He laughed now. ‘Ah, I see. Those kinds of luxuries. Although as for the make-up, you really don’t need it. You look lovely without. All fresh-faced and youthful.’
Caitlin felt heat rising from her chest to her cheeks. ‘Oh, stop it. My head won’t fit through the tent door.’
He held out his hands. ‘I’m just being honest.’
They walked along in companionable silence for a while, watching the girls bending to examine the flora and fauna by the edge of the sea loch, then chasing each other and laughing uncontrollably. They seemed so comfortable together. Even the dogs were behaving like they’d know each other a lifetime, jumping and yipping before rolling around on the ground and starting over again.
‘So how are you finding parenthood?’ Caitlin asked eventually.
Archie inhaled a deep breath and let it out quickly. ‘Exhausting. Exasperating sometimes. But always wonderful. Sophie is so smart. Seriously, she blows me away with the things she says.’ Pride emanated from him in waves. ‘I read to her every night, and she loves story time. When we’re there, snuggled up with a book, I can almost believe she’s forgotten all the painful stuff she’s been through, and I can’t think of anything I’d rather do more than read to her. Watching her little eyes light up when we read her favourites. She especially likes one about a mouse called Contrary Mary, she giggles like crazy every time, even though she’s heard it before. She’s been asking me about the stars, too, so we’ve been looking at a book about the night sky. She lived in quite a built-up part of Edinburgh so seeing the stars for real just mesmerises her. She’s a bright, wee thing and can remember loads. I know it’s early days, but I can’t put into words how much I love her. Is that weird?’
Caitlin was suddenly hit with a wave of emotion on hearing his words. He was such a wonderful man. She shook her head. ‘Not at all. You seem so natural with her. And it’s clear she adores you. No one would believe you’ve only been together a matter of weeks.’
Archie’s cheeks flushed a little. ‘Really? That means such a lot coming from you. Thank you.’
There was a deep sincerity to his words that was also evident in his eyes. Caitlin’s stomach flipped again, and she found her gaze drawn to his lips. What would it feel like to kiss him? Would there be passion? Would he be sweet and romantic…Oh, good grief, I need to stop this right now.
Archie stopped. ‘You know earlier when we were at the table, and we were talking about my culinary skills… or lack thereof?’ She nodded and he continued, ‘You mentioned my new lady—’
‘No! Bowie! You’re all wet!’ Grace squealed as the pug came out of the water and shook all over her. Sophie’s belly laugh was contagious and soon they were all howling.
‘Whoops! Better take them back to dry off,’ Caitlin said, happy for the rapid change of topic. Whatever he was going to say about his girlfriend could wait until she felt stronger, whenever that might be.
Archie scowled. ‘Aye, looks that way.’
Grace and Sophie came back to where they stood, and Bowie shook again. Causing the girls to shriek once more as droplets of water covered them. Who knew such a little dog could create such a downpour?
* * *
Once the dogs were dried and the girls, too, Archie set up the telescope in readiness for later. Then he handed out the blankets and the four of them huddled together on the ground to look up at the night sky. Bowie curled into Sophie’s side, his favourite spot, and within moments, he was snoring loudly.
Even though it wasn’t completely dark – that was due to something called astronomical twilight that occurred on Skye, between April and August, according to Archie – Caitlin’s breath was stolen as her eyes acclimatised to the loss of daylight, and myriad twinkling stars became visible overhead. Some appeared to be solitary, whereas some seemed to be attached by an invisible thread keeping them together. ‘Wow! That’s incredible,’ she whispered. ‘I’ve never really looked so closely at the night sky before, but it’s…’
‘Magical, isn’t it?’ Archie replied. ‘It’s even better later in the year, but I think it might be a little too chilly for the weans.’
She turned her face towards him. ‘And the biguns,’ she said with a laugh, and he joined in.
Archie shuffled under his blanket and pointed to the distance. ‘Grace, see there, that constellation that looks like a double u? That’s Cassiopeia, where your star is.’
Grace gasped. ‘Oh, wow! Yes! I can see it.’ Grace had been overjoyed with Archie’s thoughtful gift and the picture was hung on the wall where she could see it from her bed.
He continued, ‘And just a little higher in the sky you can see Polaris, otherwise known as the North Star. People have used it for navigation for many, many years. And then a little higher still, you can see a constellation that looks like a saucepan, do you see?’
‘I see it, Daddy! It’s the Plough, isn’t it?’ Sophie said.
‘That’s right, well done, sweetheart, you remembered!’ Pride filled his voice.
Sophie giggled. ‘I did.’
Archie scuttled out from under his blanket and pointed the telescope up to the heavens. ‘Who wants to see them up close?’
‘Ooh, me!’ Caitlin said, caught up in the moment, the romance of the setting, the adventure of being outside. She’d never seen the stars through a telescope before and the thought of it excited her. She scrambled from under her own blanket.
‘Okay, put your eye here,’ he told her, pointing at the eyepiece. ‘And adjust this here to focus it. If you point it that way you should see Polaris quite clearly.’
Caitlin crouched and looked through the eyepiece. What she saw astounded her. ‘Oh, wow! Look how bright it is!’
‘Aye, cool, eh? It’s used for navigation in the northern hemisphere because it pretty much stays in the same place all year round and the other stars move around it.’
