Part Eight
Lexie insisted that Jill took half the trout away with her as there was far too much for their own needs. She left with Duncan's words ringing in her ears, telling her this was "the best trout she was ever likely to taste".
For the next few hours the whole house shook as the sander was passed back and forth across the newly exposed floorboards in the bedroom. When the noise finally stopped a strange quiet fell upon the house. Duncan trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen. Lexie looked up from preparing the remainder of the trout for their tea to find herself looking at an apparition that could easily pass as a friendly house ghost.
"Oh, ye poor wee man. I bet you wish you'd never come now," exclaimed Lexie, "Whatever has that husband of mine been doing to you?"
"It's alright Lex. If you think I'm bad you should see Archie. He told me to come down as he's going to put the gloss on the floorboards now and I can't help much there. Anything I can do here?"
"No thanks, Dunc. Not unless we want to contaminate the dinner with all that dust. You just sit down there and you can tell me all about what you've been up to lately."
Realising Lexie was searching for information about Jess, which he would rather avoid, he decided to divert the conversation.
"Oh, you know, nothing much. Nothing really changes at Glenbogle, it's you guys who are having the big adventure." He gazed round the kitchen, taking in the little nick nacks that Archie and Lexie had added to personalise it to their own taste.
"You know Lex, this kitchen is great, but I think there is still one thing missing."
Lexie looked slowly round the room but couldn't quite see what Duncan was getting at. "I know it's not completely finished but it looks OK to me. What are you talking about?"
"Back in a minute. Wait here." Duncan called back to her as he headed outside to the land rover.
Lexie shrugged and carried on with the preparations. She was never surprised at how Duncan's mind flitted from one topic to another. The only thing she had managed to gauge so far was that Jess was not on the agenda for discussion.
Duncan returned rather sheepishly, obviously holding something behind his back. He grinned mischievously. "Close your eyes, Lex."
"Oh come on then," she replied slightly impatiently whilst she obliged him by closing her eyes.
"Hold out your hands. No peeking."
Duncan pulled out an object from behind his back and gently laid it into her open hands. "OK you can look now."
Lexie's eyes looked down at what now lay there.
"Oh Duncan," Lexie laughed when she realised what it was.
"Well you see I saw it in the cupboard the other day and thought that needs to be down with Lex."
In her hands she now held her old mug. The same one that had lived through many a traumatic moment at Glenbogle. On the side it still clearly read 'Lexie'.
"Oh that's lovely Dunc. So sweet of you. Thank you." Lexie wrapped her arms around him and gave him a warm hug and a peck on the cheek.
Duncan came over all bashful. "Well I know how fond of it you were. I expect tea doesn't taste the same out of anything else."
As Lexie quietly got on with the meal while Duncan went to shower, she couldn't help glancing across at the mug and remembering the times she had been sitting at that big table in the Glenbogle kitchen drinking out of it, usually early in the morning or late at night. Mostly she was reflecting on some major event or trauma that was happening in the house at the time. Then of course, she smiled to herself, there was the time Molly had read her tea leaves. Neither of them had given much credence to her predictions but in fact she had been spot on ... eventually.
Duncan nearly fell asleep during dinner and, at their suggestion, took his camp bed and sleeping bag off to one of the smaller bedrooms. It was only a few minutes before he became reacquainted with the land of nod.
The new mattress for their bed had arrived earlier in the day and been left in the room they intended to use as the guest room. It had seemed silly to head back to the cottage at such a late hour so it wasn't long before Lexie grabbed hold of the blanket from the car and headed upstairs herself. She paused in the doorway to their bedroom to inspect their beautiful new floor. Archie explained to her that he was staying up for a little while longer to finish the gloss on the floor but would soon join her. She gave him an affectionate kiss and drifted off to bed.
"Don't be too long. I get cold on my own," she called back to him.
She fell asleep quickly but was rather restless in the unfamiliar environment. As she tossed and turned she reached out naturally to feel for the comfort of Archie's familiar presence. Her hand groped around in the vacant space beside her. She stirred and opened her eyes. Curious as to Archie's absence, she picked up the blanket, wrapped it round herself and sleepily went to investigate the new bedroom. The light was still on.
