Come
Across the Big Pond
Part One…
Tar
ar an tAigéan
Disclaimer. I don’t own the characters that are found in the
Murder She Wrote TV series, or in the book form. They are the property of
someone else. I * do * own the characters that I created. The character
of Dr. Tipper Henderson was created by Anne, and is used with her permission.
To read more about the adventures of Tipper, Google Murder She Wrote and go to
the “Definitive Guide to Murder She Wrote.” This story (Tabhairt Isteach Do )
is several stories within one, starting with A Picture Perfect Murder, then The
Ghost of Preston Giles, Murder by Trust, and Till Deadly Do We Pact, and the
ones that follow this adventure. It was broken up into chapters and placed on
Fanfiction.net as such to make it easier to read.
Authors note & warning… This story has a warning of 13+ due
to language, beliefs and customs that may offend some people’s sensibilities.
If you have traversed this
far, please sign a review so that I know you have read it! Don’t be shy!!
Kats
©
May 18th, 2006. Finished June 9th, 2006.
Frank
leaned against the window of the bus and pulled out his pencil and note pad. He
looked at Jessica, who had nodded off - It had been a lot of walking for her to
go the two blocks, then up all of the stairs to the classroom, then to the
diner and then back the two blocks where they caught the bus back to the bus
station in time to make the trip back to Cabot Cove. They would arrive at midnight,
and Sheriff Metzger would pick them up at the bus station and take them home.
Frank didn’t know when they would be leaving for the wedding, but there were
one or two things he had to do first.
Willie’s
knuckles were a bit banged up, and Frank could see the bandages they had gotten
at the corner drug store would have to be replaced when they got home. Aunt
Jessica had said something about getting a tetanus shot, and Willie had mumbled
something about rabies as well.
Flipping
open the note pad, Frank licked the end of his pencil and began to write.
“Dear Mom and Dad,
Aunt Jessica says that
I can send the company you work for this letter and they will forward it to you
wherever you are. I wanted to let you know what was going on so that if you
call and there is no answer at Aunt Jessica’s you won’t worry. You know that I
met a man named Willie Mac, and I told you he had moved in next door to stay
with Aunt Jessica’s neighbor Ms. Andrews. Well, when Aunt Jessica fell, I got
to stay with them on the advice of Sheriff Metzger and we found out something
very cool. Willie Mac is really a MacGill! Sheriff Metzger found a photo of
Willie’s mum and it looks a lot like Aunt Jessica, but it’s not. Aunt Jessica
says there are a lot of MacGills that look like her so it could be any of her
cousins. Anyway, life here in Cabot Cove, Aunt Jessica says to tell you, is
going “as usual.” She said that you would know what that meant and not to worry
- everyone’s been taken care of.
A lot of things have
happened. I don’t use the internet as much as I did before because I have been
busy learning how to card wool and weave and dye materials with Willie. He is a
really cool guy. Aunt Jessica says he is a Doctor of Biology, and he has his
medical doctorate from
Mum, you know when you
said you packed my passport and I asked you what I would be needing it for and
you said, “you never know”? Well … I do now! I am going to be traveling to
I have learned a lot
while I am here and one of the things I learned was what it means when someone
is disappointed in you. I understand it now. I really do. I feel like I am
growing up a lot in the short time that I have been here. I promise not to
disappoint you ever again (if I can possibly help it). The review by the school
board that they didn’t tell you about went ok. They have agreed that I don’t
have to come back for any more, I only have to have reports sent in when I have
completed stuff. My new glasses are working out pretty well, and Willie MacGill
gave them heck because where I was sitting in the class room - well, even he
said he couldn’t hear or see what was going on, so I guess there will be some
changes there.
Love,
Frank.”
He
closed his note book and shoved it into his back pack. He knew when they got
home there would be time enough for the stamp and the envelope. Looking over at
Willie, Frank saw a five o’clock shadow on Willie’s face, and the concern that
clouded his eyes. Frank reached over and took Willie’s hand in his.
Willie
looked over at him, a bit surprised. “Something amiss, lad?”
Frank
shook his head and shrugged. “I’m just glad that you’re a part of my family,” he
said simply.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donald
Brook strode through the hospital hallway up to the nurses station and
presented his ID to the nurse on charge. She glanced at it, then regarded the
stout man with the salt and pepper hair and twinkling blue eyes. He could have
been a movie star in another life - though being a lawyer was sometimes enough
notice that anyone could want. She pressed the button to allow him entrance
into the closed ward of ICU.
As
he approached Anthony’s room he could hear voices that he recognized, Seth’s and
Taylor’s, and one other he didn’t know, all behind a curtain. Clearing his
throat he heard the conversation stop. Seth pulled the curtain back and
regarded him, then with a nod allowed him to step into the cubical where
Anthony lay swaddled in bandages. There was just a clump of his sandy red hair
peeking out, his eyes were still closed and his swarthy complexion had the look
of being scrubbed clean.
Donald
felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Exactly
my point!” said Seth to the other man in the room. Donald turned and regarded
the man, whose smock said “Dr. Geoffrey Marshall, Hospital Administration.” The
man looked, in Donald’s opinion, just like a ferret. His bright beady eyes
peered suspiciously at Donald, and then he turned back to Seth.
“The
man is not licensed to practice medicine in the state of
“I
am his POA, and I authorized it. Two days ago, Anthony was dying from drug
interactions. He has a chance now - more than he had before, and it’s no thanks
to your medicine, which was nearly the death of him before.”
Donald
looked quizzically at
“No.
There is no indication of detrimental effects to the current treatment plan.
Dr. Razanur has helped to stabilize Anthony’s condition. I happen to agree with
him regarding the side effects of some of the drugs that were given to Anthony,
and if the result is that patches of poultice do much better than the chemical
version, my vote would be to go with what is working. He is off the respirator,
breathing on his own, and his blood gas levels are the best I have seen since
his admittance …”
“The
issue is, they want to charge for his care, but they can’t because it wasn’t
their doctors who were treating him,” said
“Is
he stable enough to travel?” inquired Donald as he went to his friend’s side
and picked up his free hand. It was warm and soft and leathery feeling, and
reminded him of kidskin gloves.
Seth
regarded Donald, then looked at Taylor who was suddenly studying the pattern of
the bed sheet beneath her hands. “Not for awhile. Where would you be taking
him? Isn’t that a decision for his POA?” Seth saw Donald nod.
“It
is. It is why I am here. The insurance carrier would like him closer to home as
soon as possible and to be evaluated for long term care. I’ve already found
someone to care for him and a facility that specializes in durational
management.” Donald saw tears form in
She
straightened up and, escorted by Seth, went into the room behind the nurse’s
station. Donald said to the hospital administrator, “This is a private matter
for now. When we have reached a decision you will be notified.” He closed the
door and went to sit across the table from where
She
had her eyes closed for a moment. “I suppose I should ask what gives you the
right to change his treatment plan and where he is cured?”
“Until
a month ago, I was his POA.”
Seth
regarded Donald. “What changed?”
Donald
let out a sigh. “The state changed his medical package a month ago, and some of
the paperwork became scrambled.
“A
month ago … wasn’t that when they scheduled Kent Fordham’s hearing?” asked
Donald
nodded. “Yes. And, yes there were some manipulations of the accounts.”
“So,
what do we have to do to get this straightened out?” she asked. She knew Donald
from many years before - a lifetime away. She knew that Donald would do
everything he could to protect Anthony, and that as a lawyer he would know all
of the legalities.
“For
now, just come to an agreement on his treatment plan,” Donald said gently.
Seth
looked at him, then at
Donald
let out a sigh. “As his lawyer, I can’t be his beneficiary.” He saw
“I
tried to tell him - for years I tried. I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t live, not
knowing if he would be taken out at any given moment. He was declared dead, and
he still went back. Donald, you have to know. There is some one else in my life
- he’s asked me to marry him, and I’ve said yes. And he has agreed to allow
Anthony to be brought into our home to be cared for…”
“He
is the same one who took over Anthony’s care?”
For
a long moment
“To
my knowledge, no. They had to have been planning this for a long time,” Donald
said softly.
“I’ve
known Sondra for four years, and she has nothing to do with Kent Fordham.
Anthony knows her too. He will receive excellent care, and be safe.”
Her sudden giggle threw him off. “That’s pretty much what Anthony said when he
sent me here ahead of him.”
Seth
furrowed his brows and regarded Donald. “Is that the same Sondra that Jessica
and I know?” Donald nodded.
“Very
well. I will be staying at the Hill House,” Donald said as he gave Seth a nod.
“You
bloody well will not be staying there! Donald – that place is a den of
iniquity! “
Donald
was about to chide her for being an alarmist when Seth cleared his throat. “I agree. Normally the place is safe enough,
but in this regard we are not taking any chances. You’re coming home with me, and
tomorrow we will meet with Willie and Taylor and discuss the options … Now,
what’s this about you getting married to Willie?" asked Seth.
“He
asked me yesterday, before they left, and I said yes ... he is going back home
to settle some things, and we’ll be married over there. Frank is going to be
his best man, Tipper as my maid of honor, and Jessica as a witness.”
She
saw Seth’s eyes narrow. “That’s near
“A
bit near … why?”
He
flushed a moment before saying, “George lives there.” He said it with a tinge
of sadness in his voice. The look in his eyes was one that
“George?”
asked Donald, curious.
“The
chief inspector of Scotland Yard, Inspector George Sutherland He helped to do
the paperwork for Willie to reclaim his sword. I dare say he might be there -
Willie mentioned something about making things right, which will mean
involvement with the law on something greater than a local level.”
“Seth,
I haven’t had the chance to ask you … if you’re free for a bit, would you be
able to walk me down the aisle? You would be escorting Jessica back up the
aisle after the ceremony.”
“Me??”
he gasped.
“Well,
I had considered Anthony, but that would probably not be something Emily Post
would say is proper form."
Seth
nodded. “I would be honored,” he said, giving her cheek a kiss. “I have rounds
to do. If you wouldn’t mind waiting, Donald? “ Donald gave a nod as Seth strode
from the room.
