Scottlander

by Samantha Liddell

  At that point I realised that’s exactly what I had done. If it wasn’t for Jamie, I might never have left Australia for Scotland, and I would never have met Scott. Scott was my Jamie; I knew that for sure. It was an opportunity life had presented to me because I took the first step and went off on this adventure.

  Somehow though, I was going to have to decline life’s generous offer of Scott. He is from Scotland; I am from Australia. It was not fair on either of us to ask the other to move countries and leave their previous lives behind. I would not expect Scott to give up his business in Scotland, which is starting to take off, for me. It was not even an option.

  I’m not sure how long I was in my day-dream trance for, but when I came out of it, Scott had pretty much set everything up and some of the cast and crew were heading over to get their food.

  “So sorry Scott, I was just thinking and went off into Letticia world for a bit!” I laughed.

  “No worries, I could see you were having an epiphany of some sort and I didn’t want to disturb you. If you want to talk about it with me, you know I’m here for you. Okay?” Scott said with such reassurance and trust in his voice.

  “Yes, of course I know. I will be okay.”

  “Either that or you were just drooling over ‘Jamie’ as he walked away in his kilt. Gee, I almost was!” Scott added jokingly.

  “Scott, behave!” I said, and gave him a friendly slap on his behind.

  Chapter Nine

  Last Month In Scotland

  I couldn’t believe how fast the last five months had gone by. It was now the 1st of May; I had booked and paid for our return tickets a week before for the 5th of June, so by my calculations we will have been away longer than six months, as it so happens it will be six months and four days. ‘Take that everybody!’ I thought. I showed them, I lasted four days longer than everybody’s predictions. Not that the new me cared anymore about what people thought, but it was a nice little self-esteem boost to know that the girls and I could indeed survive moving across to the other side of the world, and return all in one piece.

  I continued working in the kitchen and on set for the following three weeks, but decided to take the last week off to spend all my hardearned cash and take the kids around Edinburgh. They loved reading books about castles and princes and princesses, so the last week included trips to castles and lots of tea parties with scones, jam and cream, and lots of hot chocolate.

  That same week, when Alistair found out I was finishing up, he was devastated.

  “The food is just not going to be the same without our Aussie Letticia cooking it and serving it up.”

  Scott overheard this comment and decided to ignore it. He had decided to pretend it wasn’t happening. We didn’t talk about it, we just continued doing what we did: eating out, taking the kids out for hot chocolates, going to the movies, and lots of passionate ‘bolt the door’ action.

  Alistair and Tammy came up with the idea of a surprise farewell party, but had to get Scott involved. He accepted but was not at all pleased to be made to partake in such a celebration, one that he found to be a devastating thing to be partying over.

  Alistair gave Scott the job of inviting all the friends I had made during my Scottish adventure. Scott, much to his dismay, had to contact people and tell them Letticia’s surprise party was being held at 6pm, on Saturday the 2nd of June, at the Edinburgh Castle Function Room. It pays to have rich, famous friends I must say. Alistair and Tammy took care of the rest, as that was about all Scott could bear to do in the organisational side of things. The only other things were to keep me distracted that afternoon and get me to the castle by 6pm.

  Sophie and James left Old Bark Cottage with Leah and Polly, and Archie and Bella, around 5pm. They said they were taking the kids out for an early pizza dinner. I thought it was strange how forceful they had been when I said I would come along too. I practically demanded that I come after they told me I wasn’t invited. ‘How dare they?’ I thought. ‘If I want pizza with my kids I bloody well will have pizza with my kids.’ James had to put his foot down and say, “Sorry Letticia, table is already booked. They are booked out as it is, so there is no seat for you.”

  He then yelled to his clan, “Run! Go! Run! Don’t look back!” And there I was, standing at the front door watching my children and their nanny, along with the man nanny James and his two charges, running up the overthinking path as fast as they could to get away from me. I stood there with tears rolling down my face.