Lexie couldn't help it. She had to laugh at the sight before her.
Archie was curled up in a foetal position against the far corner of the room. His head had flopped forward on his chest and his eyes were shut.
"Oh Archie," Lexie said, half to her sleeping husband and half to herself. How on earth he had managed to fall asleep like that she couldn't imagine.
Venturing across the now dry floor, she bent down to Archie and planted the softest of kisses on his forehead. "Wake up sleeping beauty." she whispered, giving him a gentle nudge.
Archie stirred with an uncomfortable grunt.
"So?" asked Lexie.
"Hmmmm?" he murmured sleepily.
"So why are you sleeping here?" quizzed Lexie.
"Well," mused Archie, rubbing his shoulder, "I think I may have made a slight error with my floor gloss technique."
Archie continued. "I started painting the gloss from the doorway and then I found I was stuck in the corner and I didn't want to mess up the floor so I decided to wait until it dried."
"Oh, my poor wee husband," Lexie responded sympathetically.
"Dafty, you must be very tired to make a mistake like that." Lexie smiled as she took over massaging his shoulder.
"I know, I know," replied Archie "I suppose I must have been more tired than I thought."
"Come on you," Lexie said, pulling him sleepily to his feet, "You look exhausted. Duncan went to bed hours ago."
They wearily made their way to bed. Lexie flopped sleepily on to the mattress and pulled the covers tightly round her as she watched Archie struggling to remove his shoes..
"I definitely think there's something up with Duncan and my money's on Jess," Archie commented as the laces finally yielded.
"Hmm," responded Lexie, "I did try before dinner to ask him but he just changed the subject."
"I suppose he'll tell us when he's good and ready," responded Archie as the cold night air drove him under the bedcover to snuggle up to Lexie.
"That's better; I'm getting a bit warmer now," Lexie smiled contentedly as Archie wrapped his arms round her.
"You know Lex, this decorating lark is very hard work. Every time one problem is solved the next seems to appear. I mean, after all, we still have the dining and living rooms to paint and three more bedrooms and we still haven't decided on the colours, have we? I was thinking earlier, what about green for the guest bedroom? Hmm? What do you think?"
There was no response from Lexie. He looked across at her and smiled to himself.
"Oh dear, don't think I'll talk about decorating in bed again if that's the effect it has."
What Archie and Lexie were both unaware of was that in the next room Duncan was wide awake and in a reflective mood.
The truth of it was Duncan wanted more from his relationship with Jess than she was willing to give. He was ready for marriage and, in a few years, kids. Jess, however, probably due to being younger, was still up for nothing serious. Seeing Archie and Lexie emphasised it even more. He wanted someone who would care about him as much as those two did about each other.
If Duncan was honest with himself, it wasn't just his love life that he was questioning at the moment, but his whole situation at Glenbogle. It was sometimes like being in a goldfish bowl and he was beginning to feel he'd outgrown it. So many changes had occurred around him over the last few years, but he sometimes felt he was 'Good old Dunc' who got left behind.
The question that Duncan was considering now was whether to talk to anyone about this. Archie and Lexie were two of his closest friends but he wasn't sure Lexie would quite understand the way he was feeling. After all, she never seemed to have been claustrophobic at Glenbogle. However, she was obviously very happy now so change hadn't been bad for her. Thinking more about it, Duncan realised that Archie would probably be the best person to talk to, seeing as he had made the break in the first place. It certainly agreed with him. Duncan hadn't failed to notice how much happier, relaxed and laid back he had become.
"Hmm, well, if I get the opportunity, or he asks, I'll confess," mused Duncan.
The next morning nobody was anxious to be first up and the house remained quiet until a large van pulled up outside and a loud knock disrupted the peace.
"Archie," Lexie said, shaking her husband awake, "Archie, it's the delivery of the furniture. Archie!
Archie stirred himself and made a grab for his overalls, which he attempted to put on while moving for the door. Duncan met Archie on the landing in his nightshirt and they both made their way down the stairs.