“So,
tell me about this young man that you’re marrying. What do you know about him,
and how long have you been acquainted?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jessica
watched the icy blue clouds dance upon the horizon. It seemed odd that at one
in the morning they were serving breakfast and that the sun was coming up - but
flying east did that. Three days had past since the recapture of Kent Fordham
and Willie’s return. He had been quiet about it, and about how his knuckles had
been bashed up. Seth had given him a check-up and a few shots, and then the
four of them sat down and had a long discussion regarding Anthony. His healing
would take a long time. He had snatches of being awake, and during one of those
times,
“Good,”
he said. “He loves you.” He nodded, then his eyes closed again and he fell
asleep. She bent over and kissed his cheek, and when she left the room and
faced Jessica, there were tears in her eyes.
There
was a lot to the planning of the trip that Willie just took over. Willie
insisted on going to the courthouse and filling out forms for his dual citizenship,
and there were other papers that he had
Willie
had spent a great deal of time in the shop, not telling
Frank
had been wiggly the whole trip. He kept squirming in his seat, looking around
and watching people. If any one else noticed it, they might think it was the
normal high energy of the child that age, but
Tipper
leaned back in her seat next to Jessica. Normally she would shy away from
people-filled events. Animals were less judgmental, loving unconditionally. In
the years that she had known
She
could hear Frank asking Willie a question about
“Zoe,
eat your biscuit. There’s a good lambkin,” said a voice with an accent. Tipper
realized that everyone on the plane except Jess, Seth, Frank and herself had an
accent of one type or another, and then it occurred to her that it wasn’t they who had the accents, but that Seth,
Jess,
Jessica
felt Seth take her hand beneath the blanket as they both tried to get a bit of
sleep between the meals that were served. Since the last time Seth had
encountered George the feelings between them had simmered. She knew that Seth
was very fond of her, and the disclosure of the relationship between the two of
them had been unsettling. Seth, though, didn’t push, and didn’t pout. He had
shown George in his own way that he was there for Jessica, as a friend, every
day of the year. There were two types of relationships – the one she had with
George that had all of the fireworks, and the other, the steady friendship she
had with Seth. If there was a way that the two men could be merged together …
well, the result might be worth getting married again for. There was a twinge
inside of her for a moment, remembering everything that Seth did for her - the
storm windows, and the plumbing, and she wondered if in a way she was using their
friendship for that. Inside, though, she knew that they were the dearest of
friends, no matter what transpired. Seth had taken the news of the relationship
between George and her very maturely. There was no way he would ever think of
being with Jessica that way.
Willie
saw Frank look out the window, then back at Taylor who was snuggled next to
Willie, a blanket over the three of them. “That story that you started, well, I
only heard the beginning of it when Aunt Jessica was in the hospital. Could you
tell me the story now?”
“It
was a Dark and Stormy Night,”
“The rain and wind
lashed the branches in a frightful display of the elements. The skies were
split by earth-shattering blasts of fierce lightning and the booming thunder
that rattled the depths of the ancient willow that was once a terrible wizard
who had cursed the small seaside cove. His name was …”
Willie
interrupted her. “Lass, don’t say it, we’re on a plane a long way up,
remember?”
“Yeah,
I remember last time when you said it. Its ok, I know his name,” said Frank
with a grin on his face.
“Very
well, we will call him Alnan,” said
“You may wonder how a
terrible wizard had become a willow tree that would curse the small sea side
cove. It happened as this. Alnan had once been a lowly wizard who studied hard,
and was an apprentice to a very powerful wizard named Lakaran who had quite
forgotten the feelings of the lowly wizard who worked under him. No matter how
hard Alnan worked, it was never good enough, or worthy of the powerful wizard’s
attention. Feeling very dejected, Alnan went down to the cove every day after
his master went to bed where he would watch the stars come out over the water.
It was there he first caught the eye of a beautiful young girl named Harama who
had raven black hair so long they could have woven a fishing net from it.
“Together the two of
them would spend their nights walking up and down the shore of the cove and falling
in love. Alnan wouldn’t tell her where he lived, or what he did, for he was
afraid that the powerful wizard Lakaran would punish him for falling in love.
One day, in secret Harama followed Alnan home, and learned where he lived, and
that he was the wizard’s apprentice. It was that same day that Lakaran decided
that Alnan was not paying attention to what he was teaching, and he redoubled the
lessons he was giving the young wizard so that he had no time to meet with the
beautiful Harama by the cove shores. Wondering where he was, she crept to the
wizard’s home, and seeing him by the cauldron she tapped lightly on the window.
He opened the door and tried to warn her away because of the danger, but she
wouldn’t listen. Her voice woke Lakaran, and as Alnan shooed her away Lakaran
caught sight of the two young lovers.
“The next day Lakaran
came to the village leaders and said that he was to have as his own a young
girl of the village by the cove, and if they did not make it so, the curse that
he would bring down upon the village by the cove would be terrible and mighty.
The village leaders didn’t question why he wanted a bride so quickly, or who,
and it wasn’t until later that Alnan learned that the person chosen was his
beloved Harama.
“Alnan went to the town
leaders and begged them not to allow the wedding. It wasn‘t right - Harama was
only a young lass, and Lakaran was older than the hills. But they were too
afraid of Lakaran, and wouldn‘t listen to Alnan. So he cursed them, saying, “No
longer will your nets bring the fish home to your wives and family. No longer
will the sea be warm and gentle as a mother’s arm to those who venture from
your shores. Hard will be the wind that blows and deep the snows that cover
your land. Summer shall flee from your shores and all you will know is mud for
thrice the time as was before.” Alnan went in search of Harama, and found her
crying by the shore of the cove. She had heard that he had cursed the cove, and
it had broken her heart. Alnan, not knowing what else to do, and not being able
to explain to her why he had cursed the town, changed her into a little bird to
hide her, hoping that if Lakaran couldn’t find her, then perhaps they could
escape later.
“Well, the townspeople
didn’t know what to do, so they went to Lakaran and told him that Alnan had
cursed the town because he wanted to marry Harama. Lakaran became angry and
demanded that Harama be brought forward so he could have her as his own. The
townspeople searched for her, but couldn’t find her and Lakaran became even angrier.
He called Alnan forward and demanded to know where Harama was. Alnan wouldn’t
tell Lakaran, and they began to battle as only wizards could. In the end
Lakaran turned Alnan into the seed of a willow tree, and was going to place him
in an iron box where he would not see light or be able to escape for all the
days of the earth. But a little bird flew down and seized the seed from
Lakaran’s hand. She flew as far away as she could and laid the seed down
between two rocks and hid it when Lakaran came after her. He cast a spell,
freezing her on the spot. Her body covered the seed, and when the rains came,
the seed sprouted and grew into a mighty willow.
“One day Lakaran was
looking for a particular herb to place into his collection when he came to where
the
It
was misty as the plane settled on to the runway at
“Do
you have anything to declare?” he was asked by the portly agent.
Frank
thought a moment. “I always wondered - do they really make that Irish soap here?
- Oh! You mean like if I was bringing something in to the country? No,“ he said,
shaking his head. He missed the agents’ bemused grins.
George
stepped forward as Willie laid the sword in its carrier on the counter and
untied the bindings for it. The agents regarded it, then the documents that he
presented, and nodded to George who took the sword from the counter and walked
with Willie to a small room. The door closed between them and the others, and
for a moment the two men spoke. Tipper waited, watching them as the others made
it through customs. When it was her turn she stepped up to the counter and
presented her passport to be stamped. For the longest time they held it,
looking at it, and her, then flicked it under the barcode scanner. She found
herself being frowned at by the customs agent.
“Have
you had contact with ill animals with in the last three months?”
Tipper
blinked then realized what they were asking. “Physical contact, as in bitten or
scratched? No. No infestations, either.”
“Will
you be coming into contact with any animals during your stay here?”
“Lord
love a duck, I certainly hope not … no matter how cute the lad may think he is,”
she said, not being able to help herself. She was a vet, for crying out loud -
of course she had come into contact with sick animals! She understood their
caution, but removing quills from the nose of a dog wasn’t the same as dealing
with bird flu, and they didn’t have any cases of foot-and-mouth, not among the
lobsters, anyway.
She
saw the customs agents’ eyebrows raise and wondered just how much of a sense of
humor they had. It was possible that they could deny her entry into
Jessica
looked at George. He was uncharacteristically formal about everything. No hugs,
no greetings, just nods to them, not even looking her in the eye. He walked
with them down to the baggage claim area where their things were just beginning
to come down the ramp. Jessica considered giving him a good nudge to see if he
would react, then thought better as she saw another customs agent had fallen
into step behind them. “What is going
on?” she thought to herself. She noticed that some of the bags had been
pulled aside and by the bright pink straps on them, they were theirs. She saw
the agents waving a wand over one, and nodding to another to cut the lock.
Willie groaned beside her and strode forward, asking something of the agents
who were poised over the lock.
Frank
regarded the car that awaited them. He had overheard that Inspector Sutherland
had personally checked out the car to be sure nothing had been tampered with,
and that the tank was full. He just didn’t see how six people with their
luggage could fit in such a thing, but then he saw the trunk. He realized with
the way they had packed, yes, a few things would have to be held on their laps,
but it was doable. It surprised him more when Willie got behind the wheel of
the car and made his first turn onto the street.
It
wasn’t more than forty-five minuets later that they pulled into a small village
that lay nestled among the verdant pastures. There was a worn sign that proudly
stated, “MITHER MCGEE’S THE ROOSTING HEN BED AND BREAKFAST” tacked to the fence
post that was surrounded by ivy and clover. Willie turned the car into its
drive and brought it into the parking lot near the garage.
Willie
breathed a sigh of relief as he brought the car to a stop and turned off the
engine.
“Just
so you’re knowing, the registers here carry sound - even a mouse can’t cough without
everyone knowing in the whole village. I don’t know the accommodations that
they will be having for us, but at least we will be having beds, so that’s a
comfort. Flynn and his misses still run the place - it’s a bit off the beaten
path, but it’s where we want to be right now.“ Willie regarded Tipper and gave her a wink.
“Oh, ye might be wary of the local lads, they tend to grow them a mite handsome
this part of the world. Wouldn’t be surprised if your dance card is filled for
the wedding in half a heart beat. Be mindful of them if they ask if they can
hang their laundry next to yours.”
Wiggling
about, Frank saw a few curtains move as people looked out to see who had
arrived in their village. “Is this where you grew up?” he asked.
