Highlands
A/N - Hello all. So to clear a few things up about this story before you read it. I'm not scottish, I am british but I'm not scottish. Everything in here is based on research, talking to my dad and Scottish friends. So please forgive me if I get something wrong, it's not going to be perfect. Second thing is, writing accents is hard, so I've garnished it a little. I know this isnt how all scottish people talk but I just want to illustrate the accents. Right, please enjoy and drop me a review if you really love it. Thanks for reading.
Also imagine Four in a Kilt. Just saying. Thank me later.
Chapter 1
"Right, need I remind you Miss Prior has been through a tremendous loss, so everyone had better be on their best behaviour! Understood?!" Hana finished warning everyone just as the car pulled up outside. The poor dear. Her eyes and cheeks were puffy from crying, splotchy faced and trying to hide how she was feeling clearly.
"Hello Dear. How are you?" Hana asked kindly and Bea looked at her with sad eyes.
"I'm doing okay Hana, thank you. Hello everyone. My names Bea, I'm not sure if you all know me, its been a wee while since I've been home. I just want to reassure you that all yer jobs are safe. Obviously you worked for my Da, and yer all welcome to hand in yer notice. You'll be able to stay until ye find something else and if ye need longer, we can work something out. Just like with my da if there are any problems please dinnae hesitate to come and find me." She gave a gentle smile and picked her little suitcase up.
"Let me get that for you Miss Prior. We were just wondering which bedroom you would like." Hana touched her shoulder, reassuringly.
"The master bedroom please." She wanted to feel close to her maw and da. She missed them, god she did. She hadn't seem them in a while. Nearly 2 years. Too busy with working. Not that she would need to do that anymore. Her parents left her enough money that she could afford to pay all the staff, keep up traditions and live comfortably for the rest of her life. She had responsibilities now. She had inherited the castle, the castle veterinary surgery, the castle riding school and the farm that lay on the other end of the huge grounds. She had traditions etc she had to uphold. She was a Lady. She had a spot on the board of her fathers company, granted it by the CEO after her fathers passing. She had to attend a few meetings via conference call, go to a few gala's and weigh in on some decisions. It paid a handsome amount. She was set for life. This was never what she wanted, she thought she had more time, time to live a relatively normal life. All this wealth and status, it wasn't something she wanted. But her ma and da were gone so all this was hers now.
"Christina could you change the sheets and turn down the bed for me honey?" The girl, Christina, disappeared upstairs to do as she was told. She would make the room perfect for the new Lady of the house.
"Right, so this is Eric Coulter, he is house manager, Tobias Eaton head of security, Tori Wu manages the riding school you now own, Amar is our vet extraordinaire and George is the handyman and grounds keeper so if anything breaks you go to him. Then we've got your head chef Zeke, you remember him from when you were wee right? He can make you anything you want, even if its just a cheese toastie or a bowl of cereal. Uriah is our sous chef, Shauna and Marlene work at the school, Will is Amar's assistant and Peter and Al work with Tobias as security. There's Molly and Drew, Molly is a maid and Drew is the castle driver too, but they live off site." She nodded, feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all.
"How about we get you into the lounge and get you some tea?" Bea nodded gratefully and Hana lead her away.
She lay in the bed, clutching one of the throw pillows, crying her eyes out. She was in so much pain, she missed them so much. Memories of her da and maw, from when she was little, to when she was older, supporting her, giving her every available opportunity in life, always believing in her. They had their way of living, everyone does and she may not have liked it all as she grew, but she loved them regardless and too lose them like this, was just so, unfair. How was it fair that a drunk driver on the wrong side of the road could steal everything she held dear? How was that fair? What had she done to deserve this? To deserve losing her parents and brother at the tender age of 22.
Her cries could be heard throughout the castle. It broke Hana's heart as she was setting for dinner. She left the dinning room and saw Eric, stood at the bottom of the stairs.
"Do ye think we should?" Hana shook her head and patted the much taller man on the shoulder.
"She needs space honey. She'll be alright. She just needs to get it out."
She found herself alone at the dinner table, sad. She was used to eating alone but that was on her sofa with the TV to keep her company in her cosy flat. She felt empty in such a big space. Hana poked her head around the door to check on her.
