Finding Hope at the Loch (Loch Lannick Book 7)

by Hannah Ellis

  His gaze followed the box as she placed it back on the table. The lack of response from him made her even more angry.

  “Will you please stop treating me like a child?” she snapped.

  His eyebrows darted together as he finally met her gaze. “I’m not––”

  “You are!” she jumped in. “You think I’m upset about my dad so you don’t want to add any more worries, but if Aileen’s ill I want to know. And if she’s made herself ill because she’s been doing too much, organising a party for us, I’m going to feel terrible.” She paused and glared at Nick. “That’s why you didn’t tell me, isn’t it? You knew I’d feel bad?”

  “No,” he said with a gentle shake of the head. “I didn’t tell you anything because there’s nothing to tell. Mum’s fine. Nothing’s going on.”

  “We have another problem then,” she said calmly. “Because I don’t believe you. I feel as though you’re keeping something from me, and in the past when I’ve thought that I’ve turned out to be right.”

  Nick rubbed the bridge of his nose then pulled his phone from his pocket when it began to ring.

  Lexie glared at him. “I’m just going to warn you that if you answer a call from Elspeth while we’re in the middle of an argument it’s going to make things about a hundred times worse.”

  “It’s not Elspeth,” he said. “It’s Leana.”

  “Why is Leana calling you?”

  Nick looked from Lexie to the phone, then turned away from her to answer it.

  Anger coursed through Lexie’s veins as she listened to Nick invite Leana over.

  “What the hell did you do that for?” Lexie asked as soon as he ended the call. “Why on earth would you invite Leana over now?”

  “Because you’re scaring me,” he said with a flicker of a smile. “I feel like I need back-up.”

  She stared at him. “What’s going on?”

  “I wasn’t keeping anything from you to protect you. I wanted to surprise you.”

  The anger subsided, making way for curiosity. “Surprise me with what?”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Nick had just opened his mouth to speak when the door burst open and Leana rushed in with Elspeth and Isla. The three of them were dressed in slightly different variations of dresses in the same midnight blue.

  “What are you wearing?” Lexie asked, looking at each of them in turn.

  “Bridesmaid dresses,” Leana said, giving her a quick twirl. “What do you think?”

  “Why?” Lexie asked flatly.

  Leana bit down on her lip, stifling a laugh. “You haven’t told her?” she asked Nick.

  “Not quite,” he said. “She only just stopped shouting at me.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Lexie demanded.

  “Please don’t start shouting again,” Nick said, crossing the room to her. He took her hand and looked at her solemnly. “I know that you didn’t get the wedding you wanted, so I thought we could try again.” He smiled sheepishly. “Would you do me the honour of marrying me again?”

  “I’m really confused,” Lexie said, as a lump formed in her throat. “What’s going on?”

  “We organised a wedding for you!” Elspeth said.

  “Today?” Lexie kept her eyes on Nick. “You want to get married again today?”

  “Aye. In front of all our friends and family. Including my mum who is perfectly healthy. She’s just a terrible liar.” He grinned. “Now do you believe me that when someone says they have an appointment it doesn’t always mean a doctor’s appointment? Sometimes it’s that they’re sneaking off to help organise a surprise wedding.”

  “A surprise wedding?”

  “Yes,” Nick said. “In the pub. Just like you wanted.”

  “What about Dad?” Lexie said with a tremble to her voice.

  “I believe he’s giving you away?” Nick looked questioningly at Elspeth.

  “He’ll be over in a bit,” Elspeth said, then walked over and clamped her hands on Nick’s shoulders. She marched him across the kitchen. “You need to get dressed and get over to the pub. You’re needed to settle a dispute between Logan and Alasdair about who your best man is.”

  “Isn’t my brother here?” Nick asked. “He’s supposed to be my best man.”

  “Aye, he’s here,” Elspeth said. “Hurry up and get ready.”

  “I’m so confused.” Lexie pulled out a chair and sank onto it, then looked up at her friends. “Those are the dresses for Isla’s wedding,” she said.