Willie
nodded down the street. “Gram’s house is a bit down that way, and the market
shops are over that way. Mind that it may not be the warmest of welcomes … but
I never met an Irishman who didna love to step out for the wedding of a bonny
lass,” he said with a grin at
Seth
suspected that the road that led to this town, before Willie had put it on the
map, had been a dirt one that the residents would have liked to have forgotten.
He picked up his bag and Jessica’s, directed Frank to take a few then followed
Willie up the steps of the front porch where Mither McGee was waiting by the
door to usher them inside. When the car was unloaded, she handed Willie a key
and in a moment he came back after moving the car into the garage. He sighed.
He would have rather stayed in another town, perhaps, rather than coming
directly into the fray that he knew would soon erupt, but Mither McGee’s was
the only place that he knew he could trust, and that would have a garage where
he could secure the car safely. It also was one of the few places that had three
bathrooms, though when the bed and breakfast became full, there was often a
wait for the tub.
“Mind
the tins,” Willie muttered under his breath as he led
Willie
was right. They did have their own beds. Frank had always wanted to sleep top
bunk, and upon the advice of Willie, Tipper was the other top bunker. They had
two rooms, one for the men, the other for the ladies, each room sleeping four
with two sets of bunk beds. She saw he had the sword in its case as he escorted
her down the steps for proper introductions to Mither.
“Seven
calls in two days, Willie, I had - seven!!! Had to triple-bunk some and I don’t
know how the floors in the attic will be taking so many traipsing up there! Who
would ha know ye would marry into such a large family! Would have lodged ye all
together but it didna seem proper to put ye in the same room with your bride
before the wedding, though I might have to after if people are staying over,
seeing how there will be two empty beds the night of your wedding …” she said
with a sly wink to him.
Willie
smiled. “Na, there are two coming who will be taking the place in the cots that
night, and you did leave one room open, didna ye?”
“Aye.
I did. But ye haven’t told me how many are staying in it.”
Willie
shrugged. “Won’t know until they come. Thank ye, Mither,” he said, kissing her
cheek gently.
Surprisingly,
she blushed then waved him away. “Go on, off with ye, Gram is waiting for you
to come home. Faraday can show you about the town while you’re waiting for the
rest of your group to arrive.”
Tipper
turned at the sound of footsteps. She knew from Willie’s description that Flynn
had to be older. The man who came into the room was younger, fit, and had curly
black hair with a dimpled chin. He wore a crisp blue oxford shirt that had the
cuffs rolled three-quarters of the way up and dark Dockers. When he smiled, it
was with his whole face - the dimples got deeper, and even his sky blue eyes
crinkled. His voice was mellow and even as he held out his hand. “Might I show
you about?” he asked, speaking in near perfect English.
“I
… yes, thank you, that would be lovely,” said Tipper with a shy smile on her
face, which was touched with a pink blush. She could hear Frank clear his throat
behind her as she tucked her hand in the crook of Faraday’s arm.
Mither
called after Faraday: “Don’t forget to hitch the team to the hay wagon later
for ye father!” Faraday waved backwards at her, letting her know he had heard
her.
Walking
over to
It
was the same as Willie had described it the night
“Is
it done?” she said softly.
“It
has started. Gram, why couldn’t you tell me?” he asked, taking her by the arm
gently.
“Better
to keep a secret if not known. Only the sword could tell … ‘tis the key, ye
know,” she stated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George
Sutherland looked down at the address that was scrawled on the scrap of paper,
then at the numbers on the bottom of the door. Looking around he saw that where
he was standing wasn’t the best or the safest of neighborhoods. The yellow
house before him was a post war construction, single story with thin walls and
perhaps at the most two bedrooms. While the neighborhood may not be the safest,
he could see that care had been taken, and pride, in how the house was kept.
Taking a breath, he stepped up to the door and knocked. A young girl, perhaps five
years old, opened the inside door and looked up at him with a frown on her
face. He heard voices inside scolding her for opening up the door. In the
dimness of the small hallway he saw a younger woman coming forward, and in a
heartbeat George knew what Jessica had to have looked like forty years before -
beautiful. What was even more breathtaking was the woman who followed the
younger woman down the hall, a mousy grey-haired lady who held all of the poise
and grace that Jessica did – albeit a life of sadness in her eyes.
“Yes?”
the older woman asked.
George
drew a breath and said softly, “Mrs. Rosemary MacGill Razanur, I am Chief Inspector
George Sutherland of Scotland Yard, and I have been asked to transport you and
your family safely to your son Dr. Thaladirith Razanur’s wedding to Miss Taylor
Andrews, which is being held in two days’ time in the town where your children
were born. Tabhairt isteach do.”
George
saw Rosemary raise her hand to her chest. It had to be a shock, to hear about a
son whom she had given up years before come forward and acknowledge her, and
even more to hear uttered the Razanur’s family motto of ‘Tabhairt isteach do‘.
She didn’t budge, though. There was still fear in her eyes until he said
softly, “You may contact your sister Emma. She will describe me, and tell you that
I am known to your cousin Jessica MacGill Fletcher.” Reaching in his pocket he
withdrew a small photograph and held it up for her to see. “You do understand
there isn’t much time. Bring what you need.”
She
nodded, and then turning to her daughter said something to her softly. In short
order, Rosemary, her daughter and her four children, and two suitcases were
loaded into his car. He closed the car boot then looked around. Nary a curtain
dropped. Either the neighbors didn’t care, didn’t want to be involved in what
had the potential to be a blood bath, or that which was feared was already put
into motion.
As
he drove along the narrow roads he stole a glance at the woman who sat next to
him so quietly. He could afford himself a smile. There had been talk about
Jessica being a witch in his
There
was another truth that needed to be told. He had been uncharacteristically
formal to Jessica since her arrival - he had to be. There were several concerns
regarding her safety and that of the others - no one was quite sure how deep
the roots of the organization Furhdaham had created were. The other issue was
the sword. Yes, it was an ancient artifact, steeped in mystery. But had he
shown any favoritism to Jessica upon her arrival, and then it be learned that
she was traveling with Willie, the customs agents would have seized the sword
and prevented Willie from gaining access to its secrets, secrets that George
hoped would help end the blood feud between the two families. The last thing
they needed was for rumor to get out that all of this was arbitrated because he
and Jessica were lovers, and that it had been accomplished because of that
favoritism. He sighed. It wasn’t fair really to classify what was going on as a
blood feud - rather, it was a one-sided slaughter of the innocent. He looked in
the rear view mirror at the children again. Yes, it was fear that kept them
quiet.
He
knew they couldn’t go back to where they had lived, and how they had lived.
Willie had known that, and at least was in a position to help them, if
everything went well. Willie, despite
having to endure questions regarding his parentage, had been fortunate. He was
brilliant, he had the advantage of education, and he was able to use that education
to research breakthroughs for immune treatment using autoantigens found in
nature. He was a skilled healer, an apothecary, a biologist, and an
entomologist. It was said, during his time on the wards, that he could look
into your eyes, and know not only what ailed you, but the cure as well. The
hospital took care of his salary. He had little use for money, though, and
chose to let the money they had paid him build up in his accounts. He wore the
same homespun suits to black tie affairs as he did coming and going on the
wards. After the sword had been stolen, Willie began to crumble. Not that the
sword had directly to do anything with it; rather, it was the series of
bombings and accidents around him that Willie had managed to survive. They
never could determine if Willie had been the target, or if it had been
politically and religiously motivated. The people George had interviewed
regarding Willie found him a gentle soul incapable of hate, or revenge. He had
informed George once that he didn’t pick fights, and he was hopelessly out of
that element because of his size. The success of Willie’s book was staggering
until the issues with the Nightshade Company came to light, raised by Willie
himself.
Once
the photo had been found Jessica had made a call to her cousin Emma, who had walked
into his office a few days ago seeking his help. The only one of their family
that fit the description in the photo was her sister Rosemary, who had withdrawn
from the family four decades before to live a quiet life. She had only an
address that was many years old. George’s research on Rosemary had shown that
she had very little money when, several decades before, she had been granted a
land allotment for widows of the war. She raised her daughter in the same
house, working seven days a week as a mender for the local laundry, and when
her daughter had married ten years before, kept the family together under the
same roof and took care of the children while the two parents worked in the
factories.
Her
daughter Sara had been home ill when the accident at the factory happened four
months before. The illness was unspecified in the report that was filed, but after
the accident the factory closed. Sara kept to herself then, not seeking work. Having
a letter from her doctor stating that she was not able to work, Sara went on
the dole to support herself and her four children. All that they had were in
those two battered cardboard suitcases.
Research
into Sara’s husband yielded very little. John McAvery was an honest man with
few faults. Honesty didn’t make you richer, or less prone to temptation. If he
drank it was the brew that most made in their own pantry, or in the root stock
area of the home. There was no connection to him with the Furhdahams, although
the accident that took his life and others in the factory could be claimed as
suspicious. Too many people died that were unknowns that might possibly have a
link back. George was smart enough to realize that one man could not have
possibly arranged everything. He had a gnawing fear that something larger was
at hand, something far more deadly. He glanced at Sara again. She still looked
ill, without obvious cause. Musing to himself, he wondered if Willie could help
her.
Keeping
himself focused, George let out a slowly drawn breath. It was a terrible risk
that was being taken. The people who they were dealing with didn’t care who
they hurt, not in the hundreds, or the thousands. The customs agent who had
found the extra bag had almost brought things out hours ahead of time.
They
were nearing their turn when Sara reached over and took him by the arm,
squeezing it. He saw she was ghastly white and pulled the car over to the side
of the road out of the way of traffic. The moment the car had come to a stop
she was out the door and kneeling in the grass. George dug a small bottle out
of the glove compartment, opened the car door, and went over to where she was
still kneeling, supporting herself with her hands clenching the grass.
“Rinse
your mouth out and then take a swallow. We mustn’t linger here. It’s not far
now.”
It
was a few moments later that they were back on the road again. When they turned
into the village road George looked in his rear view mirror, and to his relief there
were no cars behind him. He heard one of the children gasp when they pulled
past Mither’s place - there were people milling about the front lawn, hugging
each other, and children giggling and playing. Streamers were being hung from
the trees and tents erected for the festivities. It was a far cry from the
place they had left a few hours before. He drove down the lane and parked the
car in front of another house.
