Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Eilidh’s eyes were full of compassion. “I get it. The forgiveness stuff.”
“Aye?”
She stroked my cheek tenderly, her fingernails scratching through my beard. “I think forgiveness is earned and when it hasn’t been earned, we don’t owe that person anything. We only owe ourselves the grace of forgiveness. And I think there are some people who we can only ever forgive if we never have to see them again.”
I slid my hand around her nape to pull her in for a kiss. It felt too much, what Eilidh meant to me. Too much for words. I poured all that feeling into our kiss until she was breathless and dazed and everything else but the love between us ceased to exist.
With Theo back from his travels, Eilidh left a few hours later to be in on a meeting Theo had procured with the streaming giant who’d also aired Young Adult.
Eilidh was feeling optimistic but trying not to get her hopes up too high. Usually these kinds of things didn’t move as quickly as they currently were, and I think she thought it was all a bit too good to be true. I hope Theo proved her wrong.
After dropping Millie at daycare with Regan, I’d returned home, telling Eilidh I could work from home today. The truth was, I was awaiting a delivery.
I sat on the couch with my laptop, feet up on the table, working while I waited. My home was slowly being transformed. Every time I walked in, there was something new. A lamp, a rug, a throw, cushions. Everything Eilidh had promised. There were photographs of us and Millie in frames on a gallery wall in the living room. Framed artwork started appearing too. It was amazing how all those things that made the place more homely also made the place less echoey.
Eilidh had even ordered storage for Millie’s toys and she had a dedicated play area beside the living room. The only time I’d gotten a wee bit concerned was when the artwork started going up because I had something in mind for the expanse of wall at the entrance of the house.
Thankfully, Eilidh hadn’t gotten to that area yet.
My eyes kept moving to the time on the laptop. Eilidh’s meeting would be over soon, and my delivery still hadn’t arrived. Just when I was starting to fret, my phone beeped with the alert.
The camera app opened to reveal the Range Rover pulling into my drive. Dumping my laptop, I hurried to the door, throwing it open just as Robyn Adair jumped out of the vehicle. She wore aviator sunglasses, her ponytail blowing in the wind. Smiling broadly, she rounded the SUV to open the boot. “Did I make it in time?”
“Right on time.” Anticipation moved through me as I bridged the distance between us. She’d flattened the seats to lay out the large item wrapped in brown paper. “This is it?”
“This is it.”
Together we eased it out of the SUV and Robyn followed me, a professional hanging kit in her hands, as we strolled inside.
“Nice. Perfect place.”
“I can’t wait to see it.”
Carefully, Robyn unwrapped the framed photograph, and I inhaled and exhaled slowly, a little taken aback by my reaction to it.
Eilidh was right.
It was a phenomenal photograph of Kylesku Bridge and the surrounding loch and hills. “Robyn … you are a very talented photographer.”
“Thanks.” She patted the frame. “Shall we get it up there?”
Together, we measured the space and attached the hanging kit before carefully placing the photograph onto the wall.
We stepped back, and I stared at it in awe. “I can see why Eilidh loves it so much.” I looked at my girlfriend’s aunt. I knew she could charge a lot of money for her exclusive photography. “Please let me pay you for it.”
“Nope.” Robyn shook her head stubbornly. “I always told my niece I could never take money for it. What no one knows about me is I’m kind of a secret romantic. Can’t take money, but I’ll take being part of a grand gesture I know will make my niece very happy. Not because she’s getting a photograph she’s admired for years. But because she’s getting a man who would have hounded me until the end of time to get it for her. After everything she’s been through, Eilidh deserves someone who would do just about anything to make her happy.”
Emotion constricted my throat as I looked back at the photograph. I’d approached Robyn almost immediately after our drive out to Kylesku. She’d refused. At first. I’d offered money. Offered tutoring for Vivien and Brechin. And then I’d left her a voicemail explaining why Eilidh loved it so much and how much I loved her and wanted her to have it. I’d promised to back off if the photograph just held too much sentimental attachment for Robyn to let it go. The next day, Robyn called me, telling me she was happy to gift it.