And I don't have to for a few hours, he thought as the sun shone down on the boat for the first time in weeks. It was cold, but cold and sunny he would take. He grinned as he paddled the boat away from the claustrophobic cabin.

  Maybe things were finally looking up.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Mac rounded the bend and continued along the centre line of the loch as it thinned to what looked like a wide river rather than the loch it resembled from the cabin. His strokes were steady, the boat smooth on the water, and it felt enormously good to be away from the cabin again.

  You should have come out earlier. There's been many days you could have come out in the boat. It hasn't been too bad.

  Mac grimaced at the realisation that he had sunk so low into what was going on in the cabin and Sula that he just hadn't seen a way out.

  Perception. Should have just opened the door, he thought ironically. How many people honestly thought they were stuck in a situation they said there was just no way out of, and Mac had always told them there was a way. Always a way.

  There is, but it took a while for me to find it.

  Let’s not slip back down there again, Mac. I didn't like it.

  He pulled at the paddles harder, enjoying the exertion and the endorphins that had been absent for too long now. Then he saw something in the bush line ahead. A few more strokes, and he saw Saul waving his arms on the shore. Rolo barked and raised himself up onto the front of the boat majestically. Mac raised a hand and turned the boat toward Saul, half sorry that he had been so near, and the journey hadn't taken him another half hour onward.

  You can come up this way any time. Maybe you should.

  He vowed that he would explore the loch to its far reaches before he left the cabin if he could. A plan, he thought with glee. A plan and a goal, you're finally going forward, getting focused. He reached Saul, who strode into the water to help Mac pull up the boat.

  'Hi! Hi!' he said as Mac disembarked. Together, they pulled the boat up into the shelter of the trees as Rolo jumped out and sniffed about. 'How was the journey?'

  Mac grinned at his friend. 'Great,' he said, 'I should have done that long before now. I've been sitting in that damn cabin.'

  'The boat was there the whole time,' Saul said clapping him on the back with a laugh.

  'I know, couldn't see the woods for the trees, but I feel refreshed now, so much better.'

  'Cleaned out, Ma would say. Come on, they're all excited to meet you.'

  Mac forced a grin.

  'Who's they? I thought this would be us and Ezzie?'

  'Well, you know after I told Ma and Da they were excited to meet you, and Ezzie's mother, of course. That's everyone though, I promise.'

  Mac raised his eyebrows. 'Excited to meet me?'

  Saul reddened. 'Well, they're excited to see what you can do for Ezzie… you know.'

  'Why do you look a little guilty, Saul?' Mac said, standing his ground as the man turned to walk away from the water.

  Saul looked back, lips pursed, his eyes flicked to the sky, and he rubbed his nose. The gestures didn't escape Mac's attention.

  'Saul?'

  'They're excited to meet Mac Macauley, the mind guy.'

  Mac felt lead settle in his chest.

  'How long have you known?'

  'Just a few days. It's only the family that knows, that's all. We don't see anyone else up here. They all know to keep it secret.'

  'They'd better or my cabin days will be over long before they're supposed to be. No-one was to know.'

  Saul came back down to Mac, who was still standing by the boat.

  'Mac, I promise you. They won't say a word. My family are completely trustworthy.'

  'I really hope so.'

  Saul turned away, and Mac grabbed his arm.

  'Saul, you know this doesn't change anything, right? I don't normally help people this way. It still may not work. I will try my best, of course, but no promises.'

  'I know that,' Saul said, 'and I've told them that, too. Don't worry.'

  Mac nodded, and they started up a path that seemed vaguely familiar.

  'What made you hunt me down?'

  Saul laughed.

  'I wasn't hunting Mac, I promise. I was trying to find any connection between you and the lady who was in the cabin. I knew what she looked like, and I knew you taught mind science, so I typed in Mac teaches the mind or something of the sort and…'

  'Loads came up, eh?'

  'It blew my mind. I had no idea, really. You looked a little better scrubbed up back then, I must admit.'

  'Thanks.'

  Saul grinned. 'But it confirmed that the lady from the cabin was your wife. There were a number of pictures of you together and that was definitely her, I'm sorry.'