"Does everyone eat at the same time?" Hana nodded, approaching Bea, making sure she had made a good go at her dinner. Barely touched.
"Aye they do." Bea smiled thoughtfully, pushing her pasta around the plate.
"Would you and the others perhaps like to join me for dinner? I'm feeling rather lonely with all this empty space." Hana's face light up as she rushed from the room. She ushered the others into the room and they all sat around the table. Bea launched into an animated conversation with Shauna and Marlene about the riding school and about her mothers horse, Shasta.
"Perhaps I'll take her out for a ride after dinner. I'd have to dig my saddle and tack out of its chest though. I havnae ridden in a long while, I'm nay sure I'll remember how." She admitted gingerly, it really had been years since she'd been riding.
"How about Tobias escorts you? We've had a spot of trouble with travellers on the lands. They've been known to try and relieve people of their belongings and horses. Is that alright with you Tobias?" He looked up from his conversation with Zeke and just nodded, cracking a small smile at Bea.
"Of course. Cannae have the travellers bothering the lady of the castle. Get changed after dinner and we'll get tacked up." She smiled softly, nodding and finished up her food.
She liked having people around her. Made her feel less alone in the world. It was helping her to move through what she had lost so suddenly. She knew deep down they worked for her and they had to be nice to her, but she discarded that. Hana was like family, so were the boys. She had known them for most of her life. She remembered she used to play with Zeke and Uriah. It, stuck in the mud. Her ma and da never saw them as staff, though they worked for them, they were still family. That was the outlook she had, one she had all but inherited from her father and her grandmother. Edith. She remembered Granny Edith so vividly, making kilts for the games. A tradition she hoped to bring back.
"Had Me Maw and Da made any plans for the games Hana?" The elder woman frowned then, shaking her head.
"Not to my knowledge darling. If Miss Natalie had, she didnae share it with me. You don't have to host this year, nobody would fault ye for postponing until next year." She sipped her water and just have a gentle shake of the head.
"Not gonnae happen, I'll get right on it tomorrow morning. We havnae missed a games since world war 2 and we aren't about to start now." This made Hana and the rest of the table grin. She had perked up considerably since her arrival. Hana hoped that the games would provide a good distraction for Bea. She needed an outlet, something to pour her emotions into.
Hana knew grief, after losing her husband to war in Iraq and fleeing to the UK with her two young children. Life had been hard when she had first arrived. Being 29 with two young children, not a word of english and very little to her name. She had been taken to london originally, housed by Lewisham Council, working a minimum wage bar job in the city, when one day she had met Mr Prior. He was in London on business and had come into the pub where she worked. They had struck up a conversation, he'd asked about her life and he had been on his way. Until a few weeks later he returned with Mrs Prior. They offered her a job. A better life. By the end of the week she and the boys were on the Prior estate and within a year, she was happier then she had been in ages. She'd found a new family in the Prior's and she was so grateful for everything they had done for her and her boys. She would never stop being grateful.
She remembered a year or so after she started working for them, Miss Natalie had fallen pregnant with her second child. She had been so sick early on and Hana remembered giving Miss Natalie a special brewed tea her mother made when she was pregnant with Zeke and Uriah. It cleared the morning sickness right up and the women bonded even closer then they had previously been.
She had been with Miss Natalie through the whole pregnancy and was one of the first people to hold Baby Beatrice. She was a quiet baby, an angel and as she grew, she stayed reserved, but always smiling, such a kind girl. Caleb on the other hand, he had always been... A precocious child. He was very, Lordly. A little up his own ass but never overly horrible. Just expected the better things. But everyone was still heartbroken to see him gone.
Hana knew Bea would come into her own, that when she had time for the wounds to heal, she would become something great. She would hit the ground running with her responsibilities and run the place smoothly, just like her mother and father had. Bea had Hana and Eric by her side, they knew he place inside out back to front. Hana knew she would honour the memory of her parents and the legacy of her family. She had so much of her father in her, he was a lovely man but so determined and stubborn. She had the same stubborn streak but it was balanced well by her mothers kind heart. She looked so much like Natalie but she had Andrew's golden blonde locks. He always joked it was the viking in him. Natalie subsequently joked he was too proper to be a viking.
