Part 3

There was a moment's silence before Lizze offered Katrina breakfast. She left the room to prepare it, which gave Katrina time to get dress. She thought about her dream as she changed. How realistic it had been, it was as though it had really happened. A memory of the past maybe? Or a hint of what might have been, or what should be?

Katrina was frozen in her thoughts. She looked down onto the mantle piece beside her. There in a gold frame was a picture of Archie and Lexie. Together. She glared at Lexie. How happy she looked, standing there with her husband. It should be her there, not Lexie. The thought of it made her feel sick. Katrina had been with Archie for a year before she moved to London. In that time Archie had shown Lexie no interest at all. Of course, there had been that moment, but that was years before he had started dating Katrina's. It never truly bothered her, until she discovered that they were to marry. It was less than a year since she had taken her new job in politics when Lizzie came round on a surprise visit. It wasn't a happy visit though. The news that Lizzie carried was about to devastate Katrina's life. Archie was to be wed, 11 months after she left, to her friend, and the MacDonald's cook, Lexie.

With tears in her eyes Katrina looked longingly at Archie. "Why?" She whispered. It was a question she had asked too many times, and was still in search of the answer. When she had heard of the engagement Katrina's initial reaction was to believe that it was all a joke, or a huge joke. But soon she received a copy of "The Glenbogle Gazette" sent to her by Lizzie, who was worried about her friend's behaviour. There was the front page, she could see it now.

Laird Finds Love

Local laird, Archibald MacDonald, yesterday revealed his engagement to local beauty Alexandra MacTavish. The happy couple's announcement tied in with the first visit in thirty years to Glenbogle of Archie's uncle, Jollian.

The groom to be told us that the engagement was planned to be announced earlier but the unfortunate death of his father, Hector MacDonald. "Of course we had already told our family and friends," the laird told The Gazette, "Some took a while to get used to it, but it's only understandable. Everything was very much out of the blue and it surprised even me a little," he added.

The big day is just two weeks away, and many MacDonalds and MacTavishs are expected to flood the village to celebrate the beginnings of a new family at Glenbogle House.

Below it was a picture of Archie and Lexie together next to the loch. Katrina remembered how hard it had been not to turn up at the wedding. Even the night before she was indecisive about what to do. She knew that Archie deserved his happily ever after, and if it couldn't be with her, then he couldn't find anyone better than Lexie. Katrina realised that she had left Archie for a job. She couldn't expect him to take her back. It was only the threat of public embarrassment in the middle of a wedding that kept Katrina at home.

When she discovered that Lexie had run away from the wedding Katrina was ecstatic. She hid her joy from Lizzie, who had been keeping a close eye on her since the announcement of the engagement.

Katrina smiled at the picture. Poor Archie, it had been he who had been publicly embarrassed.

The sound of footsteps grew closer, and Katrina quickly placed the photo in its place on the mantle piece and pulled on her jacket.

"Aunty Katrina," a small girl's head appeared around the door, "Mummy said that your breakfast is ready."

"Thank you Martha, I'm coming now," Katrina took one last look at the photo, her head swimming with thoughts, before following her into the kitchen.