We're Home! Written by: SnowWhite
Lexie cringed as her daughter Melanie's voice went up an octave. The persistent questions of
" Are we there yet?" " Will Grandma remember me?" "Is Duncan going to be there?" had echoed on and on ever since they had left Glasgow.
Melanie was now five and they hadn't been back to Glenbogle since she was two. Lexie glanced at her husband as he tried to concentrate on driving. She knew that he too was trying to tune out Melanie's voice. They may not have been back to Glenbogle for three years but Archie would never forget how to get to the place that he had grown up in. Even Lexie, who had originally come from Glasgow couldn't help but call the quaint highland village home.
As the landscape turned increasingly familiar Lexie decided that it was her turn to start asking the questions
" Do you remember any of this Melly?" she asked, pointing to the luscious green hills and valleys that they drove through. Melanie shook her head and asked
" Are we almost at my castle?"
" Almost" Archie answered as he steered the car through the main street of the village leading to his family's estate. 'My Castle' was what Archie and Lexie let their daughter call the castle that they had not so long ago been Laird and Lady of. The estate didn't just consist of the big house but also thirty-five and a half thousand acres of land.
The Head Ranger Duncan had loved playing around with Melanie last time they had visited, and both Archie and Lexie were secretly hoping that now she was older he would take her on adventures around the nature trails to give them a bit of a break.
They were soon on the gravel driveway leading up to the house and Melanie could hardly contain her excitement, jumping out of the car the minute Archie eased it to a stop and running straight into the house to see who she could find.
Archie and Lexie turned to face each other with a soft sigh. Being back at Glenbogle aroused many feeling and memories within both of them.
" We made it" Archie whispered to his wife
" Yes we did" Lexie replied. Then staring into Archie's eyes added, " I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually nervous."
Archie nodded, "Me too." He leant over and gave her a quick kiss of reassurance before commenting
" We really should go in."
Their entrance was met by Molly running down the stairs almost as excited as Melanie had been.
She welcomed both her son and her daughter-in-law in turn with a hug and a kiss and an exclamation of how much they'd been missed. Before Melanie re-entered dragging Golly behind her. Both Archie and Lexie welcomed their old and trusted friend with open arms. Then everything started to snowball, as it had a habit of doing at Glenbogle as everyone arrived en masse to welcome the new comers. Many exclamations were made about Melanie and how much she had grown and how pretty she was.
Dressed in a pink satin dress especially for the occasion Melanie looked like the spitting image of her parents. With their shared dark hair and slightly tanned skin she had got a double dose, but Archie's eyes had won out. Melanie therefore had a dangerous weapon in the puppy dog brown eyes that she had inherited from her father, staring out with an appeal to be loved that was next to impossible to resist.
She wasted no time in using this to her advantage either, as she turned to Duncan and pleaded for him to take her to all the wonderful places she had heard of around the Glen. He agreed to take her to one today but only if she changed her clothes and it was okay with her mother.
Lexie eagerly agreed and taking Melanie by the hand led her up the antique staircase to find her a bedroom with Molly and Duncan following behind with the bags, leaving Archie some time alone to catch up with his half-brother Paul.
Soon Melanie was heading back down the stairs wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Duncan held her hand and filled her head with stories of waterfalls and ancient battles, not to mention well-known folktales as Melanie insisted stubbornly that she wanted to see the fairies and where they lived.
Lexie smiled and gave a quick wave from the upstairs window as they headed out down the driveway. Then turned away and headed into her and Archie's room where Molly was busy tidying and putting their bags out of the way.
" Sorry it's a bit messy dear" she apologized as she saw her daughter-in-law come through the doorway.
" It looks exactly the same as always" Lexie commented as she sat down on the chair by the window
" Well I like to keep it the way you two had it for when you come back and visit." Molly explained as she finished fussing and sat down next to her.
Immediately Lexie felt a pang of guilt at having left it so long in between visits. Molly was more of a mother to her then her real mother had ever been. After running away from home at the age of fifteen and living on the streets and in bed-sets and hostels Lexie still remembered the day she had come across Glenbogle and Molly had taken her in. From then on it had been her home and the MacDonald's had become her family.
