Kidnapped in Dunvegan

20

Not only Tom was disappointed at me handing in my notice, the director and my other colleagues were too. However, I soon forgot about my guilty conscience when I saw the wonderful old town house in Maryfield Street which Adam had bought. The charm of this old building captivated me immediately. It had high stucco ceilings, dark floor boards and large windows.

He had left the furnishing to an interior architect who had really left nothing to be desired. Before my first day at work, I still had a little bit of time which we spent looking around Edinburgh. Adam showed me the Royal Mile, the zoo, the harbor and countless museums and galleries.

I had been to see a gynecologist in the meantime and she had prescribed me with the pill because having sex without protection had been a little too sensitive. My cycle had still been pretty reliable, but I didn't want to rely on it completely. Adam would have loved to become a father, but I didn't feel quite ready for it yet.

I wanted to settle into my new job and into my new home town first. Adam and I had now been together for four months. Fortunately, the gallery had left me with enough time to give my notice at my old job, to find a new place to live and to sort out anything else that needed sorting out. My grandmother was delighted at my decision to go to Edinburgh. So delighted in fact that she decided to come with me at short notice. She said there was nothing else to keep her in London. And to be honest, I was happy that she took this decision. I would have found it really difficult to have left her all alone, especially as we were now getting along so well.

Adam and I had spent the weeks leading up to our move in my tiny apartment in London. I think this confinement had brought us even closer together. In any case, it prepared us well for our future life.

Adam had traveled to Dunvegan two days ago to pick up a few things from there and to look after everything. I was certain that he would attend to his distillery on a regular basis, but I didn't mind. He planned to open a bar here in Edinburgh. He didn't want to be left without any work and the idea of running his own bar had always appealed to him.

I came home loaded up with items for our new house that I had purchased on Princess Street. Adam welcomed me with a nervous smile on his face.

"Has your whiskey warehouse blown up?", I asked and looked at him with my head tilted.

"No. Don't say something like that. I don't want it to happen for real." He took the shopping off me and put it on the sideboard in the modernly furnished kitchen. I had opted for jet black cupboards. I know, the finger prints.

Adam pulled me towards his chest and kissed me. "I missed you."

"Oh really?", I said mischievously. "I didn't miss you, I was shopping."

"Yes, what is it with shopping? You women are always disloyal when it comes to shoes."

I punched his chest. "I didn't buy any shoes. Just items to decorate the house with."

"That's just as bad." He kissed me again, this time more intensely. "I have to tell you something," he said and took my hand. He took me right to the top floor under the rooftop of our house. When I was last upstairs, it was a typical attic and I was actually convinced that it was still like this. However, when Adam pushed open the door, I was speechless.

He had extended the attic. Paintings were hanging on the walls from the gallery at the estate in Dunvegan. He had put up the portraits of his parents on the gable end. He led me into the new gallery. "Here is your very own studio," he said proudly. "Your grandmother told me that you used to paint a lot."

My heart swelled with love for this man. How could I have ever thought that the romanticizing of Aidan was love? The memories I had of Aidan had long since disappeared. Everything I thought this man had done to me, had been wiped away by Adam with the love and affection he showed me. He had proven time and again over the last few weeks that he really loved me. We had talked for hours about what had happened at Glenoak Hall. He accompanied me to see my therapist. We had bought this house and he had touchingly looked after my grandmother and built her her own little kingdom on the ground floor here. And he had given up his old life in Dunvegan for me. And if that wasn't enough, he had brought all the paintings here along with the desk which we had made love on for the first time. How romantic was that?

The only man I had truly loved led me to an easel that he had bought for me. It was placed in front of the only window up here. He stood still in front of the easel, took my hands and looked at me lovingly. "So, do you like it?"

"And how," I shouted and threw myself into his arms.

Adam pushed me away from him and had that nervous look on his face again. He reached out for the cloth that was hanging over the easel and pulled it down in one go.

I stumbled backwards. The cloth had covered a canvas with two interlocking rings painted on it. Adam knelt down in front of me and I looked at him in panic and disbelief. I had a rush of blood to the head and I felt like I was going to suffocate. He wasn't going to do it, was he?

"Linda Sands. You've changed my life. You've changed me. You've taught me to trust again. I don't know anybody else that can give so much honest, sincere and unconditional love. You have awoken emotions in me that I have never felt before. I can't live another second without you. Please be my wife!" Adam looked at me with pure love in his eyes that made me tremble and erased any last doubt I might have had about him somewhere inside me.

I stared at Adam breathlessly and at the picture with the gold rings. My heart jumped in my chest because my new life was starting with so many surprises. I had expected almost anything, but not this. And what else did I have to say? I love this man, so I decided to marry him.