‘So, can you arrange for us to talk with your great-grandfather?’
She nodded. ‘I can arrange for you to meet, but whether great-grandfather will talk’ — she shrugged — ‘that’s down to you.’ She smiled. ‘Whether he likes you or not,’ she added by way of explanation.
‘Right. No pressure then.’ He grinned.
‘I’ll talk to Aunty Mere. She looks after him mostly, and text you a time and place,’ she turned to go inside but stopped and twisted around. ‘And Dan?’
He looked up.
‘If he says something that stings…’ She shrugged, half-apologetic. ‘Just remember — old people don’t soften things for comfort. Oh, and I’d time it to coincide with the librarian’s fortnightly visit to Mere. That should soften him up. He likes her.’ She shot him a final smile, a wave and she was gone, leaving him with a feeling that fate had just stepped in and was steering him along a certain path whether he wanted to go down it or not.
As it happened, he did.
Because it meant he’d be seeing Augi again, sooner than he’d imagined.
Chapter Nine
Later that evening, Augi sat at the dinner table, wishing she hadn’t come. As much as she loved Kate, she couldn’t bear scenes, and it looked as though another tense situation was developing at the MacLeod household.
The past hour had been spent uncomfortably for two reasons. One, Augi was seated between Kate and Dan around the table on the verandah at the rear of MacLeod’s Cottage. She hadn’t intended to put herself in his way so soon after she’d warned him off. And yet here she was, trying to avoid his gaze which told her clearly that he’d been pondering her warning and it had seemed to intrigue rather than deflect his interest. To explain her presence she’d blurted out to him that she had news for Kate about the house.
She sighed and glanced up at the second reason she felt uncomfortable. Oliver, Lucy’s problematic boyfriend, or friend — no one could seem to figure out whether they were together or not — had been invited round for dinner by Lucy because it was his birthday. Augi half-wished she hadn’t informed Lucy it was Oliver’s birthday. Although seeing Lucy with him, Augi knew that Lucy would have found another reason to track him down. At least the dispute over the Old Colonial Hotel had been settled. Oliver was no longer going to demolish it. Lucy had won that argument, but there was still an underlying tension between them.
Now, after an intense discussion about Oliver’s family, a hush had fallen and Lucy suddenly jumped to her feet.
‘More wine, anyone?’ she asked, despite the fact she hadn’t touched her own glass.
‘Yes please, dear,’ said Kate, obviously taking pity on Lucy because she had a full cup of tea sitting in front of her.
Augi caught Dan’s eye before he turned away and watched Oliver walk over to Sam down by the garden wall where it edged the sand dunes. The two men stood talking quietly together, their silhouettes navy against the darkened beach. Dan turned back to her with a grim shake of his head. Augi couldn’t help but admire the fact that Dan had no time for Oliver. It showed how much he cared for his sister and that his morals weren’t as complicated as Oliver’s.
But it also suggested a lack of forgiveness and ability to understand beyond what he could see. She looked away quickly. And that reinforced her thought that, after he’d learnt the full truth about her, he wouldn’t understand it, let alone like it. Because, unlike Dan, she hadn’t supported her loved one — hadn’t even been aware of what was happening before her nose — until it was too late. Dan wouldn’t be the only one not to forgive her. How could he, when she couldn’t forgive herself?
But whether Dan could forgive her or not, Augi knew she couldn’t stop the process which had already begun of opening up to people in a way she hadn’t in ten long years. And Kate’s random comments had made her face what she already knew — she couldn’t carry on repressing her secrets.
Being aloof, keeping herself separate from everyone, had been useful at first — it had helped her survive. But she needed more than mere survival now. She wanted to live, breathe and maybe even love again. And to do that she needed to break her silence. She knew this, but what she didn’t know was when, how, or whether she’d be able to.
When Lucy emerged from the kitchen she kissed Kate’s cheek.
Kate turned to her with a smile. ‘And what was that for?’
‘For being the loveliest mother who ever lived,’ said Lucy going back to her seat.
Dan rolled his eyes.
‘What?’ Lucy said, glaring at him.
‘You!’ he said. ‘I didn’t have you pegged for being so soppy.’
‘I’m not soppy. No one can ever accuse me of being soppy. I’m merely being truthful.’
Kate leaned in to him, and tapped him lightly on the knee. ‘Daniel, you know you think that, too,’ she said with a crooked smile.
He sighed and grinned, because of course Kate was correct. He did think she was a wonderful mother. He got up and wandered over to Sam and Oliver.
Augi swallowed and looked away. She remembered doing something similar to her mother so many years ago that it seemed she was remembering a different person. She guessed that was a by-product of opening up — feeling the pain of memories. She’d have to get used to it. She sat there, savouring it, looking at the pain instead of clamping down on it like concrete over a nuclear leak.
‘You must think we’re a bit over the top,’ said Lucy, leaning in to talk quietly to Augi, so only she could hear.
