Tapestry of Love

By Catherine Carson

Isa Farrington is a needlework restoration expert working in a museum when she is asked to travel to the Lamont Estate in the Highlands of Scotland to repair an ancient tapestry which is rumoured to hold the key to lifting the curse imposed by the original needlewomen.
Lachlan Lamont the Laird of the estate makes it quite plain that he will only tolerate Isa if her presence does not disrupt the routine of the estate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781291769630

Book preview

Tapestry of Love

Tapestry of love

By Catherine Carson

Standard Copyright © Catherine Carson 2015

ISBN 978-1-291-76963-0 eBook

Profile of the author

Born in Scotland I now live with my husband in the North West of England.  We have three children who, between them have given us six wonderful grandchildren.

I studied commercial subjects at school and college and spent most of my working life in the offices of various companies, starting as a junior in a local garage typing invoices for car repairs.   I left Scotland and crossed the border to England to marry the man I met whilst on a holiday with my extended family and eventually became a secretary with a beer bottling company leaving six years later when the first of our three children came on the scene. 

Returning to the workforce when our children were young adults I finally untied the apron strings to join the offices of a large wholesale book supplier and embraced the advancement in technology since I had first learned to type on a manual typewriter and take notes in shorthand.

During the years I became something of a letter writer as friends and family lived in many parts of the country and indeed the world.  Often friends and family would tell me…..‘You could write a book’ to which I always replied…..‘But would anyone read it’. 

When my granddaughter asked if I would write a book especially for her I confided in my good friend Lisa Schmidt and she told me to go for it.  That book became the first of many stories which had been lurking in my imagination for a good number of years.

Once started I found the stories simply kept coming and often an overheard conversation or a glimpse from the passenger seat of the car would trigger a likely scenario which my imagination would then elaborate and weave into a story.

My hope is that my writing brings a little pleasure into the life of my readers and allows them to leave the mundane world behind for a few hours as they meet the characters I adore creating.

www.facebook.com/catherinecarsonbooks.uk

www.catherinerenacarson.jimdo.com

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to Julie who is always first to read my stories

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names.  They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author and all the incidents are pure invention.

Other Books by this Author

The Mouse in the Library

Family Ties

Overall Construction          

Wounded Wolf

Coffee and Cakes

Memories Rekindled

Wholesale Love

Hope’s Conflict

Estates of the Heart

Sibling Rivalry

Fighting for Custody

White Knight Black Knight

Through the Garden Gate…

Love Lost and Found

Alphabet Bachelors

A Dreamer’s Tale

A Precious Jewel

Footbridge of Solace

Girl Meets Boy

Demolition of the Heart

When Life Gives You Lemons

Return to the Past

Pretence & Reality

Opening a Can of Worms

Fields of Contention

A Heart Encased In Steel

Russian Revenge

~~~~~~

Tapestry of Love-Bk 1

Twins Exchanged-Bk 2

Highland Feud Bk-3

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Soil, Seed & Betrayal-Bk 1

Desert Prince, Exiled Princess-Bk 2

Body Language-Bk 3

~~~~~~

An Open Book-Bk 1

Afraid to Love-Bk 2

~~~~~~

A Second Chance-Bk 1

Taming the Playboy-Bk 2

~~~~~~

Estranged Husband & Father-Bk 1

Identical Mistake-Bk 2

~~~~~~

Sigh of the Claymore-Bk 1

Beyond Claymore-Bk 2

~~~~~~

Sneaking Into His Heart-Bk 1

Scent of the Heather-Bk 2

Chapter 1

Working behind the scenes restoring tapestries and embroidered art work in a north of England museum and art gallery Isa Farrington never expected to be making this journey but when Mrs Effie Lamont was invited into the workshop by the curator of the museum she took a great deal of interest in the work Isa was doing on a French tapestry recently acquired for the museum by one of its patrons.  ‘It must take a great deal of skill to reproduce the exact work carried out by the original needle worker who created this work of art.’ Effie Lamont commented to John Williams the curator.

‘It most certainly does and Isa here is one of the most skilful and diligent needle women we have ever employed.’

Isa had heard the comments and looked up into the bright blue eyes of a woman in her middle years her own grey eyes shining with happiness to know her boss thought highly of her.  She had trained at the local textile college and it was there she discovered her love of old embroidery and tapestry.  Researching the history and finding the exact colours and silks to repair such fine works gave her as much pleasure as actually sitting in front of a loom creating new pieces.

Following Mrs Lamont’s visit Isa was called into John Williams’ office and was asked if she would like to take on a challenge.  ‘What sort of challenge Mr Williams?’ her curiosity aroused. 

‘The lady who saw you working yesterday lives in the highlands of Scotland on a very old country estate and in the Great Hall of the house hangs a tapestry dating back to the fourteenth century and as you can imagine being so old some sections of it require extensive work.  To put it in a nutshell Isa, Mrs Lamont has requested you go north and look at the tapestry and assess the damage and give an estimate of the cost of repairing it.  The cost of your journey will of course be paid by Mrs Lamont; what happens after that will be negotiable with the good lady.  If the tapestry can be repaired it will probably be a lengthy process and Mrs Lamont may wish to hire you to carry out the work. If that is the case we cannot guarantee to keep your job at the museum open.  I will give you a little time to think about it but I will need your decision by the end of the working day on Thursday so that a train ticket can be purchased for you to travel north on Friday afternoon.’  Feeling as if she was in a dream Isa left the curator’s office and returned to the workshop. 

By Thursday morning Isa had weighed up all her options and decided nothing ventured nothing gained and after knocking at John Williams’ office door she entered to tell him she would be delighted to travel north and look at Mrs Lamont’s tapestry and take it from there.

This being her first visit to Scotland Isa had her nose pressed against the window as the train left Carlisle station not wishing to miss the scenery unfolding before her. She looked out on the rolling hills of Scotland’s southern uplands as the train carrying her north speeded over the tracks

Her animated expressions as the views unfolded drew the attention of a young man sitting opposite her and he found he too was noting the changing colours of the hills and the plantations of fir trees with their fire breaks.  Travelling this route as often as he did he could not remember when he had last been aware of anything other than the train interior and the laptop open on the table between him and the young woman?

As each new sight opened before her Isa’s face became like an open book and the young man sat fascinated at her opened mouthed, wide eyed look of awe.

‘Is this your first visit to this part of the world?’  Drawing her eyes from the window Isa looked into blue eyes which held a cynical mocking expression but also a reminder which for the moment eluded her.

‘Sorry am I that obvious?’  Feeling like a child who had been chastised for getting too excited Isa picked up the catalogue of silk threads which she had brought with her.

He too turned his attention from the window and the young woman and once more looked at the screen of his laptop showing the projected figures for the coming year.  ‘Good going man, you just had to spoil it!’ he chastised himself.

Leaving the rolling hills behind, the train was now approaching the industrial heart of the central lowlands and the next stop would be Carstairs Junction where the train split, one half going to Glasgow and the other to Edinburgh, before the train travelled north into the highlands and Perth, where Isa would alight and hopefully be met by someone who would take her to her final destination.

Hoping the young man would leave the train at Edinburgh, Isa was disappointed when he continued to tap the keys on his laptop.  Being in the first class section the steward constantly kept the passengers supplied with drinks and snacks and she could not help noticing the young man seemed to be addicted to coffee as he was now on his fourth