Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
“That bitch!” I shot up off my couch. All the hurt and pain she’d inflicted on Fyfe as a boy … I’d seen him the day she’d abandoned him for good. Seen something shatter in him. And she came back for the house instead of him?
I wanted to kill her. Pacing the room, I shook with the rage I couldn’t expel. “I’m going to hunt that cow down and eviscerate her. She thinks she has financial problems now? Wait until I get my hands on her. She’ll have to swim out of the fucking shipwreck of her life when I’m done with her! Fuck!”
A few seconds after the last expletive left my mouth, I was shocked by the sound of Fyfe’s laughter.
I froze mid pacing. “Fyfe?”
His amusement petered off. “Thank you.”
Puzzled and still infuriated I snapped, “For what?”
“Making me laugh on a day I didn’t think I could.”
“Oh.” That warm feeling cut through the anger.
“She’s not getting the house, Eils. I told her to get out of Ardnoch.”
I slumped back onto my sofa. “Good. But that doesn’t take away from the damage she inflicted today.”
“No,” he replied quietly. “It doesn’t.”
Tears burned my eyes. I hated that she could make him feel so unworthy and unwanted. “She’s a selfish fool, Fyfe. She doesn’t deserve to be your mother. She doesn’t deserve someone as special as you.”
“Eilidh …” His voice was hoarse around my name, his tone grateful, like I was salve on an open wound.
“She’s not your family, anyway. We are. The Adairs. You’re ours. We’re yours.” The urge to clarify that I was his the second he woke up to what could be between us was strong. But I held back.
I heard the smile in Fyfe’s voice as he replied, “I’m a grown man. Been on my own since I was a boy. And yet … I needed to hear that, Eils. Thank you.”
“Anytime, honey.” The endearment slipped out before I could stop it. “I’m always here for you.”
Five
EILIDH
Eighteen months ago
Despite my well-known sassy attitude, I had never fought with a director or producer or writer before in my life. I was a professional hired to do a job, and while I’d had careful discussions about script and direction if I wasn’t entirely happy with something, I’d never had an out-and-out barney with a director before.
The movie we were filming in Romania was a sci-fi romance. My costar was an up-and-coming actor, and I was grateful he was down-to-earth, easy to work with, and utterly devoted to his childhood sweetheart, so there was no weird sexual tension between us beyond the chemistry we brought to the screen.
That made being in Romania away from all my friends and family a wee bit easier. Especially because I was merely going through the motions of the movie. I’d realized over the last few that I’d begun rewriting parts of the scripts my manager sent me, and this movie was one of them. No one knew, but I’d started writing my own pilot script to pass the time when we weren’t filming. It was based on my family, on the Adair family and my uncle Lachlan’s members-only estate. I’d planned to write multiple episodes for a TV show.
I didn’t know if it was any good.
If I was talented enough.
But it felt better than the drivel they had me doing and spouting on this bloody film.
The truth was I was already on edge being “alone” in a Romanian forest for three months. I was missing Callie’s pregnancy and her and my brother falling back in love (or at least admitting they’d never actually fallen out of love). Lewis had bought a house, and I was the only one who hadn’t seen it yet! Moreover, Lewis had told me Morwenna confessed she felt neglected by both of us. That made me feel like utter crap, so I was trying to connect more with my wee sister but she wasn’t making it easy. I needed to be in her physical presence. And this stupid film contract was standing in my way.
Fyfe was my saving grace. Our daily texts and biweekly calls kept me sane.
When my father called to tell me Callie’s cottage had been broken into, I cracked. I had to get home. I had to check in on my brother and Callie.
My director said no.
When I threatened to walk away from the film entirely if he didn’t let me leave, he’d bellowed at me, so I’d yelled back, and Liz, the producer, had to step between us. She was calm, collected, and amazing. Somehow she managed to convince my arse of a director to do without me for the weekend. Look, I wasn’t stupid. I knew delays equaled money. But sometimes people were more important than a budget.
We got straight on the phone to Uncle Lachlan and he gave us permission to land a chartered plane on the private airfield on his estate.