Page 4 of The Scottish Island Wedding

‘When I met Matty on Orkney, I felt like the sun had come out from behind a cloud.’

Heather had met Matty on a hiking holiday. She vividly remembered coming home at the end of the week away, glowing with excitement, and telling her mum all about Matty. She’d found her mother with her feet up in the lounge, doing some embroidery. It was rare to see Catriona sit down, but she’d been making an effort to relax more in the past year and ‘take some personal time’, inspired by her therapist.

‘That’s very romantic, my darling.’ Catriona had looked up from her cross-stitch – a sampler with a verse of Robert Burns’s poetry on it, surrounded by thistles – and smiled indulgently at her daughter. ‘But you’ve always been a romantic. Tell me about him.’

Heather had sat down on the sofa next to her mother and laid her head back on the seat. She stared dreamily at the ceiling.

‘We were walking across the causeway to the Brough of Birsay. It’s an island with ruins and a lighthouse, and you have to be careful on the causeway because it’s covered with seaweed,’ she began. ‘It’s only walkable at low tide. Anyway, I guess I slipped a bit and he caught my hand gently, to stop me falling.’

‘That sounds like… what do you girls call it? A meet-cute.’ Catriona chuckled. ‘Very sweet of him.’

‘Yes. And I looked up and met his eyes, and… a sort of shiver went through me.’

‘Oh, Heather.’ Catriona shook her head and returned to her cross-stitch.

‘It was a sign. The sun lighting him up. Like he was an angel,’ Heather continued, dreamily. ‘I think he’s the one.’

‘You think that this boy you met on holiday is “The One”?’ Catriona looked up. ‘What do your sisters say?’

‘I messaged everyone earlier, on the way back. Primmy and Vi said he’s love bombing me.’

‘What’s love bombing? It sounds very violent.’ Catriona looked over the top of her glasses at Heather.

‘It’s sort of a manipulative thing – when you heap love and attention onto a person in the early days of a relationship, but then do bad things. Maybe just leave them suddenly out of the blue, or it develops into domestic abuse. It’s horrible.’ Heather frowned. ‘Obviously, he’s not doing that. Nor am I.’

‘Sounds very much like something that Primmy and Vi would think.’ Catriona rolled her eyes. ‘However, I have to say that I agree with the sentiment. It’s very early days. Be careful.’

‘I am being careful.’ Heather had frowned.

‘Fine. I’m sure you are.’ Catriona had sighed. ‘What does he look like? Handsome, I suppose?’

‘Very. Like an old-timey film star,’ Heather gushed. ‘He’s tall, athletic and fit. He has these amazing cheekbones and blue eyes; masses of thick, dark auburn hair. Like a Scottish Cary Grant or James Stewart.’

‘I see.’

‘His voice is just amazing. It’s sort of… deep and sonorous, well spoken, comforting,’ Heather continued enthusiastically. ‘And this is the best part: he founded an environmental charity with a friend. He qualified in law, protecting the environment is his passion. Can you believe it?’ Heather squealed.

‘Oh, my. I think you’re in trouble, eh?’ Catriona patted her daughter’s hand. ‘That’s very you. What with your work at the animal charity. A perfect fit, it would seem!’

‘Honestly, Mum – I felt like a woman in a movie who’s cast a spell to manifest her perfect lover, and then seen him walk through the door the next day. I think he’s The One.’

‘Darling. Listen to me.’ Catriona had taken Heather’s hand that night. ‘You don’t know this boy. You’ve only just met him. You need to know someone for at least a couple of years before saying that.’ Heather had shaken her head.

‘I love him, Mum. I know he’s The One,’ she insisted.

‘Darling, the older I get, the more I think that The One doesn’t exist.’

‘That’s not fair, Mum. You have Dad. How can you say that you don’t believe in The One? Isn’t Dad your One?’

‘I’m not rubbishing love, or The One, my darling. But what I’m saying is, your father and I have made a conscious decision to be together. We make that decision every day. We’ve been there for each other through thick and thin. He’s my One, yes, but only because we worked at it. Only because I choose him every day. You don’t know who The One is until you wake up, twenty years after agreeing to be together, after six children, after heartbreak, after your house almost falls down, and find him still there, still ready to love you,’ Catriona said, her eyes on her daughter’s.

Heather couldn’t exactly argue with that, but it didn’t tally up with the delicious fire that had been ignited in her heart. She was ready to leap, like Dorothea. She was ready to be chosen, forever, like all the princesses in all the fairy stories Angus had read to them as children.

Six months after they met, Matty had proposed. And when he did, Catriona and Angus and everyone else had been happy for Heather, but Catriona had taken her aside.

‘Darling, I just want to say, huge congratulations, but I just want to urge a little bit of caution… maybe have a longish engagement and get to know each other a little more. You’re still in the honeymoon phase. You haven’t seen what he does when something bad happens, and it will. Something bad is always lining up to happen in life, my lovely girl.’ Catriona had bitten her lip, choosing her words carefully.

‘I love him, Mum. I want to marry him,’ Heather had said, simply. ‘Please be happy for me.’