Anne Douglas (32 page)

‘And you know what that means?’ Scott stood close. ‘Means that you two don’t love each other enough to do what I would do.’

Her face twisting in pain, she shook her head. ‘I do love Ronan, Scott. I do. And he loves me.’

‘And neither of you will do what the other one wants? Lynette, think about it.’

‘Just now, I don’t want to think about anything.

As she moved hurriedly away, he stayed where he was. ‘You’ll see, I’m right,’ he called after her. ‘Come to me when you do.’

There were guests approaching, looking with interest at the chef in his whites, who was away from his kitchen, and at the pretty girl from Reception opening the glass door. Drama, eh? But by the time they drew nearer, both chef and receptionist had gone.

When Paul brought weary Monnie back to the gates of the hostel, he stopped the car and gave her a light pat on the back.

‘Well done. It’s a tough climb, that one, tougher than people think, but you managed well. I told you, you’re a natural.’

‘I feel stiff as a board already. Be worse tomorrow, I expect.’ Monnie opened the car door and smiled as she slowly prepared herself to get out. ‘But I’m so grateful to you, Paul. Not just for the climb, but for listening to me, bending your ear all the way to the top of the hill.’

‘Nae bother, as they say. But I’ll tell you something interesting. You talked about your dad and Ishbel, you talked about Lynette, but you never once mentioned Torquil.’

‘No reason why I should mention him, is there?’

‘He’s important to you. I thought his name might have come up. After all, you’ve talked of him before.’

‘There’s nothing new to say. We are still seeing each other.’

‘And everything’s the same?’

‘It’s the same.’

He gave her a long steady look which only made her own gaze fall, until finally he sighed and switched on his engine.

‘I’ll give you a ring, shall I? How about Skye next time?’

‘Skye? Paul, that’d be terrific!’ The change of subject brought a smile to her face. ‘Can we really go to Skye?’

‘Sure, why not?’

When she’d thanked him again for the day, he waved and drove off, leaving her to make her way stiffly to the hostel, her thoughts already back with Torquil. It had been the truth she’d told Paul about their continuing relationship. There was nothing different to say. Nothing had changed. How could it?

As she sank into a chair in the hall of the hostel, she felt his hold over her as strong as ever. And whatever happened in the future, she could not see herself being free.

Fifty-Three

As August moved into September, Ishbel, it was clear to Frank, was losing heart. She tried to put a brave face on things, but there seemed no solution to the impasse Niall had created. He had not replied to the letters she had written, he had not made any effort to come round and ‘talk’, which she saw as their only hope of a settlement. And when Frank suggested they should just get married anyway, she shrank away from any such plan.

‘Oh, no, Frank, I could never do that. I’d have to feel our families wanted our happiness, otherwise everything would be ruined. All our new life together.’

‘I have the feeling that Monnie and Lynette are not going to put any difficulties in our way,’ Frank said, trying to sound hopeful, and Ishbel replied that it would be wonderful if that were true.

Not wonderful enough, Frank knew, if Niall still held out, but at least it would be a start, eh? And one day Lynette and Monnie did put their arms round Ishbel and told her that if she was going to make their father happy, they wanted to welcome her to their family. At which, there were tears all round, and promises from Ishbel that they need never worry – making their father happy was all she wanted to do.

Afterwards, Lynette told Monnie she was glad they’d made the move to accept Ishbel.

‘Was worth it to see her face and Dad’s, eh? Like sunshine after rain, and all thanks to you, Monnie. You were the one with the soft heart.’

‘I felt in the end that Dad was right. Ma wouldn’t have wanted him to be alone all his life. And I do believe he’ll never forget her. Same as Ishbel won’t forget her Robbie.’

‘Now we just need Niall to come round, though I feel he’ll be the sort that doesn’t want to have to climb down. May take some time, and Dad and Ishbel are wanting to get wed.’

‘Poor things. At least, we’ve done our bit.’

‘Poor things,’ said Ishbel, of her future stepdaughters. ‘They’ve made us happy, Frank, but I can tell they’re not happy themselves. Have they said anything to you?’

‘Not a word. And I know better than to ask.’

That September Sunday afternoon when they were together at the hostel was as warm and dry as any summer’s day, and Frank, feeling guilty, said maybe he should do some gardening. Monnie’d been very helpful, but now she was out with Torquil and Lynette at work, which meant, Frank groaned, it was up to him to get on with it. Not that he was much of a gardener.

