Page 56 of The Scottish Island Inn

Sorrel looked at her phone. She needed to reply to Catriona’s message, urging them to talk. Can we talk, please? Everything feels uncomfortable and sad, she’d written, and Sorrel didn’t know how to respond, apart from to say, I know that it does. I’m sad too.

‘No time like the present. We can borrow Uncle James’s car. He won’t mind. I’ll just go and get the key.’

‘Does he let you borrow it often?’ Sorrel asked, but Heather was already running back into the castle. ‘And… she’s gone, and I’m talking to the air,’ she added, to herself.

Heather returned a few moments later waving a set of car keys triumphantly. ‘I guess so,’ she added, under her breath.

They got into a battered green Land Rover, which was parked in the private area at the back of the castle, and Heather started the engine.

‘Where to?’ she asked, a glint in her eye.

‘That little road that heads out of Portree, past the Lamb Inn,’ Sorrel said. She knew where the archery centre was. She’d passed it when she’d driven back onto the island. That was another reason she didn’t want to respond to her mother’s text right now: Catriona wouldn’t be pleased about Sorrel seeking out her biological father. But, she felt compelled to do it. Sorrel didn’t want to hurt her mother. But she needed to do this.

‘Right you are.’ They rolled out of the car park, though Sorrel found the ride pretty juddery.

‘So, how come you want to take me to find my biological father, if you got such bad vibes from him?’ Sorrel asked as they drove along a country lane overhung with thick oak trees. ‘I’d expect you to tell me to stay away.’

‘Well, this information throws new light on things. Maybe the feeling I got from him wasn’t evil. Maybe it was like, confusion. Heavy energy, like unfinished business.’

‘Maybe.’

‘And I know that Uncle James keeps a shotgun on the back seat,’ Heather said, calmly, in her soft voice.

‘Jesus, Heather.’ Sorrel took a look at her sister’s serious, thoughtful face and started to laugh. ‘I forgot you could be a badass sometimes.’

A gentle smile played around the corners of Heather’s lips.

‘I just take self-defence very seriously,’ she replied, primly.

‘You can’t just shoot someone. It’s not the Wild West.’

‘No, but I’m a pretty good shot. I do clay pigeon shooting with James and Evelinda sometimes, and I’m licensed to shoot a rifle,’ Heather said, smoothly, as they drove along. ‘I know what I’m doing with it. It would be enough to make someone think twice.’

‘Where are these guns?’ Sorrel started to imagine Heather in an underground bunker.

‘At the castle, silly. I got interested a few years back, that’s all.’ Heather shrugged as she drove along.

‘Right.’ Sorrel chuckled. ‘I guess I really did miss a lot when I was away.’

Heather drove on further, into Portree and out the other side. They found the archery and outdoor adventure centre that Sorrel remembered driving past: Ace’s Archery.

‘This it?’ Heather pulled into the gravel car park in front of it.

Sorrel’s tummy began churning and her hands broke out in a sweat.

‘I don’t know if this was such a good idea.’ Sorrel peered out of the windscreen at the building. ‘Maybe we should go home.’

‘We’re here now. I’ll come in with you if you want, or I can just stay in the car.’ Heather looked around. ‘There aren’t many cars here, so it won’t be busy inside. If he’s there, he should have time to talk to you. If you don’t like him or you feel worried, just leave. I’ll be here.’

‘With the shotgun,’ Sorrel added. ‘Okay. I guess I’ll always wonder about him if I don’t go in,’ she said.

‘Attagirl. Want me to come?’

‘No. Just stay here, if that’s okay.’ Sorrel took in a last deep lungful of air and got out of the car.

‘Will do.’

All of the time she’d been home, Sorrel had been trying to find herself again. She’d been trying to sort through the different elements of her identity, after the person she’d thought she was had been taken away from her.