Part 24

Archie began unloading some of the shopping into the fridge. A sleepy Lexie appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"So, did you get everything?" Lexie said stifling a yawn.

"Sure did. See, told you I could cope with the list on my own" Archie replied in mock offence.

"Oh Arch, come here, you know I don't doubt your shopping skills. It's just, well, I know how boring you find it" Lexie said while encircling her arms around Archie's middle and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Wasn't that bad and anyway you needed to get some sleep. You looked shattered earlier," Archie replied, concerned, and turned Lexie round in his arms to study her face.

"You feeling any better?"

"Mm, er, much better actually. We've had such a hectic week haven't we? So we can't complain business is busy after all."

"Yes but there are more important things than work Lex" Archie responded while staring fixedly into her eyes.

"I know, I know. I'm just determined to make this work"

"And it is Lex. It is working." Lexie snuggled contentedly into Archie's hug.

After five minutes Archie finally broke the comfortable silence. "Come on, as much as I could stand here for hours I'd better finish unpacking that shopping. Why don't you have a soak in the bath while I get lunch on.

"Thanks Arch" Lexie smiled and left him with a brief kiss.

"Take your time" he called after her.

Archie busied himself with the shopping. He was glad Lexie had gone for a bath as he had a few secrets of his own in the shopping that he didn't want her to see just yet. They had indeed had a rather hectic week with not one but two wedding anniversaries to cater for and a children's tea party. They had both been rushed off their feet and although it was a good sign that business was really picking up he realised that they would have to be careful not to take on too much or they would have to take on some extra help.

Lexie had thrown herself into all the arrangements and pushed the awful Dan memories to the back of her mind so in that way it had been useful but they both knew that the issue was not closed yet.

The kids party had been quite a laugh actually. He had loved her cheerfulness in adversity when the sausage roll landed in the jelly and she had popped it in her mouth and persuaded all the children to try it for themselves. Sausage rolls and raspberry jelly … yum. It might catch on yet!

Archie looked out of the window. It was a glorious summer day. There was a slight breeze to take some of the heat away and the sky was a brilliant blue. It seemed a shame for them to be sat inside.

Lexie was as good as Archie's word and did indeed take her time in the bathroom. She lay back relaxing in the bath and watched the little candle flame flicker on the shelf above and decided that from now on she was going to drive away all the negative thoughts that tried to work their way into her mind and concentrate on all the positive and good things that were going on in her life.

No more worrying about Dan .. she knew he couldn't worry them now. Time to look forward to the future and what it might have in store for them. Who knows, maybe this time next year the business would be making so much money they could bring in more staff and have more time for themselves and … Lexie's thoughts wandered on to their hopes for a family and she smiled to herself.

"Now, now, girl, one thing at a time, we must let nature take its course" she told herself before climbing out of the bath.

She dressed quickly in a thin cotton dress and hurried downstairs to see what Archie had prepared for lunch. She was surprised to see that the table was still bare although the shopping had been cleared away. She headed into the dining room but there was nothing there.

"Arch, where are you?" she called. There was no reply so she headed for the back door to go and check the industrial kitchen. It was then that she noticed the piece of paper pinned by the latch – 'OUTSIDE' it said in Archie's rather scrawly writing.

"Outside, where outside?" she mused to herself. She looked out into the yard but it was empty except for a few chickens and the car where they had left it. She returned to the door and looked out into the garden but that seemed quiet too. Then she spotted a movement over in the shadows under the old oak tree. It was hard to see as the light was so bright out there.

"Arch, is that you?"

"It's anyone you want it to be" his familiar voice drifted over to her.

She grinned "Then it's definitely Archie. Who else could I possibly need. What are you doing over there Arch?"

"Come and see."

She held her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun as she walked over to where he was sitting. He had laid the rug down under the tree and was sitting with his back up against the trunk. On a cloth laid out in front of him was all the makings of a great picnic. There was bread, meats, cheese, smoked salmon and assorted fruits along with a bottle of their favourite chilled wine with all the essential trimmings.

"Oh Archie, that's lovely" she exclaimed as she rushed to give him a hug "how did you know this was just what I wanted today?"

"Call it male intuition" he replied cheekily "I just thought we could do with a really relaxing afternoon after the week we've just had so I thought what could be easier – just put it all outside and the birds can pick up the crumbs afterwards. Now, don't I deserve something for reading your mind?"

"Of course" Lexie slid down to the ground, wrapped her arms around him and gave a huge hug and a sloppy kiss which gradually became more gentle and passionate as time went on.