‘I am,’ Ishbel cried. ‘I’ll help.’

‘Och, you do too much, you need a rest.’

‘I hate resting. Come on, let’s find the tools. And are there any hats?’ Ishbel laughed. ‘It is not always that we need sun hats here, is it?’

They spent the next couple of hours weeding, stripping out dead wood, mowing the lawn and watering, feeling perfectly in tune working with each other as helpmates, and were standing together, arm in arm, admiring what they’d done, when a car drew up at the end of the drive. No one got out and for a time neither Frank nor Ishbel noticed it, until Ishbel, carrying a bag of grass clippings for the compost heap at the rear of the hostel, stopped and caught her breath.

‘Niall?’ she whispered. ‘Is it Niall?’

She knew it was Niall, for she could see him, and of course by now had recognized his car, but she still couldn’t believe he’d come at last. As he left the driving seat and came slowly up the drive towards her, she felt so dazed, so nervous, she dropped her bag of clippings at her feet and stood looking down at it as though she couldn’t think what to do.

‘Oh, Mother!’ Niall muttered, stooping to gather up the clippings that had burst from the bag over her feet.

‘Oh, Mother!’ Sheana echoed, joining him from the car and moving the bag to the side of the drive.

‘Not like you to go dropping things,’ Niall said, brushing leaves from his fingers and fixing his mother with a long dark stare.

‘Not like you at all,’ said Sheana.

She was rather pink in the face and obviously feeling the heat, as she pushed back her ginger hair and gave Ishbel a wary smile.

Ishbel, seeing the smile, felt her heart leap. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you,’ she murmured. ‘I never thought you’d come.’

‘We thought we would.’ Niall was looking about him. ‘Where’s Frank, then?’

‘He was here a moment ago.’ Ishbel, recovering herself a little, called his name.

‘We know, we saw you both from the car.’

‘We didn’t see you.’

‘Too busy looking at the garden.’

‘Well, we’ve done well, haven’t we?’

‘Here’s Frank!’ cried Sheana. ‘Hello, there, Mr Forester.’

‘Please, make it Frank,’ he muttered, looking mystified.

‘Where’ve you been?’ Ishbel asked. ‘You disappeared.’

‘I . . . went to put the kettle on.’

‘Get you,’ said Sheana. ‘So useful, eh?’

He was keeping out of the way, thought Ishbel. Being tactful . . .

‘Shall we all have tea out here?’ she asked.

‘If that’s all right,’ Niall said, and, her leaping heart taking wings, Ishbel said she’d go and make it.

‘Want any help?’ asked Sheana.

‘No, no, you sit down, dear. Frank, aren’t there some garden chairs somewhere?’

‘In the garage, I’ll get them.’

‘I’ll give you a hand,’ offered Niall.

The four of them, wearing cotton hats and balancing in ancient basket chairs, sat on the lawn at the front of the house, drinking tea and eating Ishbel’s buttered scones and melting chocolate cake, talking stiltedly, smiling edgily, until silence fell.

‘I’ll take this lot out of the way of the wasps,’ said Frank, gathering the tea things on to a tray, and Sheana said she’d go with him. Which left Niall and Ishbel sitting together, Ishbel fanning herself with her hat, to give her hands something to do, Niall looking around as though the newly tidied garden was of absorbing interest. Suddenly, he turned to his mother.

‘This is no good, is it?’ he asked. ‘Pretending we don’t have to say anything?’

‘Is it not?’ she asked in alarm. ‘Oh, why do we have to say anything?’

‘It’s all right, Mother. There is no need to worry. I have . . . I suppose I have come round to it.’

‘Oh, Niall!’

‘Aye, we both decided – was not just me, was Sheana as well – that we should not – you know – stand in the way of your happiness. I was upset about my dad—’

‘I know, I know, I understand.’

‘But, well, he’s been gone a long time, and you’ve been on your own. We think now ’tis what he would have wanted.’

‘I think so too, Niall.’

‘And so, today, we thought we’d come over. We guessed you’d be here, being a Sunday, and when we saw you, with Frank, in the garden –’ Niall took out his handkerchief and mopped his brow – ‘you looked so right, the two of you, we . . . well, we were glad we’d come.’