Rosemary
shot him a look. “She’s alive, then?”
George
nodded, then got out, went about the other side of the car, and opened the door
for her. For a moment Rosemary hesitated, but then she allowed George to escort
her to the door with Sara behind her as well as the children. He knocked on the
door with his knuckle, then stepped back as
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sitting
on the front porch swing with Frank, Jessica regarded the coming and goings of
the people. In some way or another all the people were related to the MacGills.
It had taken a few quick calls, and things grew from there. Tomorrow the media
would arrive for the beginning of the festivities. It wasn’t often that most of
the MacGills, some of them very famous, were in the same town, and a family
reunion, along with a wedding seemed appropriate.
The
other children were playing and laughing on the front yard. Frank sat with
Jessica - not because the children were younger than he, or that he wasn’t sure
about the game that they were playing, just that he had noticed the people
looking at Jessica and Seth strangely when they spoke. He had realized that he
would sound odd to them as well. A breeze caught the flowered cotton skirt
Jessica wore and it was with a quick hand that she caught it and tucked it down
under her legs. They all had changed into something more comfortable after the
flight, and for some reason, the skirt seemed like a good idea.
The
front door opened and Tipper came out with a tea tray and biscuits for them.
She wore a faint blush on her cheeks as she handed the biscuit tray to Frank to
pass about. He eyed her and inquired, “So what did that man want?”
Tipper
cleared her throat. Somehow word gotten out that she was a doctor. She knew
that Faraday had introduced her to several people, and had told her about most
of the neighbors that had grown up with Willie. He was a nice lad who hadn’t
found the girl he wanted to marry yet. One of his friends had commented that once
they leave for the university, that they can’t be contented with the locals to
find a wife or a husband. Faraday had been very polite, and she found she
couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Mither had given him a look when they
returned, and then sent him off to the barn to hitch up the horses for the
afternoon. Hay needed to be brought in from the fields.
Tipper
had slipped into the kitchen to put the kettle on for afternoon tea when one of
the locals came in through the back door and asked if she was a doctor, and
just as she said yes, the kettle began to whistle. She turned to remove the
kettle from the stove and heard him say something about his knee. When she
turned back, he had dropped his pants to his ankles and sat in the chair with
his legs apart as he pointed out the knobby pus-filled growths on his knee.
Seth and Frank had come in to the kitchen at that moment. Seth had the presence
to turn Frank about and tell him to wait on the front porch. He could hear the
man saying something about being bitten by his goat clean through the trousers.
Tipper
cleared her throat and averted her eyes. She saw Seth and her eyes pleaded, “Help me!”
Clearing
her throat again, she said, “Well … amputation, wouldn’t you say, Dr. Hazlitt?”
The
man jumped to his feet. “Amputation? Oh na, it’s na tha' bad!!” he gasped,
bending over to pull up his trousers. It was then that Seth saw the reason for
her distress.
“Well,
the table’s almost clean and there is a fair selection of knives on the board…”
Seth said dryly. It was enough to send the man hobbling out of the kitchen as
fast as he could.
“We
give discounts for seniors!” Tipper called after him. She couldn’t look at Seth
- her cheeks were flamed red and she kept her eyes closed trying to rid herself
of that particular memory.
Tipper
saw that Frank was waiting for an answer. “It … was about his goat.” She saw
Frank raise his eyebrow. She knew he was pretty smart, and he had to have noticed
that something was amiss.
“Guess
it was pretty baaad?” he asked with a smirk.
She
took a biscuit off of the plate and popped it in her mouth. From the look on
her face he knew he shouldn’t push any more.
“What
was?” asked Willie as he climbed up the porch steps with
“What
was?” Willie asked again when he had gone.
He
saw the flush on Tippers cheeks. “One of the gents came to the kitchen with a
goat bite to the knee, and was seeking professional advice ... from me. I, um,
dissuaded him by suggesting amputation. He, um, left in rather a hurry, when
Seth suggested the knives and the table in Mither’s kitchen. We’ll need to get
word to the regular doctor here …”
“What
did he look like?” asked Willie with a sigh.
“Stumpy
older gent, had a blue flannel shirt on and gray pants. Scruffy, big ears and
brown suspenders. Why?” she asked, curious.
“Ah,
that’s Toot,” said Mither as she came out of the house with another plate of
biscuits.
“No
regular healer here since Gran retired four years ago. Na many will go to the
city for things like bites an’ such.“ She stopped and gave Tipper an odd look.
Willie saw it, and knew what she was thinking.
“Mither,
she’s na trained for people, just animals. The cures are different,” Willie
said with a resigned sigh. Seth saw the sigh and stood up. “I’ve got my bag in
the room,” he said simply.
Willie
turned to
She
covered his lips with hers to prevent what he was going to say. “Or I will come
looking for you,” she said softly.
Toot
looked up from where he sat on his back porch holding his knee. There were
several jugs beside him, one of which was uncorked and near his hand. He tried
to scramble away when he saw Seth, then hardened his jaw when he saw Willie.
“Wha’
business do ye have here?” Toot said, his voice tinged with anger.
Willie
stopped. “I’ve come to make things right.”
“’Ave
ye? Without running away? Or ‘ave your friends do the dirty work tae lame a man
for life?” he sneered.
“Well,
a least I don’t go wavin’ my private proper about in front of an unmarried lass
who was getting tea biscuits for the children!” Willie said, waving his hand
toward Mither’s house.
“Did
na such thing. She’s a doctor!”
“She’s
a vet. The closest she gets tae that is removing them on animals, which you’re
very lucky she didna do to you for how you came upon her like tha’,” he said,
approaching Toot and pushing him back onto the steps of the porch as he pulled out
a knife from his pocket. Toot gasped then cried out as he slit the inseam of
the pants and folded it around his leg.
Seth
grimaced. It was a nasty bite, left to fester over a few days. Willie took the
jug from where it rested, sniffed it, then dumped some of it over Toot’s leg.
Seth almost staggered back. He knew exactly what was in the jug.
“You
will go blind if you don’t cut that more,” he said, putting his doctor’s bag
down on the step and opening it. He dug through it and found several lancers,
then handed one part way opened to Willie. Deft fingers worked it into the
largest pus sack. Toot yipped with pain, then gagged at the smell. Willie was
very careful to keep the area clean, and to remove the infected tissue. Every once
in a while Toot would let out a yip as Willie poked another pus sac. Seth kept
a careful eye on what Willie was doing, not that he was doing anything wrong, but
knowing that if something did go
wrong, he could give account that it was done properly.
It
was twenty minutes later that Willie finished with the leg and wrapped it
properly. The dangling pant leg was wrapped about on top to protect the bandage
and then secured. There were no offered thanks, just a grumble about using most
of his best stuff on the wound.
They
walked back to the house, looking ahead in the lane at the children playing
under the tree. Willie looked at Seth. “How did you get your bag through
customs?” he asked, curious.
“Oh,
just had it with my things, and declared it. Jessica is one of my patents, and
I have to be prepared if something should happen to her,” he said with a shrug.
Willie
saw the seriousness in Seth’s eyes. “You think something is going to happen, do
you?”
Seth
drew in a breath and stopped walking. “Tell me why you left. Forget the sword,
and the book, because you could have handled things from here, seeing that you
knew where the sword was all the time, and the sheath. Why did you leave a
village full of people who need a good doctor to come to
Seth
saw the struggle on Willie’s face. “I
became a target, and those around me, those whom I loved and wished to help,
were getting in the way. I left to keep them alive. Good people died, and it
was my fault that they were in harm’s way. Those who came to me for healing
were marked, and found their barns torn down, their animals dead. The curious
came after the book was written, and the people felt on display. Some adapted
to it, like Mither. Look around, Dr. Hazlitt - you see simple farming folk,
some would say a quaint life. It hasn’t changed here for several hundred years,
yet we have power lines under the ground, with the telephone lines so that they
can’t be disabled. The water comes pumped in from the river two towns over and
not a common well. Some of the homes have the internet, but few have use for
it. Aye, I could have left closing up the shops to others. I had to know it was
done properly, though, and end it properly. It was my way of severing the
connection Furhdaham had built up across your country. I didn’t know, when I
chose Cabot Cove to be the end place for it, that I would find my life, which
had been so empty for all those years, to be made whole again, and given a
reason to live.”
“The
end place for it? You expected to die?“ said Seth, shocked.
“Yes,
I expected to die there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jessica
waited on the porch while George helped Sara out of the car, and then Rosemary.
She could see the two women were trying to fathom the events that had so
recently unfolded before them. The children tumbled out of the back seat and
looked around, uncertain of what exactly was going on. Some of the children in
the front yard stopped playing long enough to wave to them, but Sara’s stayed
close to her. Frank walked up to them and as George opened the trunk and placed
one of the suitcases down on the ground, he picked it up. He could only manage
one. George regarded him and then saw Jessica looking on. She nodded to him,
but kept the excitement of seeing him close in her heart so her face could
betray no emotion.
George
escorted the women up the walkway to the front porch, where Jessica stepped forward
and smiled. “Hello, Rosemary,” she said,
then gave her cousin a hug, her eyes bright with tears.
When
the two women parted Rosemary stepped back and held out her hand to her
daughter. “This is my daughter Sara, and my grandchildren: the twins, Ian and
Patricia, Shauna, and wee Emily. Children, this is your cousin Jessica from
across the pond.”
The
children looked at Jessica, and then at their grandmother. “We have kin then?”
said Ian in a low voice.
Jessica
placed her hand on his shoulder and bent over saying softly in his ear. “Nearly
everyone here is your kin.” She placed a
kiss on his cheek then straightened up. She turned and saw Frank returning from
taking the bags up to their room for them. “Thank you, Frank.”
Frank
regarded Ian as he stood by his mother’s side. He didn’t look like the other
children. His hair curled in the same way that Willie Mac’s did, and he had the
same eyes. Frank understood at once, after seeing the others that Ian and
Willie Mac had to have taken after their grandfather. Patricia and Shauna
looked like their mother, and would look like Jessica when they grew up. Emily,
while young, looked like her father, Frank hazarded to guess. He saw the fear
in their eyes as people walked by, how they stayed close to their mother, and
the wary glances that they gave.
