A Highland Family Affair (Highlands #3)

Chapter 5

5

Olivia sat on the leather sofa in her office with Paisley Campbell, the recently appointed gift shop manager. She had joined a while after the castle had opened and the original manager had relocated to England. Paisley was a twenty-eight-year-old whirlwind of enthusiasm who had blown in from Inverness like a breath of fresh air. Her bubbly personality came wrapped up in a petite, slender, five-foot-one package with long blonde hair and smiling green eyes. And what she lacked in height she made up for in assertiveness and professionalism. What she didn’t know about retail simply wasn’t worth knowing. Today she wore a pair of dark navy jeans, tan knee boots and a thigh-length navy and white Scandinavian patterned jumper. She somehow managed to be immaculately put together even in warm, casual winter wear.

Olivia held a sample piece of artwork aloft, examining it closely. ‘I just love the artist’s style. This painting of the castle in four seasons is stunning. The light is just incredible. It almost looks like a photograph.’

‘I agree,’ Paisley said, beaming. ‘I can imagine prints of that particular one flying out the door when tourist season begins properly. Greetings cards too, and perhaps postcards. I think visitors will adore the postcards for sending away home. He’s quite an eccentric guy, the artist, but so talented. This collection is quite fitting with the locations all being around Drumblair and Loch Ness.’

‘And he can supply however many we’d like?’

Paisley nodded. ‘He can. And he’s local too, which helps. I’ve also sourced this handmade jewellery by a silversmith in Drumblair village. She can make custom pieces to order using gemstones, but her silver clay work is divine.’

Paisley took the painted canvas and handed Olivia a silver heart-shaped pendant on a chain. There was an imprint of heather on the front, giving the piece a unique texture.

‘The heather she used on these pendants was grown in her own garden in the village. There are earrings to match and lots of other designs too.’

Olivia smiled. ‘You really have found some amazing things, Paisley. I think we should go ahead and place an order for thirty of the medium-sized castle prints to begin with, and some of the same in greetings cards and postcards too. And then perhaps a selection of other sizes in a variety of designs. I’ll let you choose, and definitely order a few of the heather pendants and earrings. We can see how they go and order more if necessary.’

Paisley’s smile widened and her eyes lit up. ‘Excellent! I’ll get right on it.’ She gathered her things together. As she reached the door, she turned back. ‘Oh, and I hear your brother has returned from his travels. It must be nice to have him back.’

Olivia pursed her lips. ‘Erm… yes, yes, it’s good to have him home.’ It was clear Paisley didn’t know the story of what happened before she joined the staff team at the castle, but she was in no doubt that the rumour mill would reach her eventually.

‘Family is everything, eh?’ Paisley said with a sad smile before she left, passing Noah, the café’s chef, as she left.

‘Bye, Paisley,’ Noah said with a smile as he paused for a moment to watch her leave with a look of longing in his expression. He turned to Olivia. ‘Lady MacBain,’ he said with a brief bow of his head.

‘It’s Olivia, remember? How are you, Noah?’ Olivia asked, standing to shake his hand.

He smiled briefly. ‘All good, thanks. You?’

Olivia nodded. ‘Not too bad. I’m guessing you’ve heard the news about Kerr?’

A crease appeared between his brows and his lips formed a straight line. ‘Aye, I heard. Back with his tail between his legs, I gather.’

Noah Collingwood and Kerr had been classmates at Drumblair nursery and primary schools, then drinking buddies whenever Kerr was home from university and Noah was home on leave from the navy. The two men had had a huge falling out a few years prior to Olivia’s mum’s passing, when Kerr had a fling with Noah’s then fiancée. Olivia had heard all about it via Skye and Bella as she had been in New York at the time. It had been a horrendous situation that had resulted in her brother acquiring a thick lip and a black eye.

Noah had been on the staff at the castle since the public opening after leaving the navy where he had been a chef and Olivia had found him to be a very loyal employee, in spite of his negative connections with the MacBain family. He was quite serious and always neatly presented but, boy, could he cook. She had joked with Mirren that he could give her a run for her money; that had met with a simple pfft from the castle’s housekeeper.

Olivia nodded and shrugged. ‘He seems to have changed.’

Noah scoffed. ‘What is it they say about leopards?’

Olivia sighed and gestured for him to sit. ‘I know, I know. But I’m trying not to judge.’

Noah rubbed his hand back over his cropped dark hair. ‘You know my thoughts on the matter. I’ve known him since we were kids and I’ve seen first-hand what he’s capable of.’ He clenched his jaw. ‘I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. Just watch yourself.’

‘Believe me, you’re not alone in your thinking, but he’s my brother.’

Noah’s features softened. ‘My apologies. I’ve spoken out of turn.’

