The Prodigal Son Page 22
The evening seemed like a blur to Rob—with more photographs, a welcome line-up, many-course dinner, countless toasts, music and dancing. It was beyond anything he’d dreamed of. He and Justine chatted with guests, danced for hours it seemed, laughed heartily and revelled in the unique mix of wedding celebration and New Year festivities. In the wee sma’ hours they collapsed into bed, wrapped their arms around each other, and fell sound asleep.
45
Rob woke with a start, his ultra-sensitive inbuilt alarm system telling him that a phone was ringing. He sat up quickly, his mind focussing instantly, and he gazed at the blond goddess lying beside him: his wife.
“I’ve been here before,” he thought as the phone continued ringing, remembering the first night with Justine.
He answered and was met by a panicking Joe Harper. “It’s Suzy, Rob! She’s in labour. We need to get her to the hospital”.
“Be right there,” he said, already on his feet and pulling on jeans and a sweater.
“What’s wrong?” Justine mumbled, not fully awake.
“Suzy’s in labour. We need to get her to hospital.”
“What!” Justine jumped to her feet and quickly began dressing.
They ran down the hall to the room Joe and Suzy were in, knocked and entered. Sure enough, Suzy’s water had broken and she was experiencing contractions.
“You sober?” Rob asked Joe, scanning his pale face.
“I didn’t drink much, just in case.”
“Good, you’re driving. We’ll grab a Land Cruiser. Justine, wrap a blanket round Suzy and help me get her downstairs.”
They helped her into the Land Cruiser and drove as quickly as the snow covered roads would allow. The Cottage Hospital was less than ten minutes away from Hillcrest House. Suzy was wheeled into a delivery room.
At 4.57 on the first of January, baby James Harper came into the world, a healthy lad with a good set of lungs by all accounts.
“You do realise that your son is Scottish?” Rob asked, drinking watery vending-machine coffee.
“No!”
“Didn’t you hear his accent when he was crying earlier?”
“Oh God—we’ll never understand a word he says.” Joe placed a hand to his head.
“It’ll be okay. I’ll translate. But he’ll need a kilt and a Scotland top.”
“Rubbish he’ll get a cricket bat and an England rugby shirt, like any other child” Rob protested.
Rob noticed Justine sitting quietly through the banter, and smiled over to her.
“Listen Joe, all joking aside, we’re going to head back up to Hillcrest, leave you to get on with the “need to does” that new babies bring with them.
Rob and Justine left Joe, Suzi and their new baby and drove back up to the house. The journey was fairly quiet apart from comments from both about the snow and not expecting to be wakened so early on their first night as husband and wife.
“Before we got married yesterday, did you give any more thought to the fact that I can’t give you a child?” Justine asked, a deep frown creasing her forehead.
Rob looked startled.
“Before the wedding yesterday, did you consider the fact that I can’t have children? Now that you are the Laird of Achravie, having an heir takes on a different dimension. What happens to all this when you die?”
Rob sat on the edge of the bed and eyed Justine, leaning against the bathroom door, hugging her robe securely. “It didn’t cross my mind. At all. The only wobble I had yesterday was that maybe you’d change your mind—that’s why I phoned Lorna. And when you didn’t turn up at the designated time, I was convinced you weren’t going to come.” He shook his head. “I’ve never taken it for granted that you’d go through with this marriage. I know how you feel … about my background … and have never been convinced you’d fully come to terms with that. But children? No, never crossed my mind. For me, yesterday was all about you becoming Mrs MacLaine and me becoming your husband. Being Laird of Achravie is always going to be important to me. It’s a big responsibility, for both of us now, but it will never take priority over what I feel for you.”
“But what about an heir?”
“Would you want kids if you were able to?” he asked.
“I’d always seen myself a mother until ….”
“Maybe we can look at adopting, if and when we feel we’re ready. There are a lot of kids out there needing good homes and adopted kids can be a real part of the family. I told you once before, they’re not an issue for me and that’s still the case.”
He stepped over and drew her tightly to him. “You’re what’s important to me and I can prove that.” He lifted her up and carried her over to the king-sized bed.
The next day, having risen late, Rob & Justine met with Joe at breakfast. He’d phoned the hospital to get an update on Suzi and James, and late morning all three went to Cottage Hospital to bring Suzy and baby back.
Guests started leaving. Angus and his family, Elizabeth and Richard, returned to London. Rob’s parents would meet up with him and Justine later in the week.
The remnants of the celebrations the previous evening were cleared away and Hillcrest House returned to normality. Justine met up with Lorna and Fraser to discuss issues with the development work.
Justine was keen to see the lodges finished so they could be photographed for marketing materials, including a website. Rob was intrigued with the progress with Achravie Smokery, which he treated as his pet project.
In the evening, Joe and Rob went to the Red Lion in the evening, to “wet the baby’s head” and returned to Hillcrest at ten o’clock so that Joe could “help” Suzi feed young James.
Just after eleven, Rob and Justine were finally alone in their bedroom.
Justine stood beside Rob, looking out the window to the snowy landscape. There was a mostly clear sky and the bright moonlight reflected on the landscape. She slipped her arms round his waist. “Thank you for what you said last night – about not being able to have children of our own.”
“I meant it Tina, this – our marriage, Achravie, our future together – it’s all about us – you and me. You were totally honest with me about not being able to have children. It’s not an issue for me, it’s you I love. Owning Achravie doesn’t change that. If anything happens to me then Angus’s boys can inherit and fight over it.”
“Let’s go to bed” Justine said quietly, with a coy smile.
46
The next morning, Pete ferried more of the guests, including Joe and Suzy and young James, back to London, with instructions to return for Andrew Savage, his wife, and Rob and Justine mid-afternoon.
During the morning, Rob and Justine had more discussions with Lorna and Fraser to make sure everyone was up to speed with the redevelopment changes, alterations and progress. After the meeting, they went to the Red Lion for lunch, which gave Rob and Justine the opportunity to thank Hamish and Lizzie for providing most of the catering for the festive period.
The journey in the Agusta that afternoon was pleasant and uneventful. The two women discussed a variety of topics while Sir Andrew and Rob talked about business. Sir Andrew giving Rob a heads–up re a new project his company was working on with a UK-based drone manufacturer and a small munitions manufacturer, which was already attracting a great deal of interest with a select number of clients—including the UK and US military. Sir Andrew advised that a very hush-hush demo was being arranged for those select few and suggested that he might want Rob along in a professional capacity. Rob affirmed he’d be happy to oblige if he was free and Sir Andrew promised to email him dates once final arrangements had been made.
The two couples parted company when the Agusta dropped off Rob and Justine at Wycombe Air Park, also known as Booker Airfield, in South Buckinghamshire. Rob led the way to the Harper MacLaine BMW X5 M5, where he’d left it before the trip to Achravie.
It was dark as they drove to their new home. Rob had had new electric gates and a secure entry system installed while
they were away, and when he reached for the remote button, his eyes were drawn to a new illuminated slate nameplate on a stone pillar. He stopped the car and stared. The glistening white lettering on the sign read “Achravie”.
“The post office people weren’t too pleased about the change of name, but hey-ho, I thought you might like to live at Achravie full-time,” Justine explained.
“You did this?” he asked, happily surprised. “Is this what you meant when you said ‘maybe sooner than you think’?”
Justine simply nodded.
“That’s brilliant.” Rob stared at the sign and smiled.
“Welcome home, Laird. Now you just need to carry the Lady Laird over the threshold.” With an exaggerated wink, she patted Rob’s knee.
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