A
taxi pulled up just as Willie and Seth returned from helping Toot. Seth got the
door of the taxi and helped Emma out. For a moment his breath was taken away by
her resemblance to Jessica. She had a small bag with her as well as a plain
brown wrapped package that she pressed into Willie’s hands after giving him a
kiss on the cheek.
“You
can open that later,” she said with a smile. She saw her sister and Jessica and
waved to them before taking Seth’s offered arm to walk slowly with him across
the lawn to the front porch.
Frank
eyed Willie’s actions carefully. He found it odd that after being parted from
his mother and his sister all of his life, Willie should take their presence so
casually. He knew that they had to have had some private time at Gram’s home,
but, even still - it was the caution that was being taken that was so telling.
To the people who were looking out of their doors, or had found some excuse to
sweep their walks or weed the grass in front of their houses, it just looked
like a mingling of an extended family at Mither’s.
“I’m
Frank Fletcher - Aunt Jessica is tending to me this summer. You can stay in my
room if you would like, Ian; that way Cousin Emma can be with your mum and
sisters. It would just be us guys then.” Frank saw Ian look at his mother,
uncertain. With a pang, Frank realized that he had never been away from his
family and the thought was probably pretty terrifying. “If you don’t mind the
snoring between Dr. Hazlitt and Willie,” he added.
“You
do a fair bit of snoring yourself, lad,” said Willie, regarding his sister’s
expression at the offer. It was a struggle for her to accept. She had never
been parted from her child, and the worries that had lasted a lifetime - to
keep hidden, to keep safe - were things she had instilled in her children. This
marriage, this gathering - in a way it was a challenge to Furhdaham’s family,
something that would bring it all into the open and end it, though the end
could only come one way or another. She saw the look on her son’s face. He was
of age, he would willingly stay with his mother, his sisters, and grandmother
in the same room to protect them, sleeping on the floor - this offer said to
them, ‘it’s safe.’ She nodded and saw the shy smile on Ian’s face, accepting
that he was no longer a child.
Willie
led them into the house, and as the door closed behind them George heard Tipper
ask, “Inspector Sutherland, will you be staying on for supper?”
“Sadly,
I have other duties to attend to.” He took a breath and dropped his voice. “However,
Mrs. Fletcher, I might ask if I may borrow some of your time to assist in a
matter which I have neglected ...” He floundered with his words as his hands
made the shape of a box, and shrugged.
Frank
looked at George. He didn’t seem like the type to put off something like buying
a wedding present until the last moment. He saw the faint flush on Jessica’s
cheeks, and took a breath. “I will be fine Aunt Jessica,” he said. “Tipper’s
here if I need anything.”
“I
think I might be able to help you with that, then,” Jessica said, smiling. George
escorted her to the car and helped her into the back seat, then went around to
the front and after starting the car pulled it out of the slot gently. They
were turning onto the main road when Jessica leaned forward. “What is going on,
George?” she asked. “Do you really need a wedding gift for them?”
Smiling,
George looked in the rear view mirror at her. “Picked up a set of
George
pulled down another lane and into a wooded spot where he turned and regarded
her. “I have missed you, Jessica. It was
horrid being so close to you and not being able to welcome you,” he said softly
before getting out of the car and getting into the back seat with her.
“What
type of welcome did you have in mind?” she asked, curious.
He
saw the mischief in her eyes as he bent forward. “A proper one that would have
shocked the customs officials and had me banned from the airport forever,
perhaps even tossed out of Scotland Yard …”
It
was an hour and a half later that George pulled the car back into the slot and
helped Jessica out of the back seat. The others could see something on the seat
as she slid out and he closed the door. He escorted her back up to the porch
and then bowed his head formally at everyone.
“It
was a pleasure meeting you all,” he said, then bid them good-bye and returned
to his car. Jessica watched with some sadness as his car backed out and he
drove down the lane.
She
felt Mither at her elbow, and heard her ask, “Inspector Sutherland? Ye have met
him before?”
“Yes,”
Jessica said as if he was someone she had known as a casual acquaintance.
Willie
glanced at Jessica and then inclined his head to her as she followed him inside.
He looked at her, his eyebrow raised, then he stepped forward in the alcove and
unbuttoned three of her buttons and set them right again. She saw a twinkle in
his eye. She returned his gaze without a blush and was surprised when he took
her hand in his and led her to where the back porch was. No one was back there,
no one was around.
He
took her to where the flower trellises were and said softly, “If I gave ye a
lecture on what’s proper you’d be right to smack me silly so I won’t. I’ve
known the Inspector a long time, and he is trustworthy, but nae everyone here
is. Ye might be able to do tha once an’ not be followed, but twice could lead
to far worse than misplaced buttons. I canna even say tha’ we are safe here,
but it’s safer than other places we could be.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frank
sat between Jessica and Tipper on the swing and watched as Tipper studied a
chain of flowers that Faraday had given her. They had taken a long walk about
the village and Frank had seen Faraday pushing Tipper on the park swing down
the street and her giggling like a school girl. The flowers were a lovely shade
of pink that matched the flush of her cheeks. He couldn’t explain exactly how he
felt at that moment. Perhaps the word he was looking for was - longing.
It
was exciting to be in a different country. Everything here was different than
what he expected - it took a bit to follow what people were saying, and to take
in everything. All the pictures he had seen of
He
stole a glace at Tipper, who opened her small purse and sorted around for some
mints. Frank glanced down and saw her driver’s license photograph upside down.
Her hair was shorter then, and her eyes looked larger. She found the small tin
of mints and offered him one. He nodded his thanks and returned the smile to
her. He knew something about Tipper that Faraday didn’t, and oddly, that
pleased him.
“Is
this the lot of you then?” he heard Flynn ask curiously as he poured
“Oh,
no. This is just a small part of the family,” he said, nodding to Jessica.
“Mrs. Fletcher’s husband had seven other siblings, and from what I remember,
you have a fair amount of nieces and nephews from those siblings, don’t you?”
Jessica nodded, watching Flynn take in this information.
“Must
be lovely having a large family,” Flynn said to Tipper as
The
flower chain slipped from Tipper’s fingers and fell to the ground as the drums
began to play a cadence. It bounced on the grass twice before it came to rest
near the side of the bed and breakfast. Careful weathered hands picked up the
woven chain of flowers and wove a thin gold chain amongst the blossoms, then
hooked it onto a branch of a nearby tree.
The
town watched as the bride and groom to be were lead to the center of the circle,
where they stood as the Straw Men danced. Jessica knew that it was a tradition
- she had heard about them, but something puzzled her as to the why they came.
She kept her place at the top of the porch and leaned against the rail as she
watched things unfold. She saw Toot standing off to the side leaning against a
walking stick, his pants leg wrapped about his knee. She turned and saw Mither
walk across the front of the yard to the steps and then sit down on them. There
was such a milling and mixing of people that she couldn’t get a clear view of
who was in the crowd. She saw a horse drawn wagon with a load of hay being led
onto the lane behind the house, then the driver who wore a cap over his head
nodded, got into the seat and set the horses off down the lane to the outside
road. Jessica’s attention was brought back to the circle. She saw
Jessica
lost sight of them amongst the milling people. Stepping into the house and down
the hall to the kitchen Jessica pushed aside the empty warm tea pot and ran
water until it was cool over a cloth. She watched the tea leaves swirl in the
water as it went down the drain, then turning off the water she wrung the rag
and hurried outside to where the people were watching what Willie was doing. Jessica
pushed through the crowd and the straw men and found Seth kneeling beside
Willie.
Jessica
watched as Seth and Willie helped
“I
don’t know … something isn’t quite right.”
Willie
crossed the room and placed his fingers over Jessica’s lips, and then led her
to where
“How?”
she whispered. Willie shrugged. Jessica sat on the edge of the bed and looked
over at the bags sitting at the foot of the bunk bed. “Where’s Tipper and
Frank?” she asked softly.
The
two men exchanged glances. “With Ian,” said Seth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tipper
woke in the most undignified position. She now knew, not by choice, what a trussed
up lobster felt like. Not that it was something that she ever wanted to know,
but in the future she knew she would have a bit more sympathy for them. Her
head hurt, her eyes hurt, and she knew that the ropes that bound her wrists and
feet would leave nasty bruises. She heard a soft moan beside her and managed to
turn her head to see that it was Ian beside her waking up. She lifted her head.
There was an unmoving lump beyond Ian. It smelt horrid where she lay. With
effort, Tipper managed to twist around and came face to face with something
that she’d rather not ever see in her life. She couldn’t help but to scream.
She heard laughter above her and managed to make out that the light shining
above them was about forty feet up.
“Survived
the fall, did you? No matter,” the voice said. Tipper gasped. She knew that
voice - one she had heard four years ago. Somehow Tipper didn’t want to give
him the satisfaction of her asking “What do you want,” or “Why are you doing
this?”
She
heard an unexpected laugh coming from behind her followed by Frank yelling, “Yeah,
well, your son is a coward just like you are!”
There
was a chuckle from above. “Perhaps you don’t realize the danger that you’re in,
young man. No doubt your companion may recognize where you are, in a
composition chamber. While this cap is open, there is air. Should I choose to
close it, the methane gas will build up, and in short order, you will
suffocate. Or, I could chose to drop a flare down into the mix, and, well, you
can figure it out from there … It’s often done to clean the area when it gets a
bit full. By now your family will have realized that you’re missing, and, of
course, they will be given false hope that somehow you might be rescued, or
bartered for with the release of my son …”
“You
mean the one who murders innocent five year olds? Did you know he dresses in
women’s cloths?” yelled Frank back to the man. “You really ought to have a
discussion with him about it. Green is not his color. He makes a pretty ugly
woman at that. And FYI? Willie so
beat the crap out of him.”
Tipper
caught her breath. For a moment she thought Furhdaham Sr. was going to close
them in there, but after a long pause he said finally, “You can yell if you
want, but there is no one here to hear you except me, and I would especially
love to hear you beg for your lives as you slowly die. It’s a toss-up, you see,
if you will suffocate, starve to death, or be eaten by the rats. I hope you
enjoy your stay in Ireland - you will be here for a very, long time.” The
stones echoed the retreating footsteps as Furhdaham Sr. walked out of the room
and locked the door.
