But somehow, the Butler siblings managed to fill the cold, empty space with their own personalitiesand love. Carli was glad, for Niall’s sake, that they had all decided to come back to the family home. Jamie, Alicia, Sean and now Cal and Bea who had arrived from Edinburgh with Eilidh and Cara.
‘Where’s Nate?’ Niall asked of the only missing Butler sibling.
‘He’s gone back to the rescue centre to check on the animals,’ said Jamie. ‘And make sure they get fed. Said he’d come along shortly with fish suppers.’
When Nate arrived, the kitchen was spilling with warmth from the heat of the Rayburn and the energy and love of Niall’s brothers and sisters. As Nate placed two bags filled with paper packages onto the large table, the space was immediately filled with the delicious smell of fish and chips.
‘Tuck in, guys. I’m going to get someone from the car.’
‘Someone? No way!’ Cara’s face lit up. ‘You decided to give up the sad, single mountain man life at last?’
‘I’m hardly up a mountain, Cara.’ Nate smiled. ‘And no. It’s not a woman, so don’t get your hopes up. It’s a male, actually.’
‘A male?’ A baffled Cara headed to the kitchen window to see the mystery guest. ‘Oh, my God!’ she squealed. ‘Check out the guy Nate’s brought with him!’
Moments later, Nate entered the kitchen with a small German shepherd puppy on a leash.
Niall jumped out of his seat. ‘Hey, is that Massimo?’
‘Aye, it’s wee Massimo. He’s also the most adventurous of the pups, and I figured he’d benefit from a wee trip out. You can take him for a walk, if you like.’
After their fish and chips, Carli, Niall and Massimo walked down to the beach, Niall carrying the pup who was only allowed to be on his paws for fifteen minutes.Once they reached the beach, Niall put him down on the sand and ran alongside him.
‘Come on, Mass,’ he called down to the puppy, ‘try to keep up with your Uncle Niall.’
Carli smiled, brimful of love. It was utterly adorable watching Niall tempering his own speed to keep in line with Massimo’s little legs.
‘You’ll be running the length of this beach in no time,’ Niall said. He jogged backwards, calling to Carli. ‘What’s your excuse? Come on!’
‘I’ve eaten a bellyful of fish and chips,’ she said. ‘I’ll leave the running to you strapping lads.’
‘Suit yourself. Come on, Mass. You can do it.’ Carli watched as Niall ran further up the beach with the dog, until they were far enough away from her that she couldn’t hear what Niall was saying, but her heart was still expanding with love for him. When the puppy seemed to slow and Niall picked him up and kept on jogging, turning round to find her, her face broke into a beaming smile. He was so bloody happy. It genuinely felt that, despite the sad news about his dad today, somehow, on this rugged and wild peninsula surrounded by the love of his family that Niall’s soul was mending.
Her gaze followed as he jogged over to a young man further down the beach and they both fussed over Massimo. When she caught up Niall was still chatting away nineteen to the dozen.
‘Hey, Cass, this is Kieran. He’s learning to surf. Kieran, this is Carli.’
‘Going to be surfing.’ Kieran corrected Niall. ‘When Niall can teach me.’
A glimmer of guilt flit acrossNiall’s features. Had he promised to teach this kid to surf? He must have done. But what was wrong with that?
‘Aye, it might be a wee bit since I’ll need to get a police check first,’ said Niall.
Police check. Wow! Those take time and aren’t the sort of thing you get if you aren’t sticking around.
Whether or not he had fully accepted it, it hit Carli in that moment that Niall wasn’t coming back to Australia, never mind Melbourne. When they were together, she was all that mattered to him, but here in Kinshore, he was grounded and healing, and if they went back to Australia together, all that could fall away. He might resent her for bringing him away from his security, for not offering to make any sacrifices herself. But she couldn’t. Kinshore had been her home for some of her teens, but she’d built a world in Melbourne. It was where everything was set up. She couldn’t risk her health, safety and belonging by making a change as big as moving to Scotland. And to be fair, it was less upheaval for Niall, given that he lived in Australia already.
Could it be that they were destined to fail once again?
‘He doesn’t seem tired at all.’ Niall looked at Massimo in his arms as they headed back to the house. The pup was raring to go and excited by everything around him.
‘He reminds me of you,’ Carli observed.
‘Oh right, and how’s that? Let’s hear it.’
‘Excited but probably exhausted and doesn’t realise it.’
‘Ah, right. Well, the difference between me and Massimo is that I do realise I’m exhausted. But he’ll go to sleep when he’s told, whereas I’ll probably stay up all night doing bad things to you.’ He leaned into her. ‘I’ll have ashower and wash off the hospital and the dog first. You can join me if you like.’
