Chapter 16
It was official. Rosie had taken several massive chunks out of the veil.
The veil Amanda had specifically brought to give Bex as wedding inspiration.
The veil that had been worn by the Earl of what’s-his-name.
The veil that was now sprawled on the drawing room floor, the box it had been in toppled onto its side.
It wasn’t just the chunks missing from the wedding veil that were the issue either, although it did look like it had been gnawed through by Fi’s neighbour’s rats.
There were muddy footprints, and at least one snag where the fabric had caught on chair legs and other pieces of furniture, probably from when the dog had tried to drag it across the room.
‘I just don’t understand how she even got in here,’ Bex said, not sure what else to say. ‘I closed the door. I know I did.’
As she looked at the open door, trying to figure out how exactly Rosie had found her way in, Kenna sauntered through, stopping briefly to lick her paws.
Bex drew in a sharp breath. ‘We’re going to have to put locks on all the doors,’ she said. ‘Or there’s going to be a new big cat roaming the Scottish Highlands.’
She didn’t mean it, of course. She adored Kenna. But for a brief hour, Bex had actually felt like she was getting on top of life again. And now there was this to deal with. And she didn’t even know where to start.
‘It’s fine,’ Duncan said gently, resting his hand on her shoulder. ‘We’ll be able to get a replacement.’
‘How? We don’t even know if it can be replaced. It might be a one-off. Bespoke. It’s some great antique belonging to the third princess of New York who loaned it to the Duke of Clementines.’
‘I don’t think New York has a princess.’
‘You know what I mean!’
‘Bex, please.’ Duncan twisted her head around so she was looking at him, not the wrecked veil. ‘We’ll sort it. Maybe Eilidh can fix it.’
Tears stung Bex’s eyes as they fell back on the ruined garment.
Eilidh could work magic with material. She knew that.
But this was different. This was intricate and delicate.
Lace that had been torn in places, twisted and knotted in others.
You didn’t need to be a seamstress to know there was no saving it. Not without the mends being noticeable.
‘Come on.’ This time Duncan shifted his position so that he was blocking Bex’s view of the veil. ‘You just need to breathe. It’s not that big a deal.’
Was it really not? Because it felt like it. Everything felt like a big deal. Daisy not speaking to her felt like a big deal; Fi shifting her hours so she wouldn’t be there when Bex needed her felt like a big deal.
The mood for intimacy was well and truly gone.
‘Do you think maybe we’re just not destined to get married?’ Bex asked, dropping down and starting to pull the fabric together to put back into the box. ‘I’m not sure it should be this hard to plan a wedding.’
‘The wedding planning’s not the hard bit,’ Duncan said. ‘Not really. It’s everything else. You’ve been at work all day. I’ve been at work all day. Fergus didn’t work. Winny didn’t work. They just did this. And he was nae doing that for the last few years.’
‘So we need to employ more people,’ Bex replied, trying to find a solution to the problem. ‘Is that what you’re saying?’
‘Maybe.’
His gaze shifted out the window, and she knew what he was thinking.
Or at least had a vague idea. They still hadn’t managed to find someone to take his role.
How were they going to find even more staff?
Not to mention that would mean finding more salaries, along with the money for repairs, and there was no way they could keep the rents down if they did that.
They were stuck between a rock and a bloomin’ great boulder.
‘I shouldn’t have set up the firm,’ Bex said quietly.
‘What?’
‘If I hadn’t been so insistent on setting up shop straight away, I would’ve been able to help with things more. Got the house sorted. The wedding.’
‘Aye, and been miserable with it.’ Duncan crouched down on the floor, rolling up his sleeves before placing his hands on his knees. ‘We’re fair done in, that’s all. It’ll all calm down soon.’
When? That was the question Bex wanted to ask.
When would it calm down? Certainly not until after the gala, and the wedding, and then there would still be the castle repairs to deal with.
And so she remained silent and offered Duncan a sad smile.
They were together. That was what mattered.
That was what she needed to remember at times like this.
And somehow it made everything feel just a little better.
Bex fell asleep on the sofa less than an hour after they’d finished eating.
Duncan had put a film on that they were supposed to be watching together, but he had his laptop out and was scrolling through whatever issue needed attention, and she hadn’t been able to focus either.
She’d been on her phone, looking online for veils, seeing if she could find a replacement for the one Rosie had chewed up, but there were just too many.
She thought ‘wedding veil lace’ would be enough to find what she needed, but who knew there were so many types?
She didn’t know whether this one had been made with needles, or crochet, or bobbins.
Whether it was Chantilly lace or Venise or one of the other dozens of types there were.
She couldn’t even narrow it down by colour, because ‘white’ wasn’t a thing.
There was porcelain white, daisy white, ivory and royal white to name just a tiny fraction.
It was enough to make her head pound and her heart heavy.
Amanda would definitely know every single detail of the wrecked garment and there was no chance she’d let them get away with a near-match.