Tipper
heard another groan from Ian. “You ok?” she asked out loud.
“I,
my leg is broken.” he managed to gasp. “Though it won’t matter, I guess…”
“Well,
you won’t do a lot of dancing at the wedding, but who wants their foot trod on
every third step?” she quipped.
She
heard Frank take a long breath then say, “It really stinks down here.” For some
reason it seemed very funny at that moment, and it sent the three of them
giggling before Frank asked “What made you scream, Tipper? Did you see a rat?”
She
shook her head. “Do you remember the story Willie told about the sword? And how
his great grandfather fled and why? Well. I think we are in the same place as
the missing maid.”
“Oh…
the fall killed her, then?” asked Frank.
“No
… a knife to the ribs did. Unless it is someone else who just happened to
disappear.”
“A
knife? Well, that’s good because then we can use it to cut ourselves free, and
get out of here,” said Frank confidently.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jessica
waved away the offered mug of tea from Mither then said softly, “No thank you”
as George strode into the bedroom. She was sitting on the love seat in the
bedroom beside Rosemary, who was trying to remain calm. Willie had explained to
her softly that while there was danger, if they wanted them dead, they would
have killed them on the spot. He had kissed Rosemary on the cheek and told her
not to worry before standing up and going out of the room. Emma sat next to Taylor
who lay quietly on her bed. Sara was laying down, her daughters beside her on
the other bunk bed and sitting on the floor keeping watch on her. There was a
knock on the door, then George entered and held out a bag containing the flower
chain, with the gold chain wrapped around it. The twisted triangle and
hourglass charm hung from the chain.
“Right
then, I’ll call the others,” said Emma, standing up. “We’ll storm the estate
and have his scrawny hide on the wall …”
Mither
stood in the doorframe coming in behind. “Such noble plans for one who is not
yet kin to ye.”
Emma
regarded Mither. “Ian is my sister’s grandson, and nephew to Willie. Frank is
great nephew to my cousin. It doesn’t take blood to make family, and Tipper is
as dear to Taylor and Jessica their own sister and daughter.”
The
news stunned Mither. “Your kin?” she said softly, glancing at Rosemary. “They
claim him?”
“And
why not? Properly married I was, only to have my beloved taken from me six
months later and them birthed five after that,” replied Rosemary.
Turning,
George heard Willie’s voice behind him. “If you’re ready, Inspector?”
“Aye,”
he said.
There
was a noise behind them. Faraday stepped up to them and said honestly as he
brushed hay from the seat of his pants, “I am coming with you. I cannot just
stay here and not, not while she is in danger.”
“Faraday,
you don’t know what your doing!” gasped Mither.
There
was a quiet look of resignation in Faraday’s eyes. “Aye, I do Mother. “ Then
with George and Willie he strode down the hall outside where George’s car awaited.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
skull and bones that had the knife plunged within didn’t seem to bother Frank
as he crawled over to where it lay. Tipper had no idea how he managed to squirm
his arms under his body then crawl with both hands tied as well as his ankles.
She heard the snick of the blade being removed from the ribs, and then he
nudged her over.
“Yell
if I cut you,” he said, working the knife between the twines of the rope. The
acids from the compost pile had dulled the blade, but not the spirit of the
young boy as he sawed at the ropes.
“Frank,
there isn’t any real way out of here, except the way that we came,” said Ian
softly.
“Of
course there is. We just have to find it, and then from there, find our way
out,” he said as he worked the blade a bit closer to her skin. “The worst part
of it is, we are a long way away from a proper bath, and I think we may have to
bury our cloths from pity, though the shame of it is that I’m quite fond of
these jeans … There we go,” he said as Tipper’s hands were suddenly free.
Tipper
turned, and after untying Frank’s hands, she undid the ropes on her feet, then
both of them untied Ian.
“We
will have to splint that leg somehow,” she said to him as she carefully moved
his leg into position. He groaned in pain as she straightened it. “Sorry,” she
said softly.
“Would
these do?” Frank asked holding up two long objects.
Tipper
looked. In his hands were the two leg bones from the skeleton. “Frank, when we
get out of here, you and I have to have a long talk regarding your nerves, and
mine.”
“But
there is no way out!” said Ian as Tipper used the bones and the rope to splint
his leg.
“Course
there is,” repeated Frank. “Has to be, because the one in the park has a door
so they can shovel out the compost.”
“The
what?”
“The
one at the park. Mum and Dad took me to this state park that was pretty much
like a bunch of rocks pushed around by the glaciers and they had a rest room
that was made like this, and it had been there a real long time, as long as the
park had been there, and they had a door that they were able to access the area
to shovel out the compost. The park ranger said it was a good thing because
people were always losing their wallets and money clips and stuff when they
weren’t careful. Now, I know that this area probably serves one side of the
estate, or both, and it would stand to reason that they would have a door, just
cause, well, how many times have you lost something down the drain? He” (he
pointed upward) “may not know about it, but it’s got to be here somewhere, and
it is a safe bet that it is at either the highest point, or the lowest, or
maybe both. The lowest point would be used to drain off moisture, and the
highest point may be the access back up to the estate. Maybe even to the
kitchen - I’m starved!”
“How
can you think about food at a time like this?” asked Ian with a note of
incredulousness in his voice.
In
the dim light that filtered down they saw Frank shrug. "Keeps me from
thinking too much about the girl I want to marry,” he said with a sigh.
“Is
she pretty?” Tipper asked.
For
a moment Frank didn’t say anything, then, softly, he said, “Yeah, she is, and
Angela is smart too, and kind, and funny sometimes. She’s shy and doesn’t want
to get involved, though. Not with anyone … Willie says those types can be heart
breakers.”
Tipper
was at a loss for words. Not sure of exactly what to say, she looked down at
the skull that gleamed in the light and noticed something. “Oh …dear,” she said,
carefully picking up the skull.
“What
is it?” asked Ian, curious.
“They
didn’t have fillings a hundred years ago. If the maid is here, her bones would
be buried. This is a more recent death - the bones were gnawed clean,” she said
in a hushed voice.
“Okay,
so if we have a knife, we can tap the walls to see if there is an air space
behind them,” said Frank. “I saw that on tv, where they were looking into getting
into a pyramid, they tapped the walls …” Taking the knife he walked to the edge
of the pile. Carefully he tapped as he went. They heard a crunch as he stopped
after a few minutes. “Guess that person wasn’t the only one who came down here,”
he said softly.
Frank
leaned against the wall to catch his breath. Moving around he was finding that
the air was very bad, and that he was getting tired. The ground wasn’t the most
firm, and in some areas it was a gooey mess that sucked at his shoes. Tipper
stayed with Ian. She knew it was likely that he had other injuries and was in
shock. She heard the Tink Tink Tink
of the handle of the knife against the stone. She knew that the light of the
day would be fading soon, and chances were, no night light would be left on for
them.
Tink Tink Tink Tunk went the knife
handle. Tunk Tunk. There was silence
from Frank for a moment. “Damnú
air.”
“Frank?”
called out Ian, concerned.
“I
found it … but, well, there may be a down side to this …”
Tipper
took a breath. “Yes, a lot of air is going to come into the chamber and the
methane gas will ignite into a fireball. The good news is, we will have a few
seconds to get through the door because the air is coming in, not going out …
so it will be like a huge burp.”
Frank
heard Ian say softly, “O ta brokn win tha blows down te ban.”
“Broken
wind? What’s that?” asked Frank, curious.
Tipper
closed her eyes. She could say the word for it, the improper rude word for it,
but somehow, in the middle of everything they were standing in, it would just
make matters worse. “Uh, I think there is a book on it, called, “The gas we
pass?”
There
was a pause from Frank, then, “Oh, why didn’t he just say f-”
“Frank!”
Tipper began, then felt Ian lean against her. “Okay, look. Chances are there
are stairs. Remember in fire safety class they said not to take stairs? It’s because
you can’t hold your breath long enough to go up or down them. The thing is, the
fire is going to rise up and travel along the roof of the stairwell, so we need
to go up it as close to the steps as possible, and that’s going to be
difficult. We can’t outrun the fire, and we don’t know what’s at the other side
of the door.” Tipper tucked the skull under her shirt and then tied her top
together to hold it. If they got out of here, the person who had died needed to
have family notified. She tucked the knife into her back pocket and together
she and Frank pushed on the section of wall that had a hollow space behind it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You
can’t just go barging in on Furhdaham,” Faraday said from the back seat. “Scotland Yard has no jurisdiction here.”
“He
doesn’t need it,” Willie said. “Furhdaham’s being evicted. He never held the
property, he only stole it, as well as other things that belong to the family.”
The
wrought iron gate that was formed in the shape of ivy and clover, and the
massive wooden door that had the same pattern carved into the wood with twin
birds on either side of the panels were open to the estate when they pulled up
into the long drive. The estate stood in mute testament to the horrors that had
happened within its walls. Willie kicked at a piece of straw that lay on the
front porch before crossing the threshold, his sword drawn. Faraday looked
about nervously. Something wasn’t right. There was an odd smell coming from somewhere
in the house and the silence was unnerving. At the main entry way they
separated - Faraday went to the left down to the kitchen area, and George and
Willie went to the right where it opened to the den and the sitting room.
He
was there. Nodding off in his great chair by the cold fireplace, a china
setting for tea at his elbow. The tea was still steaming gently in the pot as
they approached him quietly. Willie stopped and held George back. Something
wasn’t quite right. He sheathed his sword, and George placed his gun back into
the holster.
Faraday
heard something as he walked down the hallway. He rolled back the sleeves of
his gray oxford shirt and listened again. A low moan. He started for the door
to the kitchen area only to have it thrown open as three filthy figures came
shambling out of the area as fast as they could move. “It’s gonna blow!” he
heard a raspy voice say. Not knowing what else to do, he swept the one figure
that seemed to be dragging the most over his shoulder, then he swept the two
others under his arms and headed back to where George and Willie stood looking
at what was in the living room.
“OUT-
GET OUT!” Faraday commanded as he hurried past the sitting room door. Willie
felt something - a vibration. Looking at George the two men grasped the still
figure that sat quietly in the chair and hauled him outside with the others.
