Page 92 of Single Daddy Scot
‘I can’t see how. We barely said hello.’ I realise that sounds a little combative, though I add a smile for clarity.
‘Fin might not know you very well yet, but she knows Mac. She was very clear in her descriptions of his reactions to you. She left us with the impression the big fella was pretty smitten.’
‘Nah,’ Natasha interjects, ‘what she said was that he looked at you like he wanted to eat you. And by that, she meant—’
‘We get it, Nat.’
‘And I’ll be getting a lovely pot of winnings,’ she adds, delightedly. ‘Fin and Ivy have been running a book on when we would meet you. I was pretty close on the timeline and my first meeting details were the nearest,’ she qualifies. ‘My money was on post sexy times, naked, and discovered by Geordie. Sounds like a game of Cluedo, doesn’t it? Geordie discovered the pair rutting and in the bedroom,’ she adds in a deep and manly tone. ‘The man has a gift,’ she adds in her own voice. ‘I wished he’d share the secret of his timing wi’ me.’
Hells bells and buckets of blood. They all know!
‘Nat, you’ll frighten her off,’ Dylan laughingly chastises. Meanwhile, I think my eyes are on stalks. ‘Now that you’re here, I can totally see what Fin meant because, contrary to Nat’s turn of phrase, Fin said you were beautiful and very sweet. I can see both things are true.’
From someone else, that might seem like a come-on. From the heartthrob in front of me, it seems almost laughable.
‘But, yeah, the first meeting?’ He coughs as though clearing his throat. ‘Everyone knows.’ Despite his attempt at pulling it together, the end of his sentence weighs heavy with supressed laughter.
‘You’re in good company,’ adds Natasha. ‘Not that it matters. You can get a look at Dylan in the buff on the internet any day of the week. Let me know if you want a peek. I knowallthe dark spots on the interwebz.’
‘She’s not kidding, unfortunately.’ His eyes slide back to his wife. ‘The things you’ll do for love are baffling.’
But then Mac’s voice becomes the focus of my attention—the focus of everyone’s attention within a mile radius, probably.
‘It was wrong of you to lie,’ he shouts suddenly. His chest heaves, though he looks more hurt than annoyed. ‘Then you tell me you’d shagged some bloke in a nightclub, which is bad enough for any brother to hear, but to find out later that, not only had young Alisdaira father, but you were already married to him!’
‘I know I was wrong,’ Ivy bellows back. ‘You think I don’t regret it? I would’ve told you if I could, but I was messed up. I thought—I thought you’d forgiven me.’
‘I forgive, but I can’t forget. And I can’t forget the part either of you played.’
‘It’s not like you’re perfect, though, is it?’ Hands clasped in fists by her side, I wonder if she’s thinking of thumping him. She looks cross enough.
‘Go on then, Poison. Spit it out. Say what you’ve got to say.’
‘Ohhh!’ It isn’t even a word, though Ivy manages to drag it out over several syllables. ‘But I’m not the only secretive one, am I? You didn’t tell us you were seeing Ella.’
‘What?’ For the world, this sounds more like whit.‘Whit are y’ blethering about? About five minutes after I told her I loved her, Da walked in on us in bed! So don’t try that one. Secretive,’ he grumbles. ‘If only!’
‘You make me so angry, you sanctimonious bawheaded—’
As Ivy looks about to blow her top, Mac makes, what could be, a tactical mistake as he begins laughing.
‘Macormac!’ she screeches. ‘Go deep throat a cactus!’
‘Is that any way to speak to your brother!’ June exclaims from her wheelchair, arriving at the scene.
I’d met Natasha’s granny earlier in the day, along with Sam, her nurse. At the time, it struck me as odd that a woman as frail and elderly as June would have a male nurse—and a handsome one at that—but when her bright blue eyes had winked at me as she’d pinched his bottom when he bent to straighten the blanket over her lap, it made perfect sense.
It seems the apple didn’t fall far from the tree in Natasha’s case.
‘And you think your family is bad,’ Mac says, catching my attention.
I say nothing. My familyisbad. At least, my stepmother is. I still don’t know whether she set up my original interview with Mac as a way of ingratiating herself to him, or simply because she wanted his address.To pop in uninvited. Probably while popping out of her push-up bra.But what I do know is she hinted to Mac that I’d had some kind of affair with the father of my Parisienne charges. Maybe if she’d shown the slightest bit of interest in my life, she might have realised that lie wasn’t going to work. I’d worked for a woman; a single mother of twins. Mac was already in possession of my references, including one from Isobel, should he have cared to check. The main thing is, he saw her for what she is.
‘But he is bawheaded,’ Ivy replies, pointing at Mac. ‘And stubborn and... and... ’
‘A good brother,’ interjects June. She pats the side of her mouth with her lacy white handkerchief, her voice reed thin. I understand she recently had a stroke but is said to be doing well. ‘And Mac is a bonnie son. And now a father.’ Each word spoken becomes more strident, her emotions high. ‘And a good one, fore by! Same as your man here—same as Dylan!’ But then, June’s tone softens, her expression warming as she looks at Dylan and Mac in turn. ‘They’re both good men, Ivy. And even the best of men make mistakes.’
Ivy falls silent. In fact, we all do. Whether out of respect for June or reflecting on her passion, I’m not sure. And as I watch the man I love, he seems to be about to speak, but June beats him to it.
