Finding Hope at the Loch (Loch Lannick Book 7) Read online

  Finding Hope at the Loch

  Loch Lannick book 7

  Hannah Ellis

  Published by Hannah Ellis

  www.authorhannahellis.com

  Cover design by Katherine Newton

  www.kpunktnewton.com

  Copyright © 2020 by Hannah Ellis

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  A note from the author

  Don’t miss the next book in the Loch Lannick series …

  Winter Wishes in Hope Cove

  Also by Hannah Ellis

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Isla Mackenzie leaned heavily against the bar in the Old Inn. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

  “Do you need another drink?” Lexie asked, giving her a puzzled look.

  “No.” Isla already had a full drink. “How long’s the food going to take?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Lexie replied. “You only ordered it five minutes ago.”

  “I know. That’s just the excuse I used to get away from Logan. Told him I was starving and needed to check how long the food will be.” Glancing behind her, Isla watched Logan bend to stroke Jasper, who lay at his feet. She felt a sudden rush of love, which was quickly replaced by irritation when he straightened up and scribbled something in the notebook in front of him.

  “Why are you trying to get away from Logan?” Lexie asked as she idly wiped down the bar.

  “Because of his notebook.”

  Lexie paused and raised a quizzical eyebrow. “A notebook?”

  “Yeah. I never see him without it these days. I’ve started fantasising about sneaking it away when he’s not looking and burning the thing. Except he never takes his eyes off it.”

  “I’m confused,” Lexie said. “What’s in it?”

  “Wedding stuff,” Isla replied huffily. “What’s the male version of a bridezilla? Is a groomzilla a thing?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “It’s all he can talk about,” Isla continued. “He’s obsessed with all these stupid details. Who really cares about flowers or whether the invitations are embossed or not? I’d be fine sending an email invitation, but apparently we have to invite people with calligraphy and foil-pressed letters on linen-finished paper with a sheen of fairy dust.”

  Lexie beamed. “I’m excited about getting my fairy dust invitation.”

  “I might have exaggerated with the fairy dust. But I find it all quite ridiculous. Everything about the wedding feels like a way for companies to take our money. I sort of wish Logan was more cynical about it all.”

  “You want the wedding too, though?” Lexie asked, lowering her voice a little.

  “Yeah,” Isla said, then wished she sounded more enthusiastic. So far she just saw costs mounting up and a load of stress. “I want to marry him. But I’d be happy to do it without all the fuss. I keep thinking how nice it would be to elope.”

  “I don’t think that would go down well with your family.”

  “No.” Isla’s family were definitely more excited about wedding planning than she was. “They’d disown me.”

  “I think it’s nice that Logan’s so enthusiastic about it.”

  “Yeah. I guess. It feels a bit weird that he cares so much more than I do.”

  Lexie finished wiping the bar and got to work polishing the beer taps. “It must be stressful, planning a wedding in such a short space of time.”

  “I suppose so. At least this way all the stress is squeezed into a shorter time. I can’t imagine spending years thinking about it and talking about it. That must get boring.”

  “I guess a lot of people enjoy it,” Lexie said, then smiled at the older guy who walked up to the bar. When she went to serve him, Isla returned to Logan.

  “You didn’t manage to get the chef to work faster?” he asked.

  “What?” It took a moment for her to remember she was supposed to be enquiring how long their food would take. “Oh, no. Apparently he can’t be rushed.”

  Logan picked up his pen and flicked his notebook open. “We’ll need to pay extra for a fast turnaround on the invitations. Have we definitely decided on the ivory paper with embossing for our names and gold lettering for the rest?”

  “Yeah, that sounds fine.” Her gaze roamed the pub. It was quiet for a Friday night – a sign that tourist season was winding down in Lannick. Things would only get quieter as September went on.

  “Are you sure?” Logan said. “We can go through it again if you want. We need to decide soon, though.”

  “I love the ivory paper.” She snapped her attention to Logan, horrified by the thought of having to look through the samples again. It’d been mind-numbing enough the first time. “And the embossing looks lovely. Let’s stick with that.”

  “Great. I double-checked the guest list and we’re at seventy-four. But we don’t need that many invites. Some of those are families or couples.”

  “Seventy-four?” Isla asked.

  “Yeah. I hope we haven’t missed anyone.”

  “We definitely haven’t missed anyone. I’d say the list can be trimmed if anything. How did we get to seventy-four?”