They had just cleared the outside door when the fire that had been building
from the methane in the compost area took the opportunity to expand to every
open area it could, belching fire upward and lifting the estate up from its
foundations.
Willie
and George laid the still figure on the grass. Willie knelt beside him and
lifted a wrist for a pulse.
“Is
he dead?” Faraday asked softly.
Willie
opened Furhdaham’s shirt and listened to his heart. “He’s still alive,” he said,
rolling the old man over to his side. In the distance there was the wail of
sirens approaching the estate.
Willie
tilted Furhdaham’s head back and pressed their mouths together, pushing air
into the old man’s lungs.
“Why
is he trying to save him?” Faraday asked Tipper.
She
looked at Faraday. “Because that is what his heart tells him to do.”
Faraday
looked at Tipper. Raising his hand he brushed away the muck from her face and
gazed into her eyes. “Then it’s proper to follow your heart?” She nodded
slowly. He was bending over her when he was bumped from the side by Frank.
“Sorry,”
he mumbled. When Faraday looked back, Tipper hand turned away to regard the
approaching police cars. She realized they made an unexpected sight. At first
it looked like they had their guns drawn before the cars stopped then
cautiously they exited the cars and came forward. George took a breath, holding
up his gold badge.
“We
need two ambulances,” he called to them.
“And
a coroner’s wagon,” said Tipper, pulling the skull out from under her shirt.
She handed both the skull and the knife to the inspector. “There were more down
there as well, but seeing how this fella helped get us out of there, the least
we could do was bring him with us,” she said.
George
beamed at Tipper. “Well done,” he said softly, looking back at the house.
Methane burned different. Once it was consumed, the fire extinguished itself
unless it happened to have a ready source. Trapped inside a methane explosion,
the oxygen would be depleted causing death. He regarded the sodden trio. He was
very glad that he would be able to give good news to Jessica this evening.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tipper
sat on the exam table watching the nurse inject her arm with the tetanus and
hepatitis vaccines. She and the boys had been given the chance to use the
showers then dressed in soft flannel exam gowns and placed in different
cubicles. Ian was having his leg set. George had called in a few favors, and by
the time the ambulances arrived, some of his friends had come to help excavate
the chamber where they had been held. The local police had informed him they
had received a call regarding a breaking and entering, and that the person was
concerned for his safety. Something hadn’t gone right, though, and he now lay
in a coma. Without Willie’s intervention, he would have died. She looked up as
the door opened. Willie came in with a t shirt and pants for her, and laid them
on the bed. She saw he had borrowed a stethoscope from someone and she saw the
weariness on his face as he approached the exam table.
“Faraday’s
wearing a hole in the carpeting outside worrying about you,” he said as he
picked up her hand and extended her arm outward. She saw him frown as he
examined the tiny red spots on her arms. Reaching up he pushed back her hair
and looked at her neck, then stepping behind her undid the strings to the gown
and opened it. He ran a finger down her ribs and said over her shoulder,
“You’re a bit thinner than I’d like to see to stay healthy. It’s a wonder that
you didn’t break any bones in the fall.”
“I’m
fine as I am … I don’t think Ian’s leg was broken in the fall. Yes, we dropped
a distance, and we all went down the same way, feet first, but, well, that
would telescope the bone, and his leg, well, it was like it was stepped on, and
broken on purpose. Furhdaham is an old man. Pretty frail at that. He couldn’t …”
Tipper stopped. She realized Willie already knew what she was going to say.
“The
whole village would have willingly helped him do it, Tipper, out of fear and
misplaced loyalty.” She felt the chill of the stethoscope against her ribs.
“Now breathe in,” he said gently.
George’s
car pulled into Mither’s just as the sun was setting. Faraday and Willie got
out of the front seat; Faraday had taken off his green oxford and had it folded
over his arm. It would have to be washed, or buried. He looked at it. “Wasn’t
one of my favorites,” he said, shrugging. Tipper stayed in the back with the
two boys. Both had fallen asleep and were leaning against her. Willie opened
the back door and carefully picked Ian up in his arms and carried him inside.
She nudged Frank, who woke up and looked around sleepily, then looked at her.
“What
I said before, in that place …” he began.
“You’re
not taking it back, are you?”
He
drew in a breath and picked up her hand in his. “No … but being practical,
there are a lot of years’ difference between us, and while I am willing to
wait, I know it’s not fair for me to expect you to wait until I am old enough
to marry you.”
“Oh
Frank,” she said simply. “To be honest with you, there isn’t anyone else in my
life that I would even think about getting married to. Being very good friends
is the best that we can do right now, and if you happen to meet someone you
find gets along with you when you’re older, then I will understand.”
“What
about Faraday?” he asked, curious. He saw the flush on her cheeks.
“I
can’t talk properly around him, or think straight or breathe or even know how
to begin to do anything with him. I don’t think that - that is what love is
about … do you?” she asked.
“Sounds
more like how I feel during gym class after they make us run laps. Thinking and
breathing are important though. You have to be able to do them at all times,”
he said seriously. He gave her hand a squeeze. “Come on, I want to get this
hospital soap smell off of me. You didn’t bring any thing that smells like
lavender, did you?”
“No,
just Jasmine,” she said as she pushed open her side of the door.
Frank
stayed right next to Tipper as they walked into the bed and breakfast’s main
hall. She paused when she heard Faraday speaking about how he’d rescued them,
carrying all three to safety. She could feel Frank looking up at her, a puzzled
expression on his face. It was almost like Faraday had done the complete
rescue, instead of just getting them at the kitchen door and yelling through
the doorway. “Nice as ye please he’s takin’ a snooze in his best chair after
his afternoon tea,” she heard him say.
Frank
felt Tipper sigh. “Lets, see how Ian is doing…” he said softly, and Tipper
nodded. Frank walked with her upstairs and carefully opened up the door to his
room. Ian was still asleep. The doctor had given him something for the pain,
and said he would sleep himself out. Tipper gently raised Ian’s broken leg on a
pillow, and then Frank saw her shoulders slump as they heard Faraday’s laughter
downstairs with the others.
“I
don’t think there’s anything that’s been funny this entire stay,” she mumbled
under her breath.
“Sure
there has been … Since I came to stay with Aunt Jessica, I’ve been in what the
gamers would call Mortal Peril at least once a week. I’m actually getting used
to it. We spent an afternoon rolling about in, well, you know. And what about
the expression on the ambulance people’s faces when they had to ride an hour
with us in the back of the ambulance?” He screwed up his face in imitation of
how the guy looked as he hung out the window. Tipper found herself smiling at
his antics.
Both
of them looked up as the door opened and Jessica entered. “Oh Frank!” she said
from the door frame. Frank saw she had tears in her eyes as she moved across
the room and gathered him up in her arms.
“We
are okay, Aunt Jessica. I was just telling Tipper how I am getting used to
being in Mortal Peril anyway.” His voice was muffled from her hug. He pulled
away and escorted her to one of the beds where she sat looking at Tipper.
“I’ve
heard Faraday’s version of your rescue … but I want to know everything that
happened that you remember. Something isn’t right.”
“It
was Frank who figured out how to escape,” Tipper began as she recounted the
events. Jessica listened to what she was describing with rapt attention. By the
time she had finished,
“You
cannot remain captive to the fear, my dear,“ said Jessica softly.
“I
think I would feel better if I could have brought my tranquilizer gun with me,”
she said while regarding
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Waking
early the next morning
Slipping
on her shoes once she reached the living room she went out confidently and
walked down the lane to the church yard. The sky was incredibly blue for a land
that it rained on every day, and the sunlight danced through the leaves of the
trees making patterns on the ground. For awhile she walked in the grave area,
and frowned. There weren’t any graves for Willie’s family - she would have
thought the father and grandfather at least were there. A gnarled oak stood
watch over the graves, its leaves twisting in the wind as she strode up the
steps into the church. For a moment she waited in the back of the church, not
seeing any movement at all in the inside of the building. She began to read the
notices on the back wall and smiled at some of them. Markets and churches were
two places where business was conducted at all levels. One notice caught her
eye and made her sit down in the pew. She hadn’t moved in some time, not
noticing the time at all until she felt a gentle touch to her shoulder.
“May
I help you, miss?” asked a distinctly cultured voice.
“I
don’t know - I had a question, but I guess it’s been answered in its own way.”
“And
you don’t like the answer that you have found?” he asked. She turned to look at
him and realized she was speaking to the parish priest, who looked to be as old
as the church. “Father Dania at your service,” he said smiling.
“Father
Dania? I know that name … I don’t remember where, though, that I had seen it …
It will come to me though, in time…”
“Well,
until then, how may I help you?” he asked as he sat down on the pew next to
her.
“I
am to be married, tomorrow, but I see that here the church does not marry
unless there is a three month waiting period…”
“Yes,
that is true. With whom were you marrying?” he asked, curious.
“Thaladirith
Razanur,” she said, watching his expression carefully. She saw the smile on his
face freeze. “I see you have heard of him.”
“Yes.
His grandmother brought him here to be baptized while I was on sabbatical. I
would never have allowed a bastard child to receive such blessings,” he said
darkly.
She
saw the old priest take a sharp breath in as he frowned. “Furhdaham is a
respectable family…”
“A
family of thieves, murderers and traitors!” she said, watching him as he began
to fume.
“You
have no right to say that!! Whatever you have been told by that miscreant is
untrue…”
“People
have died at Kent Furhdaham’s hand. Gram was raped by his brother Stephen, and
their father was responsible for the kidnapping of two eleven year old boys and
a dear friend of mine who are only alive right now due to God’s will. What God-fearing
family would have a motto of ‘Vengeance Comes’?”
“There
is none that is more heathen than that of the family you wish to marry into. ‘Belief
in Ghosts’ indeed!” he snorted.
There
were steps up to the front door, then Willie entered inside and came to where
she was standing. He reached out and took her hand in his. “What are you doing
in here, lass?” he asked softly.
“Making
some discoveries. Father Dania married your parents, but he won’t be marrying
us, will he?”
Willie
shook his head. Then taking her other hand in his asked, softer: “Do you have
faith in me?” as he led her out of the church and on to the front yard. Father
Dania followed, curious as to what her answer was.
She
kissed him gently on the mouth, then said, “Yes.”
“True
faith that is absolute?” he said seriously.