  Mac shrugged. He didn't want his mood to fall before he got to the little girl that today was all about. He looked behind and called Rolo, who was lagging behind to sniff new smells.

  'I kind of knew, don't worry about it. Tom is ringing me this afternoon. I'll confront him with it. I need to know what the hell was going on.'

  'You absolutely do… but be prepared before you ask.'

  'I will.'

  They reached a stone wall lined with trees and a small wooden gate, which Saul opened. They walked through and déjà vu fell over Mac. He looked at the trees. Apple.

  'You live here?' Mac said.

  'Aye, all my life. Me, my little sister, ma, and da. In this big, cold, rambling old stone house. Too many rooms, that's why we based the clinic here and paid the olds rent for the rooms. Helped them out and they helped us out.’

  They continued over the grass as the house and the outbuildings came into view over the sweeping lawn.

  'I've been here before,' Mac said. ‘I didn't recognise the inlet or the path now winter has properly set in.'

  Saul looked at him sidelong.

  'You've been here before?'

  'Yeah, not too long ago, maybe a couple of months? I was out on the boat and pulled into the inlet.'

  He left out the fact that he was chasing fire after human company like some weirdo.

  Saul began to chuckle. 'Thank god for that. I thought you were going to tell me you'd visited the clinic too. More skeletons in the closet!'

  'None in mine,' Mac huffed.

  Before them, a blonde woman waved an arm and jogged across the grass toward them. No skirt today, Mac thought. Jeans and a blue jumper with wellies. No bun today either; her hair was loose, trailing behind her as she approached them with a grin that stretched from ear to ear.

  'That's my sister-'

  'Maddie, yes.' Mac cut in. 'We've met.'

  Saul swung his head to Mac, whose grin was matching Maddie's own. Rolo ran ahead to greet her like an old friend. She stopped to fuss him and then continued on with him bounding at her heels like a star-struck lover.

  'You met? Where?' Saul said.

  But now Maddie was already calling.

  'Hi! Mr Macauley! It's a pleasure to-'

  She cut off with a frown as she reached them. Saul eyeballed them both as they all came to a stop in the middle of the lawn, house looming above them.

  'Meet you?' Mac finished for her.

  She swiped his arm with a gentle tap.

  'Mac! I knew I knew this dog. Why didn't you call or text? I've had apples stored for you for months. I kept them aside, so that Ma didn't use them.'

  Mac flushed and shrugged an apology.

  'Saul was keeping me in apples,' he said, shifting responsibility to her brother, who held his hands up.

  'I have no idea what the hell you're talking about.'

  'Apples.' Maddie and Mac said simultaneously.

  Mac looked at Maddie with a grin, only to find her grinning back, sunlight dappling a golden halo around her head. Her eyes full of amusement.

  'Well, thanks for letting me know my role was taken. We could have talked travel. Saul doesn't know much about that one.'

  Mac huffed a laugh. 'I'd still like to talk travel.'

  'Then message or call, dumbo.' She said, linking her arms between him and Saul as they started toward the house. 'So, how much has Saul told you about Ezula.'

  Mac stopped as though hit by a physical wall, the hair on the back of his neck standing straight up. Both Maddie and Saul looked at him questioningly.

  'Sula?' he said.

  'No, Ezula? My daughter, the girl you're here to see?'

  'Oh!' Mac spluttered 'Of course, I… erm…'

  Saul was quick to save him the embarrassment. 'I've only ever called her Ezzie. His late wife was called Sula. Pretty freaky, huh?'

  Mac began to chuckle as Maddie placed a hand over her mouth. 'Oh, God, Mac. I'm so sorry.'

  'For what? Giving your daughter a beautiful name? Besides, it only sounds the same. It just threw me there for a second, that's all. It's fine.'

  'Ezzie, we always call her that, anyway. Let’s stick with Ezzie.'

  'Okay,' Mac said. He paused before asking where the name originated.

  Please don't say Italy.

  'She's half African. Her father insisted on the name, it was in his family. It is a pretty name, though. I didn't mind.'

