Chapter 32
Bex didn’t break stride, not as she ran out of the marquee, nor as she darted up the flower-lined paths.
Why had she let them have the marquee down by the loch?
If they’d just kept it by the house like in years before, then she’d already be with him.
Instead, the castle and the loch had never felt so far apart.
Yet as she raced with every inch of power she had, she could hear Duncan’s footsteps crunching on the gravel behind her.
‘Bex, slow down,’ he said. ‘If you fall, it’ll be two of you we’ll need to take to the hospital.’
Her breath hitched.
‘He’s at the hospital?’ she gasped, stopping in her tracks and giving Duncan a chance to catch her hand.
‘No… sorry, I don’t think so. I was just—’ He shook his head. ‘No, he’s not. But I don’t know if the doctor will say we have to take him.’
‘What happened?’ Bex asked once again, picking up her pace, though it was now more of a power march as Duncan’s hand remained in hers.
‘I don’t know. Dad called me. Said he’d already phoned the doctor. That they were coming home as quickly as they could and that I should get you and Lilith.’
‘They were out for a run,’ Bex said, as much to herself as to Duncan. ‘I knew something like this would happen. That he would push himself too hard and… and…’
The worst images flashed through her mind.
How was this happening? It couldn’t. It couldn’t.
Last night had been the happiest she’d felt in so long.
Like they would find a way through all this stress.
Like it didn’t matter if they didn’t get married just yet.
The wedding… Her breath stuttered. The only reason her dad had been out running was so that he got fit to walk her down the aisle.
And if that was the reason that he… he… No.
No, she wouldn’t think about it. She couldn’t think about it.
As the castle drive finally came into view, she once more dropped Duncan’s hand and bolted the last fifty yards.
‘Dad!’ she screamed as she pushed open the castle door. ‘Dad! Dad!’
Daisy and Claire shot into the hallway.
‘He’s in the drawing room,’ Daisy said. ‘He’s with your mum and the doctor, but—’
Bex didn’t bother listening to whatever Daisy was going to say. She didn’t care. She just needed to get to him.
She pushed open the door to see her mother tear-streaked and pale as she sat on the sofa, and a man she didn’t know standing over Fergus’s armchair. And sitting in it – sitting in the seat that she and Duncan always left empty – was her father.
‘Dad?’ Tears streamed down her cheeks as she crossed the room and knelt on the floor beside him.
‘I’m all right, Becky Boo,’ he said, his voice cracking. ‘Don’t worry. I’m all right.’
‘What happened?’ she asked. ‘What happened?’
His face was drained, his skin sallow, and he had a faint, wispy smile on his lips.
‘Pushed himself too hard, that’s what happened,’ the doctor answered as he moved away to give Bex a bit of room, although her mother immediately took his place. ‘Far too hard.’
Her dad shook his head. ‘It was a 5k. I’ve run a 5k before.’
‘Uphill? Like these ones?’ the doctor said. ‘Dehydrated after a night of drink? Is that how you normally run?’ The silence that followed was all the answer needed. ‘Aye. Thought not. No, looks like it’s just some spasms. Heart sounds good, breath too. But he needs to take it easy.’
‘I said you were doing too much, Dad.’ Bex continued to wipe the tears from her cheeks as she spoke. ‘Going too hard.’
Her dad waved a hand dismissively. ‘You know… just wanted to be fit – for the walk down there.’
Her heart clenched. ‘Dad, I don’t care if you have to limp, or shuffle, or whatever the heck you have to do. All I care about is that you’re still here to walk me down the aisle. That’s what matters.’
It was her mother, gesturing with her chin, that alerted Bex to Duncan, who had now joined them in the drawing room.
‘Everything all right?’ he asked as he squeezed her shoulders.
‘No. He’s an old fool, doing everything for a wedding that might not even happen.’
‘Might not happen?’ Her dad’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’re not… I thought you two were, you know—’
‘It’ll happen.’ She shook her head, regretting her choice of words. ‘But we told you last night, it might not be for years. Not with everything we have to sort out.’
A slight hint of colour had returned to her father’s cheeks as he pushed himself up slightly. ‘Surely it’s not that hard. You want the people you care about there.’
‘Yes,’ Bex said. ‘Absolutely. But there’s also the village to think about. And finding the right place.’
‘What do you mean, “the right place”? You’ve got here, for crying out loud. It’s the most perfect place there is. You can’t possibly be thinking of getting married somewhere else?’
Bex looked at Duncan. From the moment he’d proposed, this was where they assumed they’d get married.
Highland Hall, their home, on a beautiful day, just like this one.
But then they’d hired Amanda and started the firm, and all their ideas and plans had somehow got muddled with everything else that was going on. And yet…
All of a sudden, her mind was the clearest it had been in weeks.
‘I don’t want to wait,’ she said, her breath catching, heart drumming as if she were about to have a panic attack. But she wasn’t. This wasn’t like that at all. ‘I know I said I was all right with it. But I’m not. I don’t want to wait.’
‘Okay…’ he said slowly. ‘What are you saying?’
‘The other judge for the gala,’ Bex continued. ‘She’s the village priest.’
‘Patricia?’
‘Yes. And she’s lovely. And there’s so much food in the marquee. Like, so much. Enough for three weddings.’
‘Bex. What are you saying?’ Duncan asked cautiously. ‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’
‘My friends are here. Your family’s here. It’s not everyone we love, but it’s enough. It’s everybody we need. There’s enough food, and soon the whole village will be down in the marquee. The village that we actually care about. Not the random lords and ladies and landowners.’
A nervous smile curled on his lips, as if he wasn’t sure whether he could believe what he was hearing. ‘I just need to be sure that you mean what I think you mean. That you—’
‘I want to do it today, Duncan,’ Bex blurted out, unable to keep her words in any longer. ‘I want to get married this afternoon. Down by the loch. At our castle. What do you say?’
A heartbeat of silence passed between them. A heartbeat that caused her pulse to tick nervously. Was he going to say no? He probably should say no. It was a ridiculous idea. Rushed. Reckless even. And yet, it still felt right.
Finally, the smile she had been waiting for cracked across Duncan’s face.
‘Aye,’ he replied in a half laugh. ‘I say aye, that sounds perfect. Absolutely perfect. Let’s do it!’