Page 59 of Wedding Games
Jamie appeared next to her, and she climbed onto his shoulders.
‘Let’s hear it for the winner!’ Jamie yelled as he set off around the room.
‘Jim! Get over here!’ Morag cried as Valentina and Sam attempted to continue their fight mounted on their boyfriends’ shoulders.
Big Jim had neither the height nor the strength of Charlie or Jamie, and his beloved was heavier than Sam and Valentina combined. He looked nervously at Morag.
Duncan came to his side and said something. Big Jim nodded with relief, and the two of them lifted Morag between them.
‘Woo hoo! Make way for the champion!’ Morag cheered as she bounced unevenly around the room, a few bedraggled flowers clutched in her fist.
‘Bloody hell,’ said Rory to Zoe as they watched the carnage unfold. ‘I hope I never piss any of them off.’
‘Do you think we should start the ceilidh?’ she suggested. ‘Might help break them up?’
He nodded. ‘Good idea.’
She waved at the band and gesticulated for them to begin playing.
The caller grabbed his mic and leapt to the front of the stage.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the first dance!’
Rory bowed to Zoe and held out his hand. She took it, her heart bursting with happiness as he led her to the centre of the room.
‘The happy couple, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s hear it for the Earl and Countess of Kinloch!’
‘Ha-hang on!’ Sam yelled, bouncing on Jamie’s shoulders as he ran towards the stage.
Huh?
Jamie set Sam gently down, then took his guitar from a stand.
‘Zoe,’ Sam said into a microphone. ‘I know Rory requested the band playNever Gonna Give You Upby Rick Astley for your first dance as man and wife, however I’ve used my executive veto.’
Jamie started plucking out the opening toThe Heart of Scotland, the song he’d written with Sam for the filmBraveheart 2.
Zoe held tighter to Rory, trying not to cry as a wave of emotion rolled through her. This piece of music always spoke to her soul, and now she would forever associate it with the first dance at her wedding.
‘Zoe and Rory,’ Sam continued. ‘This one’s for you.’
Zoe turned to face her new husband, looping her arms around his neck. Growing up, she’d never once imagined living in Scotland or marrying someone like Rory. However, life had handed her surprise after surprise since moving north the previous year. Now she felt like a princess who’d found her slightly scruffy Prince Charming.
Sam began singing and everything else fell away. There was no room for thoughts of the past or worries for the future. Her relationship with Rory may have had a rocky start, but they’d built something unshakeable. He recognised and cherished every part of her and was her greatest love.
When the song finished, the room erupted with cheers, applause and stamping feet, but Zoe was hardly aware of any of it. All she saw was the love shining in Rory’s eyes.
‘Having fun?’ Fiona asked her, as she joined them on the dancefloor with Duncan.
Zoe grinned and glanced at her new husband.
‘The best,’ she replied.
The party wenton past midnight, but Zoe and Rory took their leave early. The official line was that they were taking a car to a hotel near the airport and flying out to Barbados the next morning. However, the truth was simpler. They were honeymooning in their own version of heaven; their cabin by the loch.
Rory parked outside, then helped Zoe out of the truck. They stood, hand-in-hand, looking down the gentle slope to the loch. It was dark, but the air still held leftover warmth from the summer. The moon was high, leaving a trail of silver sparkles on the surface of the black water.
The moment was timeless and seemed to hold within it the past, the present, and the future. She was the ten-year-old Zoe who had run wild here with her great uncle. She was the adult Zoe, now married to the Earl of Kinloch. And she was the older Zoe, still holding her husband’s hand many years in the future.