  “There wasn’t a lot of time for shopping,” Isla said. “And I’m happy to share if you are?”

  “Thanks.” Lexie squinted at Isla. “Why are you wearing one?”

  “I drove over to Inverness for it yesterday. I was going to ask you if you’d be a bridesmaid for me.” Isla held her hands out to the sides and looked down at her dress. “So it’s actually your dress, but I thought …”

  “You thought you’d be my bridesmaid too?”

  “Yes. And I realise that under normal circumstances you probably wouldn’t have asked me.”

  “No,” Lexie said automatically. If she’d have been organising a traditional wedding she’d have asked Leana and Elspeth. “Actually,” she said, “I’m not sure. Maybe I would have asked you.”

  Isla’s face lit up. “That’s exactly how I felt. I wasn’t going to ask you, but then I kept thinking maybe I should. And then I worried you’d think it was weird if I asked you, because we’re not really close.”

  “No,” Lexie mused. “I’d like to be your bridesmaid, though. And that dress is gorgeous.”

  “I’ll have it cleaned before my wedding. And it can be altered if the sizing isn’t quite right.” She hesitated and smiled at Lexie. “So you don’t mind me being your bridesmaid? And it’s not weird that I’m Nick’s ex-girlfriend?”

  “Not until you mentioned it,” Lexie said, amused. “And I don’t mind at all. But I still can’t quite get my head around all this. How have you organised a wedding so quickly?”

  “It turns out it’s not that difficult to organise a wedding,” Nick said, shrugging into his jacket as he wandered back in. “I don’t know why people make such a fuss. It’s really easy.”

  He flinched when he received a slap on each arm from Leana and Elspeth.

  “Okay,” he said. “I might have had help.” Turning to Lexie, he lifted his chin so she could adjust his tie.

  “We’re actually getting married again?” Lexie asked.

  “Technically, no,” Nick said. “I thought I could find a vicar to do a blessing or something but it was a bit short notice so …” He winced as the girls did a bad job of stifling giggles. “Douglas volunteered to do … something.”

  “Douglas? Singing Douglas is performing a wedding ceremony?”

  “He was really keen,” Leana said.

  “We thought it would be cute,” Elspeth added. “And you’re already married so it’s nothing official or anything.”

  “Think of it as a re-enactment,” Nick said, taking her hand and sliding her wedding band off. “I’ll need this back for a wee while.” He glanced at Leana. “Alasdair and Logan aren’t really arguing, are they?”

  “I like to think it’s just them entertaining the crowd,” she said. “But it’s hard to know. You might end up with three best men.”

  “A crowd?” Lexie asked. “How many people are there?”

  “Quite a lot,” Isla said. “We called everyone we could think of and told everyone to pass the word on.”

  “You need to get your dress on again,” Nick said.

  “It probably stinks by now. Most people only wear them once. This will be its third outing.”

  “We’ll spray you with perfume,” Elspeth said. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I should go,” Nick said, taking a step towards the door. “I’ll send Angus over.”

  “How did you get him to agree to this?” Lexie asked, grabbing Nick’s arm to stop him.

  “I just kept calling a
nd shouting at him.” Nick winced. “I might need to apologise. Things got pretty heated before he finally broke. There’s a chance he just agreed to go along with it so I’d stop calling him.”

  He moved to walk away again but Lexie stopped him. Gripping his lapels, she pulled him towards her and kissed him. “Thank you,” she said.

  “You’re welcome.” He cupped her face as he kissed her again.

  Elspeth cleared her throat loudly. “I realise you don’t seem too hung up on traditions, but you’re supposed to save the kissing until after the ceremony.”

  “I always get that bit wrong,” Nick said.

  “Are we really doing this?” Lexie asked.

  “If you want to?” Nick said. “And everyone’s waiting so it’ll be awkward if you say no.”

  “Of course I want to,” she said, beaming.

  “I’ll see you soon then.” He strode out of the door.

  “Where’s your dress?” Leana asked, looking at Lexie with a sparkle of excitement in her eyes.