Twenty minutes later Lexie appeared in the hall to find Archie and Duncan moaning loudly about how heavy the furniture looked and how a camp bed and a mattress on the floor were clearly not meant for sleeping on, they both had ailments to complain about.
"Well, I'll see you later. I'm off to shop for curtains, bedspreads and lots of other gorgeous things," Lexie gloated. With a spring in her step and a cheeky smile on her face she made for the front gate. "I expect all this will be in the house by the time I get back," she hinted heavily.
Archie rolled his eyes at Duncan.
"Hmm, do I detect a slight hint of disgruntlement amongst the workers this morning?" she tested.
"Possibly," Duncan replied, carefully.
"Whatever gave you that impression?" responded Archie as he laid back comfortably on the bed that now reposed in the front garden.
Lexie raised her eyes heavenward. "Oh well, seeing as you're going to be working so hard I'll call in for some lunch from the farm shop on my way back. See you later boys."
Archie and Duncan began by carrying the dining table and chairs inside without too much bother. The dresser was a bit difficult to manoeuvre but wasn't too bad once they got through the stable door. Things had clearly gone too well. They began to negotiate a heavy bedside table up the stairs and were in the middle of discussing the problem when Duncan absentmindedly let go of his end so that he could better illustrate his ideas to Archie.
Archie was not watching Duncan carefully enough. He was totally unprepared for taking the full weight of the table. It fell to his right and as Archie lunged to try and rescue it, it crashed into the banisters. There was a nasty splintering sound and half the banister gave way and fell to the ground. Archie might have followed but Duncan managed to grab him at the last second and pull him safely back onto the stairs. There was a pause as Archie looked at Duncan and Duncan looked back at Archie.
"Well, that's a bit of a mess, eh, Arch? I think you need to keep your mind on the job," said Duncan, innocently smiling. He seemed to completely miss Archie's look of exasperation.
"Hi, I'm back," called Lexie, as she walked into the hall from the kitchen. "So how's it all ......" She stopped when she spotted the mess. "Oh, dear, what happened?" she questioned.
Just as Archie was about to open his mouth to explain Duncan leapt in.
"Oh, well, you see Lex. We were moving the bedside table upstairs and Archie ... well he accidentally let go of it. Now don't be too hard on him Lex. He's probably still tired from yesterday."
Archie's mouth was opening and closing like a goldfish in disbelief at Duncan's explanation.
"Arch, you know perhaps you should have a break for lunch now," replied Lexie, who had already spotted the indignation in Archie's face and thought it best to defuse the situation by gentling nudging him towards the kitchen.
Lexie was in a really good mood, having had an excellent shopping trip, and the simple problem of a half broken banister was not about to change that.
After lunch they all ventured into the garden and stood gazing at the bed.
"And how were you intending to get that up the stairs?" Lexie enquired.
"It is a little big isn't it," ventured Archie, who was finding the prospect of sleeping under the stars that night a more appealing prospect than managing the bed upstairs.
Duncan looked from Archie to Lexie and back again, but neither of them seemed to have any enlightenment. He began to realise that unless someone acted they would be there all day.
"Och, it's easy. I used to do this sort of thing for my Auntie Liz all the time in the B & B. Bring the tool kit from the kitchen Lex and Archie can you go and get the ladder from round the back?"
"Ladder? Whatever do you want that for?" Lexie enquired.
"It's obvious isn't it? It won't go up the stairs, even if we unscrew it. What you have to do is take it through the window of course."
For once Duncan was in charge. He had clearly done this sort of thing before. He took the bed apart and when all the smaller pieces had gone up the stairs, organized hauling the main frame up on a rope and through the window. It was awkward but not half as bad as they had feared. When it was all back together, and the new mattress placed on top, it really did look rather inviting so all three found themselves lying flat out staring at the ceiling.
"You know Dunc, if you ever want to take up a new career as a removal man, I could
give you an excellent reference," commented Archie.
"I might take you up on that," answered Duncan.
Lexie continued to concentrate on the ceiling. "Arch? That's not a damp patch up there, is it?
