and a trio of pints.
‘I came,’ Niall said as he picked up his pint, ‘to see Caitlin. And to see you.’
‘Mum says you’ve filed for divorce.’
‘Yes, it’s true. I wanted to tell you the news in person but, as usual, your mother beat me to it.’
‘You didn’t come here to tell me in person,’ Jeremy scoffed. ‘You came to tell Caitlin about the divorce. You couldn’t wait to tell her the happy news.’
Caitlin stared at him. ‘Jeremy, that’s not true.’
‘Of course it’s true. Oh, I heard the rumours at uni,’ he added, ‘but I didn’t believe them. Not until Mum called this morning to tell me herself, that is.’ He threw his napkin down. ‘How could you do it, Caitlin? How could you carry on with my father all this time, and never say a word to me about it, and completely trash my parents’ marriage into the bargain?’
She reached out and laid a hand on his arm. ‘It wasn’t like that, Jeremy, it wasn’t—’
He shook her off. ‘Don’t waste your breath. You two deserve each other.’ He stood up with a loud scrape of his chair.
‘Jeremy,’ Niall commanded in a low but determined voice, ‘sit down.’
‘No, Dad, I won’t, thank you very much. I’ll get a taxi back to the castle; then I’m going home, to Edinburgh. To Mum.’
‘You needn’t leave,’ Caitlin objected.
‘I won’t stay.’ He turned to fix his father with a sardonic smile. ‘I wager I know something you don’t, Dad. Something that even Caitlin doesn’t know that I know about. I overheard her talking with her mum behind closed doors earlier this afternoon.’
Her heart accelerated. ‘What are you talking about?’
His eyes met hers, and he smiled. ‘Will you tell him, or shall I?’
‘Tell me what?’ Niall demanded, glancing at each of them in turn. ‘Will one of you please tell me what’s going on, this instant!’
‘It seems Caitlin’s pregnant, Dad. And you’re the father. Congratulations.’
And with a last, contemptuous glare at the both of them, Jeremy left.
When they returned to Draemar late that afternoon, Jeremy and his Land Rover were gone.
‘When did you plan to tell me, Caitlin?’ Niall asked as he switched off the ignition in front of the castle and turned to look at her. ‘Did you plan to tell me?’
She fiddled with the latch of her seat belt. ‘No, I didn’t. I’m having the baby, but I’m giving it up for adoption.’
‘The hell you are.’
Startled by the resolve in his words, Caitlin lifted her face to his. ‘How can you say that? You have no right to tell me what to do. This is my child—’
‘Our child.’
‘‒and I can’t possibly have this baby! I have my education still to finish. And you’re a bit old to start another family—’
‘Well, thanks for that.’ He leant back against the seat and stared, unseeing, through the windscreen. ‘Is that how you see me? A man who’s past it?’ Anger – and hurt – darkened his eyes as he turned to face her. ‘Shouldn’t the decision to have another family ‒ or not ‒ be mine to make, as well as yours? Who the hell do you think you are?’
‘No – I think the real question is, who do you think you are?’ she snapped. ‘You slept with me, which got me kicked out of uni, and now you’ve gotten me pregnant to boot, and all you’re worried about is your...your male pride? Is that how you see me? As proof of your virility?’
‘No, of course not.’ He let out a short breath. ‘I love you, Caitlin, whether you believe it or not. This isn’t just some passing fling for me. Oh, I’ll admit it – it may have started out that way. But you...you made me fall in love with you. I’ve thrown away my marriage, and I’ve possibly ruined my relationship with my son – but I won’t let you throw us away.’
He reached out and took her hands, and his eyes searched hers. ‘I love you. I love this baby. I want you – both of you. Only say that you’ll marry me, Caitlin Campbell, and come back to Edinburgh, and be my wife.’
Caitlin snatched her hands back. ‘Have you lost your mind, Niall? You and me, married? It would never work!’
‘Why not?’
She shook her head in mingled bewilderment and fury. ‘Because we’d never be accepted as a couple, that’s why! Your Edinburgh friends, and especially your wife’s friends – they’ll hate the very idea of me and you. And they’ll like the idea of me and you and a baby even less!’
‘I don’t care what other people think.’ Scorn sharpened his words. ‘I never have. All I know is that I’m happy when I’m with you, Cait. You’ve brought colour back into my grey existence.’
‘You always did have a pretty way with words, Niall.’ Caitlin crossed her arms beneath her breasts and glared at him. ‘But I have to be practical. Do you really want to throw your married life away, to be frozen out socially from your friends and faculty, in exchange for dirty nappies and two o’clock feedings and hostile Scottish in-laws?’
‘If giving up my old life means I that can be with you,’ he said earnestly, his gaze unwavering on her own, ‘then yes. I am. I’m more than ready to throw everything aside to be with you, and,’ he reached out a tentative hand and laid it atop her stomach as he affected a thick (and very bad) Scottish accent ‘our wee little baby.’
Natalie couldn’t believe it.
As the familiar, cramp-y feeling took hold in her stomach, she bit her lip and told herself it couldn’t possibly be true. After all these weeks, to find out that she’d been mistaken, that she wasn’t really pregnant...
...it was almost more than she could bear.
After weeks of cajoling, she’d finally brought Rhys around to share her excitement about the baby. He’d agreed to help her plan the nursery and suggested colours, and he’d even helped her pick out a few baby outfits online.
How to tell him now that there would be no baby? He’d be every bit as disappointed as she was.
But the pregnancy test kit definitely showed a blue line! she reflected indignantly. It said there was no mistake. So much for bloody technology.
Then she burst into noisy, hiccupping sobs.
Caitlin let herself back into the castle as quietly as possible and sagged back against the door.
At least Niall had agreed not to tell her mother and father about their plans to get married. Instead, she sent him back