Eventually, tiredness won out, and she could no longer stop her eyes from sinking.
‘Hey, go to bed,’ Duncan said, gently rocking her arm to wake her up.
Bex yawned, trying to fight the heaviness that filled her. ‘I need to let Rosie out first.’
‘I’ll deal with the animals,’ Duncan replied.
‘You sure?’ she mumbled.
‘Sure. Get some proper sleep. Love you.’
‘Love you too.’
After he pulled her up, he kissed her on the head and pointed her towards the door. It felt like her head had barely hit the pillow when the alarm rang.
‘Remind me again why I wanted to start a business up here?’ she groaned, pulling her pillow over her head and trying to block out the sound of the calls of wrens and warblers that filled the room.
When she had first visited Highland Hall, the early birdsong had driven her insane; so much so that Duncan had bought her earplugs so she could sleep.
Now, though, she actually liked it. Most of the time.
This, however, was not one of those times.
‘Why didn’t I just enjoy life as Lady of the Manor? ’
‘Because you’re a strong, independent, intelligent woman,’ Duncan murmured from beside her as he nuzzled into her neck, ‘who didn’t want to be defined by her husband’s position.’
‘Right. And why was that?’
Laughing, he pulled the pillow off her head and kissed her lips.
‘Come on. The sooner you get Fi trained up to take over, the sooner you can have some time off.’
With a low moan, Bex sat up and stretched out her arms.
‘Yeah. Talking of Fi, she’s taken a job at The Haven. Did you know about that?’
Duncan frowned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
There was something about early-morning Duncan that Bex found utterly irresistible.
The way his long hair fell across his face, the quiet stillness before the day started.
And the fact that he was wearing nothing but a pair of tight boxers – if that.
It took serious restraint not to drag him back under the covers.
‘No,’ he said. ‘Why? I’m guessing money?’
‘She’s worried about how much Roddy does. Worried about wedding costs. I wish there were a way we could help them, you know? I mean… can’t you give him a raise?’
‘I have. But it’s hard when he’s here, there and everywhere, doing all sorts. I’m sure if they need help—’
‘They’ll ask?’ Bex raised her eyebrow.
‘Most of the village do,’ Duncan said with a smirk.
She laughed. ‘Yeah, I guess you’re right. You got much on today?’
‘Someone’s coming to check the staircase out.’
‘They are?’ This was a bit of good news Bex hadn’t expected. The sooner they got the staircase fixed, the sooner she could stop worrying that someone was going to fall through it. Although even if that someone was Rosie, she doubted it would stop her dog from bolting up and down them.
‘Aye. And the roof.’
‘The roof too?’
Now she was practically ecstatic.
‘I’ll be here most of the day,’ Duncan continued. ‘Not sure if I’ll be able to stop for lunch though.’
‘Well, maybe I can finish early and we can spend some time together,’ Bex said, with a very definite way of spending the afternoon in her mind.
Rosie and Kenna had interrupted her and Duncan at a less than ideal time the night before, and she very much wanted to return to what they’d been doing. It felt like it’d been far too long.
‘That’d be great,’ Duncan replied with a grin that implied he knew exactly what Bex was thinking.
After grabbing a quick shower, Bex found Duncan downstairs, feeding the dogs.
‘Wanna walk up to the village with me and get a coffee?’
‘You’ve got a perfectly good coffee maker down here. One I bought you, if you remember.’
‘I remember,’ Bex said, reaching down to give all the dogs a bit of morning fuss.
It wasn’t as though she could forget. It had been the sweetest gesture.
Alongside the earplugs, of course. When she’d first come up here to work, she’d had to go into the village each morning just to get a decent coffee.
It had been more than a slight annoyance.
So Duncan had bought her a coffee machine.
But now she was going into the village every morning, anyway. It felt silly not to grab a drink there and say hello to Lorna or whoever was working in the café.
‘I can have one here and one there,’ she said.
‘Of course you can,’ he replied, shaking his head. ‘Come on. I’ll walk with you.’
As they headed out hand in hand, the normality and peace of the moment was almost enough for Bex to forget about the veil situation that still needed sorting.
These were the moments she needed to focus on, she reminded herself.
And it wasn’t like she didn’t have the money to replace the veil.
The money for her London apartment was due to go through any week now.
They had just passed the tree that Bex had swerved into earlier in the year when a large truck appeared in front of them, LochDarroch Roofing written across the top.
‘Sorry,’ Duncan said with a sigh. ‘Guess you’ll have to have that coffee on your own.’
‘No worries.’ Bex pushed herself onto her tiptoes to kiss him on the lips. As much as she wanted a drink with her fiancé, she wanted a roof that didn’t drip even more. ‘Hope it all goes okay.’
‘You too. Have a good day.’
‘I’m going to,’ she replied with a grin. Nothing was going to dampen her mood today. She could feel it.