“Call me Alish.” She pronounced it with a longA.
“Alish,” Kate said, and would have liked to sit with her and talk about her life. She must have seen a lot. But Reid told them lunch was ready.
The dining area was to one side of the living room, so they had a view of it all.
Reid must have called ahead as there were three place settings, and as he’d predicted, they had soup and a sandwich. There was no sign of a cook. Reid did all the talking. He was fairly entertaining as he told his grandmother about Lachlan House and how it looked now. He raved about what the Medlar-Wyatt team had done to it. “They did it very fast and Kate decorated it all.”
Part of her was glad to hear that he liked the house so much. It wouldn’t be long before he found out that it was his. Another part was sad as she remembered Jack’s idea of living there.
As Reid went on, Kate looked about the house. All the furniture was old, but not antiques. If a movie script called for a “grandmother’s house” this would be it. There were a few knickknacks, mostly Scottish, but not many. No plastic Eiffel Tower, nothing from a trip to the Grand Canyon. In fact, there wasn’t anything personal anywhere. As Reid kept talking, Kate realized that there were no photos. On the walls were scenic pictures, the kind you see for sale in a frame shop.
When Reid paused in talking, Kate turned back to him. He and his grandmother were staring at her. She wasn’t sure what to say. “Thank you. It was my first decorating experience. I wanted them to get Jack’s sister to do it, but she was on a job, so...” She trailed off and the silence was awkward.
They left the table, the dirty dishes staying where they were, and went into the living room.
“Reid, dear,” Alish said in her Scottish accent, “I think someone was trying to break into my bedroom. Would you please look at the windows?”
He hesitated, then turned and gave a rolled eye look at Kate, telling her his grandmother was prone to imagining things.
When he was out of sight, Alish opened a little wooden box on the coffee table and took out something round and silver. There was a spark of green as she took Kate’s hand and pressed it into her palm. “Take this, and it will make you dream of your true love.”
“I’ve already found him.” Kate was smiling.
“Yes, you have. I can feel that your heart is full now, but it hasn’t always been.”
From down the hall, Reid shouted, “Which window?”
“The one by the yellow cabinet,” Alish yelled back.
Kate’s eyes widened at the strength of her voice.
“That’s in the guest bedroom!” He sounded annoyed.
“Yes, it is.” Alish’s eyes were twinkling with mischief. She was holding her hand curled around Kate’s that held the disk. “Then give it to the storyteller. Her mind is open to all. It is never full. Put it under her pillow and it will help her listen.”
“That’s Aunt Sara all right. You should visit us. Or all of us can come here. We’d love to—”
Alish dropped Kate’s hand and stepped back. Her eyes lost their twinkle. “No! Do not do that. I could not—” At the sound of Reid’s footsteps, she dropped her shoulders and looked down. Kate thought that if Aunt Sara was there she would have called it Old Woman Pose.
Reid came into the room and looked from one woman to the other. “You two all right?”
“Great,” Kate said. “Your grandmother is going to show me how to do tatting.”
“What?” he asked.
“Lace making,” Alish said. “The storyteller likes it.”
“Story—? Oh,” he said. “Sara. She and I have become friends. Perhaps you can meet her. But now you look tired. Should I help you to your room?”
“Yes, please.” She gave a glance at Kate, then turned back to Reid, and they left, with her leaning heavily on his arm.
Kate wanted to look at what was in her hand, but she didn’t want Reid to see it. She wasn’t sure why. She grabbed her handbag and dropped it into the inside pocket.
Minutes later, she and Reid left the house. As they drove away, Kate was silent. She wasn’t sure what she’d seen or felt. She wished Sara or Jack or her father had been with her and heard it all.
She assumed he was going back to Lachlan House but instead, he pulled into the parking lot of a small group of stores.
“There’s a coffee shop here. Mind if we sit and talk? Or do you need to get back?”