  I lost track of time and how long I had been in the doorway for, as the tears kept flowing. My eyes became blurry, but suddenly I could see a large figure walking towards me down the path. I thought it was James coming back to get me. I knew they were not that mean after all, but when the person got closer I saw it was Scott instead. So, James and Sophie were indeed that mean, I guess.

  Scott looked at me, at the black stream of mascara running down my blotchy, crying face.

  “Oh dear, Letticia. We need to get you cleaned up. Let’s go out for a drink, shall we?”

  “Yes,” I said in a timid, sad voice. “Yes please Scott, I need a

  Pimm’s with a true friend.”

  After I recovered and had piled on the makeup to cover my red, puffy face and eyes, Scott grabbed my hand and we walked hand in hand up my overthinking path. As we walked up and I felt his hand holding mine, I realised how far apart our hands will be soon. A distance that could not sustain a strong, healthy relationship. I knew my hand would be aching to feel the touch of his hand, connected in mine, once I was back in Australia. I decided to take in this moment; take in the touch, the smell and the sight of Scott, take a memory photograph of it all so when I needed to remind myself of the love of my life, my lost love, I could hold on to it forever.

  “You okay Letticia? You seem a tad more emotional tonight than usual.”

  “What are you saying Scott? That I’m an emotional wreck all the time?”

  We both laughed as we both knew the answer to that.

  We got to his car. “Oh, you brought the Land Rover tonight, not the van. Must be a real special occasion then.”

  “Every minute I spend with you is a special occasion,” Scott replied as he opened the door for me to hop in.

  “Oh! Why thank you,” I said and climbed in, thinking how I would also miss Scott’s gentlemanly way of opening doors for me. He really was part of a dying breed of men, and I was lucky enough to find one. And this one was Scottish too – extra points.

  We drove up towards Edinburgh Castle. Scott told me there is a lovely, scenic bar there where we can have a few drinks and take in the sights. ‘Sounds perfect,’ I thought.

  We parked the car and I reached down to the floor to grab my handbag. As I went to open the car door to get out, I found it opening by itself before my hand had even reached the handle, and realised Scott was being a gentleman again.

  “Milady,” he said, and put out his hand to help me out of the car.

  “Why, thank you, good sir.”

  I looked up at the castle that was all lit up, the garden also had fairy lights throughout it.

  “Oh Scott! This is just beautiful. I never want to leave!”

  “Well, you are going nowhere for the next few hours. This castle is all yours,” he said.

  “All ours,” I replied, and with that he turned my head gently around to face his and lightly planted a kiss upon my lips and answered, “All ours, my Sassenach.”

  As we walked towards the magnificent wooden castle doors, we passed flaming torches at the drawbridge. Next we heard, then saw a piper, who led us to the bar which I thought must have been right in the heart of the castle, because we walked through long, stone corridors that seemed to take forever, until we reached a room. It was a function room and the door was closed. I thought, ‘That’s strange, doesn’t look like a bar to me.’

  The piper stopped playing and walked away, leaving Scott and I standing in front of the closed door.

  “After you milady,” S
cott said in his Scottish accent.

  I pushed open the heavy door to a loud welcome of “Surprise!!” It was so loud I had to cover my ears. I looked around the room and saw signs saying ‘Bon Voyage’ and ‘Farewell, We Will Miss You.’ I then realised what this was, it was my very own farewell party! I had never been given a surprise party, let alone a farewell party, from anyone in my whole life before. Yet people I had only just met in the last six months were doing so right now.

  “Aye, here come the waterworks again,” Scott so kindly pointed out, and handed me a tissue.

  As I scanned the room I saw lots of familiar faces, such as Steve the tour guide and Amanda from the Outlander tour. Amanda and Steve had become rather close after that tour, and even though it wasn’t official, they were indeed seeing each other. Scott and I had caught up with them several times over the last few months for drinks and dinner. To see them here tonight meant a lot to me.

  I continued to scan the room and saw the cast and crew, who I had become close to over the months, and even the famous dog on the show was sitting under a table. Alistair and Tammy were at the front of the crowd with drinks in their hands, looking very merry indeed.

