‘I know. It’s so strange. But also lovely.’ Deb crouched down next to Janice and looked out onto the horizon. ‘Kyle said that the old houses were just over there. At the edge of where the folly got built. Do you want to see?’
‘Yes. Wheel me over.’ Janice nodded.
Deb pushed her mother’s wheelchair carefully over the grass, which, mercifully, had been mowed recently.
‘Kyle is intending to integrate a bit of the folly wall into the new community development,’ she said, as they approached the site of her grandmother’s house. ‘So, I guess it’s nice that there will be children playing on the site where Elise used to live. Families having good times here. It’s good to know that.’
‘Yes, it is.’ Janice let out a long sigh. ‘It’s strange, though, being here. Thinking about Mum. Thinking about her being here, playing in these trees, sleeping here, eating, maybe exactly where we’re standing. From what she said, she was so happy here, before it was taken away. It’s also strange that she never told me where she’d lived, but I understand why. It was too painful, I suppose. There are so many things she never told me. Things we’ll never know, now.’
‘I wish she’d been here to see this.’ Deb nodded.
‘I know,’ Janice said, and they fell silent.
‘Sorry tae interrupt.’ Hal had walked over to Deb and Janice and nodded politely to them both. He reached into the pocket of his khaki oilcloth coat, took out an envelope and handed it to Janice. ‘This is also fer ye, Ms Sutherland,’ he said, formally.
‘What’s all this?’ Janice asked, taking it and opening the flap of the envelope. ‘Surely, you’ve done enough, Hal.’
‘Ah, no’ at all. Deb asked me tae look intae the local records fer any indication o’ yer brother Tom. I didnae forget,’ he said toDeb, who felt a stab of excitement mixed with apprehension in her stomach. ‘I did find somethin’.’
‘Tom?’ Janice opened the envelope, and unfolded the paper. ‘Oh, my.’ She looked at it for a long moment, then handed it to Deb.
It was a death certificate. Deb felt her stomach clench in disappointment: she’d known it was a long shot to find any trace of Tom at all, never mind finding him alive. He had been a little younger than Grandma Elise, yes, but he still would have been in his nineties by now. Still, she’d hoped.
Thomas Sutherland. Date of death, January 10th, 2010. Loch Aweit read. Deb looked up in surprise.
‘Loch Awe? That’s not far from here, is it?’ she asked Hal.
‘It isnae. It looks like Tom came back tae the area at some point in his life. When he was an adult, I guess. The second piece o’ paper should be of interest,’ Hal said, his eyes crinkling kindly. ‘Somethin’, at least.’
Deb turned over the second piece of paper and exclaimed out loud, passing it to her mum.
‘What is it?’ Janice asked, taking the paper. ‘Oh!’ she looked up at Deb. ‘We can go, can’t we?’
‘Yes. We can,’ Deb said, looking at the photo that Hal had printed out for them. It was a picture of a grave stone with Tom’s name on it, and underneath, Hal had handwritten
Loch Cameron Chapel, left corner.
‘He’s been here the whole time,’ Deb breathed. ‘I can’t believe it.’
‘Aye. Ye both came back home, in the end.’ Hal put his arm around Deb’s shoulders. ‘We can do some more investigation. See if we can find the family. Someone paid for him tae be buried up at the chapel, and sorted the stone, aye? It wasnae that long ago. He might’ve had a family.’
‘Goodness. I might have cousins.’ Janice looked up at them both. ‘That’s such a strange thought! Thank you, Hal.’ Her voice was a little choked up. ‘You’ve done so much for our little family. I really can’t thank you enough.’
‘It’s no more than what’s right,’ Hal replied. ‘I’ll leave ye tae it for a min. Have some time tae digest, an’ we can catch up when yer ready.’ He gave them both a formal nod, and walked back over to Zelda, who was handing out cups of tea.
‘Well. I didn’t expect that as well, today.’ Janice let out a long breath. ‘I’m going to be ready for a lie down when we get back to the cottage.’
‘Me neither. I did ask Hal to look into Tom, but I didn’t think…’ Deb trailed off. ‘He was here! All that time. Well, his body was. His bones, anyway.’
‘It’s something, isn’t it?’ Janice shook her head in wonder. ‘I wouldn’t have expected him to be alive, but to think that he came back to Loch Cameron in the end. It’s so strange you got drawn here for that job. Seems like fate, doesn’t it?’ She reached for Deb’s hand.
‘It does. In more ways than one,’ Deb replied, looking back over Gyle Head at Kyle, who was talking to Sheila and Mina, a cup of tea in his hand. They were laughing and smiling.
‘I’m glad you came here,’ Janice said. ‘I feel like… it’s healed something in our family. I could never have predicted that.’
‘I know. Me either.’
Deb closed her eyes and thought of Grandma Elise. Of the days on the allotment, learning how to grow tomatoes and courgettes by the phases of the moon. Elsie – Elise – had, perhaps, spared Deb the stoic upbringing that she had given Janice, and for that, Deb was grateful. She was grateful for the peaceful times they had had together.
