Page 71 of The Scottish Island Inn

‘It stayed with me. I never lost it,’ she murmured. ‘I never lost you. You were always in my heart.’

He shook his head in disbelief.

‘I can’t believe you kept that.’ His eyes met hers.

Sorrel wiped a tear from where it rolled down her cheek. ‘I kept this because it reminded me of that. Of you. It was my anchor when I lost everything.’

He hugged her tight to his chest. ‘Please, don’t ever leave me behind again. I’ll go with you wherever you want to go. But please don’t leave… please.’ He started to cry.

‘Baby. I won’t ever leave you again,’ she whispered, and this time it was Sorrel who reached for his cheek gently, and guided his face to hers for a kiss. ‘I love you. I love your heart. Your real, beating heart. Not stone.’

THIRTY-NINE

Sorrel knew that her sister Violet felt wrong-footed as soon as she walked into the wedding boutique and saw all of her sisters sitting on two pink velvet sofas.

‘What the…?’ She looked at Sorrel, then Blossom and Primrose, and finally, Bluebell, who was sitting at the end of one of the sofas and looking uncomfortable. ‘I thought this was just going to be me and Heather.’

‘I know. I’m sorry, Vi.’ Heather stood up and held out a hand to her tall, glamorous sister, who was dressed in a designer leisure suit and expensive-looking trainers with her highlighted blonde hair in a flawless high ponytail. ‘But this was the only way to get us all together.’

‘Oh.’ Violet’s voice cracked with emotion, and her cheeks flushed. Although Violet had always been the sassy one, Sorrel knew that she was as sensitive as her twin, Heather – Violet just preferred to hide behind a hard shell. ‘I didn’t know… I wasn’t prepared to see everyone. You got me here under false pretences. I flew in especially, from Paris, by the way,’ she added, tartly. ‘I’m happy to be your bridesmaid, Heather. But I’m not happy to be deceived. There’s been too much of that.’

However, as Violet dithered inside the door to the boutique, Tam held his hand out to her.

‘Nice to see you, Violet,’ Tam replied, smiling. ‘Come in. Have a glass of champagne.’

‘Hello, Tam. Long time,’ she replied, distractedly. Violet swore under her breath. ‘If I’d known everyone was going to be here, I’d have… well, I would have mentally prepared myself.’ She frowned, obviously cross, but she sat down next to Primrose on the sofa and gave her sister a hug. ‘Hello, Primmy,’ she muttered, and leaned over to kiss Blossom on the cheek. ‘Hi, Bloss. Hi, Blue.’

‘I suppose we have you to thank for this,’ Violet muttered towards Sorrel.

‘Violet, could you just calm down for a minute?’ Heather approached her sister and knelt down in front of her, as if she was soothing a skittish horse. ‘I’m so grateful that you flew in to get your dress fitted. We do actually need to do that, so it wasn’t a lie. But I – we—’ she indicated Tam and Angus – ‘we felt that this bad feeling couldn’t go on any longer, and we wanted to get everyone together. In person. This was the only way.’

‘Oh, Heather. Bless you.’ Violet sighed, glancing at Tam where he stood at the door. ‘Well, I see Tam’s decided he’s some kind of bouncer for the event, so I guess I’m staying.’

‘Good. Your father and I can’t stand this infighting for one more minute, quite honestly,’ Tam said, his arms crossed over his chest. ‘So, you’re all going to sit here and talk to each other and make up. Because you all love each other, and you’re sisters,’ he added.

Sorrel couldn’t help admiring the rise of Tam’s considerable bicep under his dark green sweater, and his well-muscled forearms that were on display because he’d pushed up his sleeves.

Tam and Sorrel had been virtually inseparable for the past week. Sorrel felt they were making up for lost time; she didn’t want to be apart from Tam at the moment for any longer than a day. They’d spent every night together so far, and it had been blissful.

‘Quite right, laddie. Quite right.’ Angus patted Tam on the shoulder. ‘You girls need tae be friends again. Sorrel and your mother have made their peace. Now it’s your time tae do the same.’

‘How long have you been planning this?’ Bluebell asked, her quiet voice strangely loud in the room; usually, if the sisters were together, it would have been busy with chatter. But no one seemed to know what to say.

‘A week or so. Now, my dear young ladies.’ Angus tapped his youngest daughter lightly on the top of the head with his index finger. ‘We are going tae leave you in the capable hands of the boutique. And you’re all going to have your measurements taken an’ your dresses fitted, and you’re all goin’ tae make up, and then, when everything’s done, we’re all goin’ for tea at the Inn. The kitchen’s done. Mum’s got it all prepared.’ He nodded and blew them all a kiss. ‘We’re trustin’ you all tae stay an’ be adults. No more silliness.’

Tam gave Sorrel an apologetic wave and mouthed sorry. She got out her phone and texted him:

I can’t believe you did this. But thank you.

Because she was relieved. As difficult as it was to see all of her sisters together after all the arguing over messages, she knew that it was a thousand times easier to make up with people in person than remotely, where tone could be misread and feelings misconstrued.

‘Thank you, Heather,’ she whispered to her sister, as they all stared at each other. Heather pressed her hand affectionately.

‘Don’t thank me yet. We need to get through the fittings first.’ She pulled her lips tight in a grimace. ‘I’m sort of regretting this already.’

Bridesmaid dress fittings could be, Sorrel came to realise, an exercise in tact. Sadly, some of her sisters did not possess much of it.

Blossom’s fitting went reasonably well. The dress that Heather had chosen for everyone – a sage green satin empire line dress with a long, straight skirt and cap sleeves – looked nice on her, and Blossom was patient and even-tempered. Bluebell was next, and stood quietly while her dress was pinned and adjusted by the two dressmakers who ran the shop. Sorrel tried to make conversation with her, complimenting her on how the dress looked, but Bluebell replied in monosyllables.