‘If you two dinna get a move on, you’ll no be able to see a thing,’ pointed out Billy prosaically. ‘I’ll nip back wi’ the Land Rover just now – I widna
hang around, though. This snow’s getting heavier by the minute.’
‘I wouldn’t bother coming back, Billy. We’ll head off as soon as we’ve released the pups.’ Roderick tossed him the keys, and they watched as Billy drove off the
snow-covered beach and headed for Kilmannan and an early dinner.
‘Right. What we need to do is place these plastic guards here,’ said Roderick, balancing the large pieces of plastic on either side of the crate. ‘These will stop Flora and
Reggie from deciding to disappear
up
the beach towards the road.’
Reggie, realizing he was missing out, had started to wail. The noise was deafening.
‘And that’s it!’ Roderick looked at Kate, and gave her an encouraging smile. ‘We can do it together.’
They reached over the top of the crate, each taking a hold of the plastic casing that was keeping the seal pups captive. The side slipped away and the two pups were there, whiskers twitching,
eyes bright in the white landscape. Reggie shuffled forward, stopping to nose at the snow. Flora looked up at Kate, liquid eyes shining.
‘Go on.’ The lump in Kate’s throat made it hard for her to speak. ‘Look, Flora, there’s a whole sea out there for you.’
Reggie was already nearly at the water’s edge, and a group of seals were watching with interest as he approached. He slipped in, and was gone. Kate swallowed a sob.
Flora, ever inquisitive, had stopped to nose at something that was protruding from the snow. The watching seals didn’t move, but continued to look on, mildly. One of them might be her
mother, thought Kate. Would she recognize her, or was Flora destined to spend the rest of her life without a family?
Unthinkingly Kate reached for Roderick’s hand. His fingers were warm and they closed around hers, comfortingly, as they watched Flora shuffle the last few feet to the sea.
‘And there she goes.’
Kate couldn’t speak, such was her sadness. She stood, holding Roderick’s hand, watching as the little grey head bobbed up from the sea, disappeared, then reappeared.
‘Look – they’ve found each other.’ Laughing, Roderick pulled her closer to the shore, pointing to the sea. The two seal pups were clowning around in the water, playing
just as they had for the last few months together in the outdoor pool at the Seal Sanctuary.
‘Hang on, Mr Certified Marine Mammal Medic, are we not breaking all the rules here?’ Kate laughed through her tears. ‘I thought we weren’t allowed within thirty feet of
the seals, if they were hauled out on the rocks?’
‘Do they look like they care?’
Kate looked around at the rocks, which were dotted with seals of all sizes, all of which appeared completely unconcerned. ‘No, but . . . ’
‘But nothing. I think they approve of us.’ He grinned at her, looking boyish all of a sudden, and pulled her by the hand. ‘Come on, let’s get going. You’re
freezing.’
A strong wind had blown up, and the snow was so heavy that by the time they reached the cottages they could only see a few feet in front of them.
‘Look at my car!’ Kate was amazed by how quickly the snow had drifted, whipped into corners by the sea wind.
‘Let’s get inside. I’ll ring Billy, get him to come back over with the Land Rover. There’s no way your little car is going to make it over the hills in this.’
They clattered into the cottage in a flurry of snow and foot-stamping. Roderick had the kettle on before Kate had even removed her boots. He was frowning at his phone.
‘No signal. Can I see yours?’ He reached across, taking Kate’s phone out of her hand. ‘Bugger! The reception is terrible on this side of the island at the best of times.
We ’ll have to stay put until Billy arrives.’
Was the prospect of being trapped with her so hideous? Kate spun round, looking out at the whiteness, feeling uncomfortable. She’d have to make the best of it and use the time to discuss
business plans.
The squeak of the log-burner door opening startled her.
‘We may as well be comfortable.’ There was a crackle as Roderick lit a match and the firelighters whooshed awake. He glanced up at her. ‘I can think of worse places to be
stranded than here, can’t you?’ Behind the glass window of the wood-burner the log fire crackled, instantly bright. ‘Coffee or tea?’
‘Tea, please. I’m freezing.’ Kate curled up on the sofa by the fire. ‘Does it normally snow like this in winter?’
She gazed out of the window. It was whirling down in thick flakes now, impossibly beautiful and completely impassable.
Roderick made the tea as she sat in silence.
