Love Heart Lane Series

She rolled the phone over and over in her hands. Drew’s screensaver was a photo of them all, a picture taken at the hospital when Angus was born. Isla took a deep breath and pressed the home button. She was relieved when the phone didn’t have a passcode, which she thought was a good sign. Surely if Drew had anything to hide, he would ensure his phone was locked at all times. Firstly, she scrolled through his messages, but they were just the usual texts from suppliers, and the usual banter about footie from Fergus and Rory. There was no-one in his contact list that she didn’t know and his photo albums were jam-packed with pictures of her and the boys, and she took a moment to appreciate the wonderful family they had. It made Drew’s moods even more worrying.

‘Apps … what apps does he have?’ said Isla, quickly scrolling. Her hands were sweating and her heart was thumping, but again there was nothing unusual and certainly no gambling apps.

‘What are you doing, Isla?’ she mumbled to herself.

She hadn’t got a clue what she was hoping to find but she certainly hadn’t found anything incriminating on Drew’s phone. And now she just felt bad for even looking. Riddled with guilt for thinking the worst, she plugged the phone back into the charger and took herself back off to bed.

A couple of hours after Drew had left Isla decided to make herself a strong coffee before waking Finn up for school. Thankfully Angus was still fast asleep in his cot.

She sat with her hands cupped around the mug, feeling disappointed in herself, and exhaled heavily.

‘Now that’s a sigh and a half.’

Isla looked up to see Martha ambling into the kitchen. ‘Headache tablets, I need headache tablets … you’d think I would have got the hang of this drinking lark at my age,’ she gave a small chuckle and pulled out the chair next to Isla.

‘Water?’ Isla asked as she stood up.

Martha managed a nod and gratefully accepted the glass and tablets from Isla as she swallowed down the pills.

‘Did you sleep well?’ asked Martha, picking up the paper that Isla had left on the table.

Isla hugged her mug of coffee and after a second noticed the drops of water on the table. She was crying.

‘What is it, dear? It can’t be that bad.’ Martha squeezed her hand, ‘What’s this all about?’

Isla tried to blink away her tears, but it was no use, her emotions bubbled to the surface and came spilling out. ‘Gran … I’ve done something terrible.’

Martha straightened herself up, her eyes widened.

‘Terrible … what sort of terrible?’

Isla told her gran about checking Drew’s phone, and about how awful she felt.

‘Don’t beat yourself up over it. His change in behaviour has caused you to question him. You’re just reacting to how he’s treating you. First things first, let’s get Finn ready for school. I’ll stay here with Angus and make us breakfast, you need to eat to keep your strength up, and then we’ll have a chat about what’s going on or what you think is going on.’

Isla broke eye contact and wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. ‘Thanks, Gran.’

Martha tilted her head, ‘Sometimes things happen for a reason and come to try us … but one thing I’ve learnt in my life so far, there’s no point wasting energy on worrying. You need to ask Drew outright what’s bothering him. Otherwise it will eat away at you both. Maybe he’s just exhausted, and we can’t be happy-go-lucky all the time, can we?’

Isla attempted to hitch a smile on her face, even though she was still feeling awful. ‘You are a wise old woman …’

‘I’ve had a lot of practice,’ said Martha, giving Isla’s hand a quick squeeze.

An hour later Finn was ready for school and kissed his great-grandma on the cheek before slipping on his coat.

‘Remember your promise,’ he said, attempting to wink at Martha, but he didn’t quite get it right and over-exaggerated a blink instead.

She tapped her nose and winked back. ‘I won’t forget.’

‘What’s going on here?’ asked Isla, feeling a little out the loop as she ushered Finn towards the front door.

‘Great-Gran has promised me one of those sticky buns from Bonnie’s teashop after school,’ he said with a huge grin.

‘That sounds like a very nice treat.’ Isla cupped her hand around Finn’s as they began to walk down the path towards school. She could see Drew and Fergus shepherding the cows towards the bottom field.

‘Do you think Daddy will let me help him out on the farm when I’m bigger?’ asked Finn, noticing his dad too.

‘Of course, but it’s very hard work. Early starts, late finishes and you don’t smell very nice most of the time,’ teased Isla, taking another glance towards Drew. Finn’s question had prompted her to think. Drew was so hard-working, the hours he put in at the farm left him exhausted. Maybe he was overworked recently and was lashing out at her because she was the closest one to him? Feeling sombre, she was suddenly sorry for arguing with him lately. Maybe he just needed to vent his frustrations?

‘I think you’ll make an excellent farmer,’ said Isla, smiling down at Finn. ‘Your daddy would love it if you followed in his footsteps.’

Finn screwed up his face. ‘Followed in his footsteps … my feet would need to grow very big.’

Isla laughed, ‘You’re a funny little boy.’

Foxglove Farm had been in Drew’s family for generations and Isla knew Drew hoped his boys would become farmers too one day. She felt privileged to live in this beautiful corner of the Scottish Highlands and waking up to the spectacular scenery was just magical, and if it wasn’t for Drew following in his father’s footsteps Isla had no clue where she would have ended up.

Isla spotted Felicity at the corner of Love Heart Lane. Esme was next to her, swinging her bag and chatting away. In the past Aggie had always walked Esme to school, but since she had suffered with pneumonia at the beginning of the year Fergus wanted to take the pressure off her and now he dropped Esme off at the teashop every morning on his way to work. Isla knew that Felicity cherished the extra time with Esme.

Isla called out to Flick and waved at her as she turned round to greet them. They waited for Isla and Finn to catch up and immediately Finn and Esme were joined at the hip and skipped off up the pavement in front of them both.

‘Finn, mind that puddle,’ but it was too late – his foot landed in the puddle and muddy water splashed up his leg. ‘One day we will get to school without any dramas,’ Isla smiled at him and shook her head jokingly. ‘You can change into your socks from your PE kit.’

‘How’s your head?’ smiled Felicity, stepping towards Isla and linking her arm through hers as they began walking.

‘Another night of not much sleep and it wasn’t down to the alcohol … between feeding Angus and my boomerang of a brain keeping me awake with its to-ing and fro-ing and constant worrying about what is worrying Drew.’ Isla’s voice wobbled. ‘And …’

‘And what?’ interrupted Felicity.

‘I checked his phone.’

‘Isla!’

‘I know, I know it was wrong, but wouldn’t you do the same if Fergus’s behaviour suddenly changed?’

‘I suppose,’ admitted Felicity. ‘And did you find anything?’

Isla shook her head, ‘Absolutely nothing.’

‘Well, that’s something, at least your mind should be at rest now.’

‘But there’s still something bothering him. I know him.’

‘I did question Fergus.’

‘You didn’t say I wanted to know, did you?’ asked Isla, feeling panicky.

‘Of course not! I just said you were feeling tired with the new baby and he said Drew is exhausted too.’