Olivia smiled. ‘No, it’s fine, honestly. He knows everyone’s feelings. And I appreciate your concern.’

He gave a swift nod. ‘Anyway, I wanted to come and chat to you about the possibility of opening the café up for evening meals throughout the summer months. We could get one of those pop-up gazebo things too maybe, for the chillier evenings, or an awning of some kind. I think it would be a nice addition to our services, especially for the guests staying in the stable-block apartments. I’m thinking we could make really great use of the patios, get some heaters, put candles on the tables, hang fairy lights from the trees.’

Olivia grinned. ‘You old romantic.’

Noah’s face flushed. ‘Me? Nah. Just thinking of the revenue,’ he replied sternly. ‘And if the weather isn’t great, because you know, Scotland, we can do all of the above but inside the café. Just a classier presentation for the evenings, perhaps.’

‘Well, I think it’s a brilliant idea. Can you put together some sample menus?’

He handed her a folder. ‘Already done.’

Olivia widened her eyes. ‘Efficient as always, eh, Noah?’

‘I try my best, Lady Olivia. Shall I leave you to have a look through them and you can let me know what changes you’d like? And if you think it’s viable.’

‘That’d be great. Although knowing your usual menus, I can’t imagine wanting to make any changes. And I already think it’s viable.’

Noah almost smiled. ‘Great. Perfect. I’ll leave you to it. Thanks for your time.’ He stood and headed for the door.

‘Ah, Brodie, pal, how are you doing?’

Brodie shook his hand. ‘Grand, mate, you?’

Noah nodded. ‘Same, really. Let’s get together for a beer soon, eh?’

Noah left and Brodie walked over to where Olivia sat on the sofa. ‘Olivia MacBain, you need to get some fresh Scottish air in your lungs. You’ve been cooped up inside all day.’

She may have been cooped up, but it had been a successful day. Logs had been ordered. New staff member uniforms had been ordered and the wages had been processed. She had met with Paisley and Noah; exciting new things were afoot, and a flutter of excitement travelled through her.

She stretched her arms above her head. ‘It’s been a good day. How did you get on with the stonemason?’

‘All fairly positive. He’s inspected the leak site and I’ve arranged for him to come back and repoint the area after the tiles have been replaced.’

She stood and slipped her arms around his shoulders. ‘Fantastic.’ She kissed him and allowed her lips to linger on his as she relished the closeness.

‘I bet you didn’t even realise it’s been snowing!’ Brodie said from his vantage point.

Of course he was right. She hadn’t looked out of the window since she had come into the office earlier on. Nor had she noticed the temperature had dropped quite substantially but now she shivered.

She yawned as a wave of tiredness washed over her. At this point she wasn’t sure how she would cope long-term without her right-hand woman, Bella. Her best friend had been her assistant and had taken so much of the stress out of the role for Olivia. Now that Bella was gone, it was on Olivia’s shoulders again until a replacement could be found. Thankfully there were a few things that Bella was going to do remotely for the time being but hiring a new assistant was the next job on Olivia’s agenda. It was crucial she found someone soon.

A quick glance out of the window showed that the sun had begun its descent, and a layer of crisp white snow covered the ground. ‘I’d lost all track of time,’ she told Brodie with a stretch and a yawn. ‘I’ll head up and get changed.’

Up in her room, Olivia pulled on her jeans and a cream knitted jumper before slipping her arms into a thick Barbour coat and tugging a bobble hat down over her ears. Back down in the foyer, she stepped into her wellies and opened the door. Brodie, Wilf and Marley were waiting outside. She stood for a moment and watched as Brodie tossed snowballs into the air and Wilf jumped up to catch them, barking and protesting when he missed, and they disappeared into the snow on the ground once again. Marley looked on, clearly thinking it was all too much effort.

Brodie was wrapped up for the weather too and she had to spend an extra few seconds admiring how handsome he looked in his woolly hat and padded coat. He was so good with the dogs and for a split second she allowed herself to imagine him playing with their children. Of course, that would be way, way, way off in the future. She was still waiting for his, thus far elusive, proposal. He looked up and spotted her watching him and his face lit up with a wide, delicious smile.

‘Hey! Come on!’ He gestured to her. ‘It looks colder than it is, honest.’ She laughed, knowing from the few seconds she had been standing there that he was fibbing. She made her way over to him. The two dogs nuzzled her hands and Brodie kissed her cheek, his nose like an ice cube against her skin. ‘The gates are closed; the public have all gone, and the snow is keeping things a bit brighter, so we’ll be able to see without torches for a wee while. I thought we could have a wander down to the chapel and look at the stars when the sun has gone down.’

‘That’d be lovely.’