  Mac felt himself relax a little as they reached the back door of the large house, painted an immaculate slate grey. It opened into a tiled boot room that was larger than the entire cabin, and further into a dining country kitchen with an island that had the square footage of the cabin grounds. Mac felt a little overwhelmed at the vast space after being cooped up for so long and was glad that for once Rolo was fairly clean and dry.

  There was a bark from the hallway and two black Labradors bounded in, taking a little notice of Mac, who fussed their ears, before finding Rolo and engaging in a game around the kitchen island.

  'Rolo!' Mac said, conscious of the cleanliness of the space.

  'Leave him,' Maddie said, going on ahead into the hall. 'They'll be fine.'

  'But everything is so…'

  'Clean?' Saul said. 'That's for your benefit. It's normally filthy from the dogs, especially at this time of year. Ma always says she can't be bothered to clean their paw marks more than once a week, it would drive her insane, so we have a clean 'hour' on Saturday morning, where the dogs are taken out so ma can clean - then they come back and wreck the joint.'

  Mac laughed, and took a glance back at Rolo, who was sniffing at one lab’s backside, his tail wagging furiously.

  'Guess he hasn't seen another dog for some time, either. It'll do him good.'

  'It will. What will you have to drink? I'll bring it down.'

  'Gin and tonic would go down nicely right now.'

  Saul grinned. 'Coffee then. Don't worry, the olds are great, if a little eccentric. You'll be fine.'

  He nodded to the doorway, and Mac stepped out into the hall. To his left Maddie smiled and beckoned him down to her. Mac walked down the tartan carpet, eyeing the three deer heads mounted on plaques. Maddie ushered him in through a doorway and Mac stepped into a cosy living room with a roaring fire. High corniced ceilings and three heavily draped large sash windows faced out across a sprawling driveway, and more lawns. A further two deer heads and crossed silver swords adorned the walls, along with many framed pictures of the family, canvas paintings of the mountains and another canvas that bore a calling stag. The stone fireplace was almost as tall as Mac and bore an engraving that could have been Latin, or Gaelic, just under the mantle.

  'Come and sit down,’ Maddie said. ‘Ma will be down in a minute. Da is staying with Ezzie until we've filled you in. You must have questions.'

  'Lots.' Mac said. 'I could do with a complete breakdown of what happened, what she was like before, what's different now. I pretty much need a full picture before I work with her. I don't want to have her answering questions she doesn't need to, which may interfere with the mood, or the way things are going.'

  Mac broke off as Maddie stared at him.

  'I know it will be hard,' he said.

  Maddie blinked out of her reverie.

  'Not at all. Anything to get her better.'

  'I hope I can do that for you, and for her.'

  'I hope so too.'

  The air felt tense, and Mac smiled.

  'So, you’re her mother, eh? You left that little nugget out last time we met.'

  Maddie's gaze sharpened and she jut her chin at him.

  'It didn't come up. Why so shocked? Just because I travelled doesn't mean I can't have a child, does it?'

  Mac laughed at Maddie’s forceful defensiveness and hurt stare.

  'No, no. You have it all wrong. When Saul spoke of Ezula at the cabin, I naturally presumed she was his. He gave me no indication to say otherwise, and obviously I didn’t know he was your brother at the time. So, try to imagine if you will. I believe Ezula is his. I pull up to the same inlet as before and we walk toward your house where he promptly introduces you as his sister… and the child’s mother. I mean-'

  Mac shrugged his hands up to the air.

  Maddie cut him off with a wretching noise and threw a cushion at him.

  'As if!' she said. 'You are really gross!'

  'Imagine it from my point of view, just now.'

  Maddie grinned, and then she was laughing. Mac laughed with her.

  'If you really believed that, Mac, then I just don't know what to make of you.'

  Mac shook his head through his grin. 'I didn't. I really didn't. I was just trying to break the tension.'

  He laughed, and she visibly relaxed, her shoulders dropping three inches.

  The door to the living room opened and two older people walked in. The Man strode ahead, heavyset, and tall up close, almost formidable. A grey woollen coat matched his trousers, his grey hair wild at the edges, flat on top as though he had just removed a hat or cap. His blue eyes twinkled, and a smile played on his lips in a perfect imitation of Maddie’s. The lady was more reserved, her long tartan dress and shawl almost a nod to older times but fitting for the lady in front of him. Her face was just as friendly, blonde hair cropped short, fixed smile, but there was an air of sadness about her.