  “Upstairs,” Lexie replied, taking off in that direction with her friends hurrying after her.

  It was probably the fastest anyone had ever got dressed for their wedding. This time Lexie went for a much more natural look, with her hair down and absolutely no make-up.

  “How exactly was Nick planning on getting me over to the pub in my wedding dress without telling me what was going on?” Lexie asked when she checked her reflection in the mirror.

  Elspeth smiled. “He was supposed to say you were coming over to the pub to meet me and Rory and that you should put your dress on again for a laugh. If you needed more convincing he was going to try saying that Mary wanted to see you in it.”

  “It might have worked if I hadn’t been in a foul mood with him,” Lexie said. “I knew something was going on, but I had no clue what.”

  “We should get going,” Leana said. “You look amazing.”

  “Thank you.” She led the way back downstairs. “I’m still not sure I believe that Dad’s okay with me marrying Nick.”

  “You’re already married,” Elspeth said loudly. “It would be really stupid for him to keep causing issues.”

  “It’s really stupid that he’s been causing issues in the first place,” Isla added. “How can anyone have a problem with Nick? He’s the sweetest guy ever.”

  “Dad’s just stubborn,” Lexie said. “It’s nothing new. And I was expecting he’d spend the rest of my life making things awkward with Nick so––” She stopped abruptly when she walked into the kitchen and found Angus sitting at the table.

  “We’ll wait over at the pub for you,” Elspeth said, wincing as the atmosphere turned frosty.

  Lexie stood staring at Angus as her friends slipped discreetly away.

  “You look beautiful,” he said as he stood.

  “Thanks,” she replied through gritted teeth.

  An uncomfortable silence hung between them before Angus finally spoke. “Are you ready to go?”

  “No.” She almost laughed at how stubborn he was. Even now he would happily pretend nothing had happened. “I don’t know if I want you to give me away,” she said.

  “You’re angry with me?” he asked, walking to the window and staring out.

  She couldn’t stop the laugh that burst out of her. “Well done, Sherlock!”

  “I straightened things out with Nick,” he said.

  “Maybe you did, but you didn’t sort anything out with me. I got married and not only did you make sure I didn’t get the wedding I wanted, you also couldn’t bring yourself to call and congratulate me. As far as I knew you might have disowned me. And all because I offended you by falling in love with a sweet, kind man.”

  “I just didn’t want you rushing into things and getting hurt.”

  “You’re the one who hurt me,” she said sadly.

  “That was never my intention. I just––”

  “Don’t,” she said, interrupting him. “I’m sick of you making excuses. I already married Nick, and now I’m going to celebrate with the people who are happy for us. Since you’re clearly not, it’s probably best if you stay away. I’ll get Mum to give me away.”

  “He called me and shouted at me,” Angus said, raising his voice as Lexie headed for the door.

  “I heard him,” she snapped. “And he immediately felt so bad that he wanted to apologise and I told him not to. I heard what he said to you and it wasn’t anything you didn’t deserve.”

  “He didn’t apologise,” Angus said. “He called me and shouted at me again. And then again. When I stopped answering the phone, he called Mary and told her to give me the phone.”

  “I honestly don’t care,” Lexie said, yanking the door open, just wanting to get away from him.

  “I realised he wasn’t going to stop,” Angus called after her as she stepped outside. “You were unhappy and he wasn’t going to stop until he fixed that.”

  Lexie stopped on the path. Tears filled her eyes as she turned back to her dad.

  “I’m sorry,” Angus said. “I should have trusted your judgement.”

  “Yes! You should have done.” She wiped furiously at her cheeks.

  “Can I please give you away?”

  Lexie turned away from him, trying desperately to compose herself. Everyone was waiting for her and she didn’t want to arrive at another wedding looking like a blubbering wreck.

  “Lexie?” Angus said, moving closer to her.

  “I’m really angry with you,” she said. “I can’t just forget everything because you apologised.”

  “I know. And if you really don’t want me to give you away I’ll understand, but I can tell you from experience that being stubborn about these things usually hurts yourself more than anyone else.”