Lexie insisted that Jill took half the trout away with her as there was far too much for their own needs. She left with Duncan's words ringing in her ears, telling her this was "the best trout she was ever likely to taste".
For the next few hours the whole house shook as the sander was passed back and forth across the newly exposed floorboards in the bedroom. When the noise finally stopped a strange quiet fell upon the house. Duncan trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen. Lexie looked up from preparing the remainder of the trout for their tea to find herself looking at an apparition that could easily pass as a friendly house ghost.
"Oh, ye poor wee man. I bet you wish you'd never come now," exclaimed Lexie, "Whatever has that husband of mine been doing to you?"
"It's alright Lex. If you think I'm bad you should see Archie. He told me to come down as he's going to put the gloss on the floorboards now and I can't help much there. Anything I can do here?"
"No thanks, Dunc. Not unless we want to contaminate the dinner with all that dust. You just sit down there and you can tell me all about what you've been up to lately."
Realising Lexie was searching for information about Jess, which he would rather avoid, he decided to divert the conversation.
"Oh, you know, nothing much. Nothing really changes at Glenbogle, it's you guys who are having the big adventure." He gazed round the kitchen, taking in the little nick nacks that Archie and Lexie had added to personalise it to their own taste.
"You know Lex, this kitchen is great, but I think there is still one thing missing."
Lexie looked slowly round the room but couldn't quite see what Duncan was getting at. "I know it's not completely finished but it looks OK to me. What are you talking about?"
"Back in a minute. Wait here." Duncan called back to her as he headed outside to the land rover.
Lexie shrugged and carried on with the preparations. She was never surprised at how Duncan's mind flitted from one topic to another. The only thing she had managed to gauge so far was that Jess was not on the agenda for discussion.
Duncan returned rather sheepishly, obviously holding something behind his back. He grinned mischievously. "Close your eyes, Lex."
"Oh come on then," she replied slightly impatiently whilst she obliged him by closing her eyes.
"Hold out your hands. No peeking."
Duncan pulled out an object from behind his back and gently laid it into her open hands. "OK you can look now."
Lexie's eyes looked down at what now lay there.
"Oh Duncan," Lexie laughed when she realised what it was.
"Well you see I saw it in the cupboard the other day and thought that needs to be down with Lex."
In her hands she now held her old mug. The same one that had lived through many a traumatic moment at Glenbogle. On the side it still clearly read 'Lexie'.
"Oh that's lovely Dunc. So sweet of you. Thank you." Lexie wrapped her arms around him and gave him a warm hug and a peck on the cheek.
Duncan came over all bashful. "Well I know how fond of it you were. I expect tea doesn't taste the same out of anything else."
As Lexie quietly got on with the meal while Duncan went to shower, she couldn't help glancing across at the mug and remembering the times she had been sitting at that big table in the Glenbogle kitchen drinking out of it, usually early in the morning or late at night. Mostly she was reflecting on some major event or trauma that was happening in the house at the time. Then of course, she smiled to herself, there was the time Molly had read her tea leaves. Neither of them had given much credence to her predictions but in fact she had been spot on ... eventually.
Duncan nearly fell asleep during dinner and, at their suggestion, took his camp bed and sleeping bag off to one of the smaller bedrooms. It was only a few minutes before he became reacquainted with the land of nod.
The new mattress for their bed had arrived earlier in the day and been left in the room they intended to use as the guest room. It had seemed silly to head back to the cottage at such a late hour so it wasn't long before Lexie grabbed hold of the blanket from the car and headed upstairs herself. She paused in the doorway to their bedroom to inspect their beautiful new floor. Archie explained to her that he was staying up for a little while longer to finish the gloss on the floor but would soon join her. She gave him an affectionate kiss and drifted off to bed.
"Don't be too long. I get cold on my own," she called back to him.
She fell asleep quickly but was rather restless in the unfamiliar environment. As she tossed and turned she reached out naturally to feel for the comfort of Archie's familiar presence. Her hand groped around in the vacant space beside her. She stirred and opened her eyes. Curious as to Archie's absence, she picked up the blanket, wrapped it round herself and sleepily went to investigate the new bedroom. The light was still on.
