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

  Nick sank back into the couch. “Okay. I didn’t know if you were annoyed with me or something.”

  “No.” She gave him a puzzled smile. “What made you think I was expecting you to propose?”

  He pointed at the laptop, and once again Lexie scrutinised the email. “It’s an email about hiking.”

  “Not the email.” Nick sat up and pointed at the side of the screen, to the column beside the inbox.

  “Oh!” Lexie had got so used to having adverts from wedding services on her screen that she’d stopped registering them. “They’re just adverts.”

  “But you only get adverts for things you’ve been searching for,” Nick said.

  She nodded. “Me and Leana were bored in the pub one night and we got talking about Isla’s wedding. I looked up the venue on my phone. And then I kept getting adverts for everything to do with weddings.” She grimaced. “And I might have clicked on some of them out of curiosity, so then I got more and more. But I wasn’t planning out our wedding or anything. You don’t need to look so nervous.”

  “I wasn’t nervous,” he said as his features relaxed. “Not about you planning our wedding, anyway. I’d be quite happy about that. I just presumed we’d wait a while, but then I was worried I’d got that wrong. I do want to marry you.”

  “I want to marry you too,” she said. “And I also thought we’d wait a while.”

  “So I didn’t mess anything up?”

  She shook her head and leaned into him. “Definitely not.”

  “It’s hard being a man, you know. I already know I want to marry you, but I don’t want to ask too soon and freak you out. I also don’t want to wait too long and you think I’m never going to get around to it. Maybe we should be modern and decide you’re going to be the one to propose. That way I can’t mess it up.”

  “No.” She gave him an affectionate nudge. “I want to be traditional. You’ll have to ask me.”

  “So long as you know I’m probably going to mess up the proposal.”

  “I have every confidence that you’ll ask me at exactly the right time, in exactly the right way.”

  “No pressure then,” he said, rolling his eyes.

  “If it makes you feel better I promise I’ll say yes! Now let’s talk breakfast instead. How about pancakes?”

  “As long as you’re making them.”

  “Yes, I’m well aware that I’ll always be the one who makes pancakes in our relationship.” She set off towards the kitchen. “It’s a shame because your pancakes are way better than mine.”

  “How would you know?” he asked, stopping her in her tracks. He stared at her and she smiled sheepishly. “Oh my God. You ate them? Are you serious? We slept together and I made pancakes, then after you unceremoniously threw me out of your house, you sat down and ate them?” He paused for a moment. “Somehow, I never imagined that.”

  “It was comfort eating,” she said. “I felt terrible as soon as I told you to get out. I stuffed myself with pancakes until I felt sick.”

  “I think that makes that story even worse.”

  Lexie backtracked to the couch and took Nick’s hand to pull him up. “I think it’s time we moved on,” she said.

  “I’m not making the pancakes.” His eyes sparkled with amusement as his arms wrapped around her waist. “It’s your penance.”

  “You could at least show me how you make them so fluffy,” she said with a pout.

  He sighed. “You have to separate the egg whites and fold them into the mix separately.”

  “Show me,” she said, interlacing her fingers at the back of his neck.

  “You’re just trying to get me to make them!”

  “It’ll be fun if we make them together,” she insisted.

  “Go on then,” he relented. “But I’m mostly going to stand over you and tell you what to do.”

  “I can cope with that.” She gave him a quick kiss, then pulled him towards the kitchen.

  Chapter Six

  “What are you doing here?” Isla asked Leana when she ventured over to the cafe on Sunday afternoon. She was looking for Elspeth, wanting to check they were still on for discussing cake designs. There was no sign of her, though – just Leana and their mum clearing up the cafe.

  “Elspeth asked me to help out,” Leana said, turning the sign on the door to closed. There was one couple outside who looked as though they were gearing up to leave, but otherwise the place was empty.

  “Why? Where is she?”

  “I’m not sure.” Leana frowned, looking tired. “She was a bit vague about it.”

