Page 57 of Heirs and Graces at Highland Hall
Moira’s eyes softened as she looked at Duncan. ‘Iona… your granny had a wicked sense of humour. Everyone loved her. She was a force of nature. Full of life. It’s why we were all stunned when Angus told us she’d taken sick. Said she’d gone tae hospital, but were all vague wi’ the details. I remember some sayin’ it was Edinburgh, some others reckoned London. We didnae know. After she died, everyone was too sick with grief to worry about it. She was gone. That was all that mattered.
‘And then Angus returned with this new woman and a wee bairn. Aye, there was gossip. An unmarried couple bringin’ a baby in the house. None of us could work it out. And oh my, he would get fair cross if anyone mentioned Iona’s name. Like he wanted to pretend she’d never existed.’
‘I’m guessing the gossip from the new woman and the baby out of wedlock was enough to distract from Iona and Fergus,’ Bex said.
Moira dipped her chin. ‘Oh, there were those of us that suspected the truth. But we had too much respect for Fergus and Angus. And when that woman left, Angus did a grand job raisingthat wee girl on his own. He really did.’ She looked at Duncan. ‘He was a fine man. He was.’
‘Fergus tried to tell you, Duncan,’ Bex said, turning away from Moira and finally looking Duncan in the eyes. ‘Fergus wanted you to know the truth. At the end he did. Lorna told me. You were away, right? Taking yourself off to get some space from him, and you couldn’t get back in time. That’s why he wantedyouwhen he knew it was his final hours. That’s why he tried to call you twelve times. Not anyone else in the family. You. Because he was going to tell you the truth. That you were his grandson.’
‘Stop this!’ Kieron’s voice rose above them all. ‘Stop this nonsense! It’s an absolute farce. I see what you’re doing. You want to be lady of the castle, and you think you can use yourboyfriendto?—’
‘That is not what’s happening here!’ Bex snapped. ‘This has nothing to do with any relationship we had in the past. This is what Fergus wanted. This is the truth. And this is what matters.’
A sly smirk twisted on Kieron’s lips as he scoffed. ‘Oh, I knew you were smart, Rebecca, but I never figured you were that conniving. Making a power-play to make sure you claim yourself as lady of the manor. First, you play with me. Kiss me and lead me on and then?—’
‘You kissed him?’ Duncan looked like she had just slapped him across the face. ‘You kissed him?’
It felt as though all the heat had drained from the room. She had started the evening knowing exactly what she wanted to do: tell Duncan she loved him and plan out a future together. How had it all gone so wrong?
‘Please, this isn’t about any of that right now. This is about the will.’ She turned to Gordon. ‘I’m sure I’m right,’ she said. ‘Will it be possible to find out?’
He nodded. ‘A DNA test should be fairly straightforward. Yes. I’ll speak to the firm and get it sorted tomorrow morning.’
‘Well, just be aware that you’ll be hearing from my lawyers,’ Kieron said, his voice thick with fury. ‘This whole business. This collaboration, this manipulation, this… fraud! You won’t get away with it. Mark my words. And you…’ He glowered at Bex. ‘To think what I would have done for you.’
With that, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room.
46
Silence followed in Kieron’s wake. Bex wiped the tears that were now freely trickling down her cheeks. And she wasn’t the only one. Even Gordon had removed his glasses to dab under his eyes.
‘I’m sorry.’ Bex choked out the words. ‘I didn’t mean for it to go like that. I just… I just…’
‘It’s fine,’ Gordon said softly. ‘You did the right thing here,’ he added, looking at Moira. ‘You both did the right thing.’ He paused, and before the silence settled fully, he turned to Duncan. ‘This is going to be a lot for you to take in. We’ll give you two some space.’ Slowly, he helped Moira to standing, but rather than heading for the door, she moved across to Duncan and rested her hand on his arm.
‘It disnae change things, you know. The way your grandad – Angus – the way he loved you and your ma, it disnae change that.’
Duncan turned slightly and took the old woman’s hand in his own. No words, just touch. That was all he could manage.
‘We should leave them to it,’ Gordon said, touching Moira gently. A moment later, the pair left the room, closing the door gently behind them and leaving Bex and Duncan alone.
‘Did you know?’ she said, eventually. ‘Did you ever have any idea?’
He shook his head, but somewhere during the motion, it turned into a shrug.
‘He was a lonely old man, and I was a pretty lonely young man. I just thought that was all there was to it, really. You know, you might be wrong. My God, you’re gambling your chances with Kieron if you’re wrong about this.’
‘I never wanted any chances with Kieron.’ Bex took a step towards Duncan, only for his face to harden.
‘Right. You just kissed him for fun?’
‘I kissed him after I’d nearly frozen to death and you told me that it was a good thing that we split up,’ she replied. ‘You have no idea how what you said hurt me that day. And in case I’m mistaken, you’ve done a lot more than kiss someone since we split up?’ The hurt sounded remarkably like anger in her voice. With a deep breath in, she tried her best to swallow it back down. This wasn’t the time to talk about them. Duncan had bigger things to deal with.
Once again, silence took hold. How was it that only half an hour ago, Bex had been there on the dancefloor, ready to tell Duncan that she loved him, that she would do whatever she needed to make this relationship work and now she couldn’t even find the strength to speak?
‘I’m sorry.’ Duncan inched towards her, his eyes locked on hers. ‘I meant all of it. I meant everything I said earlier today. You know I did.’
‘I know.’