Lexie couldn't help it. She had to laugh at the sight before her.
Archie was curled up in a foetal position against the far corner of the room. His head had flopped forward on his chest and his eyes were shut.
"Oh Archie," Lexie said, half to her sleeping husband and half to herself. How on earth he had managed to fall asleep like that she couldn't imagine.
Venturing across the now dry floor, she bent down to Archie and planted the softest of kisses on his forehead. "Wake up sleeping beauty." she whispered, giving him a gentle nudge.
Archie stirred with an uncomfortable grunt.
"So?" asked Lexie.
"Hmmmm?" he murmured sleepily.
"So why are you sleeping here?" quizzed Lexie.
"Well," mused Archie, rubbing his shoulder, "I think I may have made a slight error with my floor gloss technique."
Archie continued. "I started painting the gloss from the doorway and then I found I was stuck in the corner and I didn't want to mess up the floor so I decided to wait until it dried."
"Oh, my poor wee husband," Lexie responded sympathetically.
"Dafty, you must be very tired to make a mistake like that." Lexie smiled as she took over massaging his shoulder.
"I know, I know," replied Archie "I suppose I must have been more tired than I thought."
"Come on you," Lexie said, pulling him sleepily to his feet, "You look exhausted. Duncan went to bed hours ago."
They wearily made their way to bed. Lexie flopped sleepily on to the mattress and pulled the covers tightly round her as she watched Archie struggling to remove his shoes..
"I definitely think there's something up with Duncan and my money's on Jess," Archie commented as the laces finally yielded.
"Hmm," responded Lexie, "I did try before dinner to ask him but he just changed the subject."
"I suppose he'll tell us when he's good and ready," responded Archie as the cold night air drove him under the bedcover to snuggle up to Lexie.
"That's better; I'm getting a bit warmer now," Lexie smiled contentedly as Archie wrapped his arms round her.
"You know Lex, this decorating lark is very hard work. Every time one problem is solved the next seems to appear. I mean, after all, we still have the dining and living rooms to paint and three more bedrooms and we still haven't decided on the colours, have we? I was thinking earlier, what about green for the guest bedroom? Hmm? What do you think?"
There was no response from Lexie. He looked across at her and smiled to himself.
"Oh dear, don't think I'll talk about decorating in bed again if that's the effect it has."
What Archie and Lexie were both unaware of was that in the next room Duncan was wide awake and in a reflective mood.
The truth of it was Duncan wanted more from his relationship with Jess than she was willing to give. He was ready for marriage and, in a few years, kids. Jess, however, probably due to being younger, was still up for nothing serious. Seeing Archie and Lexie emphasised it even more. He wanted someone who would care about him as much as those two did about each other.
If Duncan was honest with himself, it wasn't just his love life that he was questioning at the moment, but his whole situation at Glenbogle. It was sometimes like being in a goldfish bowl and he was beginning to feel he'd outgrown it. So many changes had occurred around him over the last few years, but he sometimes felt he was 'Good old Dunc' who got left behind.
The question that Duncan was considering now was whether to talk to anyone about this. Archie and Lexie were two of his closest friends but he wasn't sure Lexie would quite understand the way he was feeling. After all, she never seemed to have been claustrophobic at Glenbogle. However, she was obviously very happy now so change hadn't been bad for her. Thinking more about it, Duncan realised that Archie would probably be the best person to talk to, seeing as he had made the break in the first place. It certainly agreed with him. Duncan hadn't failed to notice how much happier, relaxed and laid back he had become.
"Hmm, well, if I get the opportunity, or he asks, I'll confess," mused Duncan.
The next morning nobody was anxious to be first up and the house remained quiet until a large van pulled up outside and a loud knock disrupted the peace.
"Archie," Lexie said, shaking her husband awake, "Archie, it's the delivery of the furniture. Archie!
Archie stirred himself and made a grab for his overalls, which he attempted to put on while moving for the door. Duncan met Archie on the landing in his nightshirt and they both made their way down the stairs.
