Page 110 of The Midnight Secret

‘I also said that what we three did, only we three would ever know...But it’s what wefourdid that only we four will ever know.’

‘Aye,’ Mhairi nodded, reaching for Jayne’s hand too. ‘What you did for us...’

‘It was the only possible happiness that could come from so much wickedness,’ Jayne replied.

Mary had disappeared, as agreed, as soon as the paperwork for the divorce and the adoption had been finalized. No one knew where she had gone and no one cared. She was exiled.

Jayne’s world, by contrast, had opened up like a flower. It contained colours and textures now; it brimmed with life. David loved her, she had friends – true friends – and she felt safe for the first time in many years.

She saw Mhairi’s hand settle on her rounded belly. She and Donald were to be married quietly within weeks, and would be relocating here to settle down in full respectability. Donald had accepted Sholto’s offer of a position as gamekeeper of the estate when Huw Felton took employment with the Duke of Argyll. Effie fretted that she was responsible for driving him away, but Sholto said it was for the best if he really couldn’t let her go. Archie Baird-Hamilton had conceded defeat with good grace, at least, sending them a wedding present before slipping away to the wilds of Kenya.

They heard the sound of hooves on the ground outside and Flora ran to the window. ‘It’s here,’ she said excitedly.

Effie gathered her long skirts and walked carefully out of the bedroom and down the narrow cottage stairs. Her father was waiting alone in the front room for her. He was wearing his Sunday suit, and someone had put a rose from the garden in his buttonhole.

He caught his breath as Effie stepped into the room, etherealin white, the diamond tiara glittering in her hair. It was another few moments before he spoke.

‘Y’r mother would be proud, lass,’ he said finally. ‘As I am.’

He gave her his arm, and together father and daughter walked out of the small cottage into the spring sunshine where the horse and trap was waiting. The earl had offered his Bentley to bring them down the short drive to the Big House, but Effie preferred to feel the wind on her face in her last moments as a single girl. She would have walked if she could. Only Flora’s horrified interjections that she would ruin the dress had persuaded her that a pony trap was a suitable compromise.

Jayne, Mhairi and Flora helped Effie negotiate her long, delicate gown around the steps before they climbed into the back and sat on the low wooden bench seats.

‘Not forgetting these rascals,’ Robert said, clicking his fingers – and Slipper and Socks, with peach satin bows around their necks, jumped in beside them. ‘Stay there,’ he commanded in his gruff voice, ruffling behind their ears before closing up the back and taking his place beside his daughter.

The driver shook the reins gently, and the horses began their slow walk along the track towards the chapel. No one spoke as they took in the glorious sight of Dumfries House basking in the sunlight; the gardens were in full bloom, the water spouting from the fountain refracting the light so that diamonds seemed to twinkle in the air.

It felt like an ending, even though they knew it was the first of many beginnings. Flora and Mhairi’s aside, Jayne herself was going to walk down the aisle for a second time after David had proposed in her kitchen.

Too soon, they were passing through the old stone wall of the chapel grounds where ancient yew trees stood fatly likeMrs McLennan’s steamed puddings. The young flower girls and page boys were clustered around the chapel door, waiting restlessly with the mothers, Rachel, Christina and Big Mary, though they all fell still as they caught sight of Effie as a bride.

‘Oh!’ the women exclaimed as one, exactly as the bridesmaids had done, as the trap rolled to a stop and the passengers disembarked, dogs first.

‘What a vision y’ are,’ Christina smiled, stroking Effie’s cheek tenderly.

‘The most beautiful bride,’ Rachel chimed too.

‘Is he here?’ Effie asked nervously as Mhairi and Flora arranged her veil.

‘Is he here?’ Rachel laughed. ‘The poor man’s been pacing the floor for nigh on twenty minutes now! He got here early!’

Jayne came around and put the floral posy in Effie’s trembling hands as Flora and Mhairi carefully pulled the veil forward. ‘There,’ she said with satisfaction, covering the bride’s hands with her own for a moment to calm her. ‘...Are you all right?’

Effie nodded, although she looked terrified. ‘I just...don’t feel quite myself,’ she mumbled.

‘Wearing the veil down can be disorienting at first,’ Jayne said calmly. ‘But it’s not for long. Only while you walk down the aisle – then it’s pulled back again.’

Effie nodded, but Jayne knew her friend would far rather be in breeks and holding a rope than all this. She supposed the tiara might feel alien too.

‘Hurry now,’ Big Mary said, shuffling the children into position behind Effie. ‘The minister’s waiting.’

‘We’ll sit at the back in case they misbehave,’ Rachel said hastily as the organ started up inside the chapel and the doors were opened.

Jayne, Mhairi and Flora positioned themselves behind Effieas heads turned, everyone smiling, particularly as they caught sight of the dogs standing at Robert’s heel. All the St Kildans were seated on the left, Sholto’s family and friends on the right, the estate staff lining the walls.

Robert offered his daughter his arm and they walked forward a few steps into the small porch. Jayne could already see Sholto standing at the end of the aisle, tall, golden and utterly in love. The relief on his face as he saw his bride was palpable. His pride too.

‘Ready?’ Effie’s father said nervously under his breath, as the introductory music ended and the first few bars of Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major sounded. He began to move...

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