Later that afternoon they were to be found still slumped against the oak tree but surrounded now by the slightly sordid remains of the picnic. They both had glasses in their hands as they leaned back against the trunk and surveyed the scene in front of them.

"Do you remember when we first came to look at this place together" whispered Lexie.

"Yes, we'd looked at so many places hadn't we and they none of them had seemed right. Too run down, too small, too awkward, no character, wrong location." Archie frowned at the memory.

"And then we came to this one. We nearly didn't. Do you remember the agent telling us it was a farm and we thought 'why does he think we want to buy a farm?'"

"Yes, and when we had looked at it" continued Lexie "we came out here and stood under this tree and just looked at each other and we both said 'this is it'. We just knew didn't we?"

Archie gazed across at the farm that they had grown to love. "You know it's funny isn't it. At one time I don't think I could ever have thought of anywhere except Glenbogle as 'home' but now it's different. This is ours, just yours and mine, sort of special to us. Glenbogle is a very special place and I will always love it and want to go back and visit but the people will change up there and I think it is the people of Glenbogle that I miss the most. I'd love to see some of them again."

Lexie sipped on her wine and shared his thoughts. She too missed seeing some of their old friends up there and then she fell to thinking of all the things that had happened there since she first met Molly and went to live in the big house.

She so remembered the first time she had laid eyes on Archie. He had sauntered up the drive one day while she was cleaning in the hall and, she could admit it to herself now, she had been instantly smitten. Never for one moment thought that she would ever end up being married to him, let alone being a lady laird. So many things happened in Glenbogle that she would never want to forget.

"Of course" Lexie sat up with a start and Archie, who had been half asleep next to her, nearly fell over sideways as his support disappeared.

"Eh, what's up Lex?" he called as she rose to her feet and headed for the house.

"Back in a minute" she called to him.

The minute stretched into two, five, ten, and Archie was nodding off again by the time Lexie came out of the house again carrying a battered cardboard box. She dropped it down on the ground under the tree and Archie sat up with a start.

"Wha .. What's up? What's going on?"

"I've decided it's about time we sorted through this box of photographs and found some great ones to put up on the wall" explained Lexie.

Archie peered into the box. "Blimey, I didn't know we had this many. What do you want to do with them?"

She eyed him up and down and sighed, "Well it was all that talk about memories. We brought these down with us from Glenbogle but I kind of left them because when we first got here I didn't want all the memories hanging around us – fresh start and all that. But I think we can safely say we're over that now and I want to have a few pictures around. There are some frames in here as well and I can get some more if we need them."

Archie grinned up at her. "That's a great idea Lex. We haven't got any photographs up at all have we." He patted the ground next to him and reached for the box. "Now what have we got in here."

Lexie knelt down beside him and they delved inside. They were quite a mixture and had been thrown together in some haste before they left. There were a few old ones from the family archive that Molly had given them, some old clippings, photos that Lexie had saved up over the years and some quite recent snaps. It was a bit like opening up a treasure chest as neither of them could remember what exactly was in there.

"Hey Lex," yelled Archie "Look at this." He was holding up a picture of the front of Glenbogle House with a group of people standing in front of it. There were various members of the family and also various members of staff. Golly was standing stiffly to attention and Duncan was grinning and looking self-conscious. "And who might that be?" Archie was grinning at her.

Lexie looked a little embarrassed as she stared back at a young girl with long dark hair tied into pigtails, wearing a bright green top, a flowering skirt with pink leg warmers underneath and holding a yellow feather duster.

"Oh God, I looked awful Arch. I can't believe Molly actually took me on looking like that."

"Nonsense, she just took it as part of your character. Just like we all did. In fact that was one of the things that first attracted me really. The way you always did your own thing and never mind what anyone else thought about it."

"Oh, so now I don't wear pink slippers with orange skirts you'll be going off me then" giggled Lexie as she gave his arm a squeeze and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Lex, you know I'd still love you whether you were wearing leopard skin print all over or black pin stripe, though …" he hesitated "personally I prefer the black rubber."

She gave him a friendly slap and carried on looking through the box.

"Ah, now there's a face from the past." She pulled out a picture of a man dressed in a wet suit standing next to the jetty in the front of the house and passed it over to Archie.

"Fleming" said Archie "Gosh, how long is it since we heard from him? We must get in touch again."

Lexie took the picture back and smiled as she gave it a stroke. "My Lancelot, you were always there to advise us weren't you? My knight in shining armour – or in this case black rubber. Are you sure you're not smitten Archie?"

He grinned back at her. "Somehow Fleming in black rubber doesn't have quite the same allure."