Ishbel, her eyes glazed with tears, put out her arms to him and, taking her hands, he pulled her up and hugged her, which was the little tableau Frank and Sheana saw when they came back into the garden.

‘Ah, look at that!’ cried Frank, and Sheana nodded.

‘I guess he will be all right now, Frank, for he has been in such a state, you would never believe. He never wanted to quarrel with his mother, and neither did I, come to that. My own mother, she says, you must both make it up before you do any more damage, but we had already decided. To come over.’

‘Thank God you did,’ Frank said fervently. ‘How about you and me having a hug, too, then?’

‘Welcome to the family,’ Sheana said, and kissed his cheek.

‘Frank!’ Ishbel called, moving from Niall. ‘They are coming back – the hostellers!’

‘Aye, and my girls, too.’

He was already hurrying down the drive, through the crowd of weary young backpackers, home from the hills, to greet Monnie and Lynette who had arrived together. Though he had no eyes for the van that was turning to drive away, or the large Wolseley that was following it, his girls were conscious of little else. Until Frank’s delight came through to them and Lynette asked, ‘What’s up, Dad? Swallowed the cream?’

‘Come and see!’

Calling to the hostellers that the door was open, he’d be with them in a minute, Frank ushered his daughters over to the lawn, where he stopped, waving his arms like a showman at Ishbel and her family waiting there.

‘Oh, it’s Niall!’ cried Monnie. ‘And Sheana.’

‘We’ve just had tea together,’ Ishbel said proudly. ‘Everything is going to be all right.’

And then the hugs began again, and the warmth generated by a family reunited surrounded the troubled sisters and cheered them for a while.

Fifty-Four

After the hostellers had cooked another of their terrible fry-ups, even on such a warm evening, the Foresters and the MacNicols prepared to have supper together in the annexe kitchen. At first, Niall and Sheana had said they couldn’t stay, but Ishbel had insisted that they should, it would be nice, it would be special, to eat together for the first time. And there was cold roast beef and ham, with plenty of salad, and she could just boil up a few eggs, and fetch a ham and egg pie from her shop.

‘Oh, Mother, trust you!’ Niall laughed. ‘Never lost for a menu!’

‘I told you, this was special. I suppose we should really have something to drink.’

‘Sorry, I’ve no wine,’ Frank said. ‘Next time, eh? I foresee plenty of celebrations ahead.’

‘Any thoughts on the date yet?’ asked Sheana.

‘Tomorrow?’ he suggested, with a laugh, in which they all joined.

‘Seriously, it will depend on the kirk,’ Ishbel told them. ‘I do not want a registry office wedding. So – maybe late October.’

‘Anything you say,’ said Frank. ‘If you want the kirk, the kirk it shall be.’

‘And then what?’ asked Niall. ‘You move in here, Mother?’

She stopped slicing hard-boiled eggs and glanced at Frank. ‘I had not got that far, but, yes, I suppose I will.’

‘What about the shop?’ put in Sheana. ‘I should think you’d want to keep that on, it’s so good. I’d love to run a shop like that.’

‘Oh, yes, I’ll keep it on. I can just run it from here, it will be easy enough.’

‘You could always be assistant warden,’ Monnie suggested lightly.

Ishbel’s eyes widened. ‘Why, that’s your job, Monnie! I could not take that.’

‘Plenty of wardens’ wives do act as assistants to their husbands, you know, like the MacKays. It makes sense when you think about it.’

‘Yes, but I would never dream of depriving you of your job, Monnie. Don’t worry about it. Now, who is doing the dressing for the salad? We are almost ready now.’

That first meal together, impromptu though it had been, was a great success, everyone feeling relaxed because they were relieved that a possible family rift had not actually happened. In fact, by the time Frank and Monnie had to leave to prepare for lights out, there was the lovely, rosy feeling around the table that if they hadn’t drunk any wine, they felt just as mellow as though they had.

‘Oh, what a shame the party has to break up,’ Ishbel said with a sigh, as they all left the table. ‘It’s been so lovely.’

‘Aye, duty calls,’ Frank murmured, his gaze meeting hers. ‘Just when I should really be taking you home, Ishbel.’

‘We’ll take Mother home,’ Niall told him.

‘No need,’ she said quickly. ‘I can wait till Frank’s finished his rounds, he need not be long away.’