped her head down and Rory worried that she might be about to start crying again.
‘You don’t owe me any apologies.’
Janet smiled tremulously and stepped towards him.
‘But I do. I behaved appallingly. And you were so lovely. I just wish I hadn’t spoilt things. We were so good together, weren’t we?’
Rory stepped back. He wasn’t sure what to say. He sensed a trap, but wasn’t certain about the best way to avoid it without upsetting her all over again. Instead, he changed the subject and asked about her new job.
‘I’m enjoying it, more responsibility, the pay is good but the commute is a bit of a slog. I’m wondering about moving closer to Inverness but then I wouldn’t be around here so much?’
Another trap. Rory wasn’t sure what to say but noticed that Janet was frowning and suddenly he felt someone tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he looked down to see Clem grinning up at him.
‘Care to dance?’
Rory met her own grin with a broad smile. There was something so happy about Clem when she was smiling.
‘You can’t just interrupt a reel in the middle of it you know,’ snapped Janet in a tone that suggested she wasn’t referring to the moves taking place on the dance floor
Clem just stood there smiling broadly, and worried what she was about to say, Rory jumped in and introduced the two women.
‘So what’s Bo short for then?’ asked Janet, her tone not having softened at all as Clem continued to smile at her. There was something unsettling about such a concentrated smile.
‘It’s short for Clementine. It’s just a nickname Rory gave me.’
Janet’s eyes narrowed and before she could reply, Rory nodded towards the dance floor and addressed Clem.
‘This set is about to end. Let’s see if you’ve improved any. Will you excuse us, Janet? Bo has only just moved in and doesn’t know many people to dance with.’
As the two of them moved onto the floor, Janet watched as this incomer already appeared to know half the dance floor. So much for no one to dance with: she was happily chatting to and laughing with each new partner. She might not know all the steps, thought Janet, but she was clearly making moves on Rory.
As the dance ended, Janet approached the pair and asked him for the next dance, for old times.
Panting from the energetic reel, Clem gave Janet a mocking curtsey and, laughing at Rory, she told him he was on his own and headed off to get some water.
***
Finally, the band called time and Clem was amazed to see it was already midnight. She looked everywhere for Rory, but when she asked behind the bar, Pam said he’d had to go and help with a problem at the farm. Disappointed that he hadn’t come and said goodbye, she decided that it was probably just as well. She didn’t need a distraction that gorgeous in her life right now. Plus, maybe he wanted to get back together with Janet, although she wouldn’t put any money on it. Still, that girl had a very determined air about her. Maybe he left early to escape. The thought cheered Clem up enormously as she drove along the dark roads.
Driving home, she thought about what a wonderful night it had been. She had met some design students who were going to call in over the weekend. She had various teams in place to start on the train as the word had spread around the community. She had got to know loads of the locals and had been invited to all sorts of stuff and she’d said yes to everything. And she’d discovered that Rory was a total hottie.
As she sang her way into the hall, she saw Miss Farano coming back in through the back door. It was awkward but there was nothing for it but to try and cope with these brief encounters.
‘Miss Farano you should have come. It was fabulous. Do you dance? Next time you are coming dancing!’ and she skipped off to the ballroom, fizzing with energy to start tracing out designs on the train.