Mac Galbraith.
No way in hell did he look old enough to give Robyn away, but then he’d fathered her when he was barely sixteen years old. Robyn leaned into him as he murmured something in her ear, and she grinned, looking up at him with love. Mac never would’ve dreamed this moment would come.
But when Robyn arrived in Ardnoch a year ago, it was to see him. She wanted answers from Mac about his absence in her life, never knowing that her mother had sent back his letters and gifts. I’d been worried at the time that she’d come here to make him feel worse about their estrangement. Yet it had become clear how much Robyn loved Mac, how much she needed him.
Their reconciliation hadn’t been easy for many reasons, but they were too alike, too bonded, for it not to happen. No one could’ve imagined that in reconnecting with her dad, Robyn would fall in love with my eldest brother, or that Lachlan would fall so head over heels for her that he’d propose only months after their meeting, and insist on hurrying her down the aisle within the year.
But when you knew, Lachlan said, you just knew.
Their union provided the bonus for Mac that Robyn was now a permanent resident in Scotland. He wouldn’t have to say goodbye to her again. I knew that meant the world to him. He adored her.
For that reason, that love between him and her, between him and the rest of my family, I had a hellish future to look forward to. To pretend anytime we had to share a room that I didn’t despise him. Resent him. Wish I’d never laid eyes on him.
He was the source of nothing but pain.
And now humiliation.
I hated him.
Thirteen years between Regan and Thane.
Thirteen years between Mac and me.
If they could do it, so could we, right?
Naively, I’d assumed so.
But Mac had unequivocally shown me the error of my thinking. His reaction to what transpired between us weeks ago had been brutally humiliating, and I’ll never forgive him for it.
The memory scalded my throat, and he caught my gaze before I could look away.
The bastard had the audacity to look dejected.
I wrenched my attention from him and focused on Lachlan.
I focused on the way he couldn’t hide his eagerness to take Robyn from Mac, the way he broke tradition to pull her against him and murmur hoarsely, “You’re so beautiful,” before brushing his lips over hers.
At least he had his love.
And Thane had his.
If I couldn’t have mine, I could be grateful that the people I loved most had theirs.
Lachlan’s wedding planner had transformed the large dining room into a reception hall, filled with round tables, white tablecloths, lantern centerpieces, and twinkle lights galore. The dining room led to one of the club’s reception areas, but it, too, had been transformed. They’d installed a temporary dance floor, and while there was a deejay for later, Lachlan had hired a contemporary Scottish fiddle band who journeyed over from Orkney. They’d play after dinner, and I knew the guests would love the fast-paced, energetic folk music. We’d hired the band for an event prior, and they went down a treat.
All guests had been asked to leave their phones in their rooms or estate homes, and the only person allowed to take photographs was the wedding photographer. Lachlan didn’t want images of the wedding splashed over the front pages of every tabloid in the country. When he’d quit Hollywood to start the members-only club, he knew he’d always have one foot still in that world, but he was adamant his wedding remain private. The Adair family had been in the news enough these past few months.
I sat on one arm of the U-shaped top table. To Robyn’s right was Mac; Thane sat on Lachlan’s left. Regan sat next to Thane, followed by Eilidh, Lewis, and me on the adjoining arm of the table. We’d deliberately put the kids between me, Regan, and Thane because we were three of the four adults they went to most for everything, and weddings could be overwhelming. We wanted them to feel safe and happy after all that had happened to them.
Beside Mac was his ex, Robyn’s mum, Stacey. When she smiled, she was attractive, but unfortunately, she’d spent most of the day wearing a scowl. On the opposite arm of the table next to Stacey was Robyn’s stepfather and Regan’s father, Seth Penhaligon. I liked Seth. He was friendly, down-to-earth, and laid-back.
Robyn had gone through the painful dilemma of deciding which father would walk her down the aisle. After a long conversation with Seth, he told her to ask Mac. She told me Seth said that if she wanted Mac to be her dad for the rest of her life, then she had to treat him like it.
I thought that said a lot about the man Seth Penhaligon was. After all, he’d raised Robyn for most of her life. Unfortunately, since their arrival in Scotland, Stacey couldn’t have made it any clearer that it pissed her off Seth wasn’t walking Robyn down the aisle.
Everyone, including her husband, had ignored her huffy behavior.
Next to Seth sat Eredine, and next to Eredine was Jaz, and at the round table closest to us, Brodan, Arran, Jaz’s husband Autry, and their two daughters, Asia and Jada.