Entwined (16 page)

“I suppose,” I replied.

“If we get a chance I’ll ask Duncan. He’s tall enough.”

“How did you get the crystal off him?” I asked.

Rose’s teeth shone as she grinned up at me.

“Guys are so predictable, Corran. It was easy.” That hadn’t been my experience with men, but for now I resolved to take her word for it.

“Go on then, Rose. Tell us what you did,” Kate coaxed.

“The black pouch that Eilidh left him was on his bedside table. All I had to do was distract him.”

“How did you do that then?” Kate asked.

“I plugged my old PS1 in,” Rose replied, breaking into laughter again.

“Good grief, I didn’t think you still had that,” Kate said. “We used to spent hours on it during the holidays when your Mum worked here. Do you remember
Spyro
?”

“Yeah, of course I do.”

“Girls,” I said, growing anxious. “We really should get this crystal buried before Duncan comes looking for us.”

“We’re on it, Corran,” Rose said, spooning handfuls of soil to the side of the hole.

“Do you think that’s deep enough?” Kate asked, raising her eyes to Corran.

“Aye, that should do. It just needs to cover the crystal enough to hide it and keep it out of any light.”

Rose carefully lowered her fist into the hole and dropped the gem before brushing the loose soil over it.

“Right, we’re done here,” Kate said, pushing herself up from her haunches.

“Can you all remember where it’s buried?” Rose asked.

“Yeah, from the slate take five steps toward Jessie’s shop,” Kate replied.

We returned to the taproom to find Amber exactly where we had left her, curled up in front of the fire.

“Shall we get back to these lists, then?” I asked.

“Yeah, that would be good,” Rose said.

“Alright, what do you need me to do?”

“Think back to your life in the Glen. What would have made your life easier?”

“I’ll give it a go. Who wants to be scribe?”

“I’ll do it,” said Kate, reaching for the pad of paper and a pen.

“The most useful thing we can bring into the village will be chickens,” I paused for moment, rubbing my forehead in thought.

“Ma, Morrisons don’t sell livestock,” Duncan said, as he walked into the taproom.

“Oh, alright, what do they sell?”

“Just about everything but,” Rose replied.

“How many people are there in the village?” I asked.

“Eilidh said there are about fifty,” replied Duncan.

“Then you need a minimum of twenty hens and four cockerels. I wouldn’t get them until just before you are ready to leave because they are going to make an holy mess, not to mention noise. Some sheep, a couple of cows, and a goat or two…”

“Ma,” Duncan interrupted. “We can’t get livestock. I just told you.”

“Maybe not from Morrisons, but you must be able to purchase livestock from somewhere?”

Duncan shook his head.

“No, Ma, not in this time.”

“I see, well, we’ll have to manage without then. What about seeds? Do they sell them?”

“Yeah, they sell seeds,” said Rose, stifling a laugh.

“Well, they will need plenty of them. Look for cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, lettuces, turnips, marrows, squash, corn, wheat, oats, barley, fruit trees…” I paused again, this time to fill my lungs with air. “How long have they been in this village?”

“They’ve been there a few hundred years, at least, Ma.”

I nodded. “That’s good. We’ll not have to worry about farming equipment then, but if my memory serves me right it could get a bit tricky in the winter so it might be worth looking at some of those polytunnels I’ve seen on the television.”

“Not from Morrisons, Ma.”

“Perhaps leave the polytunnels then,” I paused and stared at the flames for a few seconds. It was difficult to focus on the job at hand when all I could think of were Simon, Eilidh and Harry.

“Anything else, Corran?” Kate asked.

“Sorry, love, I was day dreaming. Errm, fishing rods, nets and rope… flour, yeast and oats,” I sighed feeling suddenly exhausted again.

“That’s OK, Ma, thank you. I think we’ve got enough to be going on with.”

“I’ll keep thinking,” I said, watching the gentle rise and fall of Amber’s chest as she slept. “Shall I start dinner?”

“Yes, Ma, you start dinner. I’ll just have a quick word with Rose and Kate and then we’ll come and help you.”

“Just do the best you can,” I heard my son whisper as I disappeared into the kitchen. I fumbled with some cups in the sink, debating whether to wash them or put them in the dishwasher. Commonsense got the better of me and I filled the sink with warm water and added a squirt of washing up liquid, thinking as I did how much easier life was in this new world than it had been in mine. I hadn’t quite cleared the cups when the two girls and Duncan appeared in the kitchen.

“Kate’s going to be off now, Ma.”

I nodded, casting her a reassuring smile.

“Thank you for everything you have done for us, Kate.”

“No worries, Corran. Honest. I love shopping, anyway. Can’t wait to get at it.”

“You will keep safe, won’t you, sweet?” I said, giving her hand a nervous squeeze.

“Yeah, of course I will. Hell, what’s the worst can happen? I’m going shopping at Morrisons for a lorry load of food.”

Rose laughed. “Sounds like Kate’s perfect evening.”

“Alright then, just don’t do anything that could put you in danger,” I said softly.

We saw Kate into the tunnel and then made our way slowly into the kitchen. None of us spoke. There was no need. We each knew the fear in each other’s minds.

“What are we cooking?” I asked, with more enthusiasm than felt.

“How about macaroni cheese?” Rose suggested.

