Page 18 of The Moon Sister
Before anyone could say anything further, we were interrupted by a sudden flash of colour on the staircase above us. Like the rest of the occupants of the hall, we looked up. Applause broke out as the woman I’d seen at the wildcat enclosure earlier – now wearing a skin-tight red dress with a tartan sash pinned across her shoulder – walked down the stairs on the arm of her husband, Charlie Kinnaird. Now, rather than the hospital scrubs I had last seen him in, he was wearing a dinner jacket, bow tie and kilt, the very image of the centuries of lairds that graced the paintings in the Lodge.
As they turned the corner on the dog-leg stairs to descend the final few steps, I drew in a breath. Not because of her, even though she looked stunning, but because ofhim. I blushed with embarrassment as I experienced the same sharp dig in my lower gut that I’d felt the last time I’d met him.
Husband and wife paused halfway down the stairs and I watched as the woman waved at the crowd below her, as if she’d been taking lessons from the elderly British sovereign. Charlie stood next to her, the set of his shoulders betraying that inner tension I’d noticed at the interview. Despite the smile pasted onto his lips, I knew he was uncomfortable.
‘Ladies and gentlemen.’ Charlie raised a hand for silence. ‘First of all I’d like to welcome you to our annual Christmas Eve gathering. This is the first that I’ve hosted, even though I’ve attended every single one of them for the past thirty-seven years. As you all know, my father Angus died suddenly in his sleep last February and before I say anything else, I wish you to raise the drams of whisky that Beryl has kindly been handing out and make a toast to him.’ Charlie took a glass from Beryl’s proffered tray and lifted it to his lips. ‘To Angus.’
‘Tae Angus,’ chorused the room.
‘I’d also like to say thank you to each one of you for helping to steer the estate over the years. Many of you already know that despite the months of uncertainty following my father’s death, I have a vision for the future, to bring the Kinnaird estate into the twenty-first century, yet at the same time do my best to restore it to its former natural glory. It’s a hard task, but I know that with support from the local community I can do it.’
‘Aye, that yae will,’ shouted the man next to me as he took a hip flask out of his jacket pocket, opened it and took a deep slurp.
‘And lastly, I’d like to thank my wife, Ulrika, for standing by me during this difficult year. Without her support, I couldn’t have done it. To you, darling.’
Everyone raised a glass again although they were all empty, so Charlie hurried on.
‘And of course, my daughter Zara. Zara?’ He looked around the room and so did I, but she’d vanished. ‘Well, we all know of old how she likes to disappear at inopportune moments.’
There was a general murmur of amusement at the Laird’s comment.
‘So, all that remains to be said now is Merry Christmas to each and every one of you.’
‘Merry Christmas,’ we all chorused back.
‘Now please, top up your glasses, and we’ll be rolling back the carpets ready for the ceilidh in a few minutes’ time.’
‘Well, wasn’t that a rousing speech?’ said Cal, before grabbing Caitlin’s hand in his bear-like paw and muttering something about the two of them fetching more drinks.
‘He’s a good man, that one,’ Fiona said as Cal pulled Caitlin away. ‘So, how are you getting on here?’ She turned her full attention to me, and I was struck by the intelligent gaze in her lovely green eyes.
‘I’m adjusting to it,’ I said. ‘It’s so beautiful that I sometimes feel as though I could lose myself in it. I’m finding it strange to be with so many people this evening, after the last three weeks of isolation.’
‘I know what you mean. I experienced something similar when I first moved here from Edinburgh.’
‘Oh, what brought you from the big city to the Highlands, if you don’t mind me asking?’
‘I fell in love with a local man,’ she replied simply. ‘I’d almost completed my veterinary training at Edinburgh University and was doing some work experience at the local practice near Kinnaird when I met Hamish. He farmed a small croft nearby. After I’d finished my degree, I was offered a job with a big practice in Edinburgh, but my heart won and I married Hamish and moved here. I joined the local practice, then took over when Ian, my partner, retired a couple of years ago.’
‘Right. Are you kept busy?’
‘Very, though it’s a different kind of patient I treat up here. Few domestic pets like I’d have had in Edinburgh, and endless sheep and cows.’
‘Do you enjoy it?’
‘Oh, I love it, although getting a call-out at three in the morning to help a struggling pregnant heifer in a foot of snow can be a challenge,’ she chuckled.
A tall, broad-shouldered blond youth appeared beside her.
‘Hello, Mum, I was wondering where you’d got to.’ His clear grey-green eyes – so like Fiona’s that anyone could see he was her son – shone under the lights.
‘Hello, Lochie,’ said Fiona with a warm smile. ‘This is Tiggy, the lass who’s looking after the new wildcats on the estate.’
‘Pleasure tae meet you, Tiggy.’ Lochie extended his hand to me, then, as Zara rejoined us, I saw him blush scarlet.
‘Hi, Lochie,’ Zara said. ‘Haven’t seen you for ages. Where’ve you been hiding?’
‘Hi, Zara.’ His blush deepened. ‘I’ve been at college in Dornoch.’