  My cooking team was also here: Dougal, Ann, Bonnie, Campbell and Duncan, all looking like they were ready to party on. And ‘my idol’ was here, standing tall in the group of my friends.

  Then there were my lot, the lot that had earlier on ditched me at my front door and ran like the wind to get away from me. Now I knew where they were running to.

  “How was the pizza?” I teased.

  James answered, “I’m so sorry Letticia. I didn’t know what to do. I’m not very good at keeping secrets and I knew we just had to get out of there before I gave it away.”

  I laughed and said, “I was heartbroken, but you are forgiven now.” Alistair then took centre stage with a microphone in hand and asked us to come in from standing in the doorway, something I was doing a lot of that evening: standing in doorways.

  “Welcome to your Bon Voyage party Letticia! We are all going to miss you terribly. You entered our lives and have made an impact on us all, your famous entrances will not be forgotten! But this is not a night of sadness, this is a night of celebration and new beginnings. You have made life-long friends in all of us you see here tonight. So, this isn’t farewell, but just a ‘see ya later’ party. Now let’s eat, drink and be jolly!”

  I turned to Scott who now had tears forming in his eyes. I returned his tissue back to him and he dabbed his eyes with it.

  “Cheer up Scottie boy! Didn’t you hear Alistair? This is a night of celebration, now let’s find a drink to get started!”

  My girls were busy playing with Archie and Bella, and patting the famous dog. Sophie came up to me and said, “Tonight you enjoy yourself. I will watch the girls.”

  I hugged her and said how I couldn’t have done this trip without her and how happy I am for her, to see her with James and wearing colour again. She laughed and said, “Well, if it wasn’t for you, I would still be in London wearing black and moping around heartbroken.”

  “Well good thing you came out to Scotland to be my nanny then, isn’t it?”

  James interrupted and said, “Aye, it sure is Letticia. I have met my dream lass thanks to you.”

  “Ohhhhh you two! Off you go and be in love,” I said.

  Scott and I headed to the bar, and bumped in to Alistair, Holly, Josh and Tammy on the way. “Look at you guys! Only feels like yesterday that I had my little meltdown about your chosen real-life lovers,” I said jokingly.

  “Yes. Glad to see you have got past that and are allowing us to be in love with our own partners!” Tammy said.

  “Yes, well let’s just say that was a moment I would rather us all forget please.”

  “Never. It was pure gold,” Alistair replied.

  The food spread was amazing and there were canapes being handed out to the guests throughout the night. The flow of food and champagne was never ending. At around 9pm, Sophie and James took the kids home while Scott and I continued to enjoy my ‘see ya later’ party.

  I worked the room making sure I talked to everyone, I didn’t want to miss anyone as they had all played a great part in my journey of re-finding Letticia Little. I didn’t know how the girls and I could actually get on that plane and leave. I was going to have to be strong and not let my emotions get the better of me, because if they did I would be running right back into Scott’s arms.

  The guests slowly started leaving around 11pm. They all said ‘see ya later’ to me, there were no farewells. Farewells felt like it was a forever goodbye. By 11.30pm it was just Scott and I left with Alistair, Holly, Tammy and Josh. Alistair got another round of drinks for us as we sat in the deserted function room that had been pumping with friends just hours earlier.

  Alistair raised his glass and said, “To Letticia! Safe travels back to the land down under.” Everyone raised their glasses high in the air, apart from Scott who only managed to raise his glass an inch off the table. I saw his attempt but chose to ignore it.

  We sat around the table chatting away, I was trying to get the next season’s Outlander plot out of them. Seeing as they had been watching the filming take place, I thought that the more they drank the more likely they would be to let the cat out of the bag, but they kept tight-lipped and wouldn’t even give me one single clue.

  “Gee guys, I’ve fed you, I’ve given you hot coffee every day, the least you can do is tell me why ‘Jamie’ is standing at the fountain looking up into his ‘Claire’s’ window. Is he a ghost or did he travel through the stones? Just a nod of the head will do.” Nope. Still nothing.