Twenty minutes later Lexie appeared in the hall to find Archie and Duncan moaning loudly about how heavy the furniture looked and how a camp bed and a mattress on the floor were clearly not meant for sleeping on, they both had ailments to complain about.
"Well, I'll see you later. I'm off to shop for curtains, bedspreads and lots of other gorgeous things," Lexie gloated. With a spring in her step and a cheeky smile on her face she made for the front gate. "I expect all this will be in the house by the time I get back," she hinted heavily.
Archie rolled his eyes at Duncan.
"Hmm, do I detect a slight hint of disgruntlement amongst the workers this morning?" she tested.
"Possibly," Duncan replied, carefully.
"Whatever gave you that impression?" responded Archie as he laid back comfortably on the bed that now reposed in the front garden.
Lexie raised her eyes heavenward. "Oh well, seeing as you're going to be working so hard I'll call in for some lunch from the farm shop on my way back. See you later boys."
Archie and Duncan began by carrying the dining table and chairs inside without too much bother. The dresser was a bit difficult to manoeuvre but wasn't too bad once they got through the stable door. Things had clearly gone too well. They began to negotiate a heavy bedside table up the stairs and were in the middle of discussing the problem when Duncan absentmindedly let go of his end so that he could better illustrate his ideas to Archie.
Archie was not watching Duncan carefully enough. He was totally unprepared for taking the full weight of the table. It fell to his right and as Archie lunged to try and rescue it, it crashed into the banisters. There was a nasty splintering sound and half the banister gave way and fell to the ground. Archie might have followed but Duncan managed to grab him at the last second and pull him safely back onto the stairs. There was a pause as Archie looked at Duncan and Duncan looked back at Archie.
"Well, that's a bit of a mess, eh, Arch? I think you need to keep your mind on the job," said Duncan, innocently smiling. He seemed to completely miss Archie's look of exasperation.
"Hi, I'm back," called Lexie, as she walked into the hall from the kitchen. "So how's it all ......" She stopped when she spotted the mess. "Oh, dear, what happened?" she questioned.
Just as Archie was about to open his mouth to explain Duncan leapt in.
"Oh, well, you see Lex. We were moving the bedside table upstairs and Archie ... well he accidentally let go of it. Now don't be too hard on him Lex. He's probably still tired from yesterday."
Archie's mouth was opening and closing like a goldfish in disbelief at Duncan's explanation.
"Arch, you know perhaps you should have a break for lunch now," replied Lexie, who had already spotted the indignation in Archie's face and thought it best to defuse the situation by gentling nudging him towards the kitchen.
Lexie was in a really good mood, having had an excellent shopping trip, and the simple problem of a half broken banister was not about to change that.
After lunch they all ventured into the garden and stood gazing at the bed.
"And how were you intending to get that up the stairs?" Lexie enquired.
"It is a little big isn't it," ventured Archie, who was finding the prospect of sleeping under the stars that night a more appealing prospect than managing the bed upstairs.
Duncan looked from Archie to Lexie and back again, but neither of them seemed to have any enlightenment. He began to realise that unless someone acted they would be there all day.
"Och, it's easy. I used to do this sort of thing for my Auntie Liz all the time in the B & B. Bring the tool kit from the kitchen Lex and Archie can you go and get the ladder from round the back?"
"Ladder? Whatever do you want that for?" Lexie enquired.
"It's obvious isn't it? It won't go up the stairs, even if we unscrew it. What you have to do is take it through the window of course."
For once Duncan was in charge. He had clearly done this sort of thing before. He took the bed apart and when all the smaller pieces had gone up the stairs, organized hauling the main frame up on a rope and through the window. It was awkward but not half as bad as they had feared. When it was all back together, and the new mattress placed on top, it really did look rather inviting so all three found themselves lying flat out staring at the ceiling.
"You know Dunc, if you ever want to take up a new career as a removal man, I could
give you an excellent reference," commented Archie.
"I might take you up on that," answered Duncan.
Lexie continued to concentrate on the ceiling. "Arch? That's not a damp patch up there, is it?
