Life Afer Glenbogle Part Two

"Oh, there's plenty of time for that later." Archie said matter-of-factly dragging her away from the house.

Lexie was beginning to get suspicious. "Look Arch, it's alright. If things haven't gone exactly to plan it doesn't matter. We can easily get someone in to finish the job." Lexie knew all too well that Archie did not have a great track record where decorating was concerned. She could still remember his original attempts to convert Jamie's old room. They ended with a rather large hole in the ceiling. Archie had forcefully denied any blame for this but then if you choose to chase people through attics what do you expect.

On this occasion she realised that it was best to just give in to Archie's insistence, but made a mental note to investigate the new kitchen as soon as his back was turned.

Archie led her through the garden, which was still largely overgrown. He had found a lovely spot under an old oak tree that spread itself over the front garden and the lane that led to the house. Lexie opened up the plastic boxes she had brought with her and they tucked in. There was a nice dry mossy bank under the tree and Archie sat down with his back to the trunk and motioned for Lexie to join him. She settled herself comfortably on the ground between Archie's legs and rested her head on his shoulder.

They sat in silence for a while, gazing contentedly at their new purchase. It was a lovely house, even if it was in need of a lick of paint and some TLC. The oldest part of the house dated from the 17th century and was made of locally quarried stone. Over the years there had been several additions and changes to what had probably once been a small manor house and for many years it had been a proper working farm so there were a number of outbuildings spread around the farmyard. It may not have had the stature of Glenbogle but it was their own little haven and they loved it already.

Archie gave a sleepy sigh. "Happy?"

Lexie nodded her agreement and added, "You know Arch I can't believe this is our home now. We were so lucky to find somewhere as beautiful as this. At first I couldn't understand why you would want to get away from Glenbogle. It took me a while to finally understand that much as you loved the place you still had other things you needed to achieve in your life."

Lexie pulled idly at a few grass stalks and then continued dreamily, "I never thought I could be happy anywhere other than Glenbogle or would want to be. But you were right. These last few weeks I've discovered that I can be happy anywhere as long as you're there too."

She smiled at the thought and let the broken blades of grass fall gently through her fingers to the ground.

"Don't get me wrong," she continued, "I do miss everyone, but at least they're not too far away and as soon as we have the guest rooms sorted they'll be able to come and stay. Who shall we have as our first guest?"

There was no reply. Lexie looked round, irritated slightly by the lack of response, only to find that Archie was fast asleep with a contended smile on his face. Lexie, feeling a little miffed, muttered "typical." with a giggle. Then a look of pure cunning crept across her face. Ever so gently she began to edge herself away from her resting place in Archie's lap. As she became free she stood up. She quickly checked that Archie was still asleep and then headed purposefully towards the kitchen. She was sure from his determination to keep her away that some mishap had occurred and was set on finding out what Archie had done now. She just hoped that this time there was no real structural damage.

Lexie approached the stable door to the kitchen with some trepidation. The top half was open and she could see in. Everything looked pretty normal so she undid the latch and walked cautiously in. No, it wasn't the tiling. That was looking really good – it was in a lovely shade of blue to go with the yellow walls. She stalked around the kitchen, convinced something must be wrong but in fact the whole kitchen appeared pristine except for a few packing cases that had been piled up in the centre. She didn't remember them having been there before and was curious as to what could be in them. Finding some scissors handy she attacked the first box and as the loose wrappings on the top fell away she found herself looking down on a very familiar picture of a castle. One that a nine year old delinquent had drawn a long time ago.

"Aaah, Archie must have packed it." she muttered to herself as she placed it on the side. Underneath it had been placed a note in Molly's familiar handwriting.

"Archie dear, I just thought you and Lexie might be missing some of these things so I've packed them up for you. I thought you would find some of them very useful. It really doesn't feel right for us to keep them now. Lots of love to you both."

Lexie smiled and put the picture and the letter gently down again before peering deeper into the box. Inside were all her old pots and pans and utensils from the kitchen at Glenbogle. She ran her hands over the familiar tools and began to feel even more at home. As she started to unpack them the tears welled in her eyes. She didn't notice she was no longer alone until she felt Archie's arms slip round her waist.

"Hey, I thought I had told you no looking," he laughed. When he noticed that she had not responded as he had expected he swung her round and was shocked to see the tears.

"Is it that bad? If the colour's not right we can change it. I know it took us three weeks to agree on the blue and yellow but we can still do something about it if you want."

Archie, still concerned, continued. "Actually I thought I'd done quite a good job," he said, looking somewhat puzzled by her response.

Lexie attempted to pull herself together and wiped her eyes with a handy tea towel. She turned to place her hands on Archie's shoulders. "Look I know I'm being stupid but all my life I've never been able to have a place I could call mine. Somewhere I could do things like choose the decorations and the furniture. Decide which room for what and where things should go. I've always had to go with what everyone else wanted. But this is the first room to be finished just how I wanted and this house is my first real home. Well, our home, but you know what I mean.

Archie gently drew her into a comforting hug. "Well, you had me worried there for a minute. Thought I really was going to have to do this again."

Lexie looked up, laughing through her tears. Archie smiled as he wiped them away. "Now come on. Let's look ahead. We've got so much to look forward to."

He reached forward to cup her head in his hands and raised her face upwards to meet his for a long, lingering kiss. For a few moments they only had thoughts for each other. However, the mood was suddenly broken by the shattering sound of a tile falling to the floor.