Bex let out a sigh. ‘Yes, it is.’
‘But you and Duncan aren’t back together?’
‘Definitely not.’
‘Okay, but I’m guessing you and Kieron aren’t a thing either?’
A bitter scoff cracked in Bex’s throat. ‘Believe me, there is no chance I would ever consider dating that man any more. Even if he was the last man on earth.’
Lorna’s eyes widened as she rubbed at the back of her neck.
‘But yesterday at Burns Night, he had been singing your praises. So whatever happened, happened last night.’ She let out a slight hum. ‘Does it have anything to do with anyone else who was there last night, or just you three?’
‘That’s not the type of question we agreed on,’ Bex said, before letting out a low groan. ‘Honestly, Lorna, I want to tell you. I do, but it’s not my place. You should ask your brother. Actually, maybe you should go over and see him. I think he could use a bit of support right now.’
For the first time, the excitement dropped from Lorna’s face, replaced by a more serious expression. ‘Why? Is he okay?’
‘Honestly, it’s not my p?—’
‘If you say “it’s not my place to say” one more time, I swear I’ll shake you. I’m not asking Duncan, because I know my brother. If something is bothering him, he will clam up and think he has to deal with it himself. You know he will.’
Bex didn’t reply. What Lorna was saying was completely true. Duncan hadn’t dealt with breakups well, and was nowhere near okay with Fergus’s death. Adding this into the mix must have only made matters a thousand times harder. They’d be lucky if he even left the lodge for the next month.
‘Please, Bex.’ Lorna lowered her voice. ‘If Duncan needs our support, then let me help him. I just need to know what I’m helping him through.’
Bex bit her lip. There were dozens of reasons she shouldn’t tell Lorna, including how the details of the will were meant to be private and she didn’t even know if Duncan was going to take a DNA test. But Lorna was right. No matter how badly he was hurting, Duncan wouldn’t ask for help with this, meaning that she would just have to help him, anyway.
‘All right,’ she said reluctantly. ‘But you cannot let him know this came from me. If you talk to him about it, you have to say you overheard people talking at the pub. Okay?’
‘Okay.’ Lorna nodded. ‘I promise. So what is it?’
Bex drew in a long breath. ‘We – Gordon and I – think there’s another heir to the estate. That’s what the will implies. A more direct heir.’
‘What?’ Lorna’s jaw dropped so far it could have hit the floor, but Bex knew the greatest shock was still to come. ‘But how? He didn’t have any children.’
‘That’s the thing. We think he did. We think he had a daughter before he married Winny. A daughter who’s already passed away.’
A deep frown line creased Lorna’s forehead as she considered what Bex was saying to her. A moment later, her hand flew to her mouth.
‘You mean… Duncan’s mum? How?’
Lorna listened on in silence as Bex filled in the rest of the story. About Duncan’s grandfather actually being his uncle and his grandmother’s death at childbirth. When she was finished, silence swallowed the room.
‘Wow. I mean, it makes sense in some ways.’
‘It does?’
She nodded. ‘Yeah. Fergus was so happy to have Duncan back in the cottage. He was the one who suggested it. And there was this time, when I was six or seven, when we were struggling for money and Mum got offered a job in Edinburgh, but then another job appeared in a couple of villages over with even better pay so we stayed. She said it was a fairy godmother, but we all kind of assumed it was Fergus’s doing.’
‘Really? Duncan never told me any of this.’
‘I know. Well, we just thought it was Fergus being a lonely old man, you know? And he does – did – so much for everyone. Winny too, when she was alive. But now – of course it makes sense.’ She paused and sniffed quietly. ‘Have you spoken to Duncan today?’
Bex shook her head. ‘I’m not sure I’m the right person to talk to him at the moment.’
‘Are you kidding? You’re exactly the right person to talk to him. You might be the only person he’ll listen to.’
She shook her head again, aware of the throbbing in her chest. There was nothing she wanted more than to go and be by Duncan’s side right now, but it would be selfish. He’d said he’d been ready to give up his life up here, move to London and put a ring on her finger, but that was before there was a possibility of all this being his. The hall, the village, the people. There was no way she could ask him to do that. No way she wanted him to. So for now, space felt like the best option. At least until he was ready to accept her help as a friend. If that was even something they were capable of being.
