The Secrets of the Glen (Scottish Highlands #2)

Chapter 38

When Robyn reappeared wearing that dress, there were now only three adults in the room – the parents must have dropped off their kids, taken one look at the chaos of too many children running around a very small space, quickly made their excuses, and left. All the children were gathered around the cake. Joe had a lighter. He was about to light the candles.

Standing tall in her heels, she suddenly felt self-conscious. Joe, Annie and David were rooted to the spot and were staring at her across the room.

Robyn quickly checked her dress. Nothing was hanging out, like a long piece of bog roll that had escaped her cleavage. Everything was in order. She tugged the dress a bit further down her hips and looked up, wondering why they were staring.

‘Oh, thank god. I haven’t missed it.’ She realised the Happy Birthday she’d heard them all singing must have been a practice run while someone carried out the birthday cake and set it on the table in the dining area.

Robyn looked at the lighter in Joe’s hand. ‘Please don’t let me interrupt you.’

Annie stepped forward. ‘Oh, but you already have.’ Annie walked over. ‘You look …’

Robyn felt suddenly embarrassed. It was just as she had thought. ‘The outfit is a bit too … grown-up for the party, isn’t it?’ Robyn didn’t know how else to express what she was thinking.

‘... stunning.’ Annie breathed. ‘I was going to say that you look absolutely stunning. You need to wear this sort of thing more often, do you know that?’

‘I do?’ said Robyn feeling flustered by all the attention. She glanced over Annie’s shoulder first at Joe, then at David.

‘Uh-huh.’ Annie said, linking her arm as though Robyn had just joined a secret club and was now a fully-fledged member.

‘Shall we join them?’ Robyn said, looking at the children seated around the table and longing to sit down so that she didn’t have to walk too far in the shoes and really embarrass herself.

‘What, in that dress?’ Annie turned serious. ‘With this lot?’ Annie shot a look at the table. ‘That dress needs to stay away from sticky fingers, snotty noses and the like. Let’s watch from afar.’

As soon as Joe lit the candles, Evie wasted no time blowing them out, scrunching up her eyes while she presumably made a wish.

Robyn was led away, giving the table full of excited, hungry children a wide berth. ‘I think I know someone who would like a closer look,’ said Annie, grinning.

‘What do you mean?’ Robyn asked, tottering along on the heels. She couldn’t wait to slip them off before she fell over and made a prat of herself. Robyn was feeling embarrassed and awkward, especially when she realised that some parents were, in fact, still there.

She hadn’t noticed them at first when she’d walked into the room. She caught a couple of the dads staring at her, one with his hand suspended in mid-air, about to take a bite out of a sausage role. The woman standing next to him slapped him on the arm, trying to get his attention and presumably to stop him staring.

Annie steered her right up to where David was standing by the window. He was staring at her too. Annie planted her opposite him and whispered in Robyn’s ear before leaving them alone, ‘I think I’m right in saying you’ve blown him away.’

Robyn didn’t care for her choice of words. Her eyes followed Annie back to the throng at the party table. If she had known that wearing the dress meant she’d have to steer clear of Evie and her adorable little friends, she wouldn’t have put the stupid thing on.

Robyn raised her eyebrows and turned around to find David still speechless. Why wasn’t he saying anything? She asked, ‘Is there something the matter?’

‘That dress …’

Robyn pulled the hem of the skin-tight dress down a little. It was riding up her thighs. ‘Urrgh. It looked lovely in the mirror. Then I tried to walk in it.’ She looked down at her feet. ‘And as for these!’ Robyn sat down in the chair by the window, slipping off the sandals. She looked up. David was still standing in front of her, still staring.

‘Oh for goodness’ sake, why don’t you sit down?’ She motioned at the other chair, almost touching hers in the little bay window.

David slowly took a seat. ‘You look …’

‘Stunning – I know.’ Robyn rubbed her sore foot. ‘I need a drink.’ Robyn stood up.

David caught her hand.

She turned to him, surprised.

‘Robyn, I’m so sor—’

‘Uncle Davey! Uncle Davey!’ Evie squealed, nudging past Robyn and grasping David’s other hand, trying to pull him out of his seat. ‘I’m opening my presents now.’