‘Once in a while we get a bad storm, and the roads can become dangerous pretty quickly.’ He passed her a steaming mug and sat perched on the coffee table, opposite her. His long legs
were taking up so much space that their knees were almost touching. Oh God! Please let me not make a weird gulping noise when I swallow this tea, thought Kate. And please let me think of something
to say. The silence as they drank their tea was uncomfortable.
The buzz of Roderick’s mobile made them both jump. It was sitting on the table, and they both stared at it with surprise, before starting to laugh.
Roderick picked it up. ‘It’s a text from Billy. Says the roads are a nightmare, and we’ll be better off staying the night.’
‘Do you think the guests will mind if we eat their dinner?’
‘I think the guests won’t be making it here tomorrow in this weather. And I’m sure they wouldn’t mind in any case.’
When relaxed like this, he was easy company. Kate curled her legs underneath her, watching the flames as the fire settled. Roderick leaned forward, rifling through the basket of DVDs that Kate
had chosen for the cottage. At least if they were to watch something, it might pass the time. The silence was huge, filling the room.
Finishing his tea in moments, he stood up. ‘Are you done?’
‘Nowhere near.’ Her mug was still almost full. He couldn’t sit still, either.
He checked his watch. ‘Half-past four. I think we can waive the rules in the circumstances, don’t you?’
Standing in the kitchen area, pushing his hand through his hair in the gesture she’d come to know well, he gave her a smile. He picked up the bottle of red she’d chosen so carefully
and, tucking it under his arm, returned to the sofa with two glasses and a corkscrew.
‘We can’t drive. We can’t work,’ he explained, handing her a glass. ‘We may as well have fun.’
Kate put down her mug. There was no contest between tea and wine, in the circumstances.
‘Cheers!’ He clinked his glass against hers, hesitating for a moment, poised beside the sofa. ‘Do you mind if I . . .’
‘Of course not.’ Kate shuffled sideways, making room. She’d designed this, the smaller of the two cottages, to be a cosy, romantic retreat. There was only a two-seater sofa and
an old-fashioned, upright reading chair.
Kate took a huge gulp of wine to steady her nerves. There was no television to break the silence, and the evening stretched out ahead of her, never-ending. And there was only one bed. Oh God!
What on earth had she been thinking when she planned this cottage?
‘Have you heard from Fiona?’ she heard herself asking, idiotically, in an unnatural voice.
‘No.’ A nerve flickered in Roderick’s cheek. ‘I don’t expect to, either.’
‘Mmm.’
Well, thought Kate, that was a roaring success. Which awkward conversational gambit shall I go for next? Perhaps I could ask him about his mother’s death. Or why he spent his overdraft on
a Hogmanay party, when he’d already worked out exactly what the money was going to be spent on. She fiddled with the stem of her glass, spinning it round.
‘Roderick?’
‘Kate.’
‘Why did you spend your overdraft on a Hogmanay party?’
He put his head in his hands and groaned. ‘Bloody hell! You can’t have any secrets on this island. You’ve been talking to Morag, haven’t you?’
‘Um, maybe,’ said Kate, pouring more wine into their glasses. ‘She didn’t mean to say it, it slipped out.’
‘Honestly?’
‘Honestly. She didn’t mean to say anything, it was just we were talking about—’ Kate stopped, remembering exactly what the conversation had been.
‘I don’t mean
you
to be honest – I mean
I
will be.’ He picked up his glass, contemplated the contents and downed it in a mouthful, pulling a face. He
reared up from the sofa, pacing across to the window and back, before returning to his seat on the coffee table, facing her and looking furious. ‘It was for you.’
Everything stopped for a moment while she looked at him. The island, always quiet, was completely silent, muffled by the snow.
‘Me?’
‘Yes.’ There was an expression of resignation on his face. He half-shook his head, hands open in a gesture of defeat. ‘I’ve watched you fall in love with the island. I
thought: maybe . . . But no. Finn got there first.’
‘Finn?’ Kate could hear the laughter in her voice.
Roderick groaned. ‘Don’t rub it in. I feel like a complete fool. I made a mistake leaving the island without speaking to you, and by the time I got back he’d made a
move.’
‘Finn?’ Kate repeated. She knew she sounded stupid, but she couldn’t stop herself.
‘I saw you at Christmas and realized it was pointless. I’m as bad as my bloody father. Like I said, I’m going to spend the rest of my life here on my own. A ranting,
cantankerous old git.’