  Lexie was fairly sure he was right; she wasn’t keen to let him off the hook so easily, but shutting him out wasn’t going to make her feel any better. “You’re going to have to be nice to Nick from now on,” she said, taking a deep breath and pulling her shoulders back.

  “Okay.”

  “I mean really nice, not just polite.”

  He nodded and offered her his elbow. After a moment’s hesitation she slipped her hand through the crook of his arm and they set off down the road.

  “He’s pretty persistent, that husband of yours,” Angus said giving her a sidelong glance.

  “He can be,” Lexie agreed, smiling lightly at the mention of her husband. She wasn’t used to it yet.

  “You know he told me to grow up?” Angus said with a hint of a smile.

  “Really? Nick said that?”

  “Aye.”

  Lexie couldn’t quite imagine it but the thought amused her so much that she began to laugh. Thankfully Angus joined in.

  “What’s so funny?” Leana asked as they approached the pub. There was a homemade sign on the door announcing that they were closed for a private party.

  “Nothing,” Lexie said, sure that her dad wouldn’t want her to share the joke.

  “Everyone’s waiting,” Elspeth said excitedly, peeking around the side of the pub.

  “Are they outside?” Lexie asked. “They’ll all be freezing.”

  “I put the outdoor heaters on,” Angus said.

  “My goodness,” Leana said jokily. “It really must be a special occasion!”

  Angus sighed. “Get away with ye!”

  Giggling, Leana, Isla and Elspeth set off around the side of the pub. After smoothing down her dress, Lexie took her dad’s arm again. “I’m ready,” she said.

  When they walked around to the beer garden, Lexie realised why they’d opted to have the ceremony outside. It would have been a bit of a squeeze inside. The grass was covered in mis-matched chairs. At the edge more people stood or sat up on the picnic tables.

  Scanning the crowd she saw Tim, her boss from the activity centre, standing with the rest of her colleagues. Beside them was the group of hikers who Lexie took out every Wednesday. She beamed at the familiar faces. There were regu
lars from the pub, old school friends, friends of her parents who Lexie had known forever. Nick’s family were there too. And his work colleagues. As she caught Aileen’s eye Lexie smiled, remembering how she’d spent most of the day worrying about her health.

  As they moved down the makeshift aisle, Lexie finally caught sight of Nick. He stood tall, beaming at her. Jonathan was to his left, and beside him, Logan and Alasdair stood shoulder to shoulder.

  Locking eyes with Nick, Lexie felt a rush of happiness. She’d almost reached him when a hand wrapped around hers. Turning, she came face to face with her grandad and immediately stopped to hug him. Mary was beside him and gave Lexie’s arm a squeeze.

  “Go and get married,” Wesley said, patting her cheek. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Did you invite him?” Lexie asked Angus as he escorted her the last few steps.

  “Aye. I thought it was about time we put old feuds behind us.”

  “Thank you,” Lexie said, pushing on her toes to kiss his cheek.

  Angus shook Nick’s hand before moving away.

  “Every time we get married you turn up in tears,” Nick said to Lexie.

  “Happy tears,” she said, then greeted Douglas when he stepped in front of them.

  “Hi, love. How are ye?”

  She couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of Douglas marrying them, even if it was just for show. “I’m great, thanks.”

  “Elspeth roped me into this,” he said, rolling his eyes slightly.

  “It’s very kind of you to step in,” Nick said, shooting Lexie a look of amusement and clearly wondering if Douglas was actually capable of leading a pretend wedding.

  “I decided I was probably the best qualified for the job. I’ve been to a lot of weddings so I know how things go.” He sighed heavily and smiled at them. “And I’ve also had the privilege of watching you two fall in love over the last few years.” After flashing Lexie a cheeky grin he looked out to the crowd. “It’s amazing what you see if you sit quietly in the local pub.”

  “When have you ever been quiet?” Logan called, making everyone laugh. They’d all been witness to Douglas singing away in the pub.