An Inverness man has spoken of his heartache after his bride of just five months collapsed and died on their honeymoon.
Keith Fernie and Brenda Ledgerwood tied the knot in March, but delayed their honeymoon to Edinburgh until early August.
During the trip, Brenda revisited places that held treasured memories of her childhood and told her new husband how happy she was.
But one night, as they were getting ready for bed, the 65-year-old suffered a heart attack.
Former ambulance technician Keith said there was nothing that could be done to save the “love of his life”.
Distraught, the 79-year-old headed for home the next day – and the full impact of his loss hit him while he was on the bus.
He has now thanked the kindness of the passengers and drivers who supported him as his grief hit.
‘Blissful’ trip turned to tragedy
Keith said: “Brenda was totally unique, an incredible amazing beautiful girl.
“We’d only been married five months when Brenda died in Edinburgh, her place of birth.
“These five months were the happiest of our entire lives.”
The couple had met some 30 years before, and while they had felt a connection at the time both were married.
Both marriages subsequently broke down and in 2023 the couple tied the knot after their divorces were finalised.
They had a simple wedding at the registry office in Inverness and looked forward to a “blissful” few days in Edinburgh.
It was there, on the day she died, they spent a day revisiting Brenda’s childhood haunts.
In Craigmillar Castle, she spoke of being the happiest in her life as a child dancing in the great hall of the then-abandoned fortress. She imagined that she was Mary Queen of Scots and played for hours in the castle’s ruins.
She told Keith that until the couple married she had not had such happiness again.
Just hours later, she died.
Keith said: “There was nothing to be done. She died instantly. She had an earlier heart attack from which she recovered well. But this one was catastrophic.
“It was the privilege of my life to have her in it. She is the greatest thing that had happened to me. I learned so much from her.”
Travelling back to Inverness without Brenda a day later on August 11 was “one of the hardest things” Keith said he ever had to do.
“I returned to Inverness in a distraught state some hours after Brenda’s death”, he said.
‘I shall never forget you’
Keith described his trip back north, without Brenda, as “one of the hardest things” he has ever had to do.
He thanked those who were on the August 11 bus back to Inverness with him for their compassion.
“I want to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to the folk who were on the coach with me from Edinburgh to Inverness, and who gave me such help and support,” he said.
“I shall never forget you.”
He said both drivers and their colleagues, including the woman in the ticket office in Edinburgh were “compassion itself “.
“To all these brilliant folk, I extend my heartfelt thanks.
“Brenda believed God was Love with a capital ‘L’, and since God could never die neither could love.
“And that meant our love for each other could never die either. None of us know too much about heaven, but that part at least I am able to understand. Maybe that’ll help someone who is grieving and reading this today.”
Keith said that he took some comfort that he was with Brenda when she took ill, and that they had enjoyed her last five months together.
He added: “She reached out to so many folk over the years, though hers was a troubled life with sadness and crushing loneliness from childhood onwards, and this she bore with great dignity.
“She deserved infinitely more from life than ever came her way, but I thank God it came right for her in the end, and for both of us.
“We found each other and we married, and Brenda died safe in my arms, happy and loved, worshipped and adored.”
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