The Secrets of the Glen (Scottish Highlands #2)

Chapter 39

Gayle’s birthday came and went, soon after Evie’s, as adult birthdays tend to do with very little fanfare – along with the birthday surprise that Robyn couldn’t wait to show her. Gayle loved the redecorated bedroom, of course, and laughed when she’d discovered why Robyn had been keeping her bedroom door locked – it wasn’t because the young couple were afraid someone would walk in on them, as Gayle had assumed, or would see how messy they’d left their love nest when they were both out.

Gayle declared that she didn’t mind in the least when Robyn confessed that she’d borrowed the old family photographs to try and recreate the décor of the room from days gone by. Although Gayle had no clue what had been going on behind Robyn’s bedroom door, the fact that she had already started redecorating the rest of the house made her wonder if that might have given it away.

But it was the reaction of Gayle’s mother to the restored bedroom that really made Gayle’s birthday something special, for the memories had enlivened Gayle’s mother to the point where she had her most lucid day in a long, long time, and even remembered Gayle’s birthday. This was probably the best gift of all, for it turned out that the bedroom Robyn had redecorated had been Gayle’s childhood bedroom.

The one thing Robyn was not going to tell Gayle about on her birthday was their plan to move out. They had decided to tell her soon after. Robyn hadn’t had the heart to mention it before, and now another month had passed, and the redecoration of the rest of the house was in full swing, so their move had been pushed back even further.

‘You’re going to have to tell her some time,’ David had said, offering to tell her himself.

She’d promised she would find the right time. In the meantime, with everyone’s help – David’s, Nick’s, Marty’s – the redecorating was progressing well. Even little Evie helped when she came round to visit; she always brought with her a spare set of painting clothes so she could join in too, slapping paint on the walls, her dungarees, her trainers, and everyone else in close proximity. Even Olive ended up with paint on her fur.

Gayle’s objections to all the work, and the cost, fell entirely on deaf ears, and she knew she would not change Robyn’s mind.

As the house renovation progressed, and Gayle could see the pleasure it gave Doris to witness the house being restored to its former glory, Gayle’s objections lessened – although she never stopped voicing her concern over where all the money was coming from to do the place up or how she would ever repay everybody.

Robyn and David had started paying rent for their room, feeling it was unfair that Marty and Nick were paying guests without them paying too. Still, there was the matter of back rent that Robyn insisted she owed.

Gayle knew it was costing Robyn far more in materials to do the place up than the amount she owed in rent money. I should be paying you to do all this , Gayle had insisted. Robyn knew she didn’t have the money, and besides, even if she had, Robyn had told her she wouldn’t take a penny.

Gayle then said that she had a business proposition instead, and that before Robyn objected she wanted her to seriously think about it. She wanted Robyn to be her business partner when Lark Lodge became a fully-fledged guesthouse. Gayle told her that Robyn wouldn’t have to do a thing – she intended to run it herself. But her mum wasn’t going to be around forever, and neither was Gayle. And after what she’d found out about her brothers and sister, she did not want the family home to fall into their hands if something were to happen to her.

Robyn suddenly understood where she was coming from. She’d shaken her head, reminding Gayle that she had nieces and nephews.

‘They are more than taken care of by their parents. They don’t need this house, and they won’t want it. They’ll just sell it. But you, Robyn – you love this house.’

‘I know, it’s true.’ Robyn had stared at her wide-eyed, amazed that she would even consider passing the guesthouse to her. She didn’t know what to say, although she had expressed her gratitude at such a lovely idea. ‘The thing is, Gayle, I couldn’t possibly accept, and besides …’ Robyn hadn’t known quite how to say what was on her mind without sounding ungrateful, but she’d just had to be honest, and had told her. ‘Gayle, I haven’t got time to run a guesthouse.’

‘Not right now. But who knows what the future holds …’ Gayle had let the sentence hang, giving Robyn the impression that it was already decided.

Robyn stood with a paintbrush in hand, staring at the wall in the hallway and thinking about that conversation with Gayle. For once, she was the only one in the house, so no one would catch her lost in thought. Of course, Robyn wouldn’t want the house to fall into Gayle’s siblings’ hands. Gayle had also been thinking about how she’d protect her mum. It was something Gayle’s father obviously hadn’t considered when he’d left the house to Gayle, with a view that her mother, his dear wife, would be able to live out her days there. But what if, heaven forbid, something were to happen to Gayle first?

Robyn couldn’t take care of Doris, but round the clock carers could come and look after her.

And Gayle was right: Robyn did love the house. Robyn didn’t want to become business partners with Gayle, because that would mean Gayle would hand over a percentage of the guesthouse profits to her. Robyn wasn’t having any of that. She had plenty of work, and income, from Rose’s lovely new neighbours on the housing estate, and her shop in Duncan’s grocery store was proving quite the hit – her window display was attracting people inside to look at blinds and curtains, and to consider interior redesign ideas that didn’t have to cost a fortune, such as re-covering old sofas with new fabric, or just buying some colourful scatter cushions to brighten up a room.

Robyn smiled. It wasn’t just her outlet that was doing well; Alec’s idea for a haberdashery corner for needlework, sewing, and mending – selling everything from buttons, ribbons and thread to knitting needles, scissors and iron-on tape – was also going down a treat with local people, and even with tourists who needed a needle and thread or a spare button. It wouldn’t earn Alec millions, but it was a good, steady income while he was a student.

