Sebastian wanted to smile again, had to stifle a laugh at Craig Macwarren’s unspoken conclusions. It seemed everybody was all too familiar with the ‘what-not’ he mentioned. It followed every conversation about his father around like a stain on a favourite jumper.
But Sebastian was fascinated by the information about his grandfather, his interest properly piqued. It struck him that he knew very little about his grandparents, or the generation before that, apart from the fact that his grandmother had survived his grandfather by a good many years and remained at the castle until her death, shortly before Sebastian’s parents were married.
‘My grandfather played the bagpipes. And my great-grandmother the piano?’ Sebastian floundered, searching for solid ground. It came from Jess.
‘Well, you didn’t think your abilities came out of thin air, did you? Stands to reason they came from somewhere. And your mum would have told you if her side of the family were musical, wouldn’t she?’ Jess turned to Craig. ‘Were the dances held in the picture gallery?’ she asked.
‘Aye. Band set up at the end nearest the kitchens – which meant we could all hear it well – and the dancers twirling around the rest of it. Perfect space for it, plenty of room even with some tables set out for food. And at Christmas there would be a massive tree, too. Strung with lights and paper angels. Magic, it was.’
Jess was as struck by Sebastian’s expression as she was by Craig Macwarren’s revelations. Sebastian looked lost, as though everything he knew about himself and his life had been tossed to a particularly strong Highland breeze. It seemed amazingly cruel that Sebastian’s father hadn’t ever let his son know about his musical heritage.
As she and Sebastian wound their way back to the castle, with promises made to give Sebastian’s mother the Macwarrens’ best wishes, Sebastian seemed deep in thought. Quiet, but in a contemplative way, rather than brooding.
It was just as well he didn’t want to chat, as Jess had her hands full trying to coax a reluctant Digby back up the track. He’d threatened to nip her when she’d fastened him back into his harness, Vivi’s words of encouragement doing nothing more than stoking the fire of Digby’s desire to stay in the cottage with her.
At least Vivi had behaved herself – on a scale of one to full-on Vivi, Jess would score her a four this morning. Her hip was causing her more pain than she was letting on, that much was clear, and Jess hoped it was nothing more than the result of the long journey. Give it another couple of days, and she hoped Vivi would again be scoring a ten on her very own Richter scale. Although what repercussions that might have for the quiet village of Kirkshield was yet to be discovered.
‘Comeon, will you, Digby?’ Jess couldn’t contain her exasperation any longer.
Sebastian paused, turning to see the dog bellying himself on the tarmac and refusing to move.
‘I like Vivi very much,’ he said.
Jess smiled. ‘She’s a one of a kind.’
‘She’s very welcome to come and stay at the castle if you like. That way, she can do all the checking-up on you she wants,’ he said.
‘That’s all I need,’ Jess said. ‘But thanks for the offer.’
Sebastian gestured at the dog. ‘Take him back down, spend some more time with her if you want.’
‘I’d love to, but I think she probably needs to rest. And if I give in to this monster now, I’ll never get him to do anything I say ever again.’
‘Fair enough,’ Sebastian said, looking as though he was about to say something else, but before he did their attention was taken by a four-by-four heading towards them along the narrow track. It was Robbie’s truck and, as Jess tugged an uncooperative Digby to the side and the vehicle slowed, Sebastian struck off up the hill for home. ‘I’ll leave you two to it,’ he said. ‘See you later.’
The four-by-four pulled to a stop beside her, its window rolling down as Jess dragged her gaze – and her thoughts – away from Sebastian and his parting words, refocusing instead on Robbie’s open grin.
Chapter 17
The following morning Digby seemed determined to continue to punish Jess for taking him away from Vivi. It was as though he’d woken up with the express desire to upset Jess’s plans. He pretended not to want his breakfast until Jess went to tip it away, and then barked at her until she put it down again. He bounced his paws on his water bowl until he tipped the contents all over the floor. He got hold of a stray sock – one of Sebastian’s – and ran off with it, ripping a huge hole in it before Jess could wrestle it away, and then he stole a butternut squash from the vegetable rack, chewing one end off and spitting most of it out all over the floor.
Given that today was the day of both the shoot and the party, Digby’s lack of cooperation was the last thing she needed.
‘I get it,’ Jess said in exasperation. ‘You want to be with Vivi. To be honest, right nowIwant you to be with Vivi, too. Oh, now what?’
Digby headed for the door to the courtyard, not a door Jess tended to use to enter or exit the castle, and the dog set up barking all over again. Jess told him to wait, that she’d get his lead and then she would take him out. By the time she returned, though, the door was wide open, and Digby was gone.
Jess called out to Digby from the doorway, then heard a voice behind her. It was Candida.
‘I let him out,’ she said. ‘He looked desperate for a wee.’
Jess stopped herself from vocalising what she was thinking about Candida’s well-intentioned but less than helpful action. Instead, Jess shot from the doorway and at the far end of the courtyard tried to fight her rising panic and make a logical decision about where the dog would have headed. To Vivi? Would he know his way from here? Probably – she already knew he had a keen sense of direction. It made sense that he would have gone towards the village, and Jess was about to strike off in that direction when she heard something else. Muted barking, from lots of dogs.
It was impossible to work out if one of those barks belonged to Digby, but if he thought Robbie’s spaniels were out and about, or that other dogs had invaded ‘his’ territory, would he go that way instead?
Still unsure of her decision, Jess decided to head for the other dogs. It stood to reason that if Digby headed for the Macwarrens’ cottage, so long as he didn’t get run over on the way, he would be safe once he got there. And Vivi would be on the phone in no time to demand to know why Digby was out and about unchaperoned.
Whereas, if he’d gone the other way, it was likely nobody would know who Digby was, or where he’d come from. And if they were about to start shooting …