  Logan leafed through the pages of his book, then stopped abruptly and turned it to her. She ran her finger down the names as she scanned them. Her family made up a good number. Then there was Sherry, Jasper’s old owner who they were close to; Lexie’s parents, Mary and Angus, the owners of the Old Inn; and their close friends. There was Logan’s aunt and the rest of his extended family from Inverness. The list went on a bit of a tangent after that.

  “Douglas?” Isla mouthed, then glanced furtively at the old man singing away in the corner.

  “We can’t not invite Douglas,” Logan said quietly.

  Isla rolled her eyes and went back to the list. “Who’s Frank?”

  “Frank from the tourist board.”

  “Do I know Frank from the tourist board?”

  “Everyone knows Frank. He’s a great guy. You’re not trimming him from the list. His wife’s lovely too.”

  “Who’s Tim?”

  “Tim from the activity centre.”

  “Since when are you friends with Tim?”

  “Since I did all that work for him a couple of years ago
.”

  Isla continued to run a finger down the list of wedding guests. “There’s never eighteen of the rugby lads!”

  “Nine plus wives and girlfriends.”

  “They don’t all have significant others, do they?”

  “Ollie doesn’t, but I’m sure he’ll find himself a plus one.”

  “I don’t want some random person at our wedding. And since we don’t spend much time with the wives and girlfriends of your rugby mates, do we really have to invite them?”

  “Yes.” Logan smiled. “For one thing, it would be rude not to. And for another, we need them to keep the lads from getting too rowdy.”

  “Oh god,” Isla said on a sigh. “It seems like so many people.” She all but gasped when she reached the bottom of the list of names. “He’s not coming!” She snatched Logan’s pen and put a line through the name.

  “Craig?” Logan asked. “That’s Craig from the Merchant Bar.”

  “I know. Why would we invite him?”

  “Because he comes on all of our nights out in Portree.”

  “He doesn’t come with us,” Isla insisted. “We’ve never invited him. He’s there because he works there. And he’s not coming to the wedding. It’d be weird for Lexie.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they have history. Don’t you know anything? He’s not coming and that’s the end of it.”

  “Fine.” Logan leaned back in his chair. “Well done on trimming the guest list. Seventy-three it is!”

  “Oh, I could do a better job if you want,” Isla said, picking up the pen again.

  Logan snatched at the notebook and closed it quickly. “I think it’s a good number. Makes for a good party but it’s not too over the top. Is there anything else we need to do urgently? The caterers are booked and so is the celebrant. I think that’s the most important stuff taken care of.”

  “You worry a lot,” Isla said, taking in his furrowed brow. “It will all come together fine. We’ve still got months to go.”

  “Ten weeks, actually. In terms of wedding planning, that’s not long. And things only come together fine with a lot of effort. I’ll point out it was you who wanted to get married this year.”

  That wasn’t entirely true. When they’d made the enquiry with Eilean Donan Castle a month ago, they’d been given possible dates for four months’ time or two years. Isla would have preferred something in between, but two years felt like such a long time, so she’d opted for the quick wedding.

  “What about the cake?” she asked.

  “What about it?”

  “We need to order one.”

  He shook his head. “I’ve got that under control.”

  “No way,” Isla said. “You’re not taking away the one thing I actually care about.”

  “You only care about cake?”

  That had come out wrong. “Not the only thing, obviously. But I care a lot about the cake. And I definitely want a cake-tasting session. Don’t leave me out of that.”

  “Sorry. That’s not going to happen.”

  “Why not?” she whined.

  “I told you, the cake’s already taken care of.”

  “Tell me about it then,” she demanded.

  “I can’t. It’s a surprise.”

  “I don’t want a surprise! I want to try loads of cake samples.”

  Logan let out a low groan. “I knew this would be an issue. Okay, you can’t say anything because she wants to surprise you, but Elspeth’s making the cake.”

  Isla blurted out a laugh. “She is not!”

  Logan clearly wasn’t expecting that reaction. “She makes the cakes for every family occasion. She really wants to.”

  “Well, she’s not! She makes little cakes for the cafe. I want a big cake with lots of tiers and lots of … cake!”

  “She’s been watching videos online about how to make wedding cakes.”

  “I don’t want her to do it,” Isla said. “I really don’t.”

  “She’s excited about it. We can’t disappoint her.”

  “It’s my wedding. Why are you concerned about disappointing Elspeth? What about me? I’m not giving up on having a proper wedding cake just because my sister wants to learn a new skill.”

  “Elspeth’s making the cake,” Logan said firmly.

  Isla opened her mouth to argue, then thought better of it. There was no way Elspeth was making the wedding cake, but spending the evening arguing about it was pointless. Instead, she smiled sweetly and stood up. “I’m starving,” she said. “I’ll check on the food again.”