  “I think she wanted a day with Rory,” Christine added. “They don’t get much time together with him working in the week and her working every weekend.”

  “She’s supposed to be going through wedding cake designs with me this evening. I bet she forgot. This is why I wanted to hire a professional.”

  “I’m sure she didn’t forget,” Christine said, reaching under the table for a stray napkin. “They won’t be late back anyway. They’ll need to get Arran to bed.”

  “I’ll message her,” Isla said.

  “I want to talk to you about your bouquet at some point,” Christine called as Isla headed for the door.

  The mention of flowers immediately put her on edge. After Logan had got annoyed with her when she showed no interest in what flowers they had or what colour they should be, she’d suggested they pass the job over to her mum. Isla’s suggestion that she could stop and pick a bunch of wildflowers on the way to the wedding hadn’t gone down at all well with Logan. He’d told her to be serious, and had started talking about the amount of flowers they’d need to decorate the banqueting hall at Eilean Donan Castle.

  It wasn’t that Isla didn’t like flowers, just that she preferred them in nature and hated the idea of paying a fortune for flowers that would be dead a couple of days later.

  “Can you just choose something pretty?” Isla said. “But try not to go over the top with the flowers, keep it minimal.”

  She’d been sure her mum had understood that she didn’t want to be involved with choosing flowers. If Christine was going to ask her a load of questions, there wasn’t a lot of point in Isla handing over the task.

  “I was only going to say, we should wait until you have the bridesmaids’ dresses and match the flowers to them.”

  “Great,” Isla said, not overly enthusiastic about the reminder of her upcoming shopping trip with her mum and sisters. Choosing a wedding dress would be fun, but she anticipated some stress in deciding on dresses for Leana and Elspeth.

  She put it out of her mind as she walked out of the cafe. Tapping on her phone, she asked Elspeth what time she should come over to discuss the cake. Surprisingly, a reply came immediately saying six o’clock. Isla had expected an apologetic reply and Elspeth insisting they rearrange it for another day.

  “Hi!” Logan called from the kitchen when Isla walked in. “I just got a message from Elspeth saying I should go over to the cottage with you at six.”

  “It’s to discuss the cake. But I didn’t realise you’d be involved.”

  “No need to look so disappointed. It’s my wedding too, you know. And if we’d hired a professional I’d have met with them too, wouldn’t I?”

  “I suppose so. I hadn’t really thought about it.” Isla shook her head. “I bet she wants you there because she thinks you’ll agree with whatever she wants. Remember, it’s me you’re marrying so you have to take my side if it dissolves into an argument.”

  “I’m not sure you’re going into this with the right mindset,” Logan said with a hint of a smile. “You’re already expecting a battle.”

  “Because I know my sister. We don’t have the same taste in things.”

  “Well, why don’t we go and find out?”

  Isla checked her watch. “It’s not six.”

  “Close enough,” Logan said. “I’m sure she won’t tell us to go away again because we’re ten minutes early.”

  They left J
asper in his bed and walked down to the cottage. Low cloud hung over the loch and the air was cool and eerily still. A shout came from somewhere inside when they knocked at the door.

  “Did she say to come in or go away?” Logan asked, frowning at Isla.

  “No idea,” she replied, but opened the door and stepped into the hallway, shouting hello as she went.

  “You’re early,” Elspeth called from the kitchen in a less-than-happy tone.

  “Only a few minutes,” Isla said.

  “I think I’m about ready anyway.” Elspeth’s cheeks were flushed and her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. She pulled an apron over her head and slung it over the back of a chair.

  Isla stopped short at the sight of four cakes lined up on the kitchen table. “You baked cakes?” she asked, dumbfounded.

  “You said you wanted a cake tasting,” Elspeth said. “And I promised to be professional. If you were paying customers I’d offer a tasting.”

  Isla stared at her. “Are you thinking of doing this professionally?”