The little chapel in the grounds was another of her favourite places. It was where her parents had had their marriage blessed in a family-and-friends-only ceremony. This had, of course, been after their grand, official wedding at Inverness Cathedral. Olivia had always maintained that she would rather skip the ‘grand’ bit and have her own wedding solely in the pretty chapel by the loch. It was perfect. Big enough to make sure all the important people in her life could attend but small enough that it wouldn’t be some Hello magazine-worthy event. Although she knew, as Lady MacBain, there would no doubt need to be some officiality and press coverage. A cross she had to bear as custodian of Drumblair Castle, and her parents’ legacy.

As they walked, Olivia told Brodie all about the conversation she’d had with her brother. She relayed the sincerity he had shown but that she was still unable to fully trust him.

Brodie took her hand. ‘We just need to take this thing one day at a time. There’s been a lot of issues in the past so he can’t expect you to just accept everything he says.’

‘That’s just it, though. He doesn’t expect that. Or at least he says he doesn’t.’ They continued to walk in silence and Olivia took in her surroundings. The bare branches of the trees were bowing with the weight of the recent snowfall and the sky above and in front of them was a stunning mixture of pinks, oranges and lilacs, blending into blues that became darker the further up she looked. Tiny pinpricks of light were becoming visible in the darker parts of the sky, meaning it was going to be a very cold night.

When they reached the water’s edge, Olivia turned and gazed back at the castle. It stretched skyward from the ground, its surface glowing almost golden in the early evening light, and the remaining sunlight, albeit not much, glinted off the snow that sat in the striations of the stonework. Far off in the distance, the mountain Ben Blair could be seen wearing a snowy cap too. It really was stunning, something she could appreciate as an adult but had never really understood as a child. Her father used to wax lyrical about the mountains and the scenery that surrounded them but back then she put that down to being an old person thing. They always seem to like trees and views and flowers and things like that , she had thought. Looking back now, it was funny to think that her dad had probably only been in his late thirties when she had considered him old. And here she was heading for thirty herself; suffice it to say she had certainly changed her mind about that now.

Brodie stood peering out across the water as the two dogs sniffed and trotted along the water’s edge. His exhaled breaths clouded in front of him like cigarette smoke. ‘This place is something else, isn’t it, Liv?’

She smiled. ‘It certainly is.’

She could understand in a way why Kerr had been angry to not inherit the place. But what he failed to realise was that along with the castle came a mountain of responsibility that daunted her more than she cared to admit. But the place was part of who she was and even though she had sacrificed a lot – a life and friendships in New York, her dream job – to be here, she knew she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Not really.

‘You know how I’ve gone back to longer walks with the dogs?’ Brodie said after a few moments.

‘I had noticed. I’ll be getting a complex.’ She laughed.

He grinned. ‘It keeps me fit so I can keep up with you and your ideas,’ he replied with a knowing wink. ‘Anyway, I’ve had another book idea.’

‘That’s great! What about this time?’

‘Walks around Drumblair. The number of visitors we’re getting is set to increase year on year so I’m thinking a book of guided walks would do well in the gift shop. And even better if someone who knows the place has tried and tested and mapped them all out. There’s lots of different paths up Ben Blair, suitable for a wide range of capabilities, so it would be good to be able to signpost them.’

‘I think that’s a brilliant idea.’ She loved that he was so involved with the castle these days and how keen he was to bring fresh ideas to the table. His first book on the history of Drumblair Castle had sold so well in the shop so far that she had no doubt another would do the same.

‘I’ll just need to get out and up the mountain a fair bit with my sketchpad and voice recorder.’

‘Go for it,’ she said as she turned and walked closer to him. ‘You’ll be a modern-day Wainright.’ She snuggled into his chest as they looked out over the water together, watching a bird diving into the water and retrieving fish for its dinner. The water lapped at the shoreline, the sound soothing and a little soporific.

‘I’ve also had an idea about the old barn.’

Olivia’s ears pricked up. ‘Go on.’

‘I think we should renovate it and turn it into a kind of workspace for local artisans. We could section it off and install a second floor. That way we could create another revenue strand. And it could lead to more stock for the shop too. A perk of renting a space could be the artist’s work is put on sale in there.’

‘Oh, wow! I love that idea! But… what about funding for such a project?’

Brodie sighed. ‘That’s the only issue. Although we could get some quotes and see what we’re aiming for? See if it could work?’

Olivia paused for a moment as she imagined the old ramshackle barn refitted, humming with a buzz of creativity. ‘Let’s do it.’

Brodie squeezed her to his side. ‘Fantastic.’

Eventually the sun was completely gone, and they stood, holding each other as the vast canopy of sky above them became scattered with diamonds and every so often a shooting star zoomed across the navy blue, evaporating into nothing as quickly as they had spotted it. A sense of calm came over Olivia and even though she wasn’t quite able to grasp and hold on to the thought, something in her mind told her everything was going to be okay.