  Chapter Two

  Elspeth had just pulled a pizza from the oven when Rory arrived home. He’d moved in with them two months ago, after a year or so of them struggling with a long-distance relationship while he was living in Edinburgh. Having him around to help with Arran over the summer meant that Elspeth hadn’t hired extra staff for the cafe. For the three previous summers Meghan had come up from London and worked for Elspeth, but since her beloved grandmother had passed away she didn’t seem keen to return to Skye. The thought of employing someone new hadn’t appealed to Elspeth, so she’d spent the summer working alongside her mum and had roped her sisters in to help when they needed an extra pair of hands.

  Now that the schools were back, the number of holidaymakers on the island was decreasing and business was quietening down.

  “How was work?” Elspeth called to Rory. He’d started his new teaching job at Portree High School two weeks ago, and so far it seemed to be going smoothly.

  “Good.” He walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. “Did you get my message?”

  “Aye.” He’d messaged to say he was going to the pub with colleagues after work. “I thought you’d be later,” she said as she sliced up the pizza. Secretly, she’d hoped he’d stay out late so she could have an evening to herself. She never seemed to get any time alone any more. “Have you eaten?”

  “No. I’ll put another pizza in.” He moved to the freezer. “It’s quiet. Where’s Arran?”

  “In front of the TV.”

  “Of course,” he said in a slightly condescending tone.

  Elspeth paused with the pizza cutter halfway across the pizza. She opened her mouth, then closed it again and carried on with what she was doing. Getting into a discussion about how much TV Arran watched wasn’t what she wanted to do on a Friday evening. Joining Arran in the living room, they ate pizza with the plates on their laps while Rory tried in vain to quiz Arran about his day.

  “Let him finish watching the episode,” Elspeth said. “He’ll happily chat to you then.”

  Except even when Elspeth turned the TV off, he was tired and grumpy and clearly needed to be in bed as soon as possible.

  “Shall I put you to bed or do you want Daddy to?” Elspeth asked him, fairly sure she knew what the answer would be.

  “Daddy,” he said, walking over to Rory, who was generally the favourite these days. Not that Elspeth minded too much.

  She did a quick tidy of the living room and kitchen while Rory took Arran up to bed, then she got comfy on the couch with her laptop. Ever since Logan had asked her to make the wedding cake she’d been researching cake decorating and watching countless online tutorials.

  The good thing about running a cafe was that she had ample opportunity to practice the new techniques she was learning. It had made her realise how much she stuck to the same old tried and tested recipes for the cafe. Mixing things up a bit was a refreshing change and gave her a renewed enthusiasm for work in the mornings.

  “Do you want to watch a film or something?” Rory asked when he returned.

  Elspeth paused the tutorial about piping icing. “I found some really great online courses,” she told Rory, ignoring his question. Pulling her phone from her pocket, she went into the photos. “Look at this chocolate cake I made this morning. I’ve been practicing piping buttercream. I don’t know why I haven’t been more adventurous with the cakes before.”

  “Looks good,” he sa
id, sitting beside her. “Don’t suppose you saved me a slice?”

  “Sold it all, I’m afraid.”

  “Shame. So do you want to watch something?” he asked, reaching for the remote.

  “I want to get on with this.” She gestured to the laptop screen. “I’ve been thinking of making speciality cakes to order. It would be great for extra income in the winter when the cafe’s quiet. If it goes well with Logan and Isla’s cake, maybe I could make wedding cakes for other people too.”

  “Haven’t you got enough on already? You never take time off.”

  “That’s only in the summer. I have to take advantage of having so many tourists around. Things are slowing down now.”

  “Whatever you want,” he said. “Branching out into wedding cakes sounds like a good idea.”

  “I’ve got so many ideas for Isla’s cake.” She reached for her sketchpad and showed him some of her designs. “I want to make something really personal. I’ve found these videos about sculpting marzipan. How great would it be if I could make figures of Logan and Isla for the top of the cake that actually look like them?”

  “Is that possible?” Rory asked as he looked at her designs.

  “Yeah. Look, I could make a marzipan Jasper too. And I have this idea for making boiled sweets that look like sea glass to decorate the bottom tier. I thought of having the marzipan figures sitting on a jetty and somehow giving a water effect on the next tier so it’s like they’re sitting out by the loch. Maybe with some delicate pale blue flowers or some piping work to create an effect of ripples on water. Just a few lines of it so it’s not over the top. And possibly a little boat like Isla’s.”