“Sounds nice, but I’ve no idea what it is. You are going to have to talk me through it,” I said.

“It’s super easy, Corran,” Rose said, opening the fridge and extracting a block of cheese from it. “Here,” she said passing the cheese to Duncan. “You grate this.”

“Grate?” Duncan asked, with a puzzled look on his face.

Rose sighed and handed the grater to my son. “Run the block of cheese along the grater, you know, the sharp bits. It’ll shred the cheese.”

“I could have done that with my dirk,” he replied indignantly.

“I don’t think so,” barked Rose. “You’ll use the grater; one because it’s clean, which I’m damn sure your dirk isn’t, and two because that’s what we use to grate cheese, not your bloody dirk.”

“What can I do, Rose?”

“You can make us a salad, Corran. Kate bought plenty of lettuce and tomatoes. They’re in the fridge.”

Whilst I washed and chopped the salad I watched with interest as Rose made a white sauce.

“You really meant it when you said this was quick and easy,” I said. “Will it keep alright?”

“It’ll keep fine, I mean, we can warm it up in the microwave when Kate gets back,” she said dishing a healthy portion of the pasta onto four plates.

I sat in front of the fire on the mattress, staring at the flames. Amber curled up on the duvet beside me, her head resting heavily on my lap. My fingers played with the corner of a sheet of paper. It was my intention to add to the list of items Kate had gone shopping for, but my mind refused to focus. Duncan and Rose had stayed in the kitchen, and I was quite sure I knew what they were discussing. Dragging my mind back to the task at hand I picked up the pen and scribbled idly in the corner of the page. Cloth, I suddenly thought, they’ll need cloth to make new clothes. Then I looked at Amber next to me on the mattress and thought how much my people would appreciate the soft pillows and duvets of this place.

A sharp crack brought my attention back to the moment. Barking gruffly, Amber sprung off the mattress and into the hall. I pushed myself up and followed the dog through to the hall to find my son and Rose staring in shocked silence as the forms of their fathers, Eilidh, Grace, and a man whom I assumed to be Robert materialized in front of them. Amber pounded on Eilidh, but she pushed her back, turning to Duncan instead.

“What date is it?” she asked in a panic.

“December eighteenth,” he replied.

“Thank God,” Eilidh said, letting out a long breath and dropping to her knees beside Amber.

“I’ve missed you, pudding,” she whispered, allowing the dog to nestle against her.

“You’ve only been gone a few hours, Pa. What happened?” Duncan asked.

“Actually lad, we’ve been gone a few weeks, only clever Eilidh managed to set us back right where we needed to be,” Simon replied.

Harry stepped forward, pulling Grace with him. “Duncan, this is your mother, boy,” he said, pushing Grace forward.

Duncan extended an awkward hand. His eyes shifted uneasily over the woman’s face and then upwards toward the man I assumed to be Robert Hamilton.

“Ma… errm, Mother,” he said, lowering his head in a small bow.

I bit my lower lip in an effort to ward off the tears that backed up in my eyes and stared in stunned shock at the five bodies in front of me.

Grace moved slowly forward and cupped my son’s hands in her own. “You look so, so much like Jack,” she said, staring up at Duncan.

My insides churned as I watched this woman run her critical eyes over my son’s face. I wanted to shout that she knew nothing, that the man’s name wasn’t Jack, it was Angus, and who was she to compare my boy to that evil excuse for a human being? But I didn’t. I stared, and bit my lip, and pushed my finger nails into the skin of my hand to stop me from opening my mouth or crying. I would not allow this woman to break me, she would never take my son, and I wasn’t about to give her the impression she had.

“It’s two years since I lost you,” Grace said, letting a tear run down her cheek. “I’d only just given birth to you when he took you. My tiny little baby, all wrinkled and pink with a mop of thick blond hair,” she stammered. “How did you get so big? I know, Harry explained it all to me, I should understand, but I don’t. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you, Duncan.”

Despite the dagger the woman had driven into my heart, I felt her pain. I couldn’t just stand there and watch her weep, watch her heart break for the years she had forever lost with her son. Simple human instinct drove me to her side and before I knew it I had her in my arms, her head on my shoulder and her tears in my hair. No matter how hard I bit my lip or dug my nails into my hand I was never going to stop my own tears which now flowed freely down my cheeks. Away in the distance, in a place my mind couldn’t quite reach at that moment, I was vaguely aware that people around us had disappeared. I didn’t look up to find them, nor did I care much where they had gone.

When we could cry no longer and my senses had returned I became aware that there had been one person missing from the party of people who had materialized.

“Grace, where is Jenny?”

She stared at me, her face pale and drawn. Dark bags underlined her sunken eyes and the life that should have shone from them lay buried somewhere in her own personal hell. “We couldn’t get her.”

“That’s preposterous, Grace. You are her mother. There must be a way for you to reach her.”

“It’s not that simple, Corran. She’s with Jack, I mean, Angus. He doesn’t leave her alone for a minute. We watched her for days, but he’s with her every minute. He’s even driving her to and from school now.”

“Then surely we can just go to the school and get her,” I argued.

“I tried. I called the school and told them I was her mother and that I needed to pick her up early for a dentist appointment. They told me that they had a note from the courts forbidding me access to her. Jack…errr, Angus has taken out a court injunction against me. He bloody well knew I was going to come back for her.”