Chapter 13

By the time Katy and her mother had returned, Harry and I were engaged in conversation about our future plans. One of the things he had asked about concerned our relationship after the wedding.

"You are undertaking a four year degree course, do you intend to finish that before starting a family?" He wanted to know.

"Originally we were we going to wait until we had both graduated before doing so." I had informed him. "I think that is still our intention, though it would not be a disaster if we made a mistake. We could afford to hire a nanny to take care of the baby when we had to be in college but we would much prefer doing the parenting ourself."

It was at this point that the shoppers returned. When Katy entered the room and saw that her dad and I were engaged in earnest conversation I could see her eyebrows rise in surprise.

I smiled sweetly at her. "Your dad and I were discussing our future plans. He wanted to know whether or not we would wait until after we graduated before we started a family. I let him know that was our intention."

"I think that is the best idea," Katy said taking my remarks in her stride, "But if you were in a hurry darling, we could always begin trying in the last term of our fourth year. That would mean you might have a very demanding Christmas gift."

"I think I should say at this point, that Calum and I have had an interesting discussion while you were gone. We covered some of the ground that you mother has been urging on me such as having me reassess my attitude to your forthcoming wedding,"

Her Father added

"Am I to take it that if you two are talking about their future plans for after the wedding, that some kind of re-assessment has taken place?" Sylvia wanted to know.

"Oh I would think you could assume that," his Lordship replied as if it was a normal thing for him to do. "Calum said that he understood some of my concerns about having their relationship sprung upon me when I knew nothing about the young man concerned. He also told me a bit about his background and I agreed in the light of that he was probably a very suitable mate for our daughter."

"As a result of our conversation Lord Harry said if I could forgive his rather ungracious attitude towards our planned wedding which we sprung it upon him, then he would welcome me into his family. This seemed to be a very gracious offer, so I accepted on behalf of Katy and myself and said we would start afresh and that we would look forward to his future cooperation in our endeavours."

Katy looked as if she was about to say something but her father spoke first.

"Before you say anything Katy, I have listened to both you and your mother and taken on board what you have both said to me about the way I reacted to what happened in your bedroom with your brother. I can see with hindsight that I should have reacted differently, I apologise, but I can't undo what has happened. I can only applaud the fact that with Calum's help you seem to be overcoming the difficulties this caused."

Katy was quiet for a moment as she thought about what her father had said. I think it was something that she had never expected to hear from him. However, when she responded she had obviously decided to be reconciliatory.

"I accept your apology father, and like Calum, I hope we can forge a new and better relationship in the future. Any time you feel like coming up with mum prior to the wedding we will be happy to see you."

"Then I will look forward to seeing your new home and perhaps Calum and I can have a round of golf while I am there. I will look forward to that. Harry has told me Robby and Paul both play golf so maybe we should try for a foursome on the Old Course sometime since that is the only way you are allowed on. Since they are residents of the town we may be able to get a tee time by that route ... I also know one or two members on the R & A committee, so if they fail, we can put our name in the draw. aI I can also try for a favour. Being a lord sometimes gets you things that are denied to other mortals," he said with a grin.

"Then let's keep our fingers crossed," I told him. "I have never played the Old Course and I would really like to have a go on it. Still, if we don't manage it this time, there are a lot of other good courses in the area. There is even another open championship venue just up the road at Carnoustie."

"If you two are finished discussing your golfing possibilities you might like to hear how we got on with our shopping trip," Sylvia declared.

"We saw the style of wedding dress which Katy would like so there is a firm near Saint Andrews which makes dresses to order. It is not too far from the town so she is going to take Patty and Pam with her and see if they can get something in that style and perhaps also get the girls to choose the style and color of the bridesmaid's dresses they would like to wear."

"That's good;" I responded, "It will be easier if we can purchase things locally because they will probably need several fittings."

At this stage the Doctor and his wife rejoined us. They had gone to spend the day sightseeing and visiting friends. With their return the conversation centred around what they had been doing and what they had seen. Eventually when the conversation had died down we went off to our rooms to prepare for dinner.

The following day all the invited guests arrived for Christmas dinner. Before the meal began Lord Harry stood up and welcomed his guests.

"When you arrived," he told them, "You were introduced to Calum as my daughter's boyfriend. That was not the whole truth, because I wanted the pleasure of making this announcement now. It is with some pleasure that I can announce that they are now engaged and that they will be married in July in the University Chapel of Saint Andrews and my wife and I are pleased to welcome Calum into our family."

I could see that Sylvia was very pleased to see this change of heart by his lordship, I have to admit I had a wry chuckle myself. At one stage I thought it would be a long time before we would be comfortable visiting them in their home because his attitude towards us seemed so entrenched. However he was proving to be much more flexible in his thinking than I had first thought.

After dinner we received congratulations from all of the guests and Katy and I were much in demand as people asked us about our home in St. Andrews and our future plans once we had finished our university course. One or two were very impressed when they found out that both of us had passed our private pilot's license and that we had flown ourselves down here.

One of the guests turned out to be a senior airline pilot and he queried the fact that we hired a plane for our excursions,

"Isn't that quite expensive?" he asked. "Would it not be cheaper in the long run to buy your own plane?"

"We are planning to do that," I told him, "But when we were taking the course we felt we were better using our instructor's plane. When we get back we are going to look seriously for one to buy."

"If you are interested, I have a friend who is the British agent for Beechcraft and I know that he happens to have two secondhand Beechcraft musketeers which are only two and three years old. The two year old seats four plus two, the older one seats four. If you are interested I could arrange a meeting with him. They are nice little planes."

.

"What kind of cost are we thinking about here?" I asked.

"About twelve thousand dollars for the two year old which seats four plus two and for the older one probably two thousand less but it is only seats four which is a bit more limiting, especially if you keep it any time and plan for a family. However, if money is not really an issue, the new Sierra which has just come into service this year would be a really good buy. It is just under twenty five thousand dollars, has a bigger engine and a retractable undercarriage. It is genuine six seater with good space for luggage.

"In that case I would be really interested in the new one and I really would be grateful if you could arrange a meeting for me with your friend."

He agreed he would get him to contact me and I left my home phone number with him and he gave me the phone number of his friend.

When we retired to our bedroom that evening Katy asked me if I was serious about buying our own plane and I assured her I was.

"Not only that," I said, "I wonder how long a runway we would need to land a Beechcraft Sierra. Because if our field was long enough it might be possible to get planning permission to create a hanger and landing strip. We could make inquiries when we get back. Maybe Robbie would help with that."

The rest of our stay was quite pleasant and the atmosphere much more relaxed because of Harry's change of attitude. The morning before we left he suggested that the next time we came down to visit, Katy and I should spend some time with him going over the business of his estate and the enterprises in which he was involved.