Page 21 of From Scotland with Love

She almost skipped out of Adventurous Tours, and smiled at the tinkle of the bell when the door swung shut behind her. Heading back up the high-street she felt on top of the world, with renewed energy and a much brighter smile.

Lori quickly decided to head over to Hector’s to scope out where the ceremony should be. If Tammy was nowhere to be seen, then Lori was still determined to plan the wedding, with or without her sister. She drove on the wide open road, enjoying the crystal clear waters on one side and the sloping hills on the other, her windows rolled down, letting in the salty air from the sea, which pulsed through her curly hair. She turned off at the sign for the estate house, and drove up the long winding road, lined either side with old oaks. Behind the trees, she saw glimpses of cows happily munching on grass and laying side by side dozing in the lazy afternoon sun. The scene was so calming that Lori slowed the car to a crawl, watching the happy animals. Maybe Callum was right about living in the country, Lori thought, it did have it’s own special perks. She parked by the front lawn on the pebbled road and turned to walk up to the house, but noticed Tammy’s little Fiat beside the shed. That’s odd. Then it occurred to her that perhaps Tammy wanted to start planning things immediately; maybe she had been looking for Lori this whole time, instead of the other way round! She marched through the orchard, and spent some time ringing the side-doorbell. There was no answer. And no sign of Tammy. She strolled around the grounds, but encountered no-one, not even a member of staff from Hector’s large estate. It was silent, apart from the usual twittering birds fluttering to and fro around her. Then Lori considered for a moment, perhaps Tammy was viewing the maze that she stumbled on the other day – that, if anywhere, would be a great spot for photos. Lori slipped behind the garden shed and under the canopy of trees, taking the way she had been before, until she came to the opening where the seductive figure of the smiling young lady stood. As she approached the foot of the statue, she heard familiar voices coming from behind the hedge to her right.

“Call it off!” Tammy said in a desperate tone. “I won’t ask again Hector!”

“My darling, we can talk about all that later. You must see, the important thing here is: it’s me you should be with” came Hector’s confident purr.

“No, we’ve been through this!”

Lori couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Hector and Tammy? But she was getting married to kind, loving Alan!

“You could have so much more with me! The little one would have more opportunities too.”

Lori gasped and covered her mouth.

“What was that noise?” Tammy demanded in panic. “Hector, get off me! I’ve told you, just tell Lori you’ve over-booked or something! I’m not getting married here.”

“Of course not darling, because you can’t get married to him! What can he give you? You’d be penniless and struggling for the rest of your lives.”

“Hector, keep your hands to yourself! We're not like that any more!” Tammy shouted. “Whatever happens with me and Alan…all I know is he loves me. I don’t know what I am to you, I doubt I’m much more than a distraction – just like you were for me! Don’t pretend you want more because I know you don’t - it’s over! Please, call Lori and cancel this ridiculous notion of using the house as a venue!”

“Tam, please!” Hector cried out passionately, and Lori hid behind a corner of the maze as she heard her sister stomp off into the trees, back towards the drive. She quickly followed suit, after making sure Hector had headed in the opposite direction, and was mentally preparing to confront her sister about the revelation she had just witnessed, when she heard the sound of a car starting, and saw Tammy speed off down the road.

Lori followed her sister a little way behind, and hoped Hector, being preoccupied with other things, had not heard her leave. She needed time to get her head around what she had just heard, her sister had all this time been deceiving everyone around her. Lori turned a corner, her head swimming, distracted she lost sight of the Fiat as she arrived outside the church in Arlochy. She parked next to the iron gates, but instead of entering the graveyard, she walked back along the path towards the main street, and ventured down another track to the bay, where a handful of craggy rocks lay in the shallow tide. Lori stretched out on a flat slab and looked out over the harbour. She was in serious need of advice just now, but the people she would usually have asked were Gran or Jean, both of whom didn’t even know about Tammy’s pregnancy. So she was well and truly stuck. Oh god... is the baby Hectors? Lori put her head in her hands.

“What a bloody mess!” she said to herself as the water gently lapped against the large stones. Lori looked out to the horizon, trying to find any answers that might be hiding in the depths of the water. What should she do? Pretend to know nothing and let things go on as planned? Lori grimaced, her stomach tightened and she bit her lip at the scale of Tammy’s secret. How many people would be affected? And there was the child to think of too. Maybe it would work out, Alan need never know. But if the baby is Hector’s, surely that will always be a problem, Alan needs to be aware of what that means! But Tammy loves him, and it’s her secret... Lori had just happened to stumble on things by chance after all, maybe she could just pretend that she had never seen anything? But even after considering all the many options and solutions, it didn’t look good, not good at all.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Tammy walked over towards Lori from behind the largest rock in the group, and perched next to her on the cool stone.

“Tam.” Lori looked at her sister with sympathy.

“So... I saw your car...”

“Aye?”

“What did you see?” Tammy picked at her fingernails.

“Erm…basically everything. What were you thinking Tam, Hector of all people! A known womaniser!”

“I know I know, don’t you think I’ve already punished myself?”

“But why?”

“I wasn’t thinking straight. Alan was away for weeks. We had a huge fight about the usual things, money, work, not seeing each other, just before he left.”

“But you love each other don't you?”

Tammy turned to face her sister, her expression filled with hurt and surprise at the question. “I love him completely.” She paused and picked at her fingernails again. “The thought of losing him would… it would just destroy me, Lo. He’s the best man I know, the best man I’ll ever know.”

“But why Hector?”

“I was sad and lonely after Alan left for that last trip, and Hector started coming to the pub pretty often lately. He walked me home after my shift one night when I’d locked up. He was a gentleman. At least, it felt like it at the time. Then... we started sleeping together.”

Lori put her head in her hands. “Oh my god, Tam is the baby Hectors?”

“No, no it’s not! Things ended with us as soon as they started. We... about two or three times, and then I came to my senses. It was just an argument I had with Alan; you know I have a bit of a temper; I just thought there was something wrong between us, he was away a lot – I thought there was something wrong with me. But it turned out he was saving up to buy me a ring, and he proposed when he came back on land.” Tears sprung from her eyes and she looked down at her engagement ring. “Oh Lori, I’ve made such a terrible mistake. I can’t lose him!”

Lori put her arm around her sister and kissed her head. “Shhhh. Just let it out. We’ll come up with something.” What an utter mess, she thought inwardly. They were due to get married in just over a week, and at this rate it looked like the wedding really wasn’t going to go ahead.