The only reason that Robyn was at Lark Lodge that day, decorating on her own while everyone else was at work, and Doris was at her weekly community session, was that Robyn now had help in the shop. It meant she actually got a day or two off each week.

Annie worked as a part-time teaching assistant two days a week in Evie’s school, but she had the rest of the week free, and the school holidays, so she worked with Robyn too.

Evie enjoyed helping her mum and Auntie Robyn in the cushion shop, as Evie called it. When Evie was there, she spent her time either playing with her dolls or reading a book on a large cushion. Sometimes she rang up purchases on the till and entertained customers with her cute impression of a shop assistant. She took her role very seriously. She knew how to operate the card machine, and always said, ‘Have a nice day!’ when people left. It was something she’d seen on American television programmes.

That day, Annie was minding the shop. It wasn’t like Robyn to take a day off mid-week, when no one else was home, but she wanted a day to herself to think things through.

Something belted out of the kitchen, giving Robyn a fright.

‘Oh, Olive! You scared me.’ Robyn had forgotten she wasn’t actually all alone in the house. She knelt down. ‘I’m going to miss you so much – do you know that?’

Robyn put the paintbrush down. ‘I suppose I might as well tell you first.’ She sat cross-legged on the floor, giving Olive lots of fusses. Olive tried to climb in her lap, circling around, flicking Robyn’s nose with her tail. ‘Hey, you’re too big for that now. You won’t fit.’ She had just about fitted a few months earlier, when she had first moved into Lark Lodge with Nick. But now she was almost fully grown.

Olive stopped and stood in front of her.

Robyn reached out and smoothed her fur down around her eyes. ‘David and I will be moving out soon.’

Olive whined, as if she knew exactly what Robyn was saying.

‘I know. I don’t want to leave either, but you know, life moves on. You’ll find that out one day. The estate where Rose lives will be finished at some point, and … well I expect you and Nick will be moving on to. Nothing lasts forever.’ Robyn choked back a sob, surprised at how emotional she was feeling about telling Olive all this. She didn’t know how she would tell Gayle.

David had sat down with her last night, taking her hands in his. She’d known the conversation would come up sooner or later. Every time he’d attempted to bring it up since Evie’s birthday party, Robyn had found a way to avoid it – the conversation about when exactly they would be leaving.

The previous night, she hadn’t been able to avoid it any longer. They’d made a decision. Things had come to a head because Duncan was moving out of the boathouse, helped in no small part by Robyn. It hadn’t been her idea. She’d wanted Duncan to stay, but he wouldn’t hear of it. As soon as he’d heard the plan for Robyn and David to move in together, he’d decided to move into the flat.

Robyn recalled her and David’s reaction – what flat?

It turned out that the loft Duncan used for storage in the eaves of the shop wasn’t a loft at all, but a large apartment with skylights, unused for decades. His ex-wife had lived there with her parents before Duncan and she had married and they had taken over the shop. By the time they had their two boys, they had bought the house where the boys grew up.

Robyn wasn’t surprised by the row that ensued when David found this out, shouting at Duncan that he could have moved into the flat or rented it out for an income. In fact, he still could rent it out and live somewhere else if he didn’t want to live above his work. The crux of the matter was the fact that Duncan hadn’t had to move in with his son at all.

But David didn’t understand. Duncan had wanted to be with his son. And she suspected Duncan hadn’t wanted to move into the flat where he’d courted the love of his life. All it would do was remind him of her and bring back painful memories.

But now Duncan was doing just that. Since finding out about the flat, Robyn, Alec and Annie had been going after work to help Duncan sort it out ready to move into. The last of the dwindling cash in Robyn’s rucksack had been used to redecorate the place, which was stuck in a seventies time warp, and to reupholster the old furniture. It was now a bright, airy open plan living area, painted in white. The old-fashioned kitchen, with very seventies beige kitchen units, was in a surprisingly good condition. All Duncan had needed were new white goods. Even the old green bathroom with orange wall tiles in a large, vibrant psychedelic pattern had grown on Robyn.

Robyn had ordered some blinds for the skylights, and some plain curtains to hang at the kitchen and bathroom windows. As she’d told Duncan while she polished the old G-plan furniture, seventies kitsch was back in fashion. She could tell he really didn’t care about what was fashionable, as long as it was functional. But he was obviously rather taken with his new abode.

She’d suggested a little get-together, a house party among family and friends, to celebrate him moving into his new home, but Duncan really didn’t want any fanfare. He’d packed his suitcase a few days earlier and had moved out of the boathouse – just like that. The only reason Robyn knew about it was when she’d turned up to work in the shop and Duncan had arrived with his suitcase.

Now the boathouse was standing empty – something David wasn’t happy about. He’d wanted his dad to move out, but now there was no one living there. Robyn understood his concerns. David still hadn’t mentioned the burglary at his house, when all that cash had been stolen. She’d reassured him that it would be okay with the burglar alarm, but she couldn’t avoid the conversation any longer. And so their moving date had been decided. Robyn had started to pack to leave Lark Lodge.

She looked at Olive and stroked her long fur. ‘I’ll come back and visit, I promise. You can visit us too. You’ll love the boathouse, you and Nick, and Marty. You can all come. And Gayle, and her mum. We won’t be far, just down the road. The thing is, Olive, I’m going to miss you. All of you.’

Robyn thought she heard a click. When she turned around, Gayle was standing in the hallway, a bag of shopping in her hands. She dropped the shopping bag. ‘You’re leaving?’