‘I quite like cantankerous old gits.’ Kate reached out and put her hand on his knee.
He looked up at her, laughing. ‘Just as well, if you’re planning to work for one.’
‘I’ll drink to that.’ Kate took a hefty gulp of her wine, and tipped one-third of the bottle into Roderick’s glass. ‘More?’
‘Are you trying to get me drunk?’
‘Come back over here,’ Kate stood up, picking up his glass. Emboldened, she held out her hand to him and pulled him up from the coffee table. You’ve only got one life, she
thought to herself. Morag’s words bolstered her confidence.
‘What are you up to?’
She reached into the cupboard and pulled out the second bottle of wine, then brandished it at Roderick.
‘I think we’re going to need more wine.’ Placing the second bottle on the table for insurance, she motioned to him to sit down again. She tipped some more wine into her glass,
catching his eye, suddenly feeling certain.
‘What on earth are you looking so pleased with yourself for?’
‘Sit down.’ She pointed to the sofa.
Roderick raised his eyebrows at her and sat down as instructed. ‘I like this new assertive Kate,’ he said archly. ‘What’s next?’
She took a final swig of the wine and sat down on the sofa, curled up again, glass cradled in her hands. Now she was facing him, her knees touching his thigh.
Reaching forward, she placed the glass very carefully on the table in front of them. She looked into his eyes. Now or never, she thought. She reached out, curling a hand behind his neck, feeling
him tense suddenly.
‘There is . . .’ and she leaned forward, hair swinging over one shoulder, a tiny, triumphant smile on her lips, ‘. . . nothing . . .’ she leaned closer, so the words were
not more than breath in his ear, and she could hear a catch in his breathing ‘. . . going on between me and Finn.’
And with that, she ran her other hand through his hair, just as he would have done, and then kissed him, very gently, before pulling away.
‘I just thought maybe you needed to know that.’ She raised one eyebrow, cheekily. This was the best wine she’d ever drunk, or maybe it was the snow, or letting Flora go, or . .
. well, whatever it was, she was in control for once, and it felt amazing.
‘You,’ he said, running the backs of two fingers down her cheek in a gesture so tender it caught her breath, ‘are absolutely bloody impossible.’ He twisted a hand in her
ponytail, running her hair through his fingers, pulling her closer towards him so that she could feel his heart thumping through his T-shirt.
With a burst of sudden laughter he pulled her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly, and for a very long time. When they came up for air, night was falling. The little sitting room was glowing
in the firelight.
‘You’ve driven me mad, you know that, don’t you?’
‘I have? Well,
you
make absolutely no sense.’ She tangled her fingers in his as they spoke. ‘If you hadn’t marched off the island the night after the fireworks,
I wouldn’t have had to drive you mad.’
‘And if you hadn’t spent the next few months making it obvious you’d rather be with Finn, I might have been able to admit I’d fallen in love with you.’
‘You have?’
Roddy reached across to the table, picked up both telephones and switched them off. ‘I don’t think we really want to be rescued tonight. I can’t think of anywhere I’d
rather be stranded than here with you, beautiful Kate.’ He turned back, tipping up her chin, mouth almost on hers, eyes blazing with love and happiness. ‘And yes, incidentally. I
have.’
‘You love me.’ She tried the words out. She suspected it was something she’d never tire of hearing.
‘Yes, I bloody well do. Have done,’ he said, kissing her again, ‘since you fell at my feet the first day we met.’
‘Excuse me, Roddy Maxwell,’ said Kate, laughing, ‘that’s not quite how it happened.’
‘Maybe not,’ said Roderick with a grin, ‘but it’s a good story to tell the grandchildren.’
‘She’s absolutely adorable, aren’t you, darling?’ Roddy looked at Kate, then smiled down at the baby girl cradled in his arms. He looked as if
he’d been born to it, his face gentle as he bent forward, dropping a kiss on her forehead. The baby let out the tiniest of sighs in her sleep. Kate ran a gentle finger down the perfect cheek,
feeling the velvet-soft skin.
It was autumn once again, and they were standing in the long kitchen of Duntarvie House, waiting, as ever, for the kettle to boil. Roddy was sitting in the armchair beside the Aga, with Kate
crouched down beside him. It was late afternoon and the shadows stretched long in the courtyard. There was a sound of happy yelling from somewhere outside.