  “Fine. I will just wait like every other fan who is in ‘Droughtlander’ mode. What about Scotland’s Secrets?” Still no clue.

  We continued drinking and chatting until 1am in the morning. None of us were in any state to drive home, so Scott ordered us an Uber to share.

  ‘Wow, that is one lucky Uber driver that gets to drive Alistair and Tammy home,’ I thought. They were very well known in Scotland and around the world.

  We piled into a van. Our driver was named Nick, and was a huge Scotland’s Secrets fan; I knew this by the t-shirt he was wearing that said, ‘Scotland’s Secrets 2018.’ ‘What are the chances,’ I thought to myself, ‘out of all the Uber drivers in Scotland, we get one who is wearing a Scotland’s Secrets t-shirt?’

  We had all found our seats before Nick turned around to say hello to us. He got the first part of the word out. “Hel,” was all we heard, then the next was, “Holy crap. You guys are not people; you guys are actors! Is that really my two favourite actors ever, sitting in my van? Ewan and Leuruna! Say it isn’t so?”

  “Well no, it’s the actors that play Ewan and Leuruna actually,” I said.

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said, interrupting me. “Same thing. Far out dude, wait till I tell my clan about this! This is totally amazing, I’m too nervous to drive now.”

  He said to himself, out loud, “Come on Nick. I can do this; I think I can. I think I can do this.”

  We all repeated his little chant in our intoxicated states, “I think I can, I think I can, I know you can, I know I can.” Then, “You can do this Nick!” we all yelled out to cheer him on.

  “Hell yeah! Let’s do this guys,” he replied, and he took off in fifth gear, causing us to bunny hop out of the car park.

  “Round two!” Tammy yelled out, “You’ve got this Nick!” and we all encouraged him again by yelling out, “I think I can, I think I can, I know I can, I know I can!”

  Nick gave a big air pump, shouted, “Let’s go!” and took off. We all cheered as we went at lightning speed down the road.

  Nick was a funny character; he was a guy you would half expect to be at home playing computer games with his digital friends around the world. He was good value though, he had the Scotland’s Secrets soundtrack on Spotify. He started singing along to the songs.

  “This is the best night of my life!” he then
yelled out.

  We all joined in with the singing, with our arms around each other, swaying left to right. Nick had a naturally high voice, so could reach the high notes very well.

  We were dropping the others off to their motel first, much to Nick’s disappointment, as now he was only left with Scott and I in the van.

  Before Alistair and Tammy departed to their rooms with their reallife partners though, we all stood on the footpath and gathered into a group hug. We said our goodbyes, or more like our ‘see ya laters,’ and a few tears had formed in a few of our eyes. Then we noticed an unfamiliar voice joining in with the crying and goodbyes, and felt an unfamiliar arm wrapped around our circle. We turned to see Nick pouring his heart out.

  We had all stopped our crying and were now staring in silence at this strange man. After a minute or so, he realised he was the only one crying, so tried to divert our attention by pulling out a pen and paper. Still in his crying voice, he asked Alistair and Tammy for their autographs and a selfie. Being the lovely people that they are, they signed away and posed for a photo. Nick then backed off from our circle, saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” and waited for Scott and I in the driver’s seat.

  “Right, well. Just another awkward situation we find ourselves in once again,” Scott said.

  “Yes, well I have a feeling once Letticia leaves, these situations will become very few and far between,” Alistair replied.

  “Hey steady on! What are you guys implying?” I asked.

  “You attract awkward situations Letticia, is what they are implying,” Tammy kindly advised me.

  “Yeah well, you will all miss it, I know you will,” I said over confidently, and with that we gave our final hug. Alistair then knocked on the car window to wave and thank Nick, but he was too busy on his phone, probably skiting to his clan about his last dropoff. He had already posted his selfie of himself, Alistair and Tammy on all his social media pages and titled it, ‘My new BFF’s.’ Nick got a surprise when Alistair knocked on the window, and he clumsily dropped his phone onto the floor.