  “Yes,” Elspeth said. “It’s an idea. I’m not sure yet. Let’s see how it goes with your cake first.”

  “These look amazing,” Logan said.

  Elspeth gestured at the two spaces set with side plates and cake forks.

  “Obviously these are just samples to see what filling you’d want. I’d recommend one of these four as they hold up well for most types of decorations. There’ll be different options for icing and decorating, which we can talk about later.”

  Isla sat and stared at the cake, then finally looked up at Elspeth. “I thought you’d gone out for the afternoon and forgotten about the cake.”

  Elspeth’s lips spread to a tight smile and it was clear she was doing her best to stay in professional mode and not snap at her sister. “I sent Rory and Arran out for the afternoon so I could work.”

  “I thought you’d gone out with them,” Isla said, feeling terrible for assuming Elspeth had forgotten, and also that her sister had given up her family time to work on the cake. “Mum said you hardly get any time with Rory with him working in the week and you at the weekend.”

  Elspeth shrugged. “If I’m going to branch out into making cakes to order, I’ll have to get used to working more in the evenings and on weekends. Rory’s fine with it. Why don’t you try the lemon cake first?” She began to slice the cake. “This one has the lovely fresh citrus taste. I’d say it’s the lightest of the cakes but still robust enough that it’ll work for most designs.”

  “You’re being a bit stingy with the portion,” Logan said as she put a small piece on his plate.

  “There are four cakes to try,” Elspeth said. “Once you’ve tasted them all you can have more.”

  “Good.” He devoured half of the cake in front of him in one mouthful. “I like this one,” he muttered when he popped the remainder in his mouth.

  “Try them all before you decide,” Isla said, taking a delicate forkful. The cake was fluffy and moist, and the lemon curd in the centre added extra tanginess.

  Even after trying the chocolate cake, the Victoria sponge and the traditional fruit cake, they were both certain they liked the lemon cake the best. Logan insisted on trying them all again, just to be sure, but the lemon was the clear favourite.

  Elspeth seemed happy with the choice too. “It gives us more possibilities for the outside of the cake,” she said as she cleared the plates away. “The flavour is light enough that we can go for almost any kind of icing. Have you thought about whether you want a traditional fondant icing or something lighter? Semi-naked cakes are popular at the moment. And we’ll need to decide how many tiers you’d like and what shape.”

  “You’ve lost me,” Logan said.

  “I can show you examples,” Elspeth said, bringing over her laptop, which was already displaying the appropriate website.

  They spent a little while discussing the basics, then switched to discussing the actual design.

  “I love the style of having flowers cascading down one side,” Isla said. She pointed at the screen when she saw one she liked. “It’s simple and elegant.” She glanced up at Elspeth. “Although I’m sure it’s not actually simple. Do you think you can create flowers like this from icing?”

  “Yeah,” Elspeth said, for the first time sounding unsure of herself. “It’s definitely a possibility. Let’s keep browsing though. I also had some ideas.”

  “I knew you would,” Isla said, hoping they weren’t about to descend into an argument.

  “What about having figures on the top tier?” Elspeth asked.

  “A stupid little bride and groom?” Isla asked, staring at Elspeth. “No way. It’s dated and tacky.”

  “I was thinking I could personalise them,” Elspeth said. “Actually I was thinking I could give the whole cake a personal touch. It would be cute to have your personalities really shine through.”

  “I don’t want a cute cake,” Isla said, trying not to get irritated. “It’s not a kids’ birthday party. I want it to be an elegant centrepiece that brings all the other elements of the wedding together. The flowers on the cake should match my bouquet.”

  Logan leaned back in his chair. “So you didn’t give a damn about flowers before, but when the flowers are edible you’re suddenly interested?”

  “Shut up!” Isla gave him a friendly slap on his thigh. “What do you think?”

  “The flowers look good to me. But let’s have a look through some others.”