Helped by Evie, David shot out of his seat and nearly lost his balance. Robyn instinctively reached for his arm to steady him. The knee was healed, but she still worried he’d have another fall, which she realised was pretty silly; they were in a carpeted room, and most evenings he was out on an ice rink, teaching. That was when she should be worried.

David took her hand in his and smiled at his niece. ‘We’ll be right there.’

‘Wait – Evie. I have something for you.’ Robyn still had the little box with the children’s wrapping paper and pretty bow. ‘Here you are, sweetheart. Happy birthday.’

Evie tore off the wrapping paper. Inside was a pale cream square box. It looked like a jewellery box. Evie squealed in delight.

‘It’s an angel necklace!’

Robyn said, ‘What?’

‘It’s the best present ever!’

Robyn smiled at the little silver angel hanging from the chain. ‘So it is,’ she said, trying to hide her surprise.

Robyn didn’t know how she managed to kneel down for a kiss in the dress. But she did, feeling guilty that she hadn’t actually picked out the present.

Evie ran over to her mum and dad to show them the necklace. ‘Can I put it on?’

‘Of course you can, sweetheart,’ said Annie, throwing Robyn an appreciative smile for being so thoughtful.

Robyn thought of the doll, the biggest one she could find in Aviemore, which was still on her bed, waiting to be wrapped.

David took her hand again. ‘I thought you bought her a doll?’

Robyn shrugged. ‘We girls have our secrets, you know.’

David turned to look at her. ‘Don’t I know it.’

Robyn shot him a look. ‘It’s not my fault I still can’t remember.’

‘If you say so.’

Robyn frowned at him. ‘I told you. I don’t remember anything before the accident on Christmas Day.’

‘All right, Robyn.’ David sighed. ‘Perhaps one day you’ll trust me with your secrets.’

He still didn’t believe her. She shot back, ‘Perhaps one day you’ll trust me with yours.’

‘What does that mean?’

She glanced at Annie and shut her mouth. She’d promised not to speak about it; not unless David brought it up – and certainly not there, at a party, with lots of other people who might overhear. Annie had told her she had to be careful not to repeat what she’d said. Of course, she understood why. It wasn’t David who had picked up the gun and fired it in the botched burglary. Melissa had been right – he’d been protecting someone; someone he was prepared to take the fall for, and go to prison for if he had to. But it wasn’t his brother, as Robyn had first thought. Although in a roundabout way, it was him he was protecting.

It was David’s sister-in-law, Annie. She had been there on a rare night out with her friends and had passed by the Gillespie store in her car when she too had noticed something going on inside. Her protective instincts had kicked in, and she’d rushed inside, catching the burglar who’d shot at David by surprise. Startled, he’d backed up right into a shelving unit, knocking the gun out of his hand. The gun had skidded along the floor to Annie’s feet. She’d picked it up, and just like Joe had taught her, she’d aimed. After she’d discharged the gun once, felling the burglar, she’d dropped it.

David, despite lying there in agony, had picked up the gun and fired off a shot. He’d watched CSI enough times to realise he needed gun residue on his hands if he was going to make it look believable. There was no way he’d let his sister-in-law be charged, or go to prison. Annie had a child. Annie had Joe. His reasoning was that his life was over – his career was gone. He had known that the minute the bullet hit. But his brother and sister-in-law’s life together wasn’t going to be over that night too.

Robyn suddenly put her arms around David, and squeezed him tight. He was a hero in her eyes. She whispered, ‘Let’s just start over, from today. What does the past really matter? I can’t remember, and I don’t want to. I just want to be here, with you, and nothing is going to get in the way of that.’

When David didn’t answer, she dropped her hands from his neck, and stepped back.

He said, ‘What about what you said – perhaps one day you’ll trust me with your secrets ?’

Robyn’s eyes drifted over to Annie. ‘Forget I said that.’

David followed her gaze. He raised his eyebrows. ‘Did Annie … say something?’

Robyn debated whether to tell him or not. She nodded. ‘Yes, everything. Sorry.’

David surprised her by smiling. ‘Don’t be sorry.’

‘I don’t want any more secrets between us.’

There was something Annie hadn’t had a chance to tell her – what exactly had happened in the aftermath. She whispered, ‘Did you … go to prison?’ She looked about her, aware she really shouldn’t be having this conversation right now. However everybody was gathered around the table on the other side of the room, watching Evie eagerly unwrapping the rest of her presents. Nobody could overhear them.

