Beatrice decided to keep her thoughts about that to herself too. Yes, he’d scrubbed up nicely for his date with Kitty and he had some of the same handsome features as Atholl but he was so rangy and thin and just nothing like as solid and handsome as his younger brother. Could Lana breaking Gene’s heart have transformed him physically as well as emotionally? Beatrice kept her eyes on Atholl’s moving mouth as she polished off her bannock.
‘Therewassomeone serious, well I thought we were getting serious,’ he said. ‘Maggie arrived as a holidaymaker taking a long let in the loft rental above Mr Shirlaw’s general store. She’d come into the inn every now and again and we’d get chatting at the bar, then she started coming in for dinner most nights. Anyway…’Atholl blew a deep breath through puffed cheeks and ran an index fingertip over his hairline pushing back a curl. ‘I thought we’d talked about every subject under the sun and we knew each other pretty well. She’d,uh, stay the night too and didnae seem to mind me spending evenings in the kitchens or pulling pints. But, then one day, out of the blue, her husband arrived in the village.’
‘Her husband?’
‘Aye. He was news to me as well. She even had the nerve tae introduce us. He worked away on the rigs most of the year, apparently, and she’d spend her summer holidays alone. He’d gotten leave and decided to join her on her trip as a surprise. I don’t know, maybe I was the first fellow she cheated on her man with. Who knows? But he took one look at me and the shock must have been written all over my face. Aye, and the guilt too. Even though I’d cuckolded him without knowing, he twigged what we’d been up to in an instant. I got a black eye for my devotion and Maggie packed her bags and left with him, back to wherever they came from. I never really understood what the appeal was for her. I suppose I was nothing but a Highland fling.’
‘You wished it was more?’
‘Maybe at first, but that was cured by the sight of a fist flying at my nose attached to a very angry husband.’ He bit into the bannock with a wry smile.
She understood. He was making light of this affair but it must have caused him pain at the time, and embarrassment too. He must have been thanking his lucky stars when this Maggie arrived in Port Willow, seeming to be single and available, wanting to warm his bed. How many times had Beatrice been reminded of the scarcity of women here in the village since her own arrival? Seth had told her it was a decades-long imbalance.
‘Poor you,’ she said. ‘That’s rubbish, I’m sorry. Was there nobody else after Maggie?’
‘Not a one. Not with Gene to mother and…’ His words faltered at the sight of Beatrice’s eyes narrowing as she peered into the distance over his shoulder.
‘It can’t be?’ she said in lowered tones. Somehow, thinking of Eugene Fergusson had conjured up a powerful image of him emerging from over the brow of the hill and marching towards them.
Then she heard the voices.
A quick glance at Atholl who hadn’t turned around to see the apparition told her he could hear them too.
‘Aww, for the love of…’ He flicked the half eaten bannock back into the box and drew a knee up to his chest. ‘He’s behind me, isn’t he?’
‘Yep. And he’s not alone.’
Down the hill danced at least six redheaded children with Echo bounding and scurrying between them. Gene’s shaved head towered above them all. On one arm he grasped a smiling Kitty, and on the other an elderly, white-haired woman.
Atholl kept his back to the invaders. ‘He’s told the whole family we’re here, hasn’t he.’ It wasn’t a question, but Beatrice nodded in response.
He had time to offer her a wary look before murmuring a deep, ‘I’m sorry, Beatrice. I wanted you to have peace and quiet today…’ before the marauders joined them.
‘Well, if it isn’t another courtin’ couple hiding in the heathers,’ the frail white-haired woman called out.
Atholl rose to greet her with a straight-lipped smile before offering her a kiss on her cheek, flushed red from her walk.
‘I suppose this is your doing?’ Atholl said to his brother as Eugene offered an outstretched hand which he shook – warmly, Beatrice noticed. Those two may bicker but there was love beneath it all.
‘Mrs Mair’s in charge at the inn. You can’t sneak Beatrice to the island without telling yur family,’ Gene said, highly amused, before adding with a provoking innocence, ‘Why would you no’ want her to meet our mother?’
Kitty threw herself down on the rug beside Beatrice and whispered near her ear. ‘Sorry about all this. Gene had rung round the family before I knew what was happening, so I joined in for damage limitation.’
‘It’s fine, honestly.’ Beatrice waved Kitty’s remark away, but Kitty drew closer to her.
‘They’re harmless, just a bit batty. I’ve known them since I was a bairn.’
The children were already stripping out of their clothes and making for the pools, not seeming to mind the cold water and screaming and splashing one another in delight. Beatrice shielded the bannocks from the flying water and shifted over on the rug to allow Atholl’s mother to sit down.
‘Well, dear. You’re the Beatrice I have to thank for making my laddie smile again,’ she said.
Beatrice watched Gene lowering himself onto his own picnic blanket spread on the bank and holding out an arm for Kitty to slide in beneath, which she did, leaving Beatrice alone on the rug beside Atholl’s mum.
‘I was only too glad to help Eugene and Kitty out,’ Beatrice remarked, watching the new lovers snuggling up together.
‘I wasnae talking about Gene,’ the old woman said with a sly smile and a glance towards Atholl who was standing up watching the children and Echo bounding in the water and pretending not to hear. ‘And here he is gallivanting on Skye! I thought he was wedded to that inn. So tell me, Beatrice, are you enjoying your stay?’
‘I am, thank you. Port Willow is beautiful.’