" Oh it's so good to have you home darling" Molly exclaimed, breaking through Lexie's reverie " And Archie too. Glenbogle's still not the same without you two around. And little Melly always brings such happiness and new life to this tired old place. She really does look just like Archie when he was little, and you when you first came here."
" Yeah, those eyes are going to be a weapon of persuasion for yet another MacDonald." Lexie remarked
Molly smiled. Being Archie's mother she knew exactly what Lexie meant. And it was her that he had inherited them from. Her deep brown eyes where framed by flaxen coloured hair and emphasized by her high cheekbones, for her age she really was a most gorgeous creature. Having been a model before marrying Archie's father Hector and moving to Glenbogle.
" I never realized how much I miss this place until I come back" Lexie whispered, turning to take in everything once more. Molly was right, everything was just as they had left it, they could have still been living here for anyone knew. A few of the photographs were missing having been taken with them to Glasgow, but they had been replaced by others- sometimes more recent ones that Lexie's recognized as photo's she had sent with her many letters.
There were older photos of her and Archie, her and Katrina, Archie and his sister Lizzie and then newer ones of her and Archie's honeymoon, and the two of them with Melanie from when she was a baby to present day.
Quietly Lexie walked over to the table across from them and picked up a photo of her and Archie's wedding day and with a grin turned back to have a real catch up with Molly.
In the lounge room Archie too was holding a photo frame that contained a photo of him and his wife while they had still been at Glenbogle.
He smiled and turned around to face Paul. Paul glanced at the contents of the frame and sinking down into the nearby lounge remarked
" Cute couple."
Archie smiled, " Yeah, he's a lucky guy"
" You know, you're really considered to be the golden son around here. You should have seen everyone when you guys announced that you were coming back for a visit." Paul commented.
Archie blinked, he had never been the golden child in his parents eyes- that place had been reserved for his elder brother Jamie. Even after his unexpected death at eighteen when Archie was fourteen, Archie had still never come close.
" I'm not the golden child Paul. I never have been." Archie replied putting the photograph back in its place and settling in the chair across from him.
The day of Jamie's death still haunted him; Paul saw it in his eyes and decided to leave the subject alone.
" So" Archie commented " How's Glenbogle treating you?"
Paul shook his head before replying, " I never asked for this job"
" Ahh but that's the beauty of it all- neither did I remember."
Archie thought back to when he had first returned to Glenbogle and find out that he was the Laird. He hadn't wanted it; he'd had a life back in London, a restaurant, and a girlfriend. And instead it had all been turned upside down because of an old run down castle and an estate in the middle of the Highlands. But now he couldn't imagine how his life would have turned out if he hadn't come back and taken over, he wouldn't have met Lexie for one thing….
Suddenly he realized that Paul was talking
" There's just so much
to do. Not just the up keep of the house, but the running of the village and
the various functions we're expected to put on. And we definitely don't need
soapies with the all the goings on around us. I swear there's barely a day when
someone isn't fighting with someone else, or somehow it's all my fault…."
" Yes" Archie answered with a slight smile at how familiar the words
sounded, " It's definitely a life changing experience."
Later that night after Melanie had gone to bed, exhausted from her walking expedition with Duncan, Lexie and Archie walked into their old bedroom chatting about the day's events. Lexie rummaged through their luggage before finally finding a black slip nightie and changing into it. There was still a distinctively chilly nip in the air even though it was coming into spring, but somehow she had always been more resilient to the cold then most of the others.
" Isn't it amazing" She remarked
" What?" He asked
" That every smell, sound and thing in this place is able to remind you of something."
" That nightie reminds me of the night you moved back into this room after we'd had the fight about Irene. And when I gave you your proper engagement ring." Archie reminisced
" And then I sold it not long after to help save the estate" Lexie smiled
Archie chuckled and shook his head with a sigh " This place is mad."
" Then we should fit right in," Lexie teased climbing into bed with him.