  Isla took the laptop from Elspeth and clicked through the photos of various designs, stopping to point out ones she liked or elements that appealed to her. Elspeth made notes and threw out a few suggestions, but mostly kept quiet and listened to what they wanted.

  “I can draw some designs,” she finally said. “Then once we know the colours of your bouquet, I can match the colours for the cake.”

  “Perfect!” Isla said happily. “This has been great. Thanks so much.”

  “You’re welcome,” Elspeth said as they moved towards the door. She stood on the doorstep for a moment as they walked away.

  “That was amazing,” Isla said to Logan when they went inside. “She seemed so professional.”

  “I told you she’d be good at it.”

  “I should’ve listened,” Isla said. “I don’t know why I had it in my head that she wouldn’t listen to me or that she didn’t know what she was doing. I feel much more confident now. That’s another thing we can tick off the to-do list. We must almost have everything organised now.”

  Logan stared at her, then slowly shook his head. “Not really. Which reminds me, I wanted to talk to you about music. And we need to arrange a day to meet with the photographer.”

  Isla managed not to groan as she followed him into the living room.

  When Rory arrived home, Elspeth was still sitting at the kitchen table, staring into space.

  “Hi,” he mouthed at her along the hallway. She walked over and smiled at the sight of Arran fast asleep in his arms.

  “You wore him out,” Elspeth whispered, gently stroking Arran’s hair.

  “We went over to Portree with Alasdair.” Rory shifted Arran in his arms and set off up the stairs. “We played on the beach and watched the boats, then got fish and chips for dinner.”

  “That sounds good.” Following them upstairs, Elspeth helped get Arran into his pyjamas and into bed without him waking.

  “How did it go with Isla and Logan?” Rory asked as they made their way back downstairs.

  “Terrible.”

  “Really?” Rory paused at the bottom of the stairs, searching her features.

  “About as bad as it could have gone,” she said sadly.

  “They didn’t like the cake?” he asked, sounding puzzled as they moved to the kitchen.

  “They loved the cake. That was the only positive thing.”

  Rory rubbed his hands together and his eyes sparkled as he looked at the remainder of the cakes.

  “Help yourself,�
�� Elspeth said. “You’re lucky there’s any left. I’ve been comfort eating for the last hour.”

  “It can’t have been that bad.” Rory took a seat and pulled the chocolate cake towards him, cutting a thick slice. “If they liked the cake what’s the problem?”

  “The problem is my sister has terrible taste. I hated all the designs she picked out.”

  He frowned through a mouthful of cake. “It’s her wedding. You did say you were going to pretend she was a regular paying customer.”

  “I know, and I did treat her like that. But now I have to make a cake that I really don’t want to. And it’d be much easier to do that if she was actually a paying customer.” She sat down heavily. “I had such great ideas.”

  “Did you show her the designs you’d drawn?”

  “No. Because she turned her nose up at the mention of having figures on top of the cake. She thinks it’s tacky and out-dated. And if she doesn’t want figures on top, she definitely wasn’t going to like my idea of having a marzipan Jasper with them.”

  “I thought it was cute.”

  “That’s the problem. She doesn’t want cute. Apparently cute is for children’s birthday cakes. Isla wants sophisticated. Which is ridiculous, if you ask me. Have you ever met a less sophisticated couple?”

  Rory licked a crumb from the corner of his mouth. “That’s a bit harsh.”

  “Maybe! But she wants an elegant cake with edible flowers to match the real flowers in the wedding.”

  “I guess you’ll just have to do what she wants. It is her wedding. And if you’re going to be doing more wedding cakes you’ll have to get used to working to someone else’s brief. Even if you hate their ideas.”

  “I suppose so.” Elspeth dropped her head to the table, feeling defeated. “There’s just one more problem,” she said, looking up at Rory.

  “What?”

  “She chose really difficult designs. The edible flowers are intricate and fiddly. I’m not sure I can actually manage it.”