Lexie stared down at Lancelot Fleming's face. He had been the one bank representative that had really understood Glenbogle when the finances were at their worst and without his help they might well have lost the estate completely. "Arch, we must get him to come and visit."

Archie nodded "I agree. I liked good old Flem. Maybe he could give us some of his sound financial advise regarding the catering business."

"Mmmm" murmured Lexie who was back looking in the box again.

"You know some of these photographs I haven't seen for ages. Look at this one, it was taken on your parent's 40th wedding anniversary."

Archie looked down on a picture of Hector and Molly standing arm in arm on the lawn at Glenbogle House. The picture was obviously taken by flash at night and they were smiling into each other's faces with the glow from the fireworks shining on their cheeks.

"Yes, I think Golly took that one. It's good isn't it. Shall we frame that one? It's how I'd like to see them."

"Right then, I'll put the ones we want to have out to one side" said Lexie as she placed the picture to one side. "How about this one then?" She passed over a snap of Duncan and Golly standing by the wolf pen. Duncan was holding up a large salmon for the camera and Golly held some fishing rods. "Look at the smile on Duncan's face. It looks like he's caught that fish not Golly but we know better don't we Arch. Do you remember the salmon that had to be dug off the top of the electric fence?"

"Yes, I can still remember the smell as well" replied Archie. "Hey, have a look at this one. I haven't seen this one in ages. Mother must have slipped it in."

He held up a slightly faded and dog-eared photograph of a family group standing on some steps outside a building. There was a man in a tweed suit, a young woman holding the hand of a young child and two other children – a boy of about 5 and a girl of maybe 2 or 3.

"Recognise them?"

Lexie peered at the photograph and then her eyes opened wide in recognition.

"Why that's all your family. That's Hector and Molly – doesn't she look pretty – and that must be Jamie and Lizzie and – oh gosh – Archie that isn't you surely? You're wearing a dress! Don't tell me your parents really wanted a girl and chose to put you in a dress when you were small."

"Of course not. That's what every child wore in those days. Well .. every child of a certain class that is. Just when they were young of course. I remember mother telling me it was something to do with being very practical for nappy changing or something. Not that she did too much of that. We had Nanny Sharp until it was time for us to go to boarding school."

"Well I hope you weren't still wearing a dress when they packed you off to school" giggled Lexie. She spotted his discomfort and added "well I'm sure you looked very smart – once they decided you could actually be a boy."

Archie stared at the photograph. "Jamie and Lizzie aren't dressed much better. One things for sure we're not going to dress our children in anything like that."

A troubled look passed across Lexie's face. "You know Archie it might not happen straight away, or even at all. These things don't always happen just when we want them to."

"I know that Lex but it's not going to happen to us."

"Well I don't know about that. I was talking to Jill the other day and she told me they were trying for three years before she got pregnant with Emily. They started having tests and everything and they were thinking it just wasn't going to be. Then she fell pregnant just when they were about to see some specialist. That's why this new pregnancy was a bit of a surprise to them. A nice surprise of course."

"Well that's Jill and Matt you're talking about. We're going to be different."

Archie reached out and pulled Lexie over into his arms so that he could squeeze her tightly in a loving embrace. She smiled and reached up to return his kiss. "Well we'll just have to wait and see" she whispered.

Archie looked over her shoulder and his eyes took in the house and the garden and the buildings that represented their future. It was good to look through the photographs and share the memories but what was most important to him was right here with him now. He reached down for one photograph that he had spotted earlier.

"Look Lex, remember this?"

She broke from his embrace to see that he was holding up a photograph of themselves. It was taken on the day of their wedding after they had got back from the hillside. All their closest friends and family were standing by the door as Archie carried Lexie over the threshold of Glenbogle House. They were all clapping and laughing. It was such a happy picture.

"That's just got to go up hasn't it. It's just how I want to remember Glenbogle. Good people, good places, good times. It's not that we won't ever go back Lexie but things are different now. We'll always have the memories"

"And they are nearly all good memories, aren't they Arch?"

"Yes, good memories, Lex. I can even look back to the good times with Jamie and not get depressed."

"That's good Arch. Very good." She paused, thinking how Archie seemed so much more contented these days, then continued "Well we've finished all the wine. Shall I make us some coffee and we can look through the rest later?"

"That would do very nicely Mrs Macdonald."

Lexie headed for the house but just as she neared the door she heard his footsteps following her. "What is it Arch?"

"Just something I forgot to do when we moved in here."

With one movement he reached down and swept her up into his arms.

"Welcome to our new home Alexandra. May we and our children live long and happy lives here."