Page 32 of The Midnight Secret

‘He has a wireless too?’ Mhairi couldn’t disguise her surprise. She and Donald had scarcely been able to afford theirs on two wages.

‘Jayne bought it for him.’ David’s mouth had flattened into a line. ‘Norman’s doing very well at the Forestry. He’s been promoted to deputy manager of the yard.’

‘Already?’ Donald said, surprised. ‘That’s fast.’

David sighed. ‘Aye, I know, but the men seem to respect him, so...’ His voice trailed off, and Mhairi watched him. His and Norman’s relationship, never exactly close, had deteriorated sharply after Molly’s death. They seemed so distant for two men who had once been on course – if Molly had only had her way – to become brothers.

‘And how are things with you?’ she asked gently. ‘Are you...are you courting?’

He looked up sharply, as if the suggestion was offensive. ‘Of course not.’ He recognized his brusqueness and checked himself, taking a steadying breath, his fingers gripping the whisky glass more tightly. ‘...What I mean to say is, that’s it for me. There’ll not be anyone else.’

Mhairi stared at him, taken aback. ‘You mustn’t say that, David.’

‘Why not? It’s how I feel.’

‘It’s only been just over a year. We all miss her – but you’ve got your whole life ahead of you. Molly wouldn’t want you to be alone.’

‘With respect, Mhairi, you don’t know that. You don’t know how it was with me and her. No one knows how it really was between us – the love we had...What we had together, we had to keep hidden.’

She watched him. ‘And you don’t think we, me and Donald of all people, could understand that?’

From the corner of her eye she saw Donald stiffen as she addressed what they were all dancing around.

David’s head whipped up. ‘It’s not the same.’

‘Because Donald was married, so our love couldn’t possibly be...true, is that what you mean?’

David swallowed, but there was a flash of anger in his eyes too. ‘...Aye.’

‘Things aren’t always what they seem, David,’ Donald said uneasily. He wasn’t a man who found it easy to discuss emotions; like most of the St Kildan men, he preferred action over thought. ‘Marriage is sometimes just a coat, putting a respectable face on something.’

‘It wasn’t how it looks,’ Mhairi said. ‘We tried everything to resist it – and it was never our intention to hurt anyone.’

‘But you did! Innocent people were hurt—’

‘Neither of them was innocent,’ she said hotly.

David looked from her to Donald. Was he not going to defend his wife?

‘Alexander McLennan is a pig and a brute,’ Mhairi went on. ‘You’ve no idea what he was really like. No one did. Only Donald.’

She saw the look of confusion cross David’s face at her words.

‘Then why didn’t you say anything? Your brothers would have—’

‘No. Some things can’t be said.’ She looked away, not wanting to say too much. ‘And I didn’t need them, anyway. Donald protected me from him.’

‘But it wasn’t his place. He should never have got involved. He was a married man.’

‘Only in name,’ Donald said flatly. ‘The marriage had been dead for years, and if you were to ask her, Mary would admit it was as much a torment for her as it was for me. With or without Mhairi, it would have had to end. We couldn’t have carried on as we were.’

‘But you made vows before God. Y’ canna ignore that!’

‘Aye – and I made those vows with the best of intentions, but it was still a terrible match. Sometimes conceding defeat is the only way, David.’

‘I disagree.’

‘It was a bad marriage,’ Donald insisted. ‘There was no love there, and we each had good cause to leave. Whatever y’ might have heard, I’d ask y’ to remember thatshewas the one who left me. There’s a good reason for that.’

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