David shook his head. ‘I was charged with manslaughter, but a very, very good lawyer got me off – self-defence.’

‘Oh, I’m so relieved.’

‘Yes, so was I.’

‘And that was the end of it?’ Robyn asked.

David hesitated. ‘Oh, er … yeah. Yeah, of course.’

There was a noticeable inflection in his voice as he said that.

Robyn also noticed he was avoiding eye contact. She studied him for a long moment. He was looking uncomfortable under her gaze. She’d said she didn’t want any more secrets between them. She had a feeling there was more to the story than he was letting on; something even Annie didn’t know about.

‘I’m going to get a slice of birthday cake. Do you want some?’

Robyn eyed him. ‘Yes, all right.’

‘Great!’

Robyn turned to look out of the window, thinking, How well can anybody really know another person? How well did David know her? He might have his secrets, but she knew she was guilty of keeping secrets too; it wasn’t true when she’d said to him, I can’t remember. That made it sound as though her memories hadn’t come back at all.

It had been true when she’d told him that she didn’t want to remember; she just wanted to be there, in the moment, with him. The trouble was that her memories were seeping through the seams of her protective armour against the past.

She’d had some memories, more like flashbacks; things she hadn’t shared with David. She couldn’t tell him what had happened during her visit to the bookshop with Melissa. The last thing she wanted him to find out was what she’d asked Melissa to do – look into his past. Thankfully, that little spying episode was over. She just had to convince Melissa of that.

Robyn didn’t want to think about the past anymore – his or hers. She turned from the window as he approached, carrying two paper party plates, each with a generous slice of chocolate birthday cake.

‘You’re looking very pensive. What are you thinking?’

Robyn cast her gaze around Annie and Joe’s lounge-diner, which was filled with mementos of their lives together – framed photos of their family, and prints they’d bought, and nick-nacks they’d chosen together. And of course the most important thing of all – the memories they were making together.

Robyn looked at David, and said, ‘I want this.’

‘This?’ He cast his gaze around the room. ‘A two-up, two-down terraced property in a village?’

‘No, not this , silly.’ Robyn playfully slapped his arm. ‘Although it is a lovely little home. But what I meant was that I’m thinking about the future – our future, you and me.’ They couldn’t keep living together in one room in Lark Lodge. She loved the place, and Gayle, Nick, Marty and Olive, but looking around Annie and Joe’s home, she realised what was missing – a home of her own – of their own – to make their own memories together as a couple.

David smiled knowingly. ‘Come live with me at the boathouse.’

Robyn turned her attention back to David. ‘What?’

‘Don’t get me wrong; I love Lark Lodge almost as much as you do, and all the guys who live there – even Olive, who steals my fried bacon in the morning.’

Robyn laughed. It was true.

‘But I want to go back to my own house.’

‘Why haven’t you?’

‘Oh, my god. Why do you think? I was waiting for you.’

‘For me?’

‘Of course. For you to be ready to leave. I think that time has come.’

Robyn smiled. ‘I think so too.’

‘So – is that a yes?’

Robyn hesitated, wishing she hadn’t had a feeling of déjà vu – no, it was more than that, a memory of sitting in a car outside the boathouse. She’d been there before the trip with Duncan in his car.

David frowned. ‘I know what you’re thinking – what about my dad?’

Robyn had been thinking no such thing. She asked, ‘What about your dad?’

‘Well, he’s obviously got to move out before we move in.’

Robyn was about to ask why, but that was a conversation for another time. She wasn’t going to move anywhere if it meant Duncan had to leave the boathouse – leave his home, his son.

Unfortunately, David still hadn’t mended bridges with his dad. Duncan needed to tell him just what had transpired – his mother having an affair and choosing to leave her boys.

Evie came running over and stood between them, taking Robyn’s hand, then David’s. ‘Uncle Davey, Auntie Robyn, you have to come see my presents.’

As she propelled them forward, Robyn caught David smiling affectionately at his niece. Robyn smiled too, as in that moment she suddenly had a strong sensation that she was glimpsing her future. She looked at Evie, and thought of the baby she’d lost. She was hoping for a second chance at motherhood. Perhaps this time, it would be with the right person.