  Her eyes, Mac thought. The smile doesn't reach her eyes.

  Maddie introduced them as Ma and Da, and the man - the same one Mac had seen with the fire, he was sure - rolled his eyes.

  'There's a fine introduction, Madeline. Christ up a tree he doesnae want to be calling us Ma and Da, and we didnae have more children for precisely the same reason.' He strode to Mac and held out a hand. Mac grabbed it and shook firmly. 'I'm Walter. You may call me Walt. This is Hester,' he said, pulling his wife forward from the elbow as he left go of Mac's hand.

  'You may call me Hester,' she said with a warm smile and held out her hand to shake his.

  Mac had never kissed a woman's hand, and he had no idea what made him do it now. Maybe it was the appreciation of the pie, or the fact that she looked like she belonged in another time.

  ‘Lovely to meet you, Hester,' he said, 'and such wonderful apple pies. Saul and I are a good stone heavier since he's been bringing those pies to the cabin. Thank you, they were much appreciated.'

  Hester's hand flew to her neck, and she visibly reddened as she flapped her other hand his way.

  'It was nothing. I'm always making pie. If I'd have known it was for a celebrity, I'd have-'

  'I'm not a celebrity, Hester. I'm just a man who wants to help people. This is the way I chose to do it, although Maddie has been telling me what a rubbish way to live it is, so I suppose I have to change my entire show now.'

  Hester swung to Maddie, who grinned at her mother.

  'Travelled all around the world and not seen a bit of it, Ma. What do you make of that?'

  Hester looked back to study Mac.

  'I'd say that's an awful shame.' She nodded as she looked at him. 'Maddie will sort that out for you, I'm afraid, Mr Macauley, whether you want her to or not.'

  'Oh, call me Mac, please.'

  Maddie grinned at Mac, and he couldn't help but grin back. He thought maybe he would like her to.

  'You're very welcome to have the pies, Mac,' Hester said. 'In fact, I'll bring some mince pies through while you chat with Maddie. I presume there will be things you want to know about little Ezzie before you see her.'

  'Yes, I don't want to have to ask her anything about it. I work moving forward, not looking back, but to have the background will be imperative for me in this case.'

  Hester dipped her head and placed a hand on Mac's arm.

  'I hope you can help her. The wee thing is horribly stuck. She just can't get herself around it. The doctors have said there's nothing physically wrong, she’s had every test going, I'm sure she's positively radioactive she's had so many scans and x-rays-'

  'Ma,' Maddie said, pulling her mother's arm, 'I'll do it. You get the mince pies. Where is Saul?'

  The sadness that had crept back into Hester dissipated, but it was Walt that answered.

  'He's with Ezzie while we came in to introduce ourselves. I'll send him in, Hester, come away now. It was nice to meet you, Mac. It'll be nice to have another face around the place for a while too. Make yourself at home, while you're here, anything you want or need.'

  'Thank you, that's very kind,' Mac said, touched by their generosity.

  Maddie grinned at her mother, who was shaking her head in wonder as she looked at Mac.

  'Grab the wine to go with the mince pies, Ma,' she said.

  Hester looked at her daughter with a frown. 'I don't think this should be a booze fest when Mac has to work with Ezzie afterward.'

  'I'm fine,' Mac said, 'really.'

  'Well, I'd like a drink,' Maddie said with a pointed look. Hester nodded and stepped forward to put a hand to her daughter’s face.

  'Okay dear, I'll bring the bottle of Pinot.'

  'That would be great,' Maddie said. 'Thank you.'

  Walt and Hester left the room, shutting the door behind them, and Mac looked at Maddie. When she looked back at him, her eyes held the same sadness as her mother’s had when she entered the room. He put a hand on her arm and squeezed in a gesture of comfort. It was clear this little girl affected the whole family. There was a lot of love here. It made Mac pine for his own mother, who had died nine years ago. Her love had been filled with Sula's after she had gone. Now that Sula had gone too, he felt the emptiness of his own void, even as he felt the fullness of theirs.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46