He
saw her eyes sparkle. She turned and looked at the old priest who had followed
them outside into the sunshine. Lifting Willie’s hand she placed it on her
chest.
“Tabhairt Isteach do,” she said simply.
“Your
faith is misplaced, my child!” said the priest stiffly from the steps.
“Then
may God strike us down, now - for I will not live without this man as my lawful
husband. Yet, may he strike the ground of this church raising the dead in
retributions if it has been defiled by your faith in those who’s hearts have
brought evil.”
For
a moment the old priest regarded them as
Willie
heard the sharp sizzle snap of air being parted not far from them. He pulled
Taylor closer to him as a lightning bolt jumped from the center of the oak tree
up to the sky and then back down again, splitting it in two. Several windows of
the church shattered and the priest was knocked off of his feet down to the
ground. They saw the priest roll over to his knees, and stay there with his
hands holding his face. He looked at them, his eyes wide.
“All
that matters in my life is you, beloved,” he said softly. She saw the worry on
his face as he picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. She wrapped her
hands about his.
“Willie, promise me, we will share in all things – it’s not the money I mean,
but the things that are going on in our lives - our hopes, and dreams, and
plans, and the truths in our hearts.”
He
looked into her eyes. “I promise.”
He
saw her study his face then ask plainly, “If the church requires three months before
marriage, how are we to be wed tomorrow?”
The
sunlight made his eyes sparkle. For a moment,
“I
thought that if that was the church where you were baptized, and it’s the only
one in the village, that it would be where we would be married. But I realized
when I read the things on the back wall that it wasn’t going to be that way,”
she said wistfully.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jessica
sat on the front porch of the bed and breakfast. No one else was up inside and
she wanted a bit of space from people. While they were all her friends and
relatives, being in such close quarters was a bit telling on the nerves of
someone who had spent years living by themselves. She had closed the door
behind her, and noticed that with the morning chill the windows were closed as
well. She sipped her tea and watched Willie and
A
car turning down the lane distracted her for a moment before she realized that
it was George. She sighed. He had been so formal to her and she didn’t have a
chance to speak with him while he was there. There were times that she longed
to feel his touch, to wake up beside him in bed. The pending marriage of Willie
and Taylor had given her something to think about. He was wonderful in bed, but
inept when it came to doing things about the house. Seth was still asleep. Had
he known George was walking across the front lawn with an overnight bag and a
smile on his face …
He
came up on to the steps, and after giving a glance into the house he bent over
and kissed Jessica firmly on the mouth. He wanted to plunder her sweetness
right there and then, but a polite cough from behind him made him sigh and straighten
up.
There
was a curious expression on Willie’s face as he saw Jessica blush. Before he
could say anything,
Willie
used that moment to kiss
“It
occurred to me that as this is a central location to investigate the goings on
at the estate, and to search for information as to things going on here, it
would be a time saver to check in here and stay awhile.”
“Well,
Mither’s place has every room with some family in it, though I dare say there
is a place for a cot if you wouldn’t mind sharing it with us,” said Willie with
a twinkle in his eyes.
“What
has your investigation uncovered?” Jessica asked curiously.
She
watched as George closed his eyes for a moment before sighing deeply.
“It
took a while to remove the compost, but we were able to uncover the remains of
at least thirty people, some whom we were able to identify by personal
artifacts and others by missing person reports. The person whose skull Dr.
Henderson brought out died two years ago. Her name was Haddie, and she worked
as a maid there until one day they said she didn’t return home.”
George
saw Willie’s face fill with sorrow. “Little Haddie? I brought her into this
world nae long ago… She wasn’t more than sixteen!“
George
nodded. “Most of the bones that were found belonged to young people who
vanished unexpectedly, from this village and others that are close to the
estate. It was as if an attempt was made to kill everyone young, so that the
village and the families would die off. As for Mr. Furhdaham, his doctor has
determined that he suffered from a stroke. You helped to prevent more damage
with your medical assistance, and there is hope that he will make a partial
recovery so that he might stand trial for the murders of those young people.”
“George,
I don’t think he committed every one of those murders” said Jessica softly.
“In
as much as I value your wisdom, dear lady, I am very curious as to what would
bring you to that decision?” inquired George.
“While
you are young and physically fit, from Faraday’s description Furhdaham Sr. is a
very small man. I don’t see him having the strength to lift people and tip them
down into the compost area feet first - if they went head first they would have
broken their necks. They had to have been lifted and guided down into the hole.
He also wasn’t here to overpower Tipper, Frank and Ian, and from what the doctor
said about how Ian’s leg was broken, someone of considerable weight had stepped
on it.”
“What
is it, dear?” asked George “You have been very quiet with all of this.”
“Oh,
well, it’s just that being from the city all of my life, as a child we would go
to the zoo to see the farm animals, and we were told the difference between hay
and straw. They are both grasses, but straw doesn’t have much nutritional value
for the animal, like hay does. Straw is wider and yellow, and inexpensive hay
is more slender. They would allow us to give handfuls of hay to the animals to
eat, but I avoided it because it always gave me a rash from being poked by it.
I guess the straw is from the Straw Men that came yesterday, but did they come
to the front porch?”
“It
gave you a rash?” asked Willie, curious.
“Yes.
It looked like prickly heat, and the zoo person said that it was common if you
didn’t have contact with it most every day. Some people got the rash even by
being in the area, because of allergies.”
“Finding
hay or straw about isn’t that uncommon when you have farms behind the village,”
said George taking the straw from her and looking at it himself.
“Furhdaham
does not have animals himself, but there was a straw on his porch,” said Willie
with a note of concern in his voice.
Jessica
became thoughtful. “It’s implying that someone here, or close to what is going
on, is responsible for the kidnapping.”
“Well,
it’s a heck of a coincidence,” said
“Wasn’t
Faraday brushing a fair bit off of himself yesterday?” asked George softly.
Willie
shook his head. “That was hay. Thinner stuff. Heard Mither asking him to hitch
the wagon to get some for the animals. They keep it in rolls out in the fields.
An’ he’s sweet on Tipper. He wouldn‘t let her come to harm,” he said with a
glance between Jessica and George.
“Well,
until we know for certain, we’re not releasing any information as to what has
been discovered. In as much, the only thing else to do is to prepare for your
wedding,” George said with a smile. “Has everyone arrived?”
“Just
a few more that have said they would be here at noon,” mused Willie, looking at
Jessica
regarded them. “In light of everything, perhaps it might be best to have the
wedding today, this afternoon, instead of tomorrow. Everything is prepared for
it, isn’t it? The media will be arriving after lunch to set up.”
“What
is it, Jessica? I’ve known you for years now, and I have come to know that look
in your eyes…” said George
Withdrawing
from the group,
“Dearest?
What is it?” he asked as he brushed the tears from her cheeks with the palm of
his hand.
“It’s
not quite how I imagined my wedding to be, actually. Little girls dream of
being wed in the place of their faith, or a place which is special to the two
of them, in the eyes of God and man, and the union blessed. Being married is
like a team of horses - they both work together, as partners, because if one is
stronger than the other, the wagon will tip or the driver won’t be able to
control the direction. That’s how I am feeling right now, Willie. I feel as if
I have no control over what is to be one of the biggest decisions of my life.“
“One
of them? And what would be another?” he inquired gently.
“Should
we have children? I don’t know - and it’s something that we really never spoken
of. By rights, it’s said that you’re entitled to want them. I don’t know if I
can have any, and I don’t know if it’s fair to you to not be able to give you
an heir. Frankly, I am terrified at the prospect of being a parent. I see the
love parents have for their children, the demands that the children have on the
parents, and I don’t know if I can do that. If I could survive that.”
Willie
took her hand in both of his and for a moment she thought he was going to just
hold her hand. She realized his finger playing over her wrist was carefully
taking her pulse.
“There
is no cathedral built by man that is more grand than the one built by the
Almighty. That he and those in the heavens above may watch over us as we become
one as our guests of honor. If they would grant us one gift, it would be of
love, and from our love, if it be their decision, would be the birth of
children who would bear their blessing,” he said to her solemnly as he gathered
her into his arms. She clung to him for a moment, feeling very weary. Looking
up at him she saw the sunlight behind him and thought him beautiful.
“Can
ye manage to walk up for some tea and breakfast?” he asked gently. “And then
after, I have something for ye.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seth
turned at the sound of someone coming into the kitchen. Bemused, he noted that
George looked ill-at-ease seeing him at the stove wearing one of Mither’s
aprons as he whipped a few eggs in a metal bowl with a fork and the sizzle of
the hot skillet as he poured the omelets out. Mither was kneading bread on the
other side of the kitchen chatting to him about the grain that was used in the
bread and how it was ground. She seemed pleased that he showed an interest in
it. Wasn’t just any man that would be willing to put on a pink frilly apron to
protect their cloths while they scrubbed the pots for the morning porridge. Nor
one who was comfortable with one of the older stoves and had made himself
useful to her. She was quite taken by his charm, and that he was single, and a
doctor at that.
Willie
gave Mither a kiss good morning, then went to where the tea kettle was, washed
it out, and placed fresh water in it to boil. He carefully washed the mugs
under hot water while the flames brought the water up to temperature, then
removing a tea bag from a plastic pouch in his pocket he placed it into the cup
and poured hot water over it, steeping it a moment and removing the tea bag
before giving it to
“I’ve
missed this,” she said, looking up at him.
Seth
looked back and saw her sip again, closing her eyes and relaxing. He caught the
sadness in Willie’s eyes as he gazed across the room at the woman kneading the
bread. Carefully so not to attract attention to himself he reached over and
picked up the discarded tea bag, and gave it a pinch to tear open the pouch.
Carefully he held it to his nose, then tasted a drop on his finger before
discarding it to the trash. No one noticed as he did this, though he found
Jessica looking at him after he turned around. She didn’t say anything then,
but after the breakfast was cooked for everyone and the dishes done she said to
him privately, as they moved to the back yard of the bed and breakfast to
oversee the setting up of the decorations, “Willie made that tea specifically for
“Wouldn’t
doubt it … Jess,
Jessica
blinked, then looked back at the bed and breakfast.
“Tea
pots!” she gasped.
“Woman,
would you stop doing that!” growled Seth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willie
led
She
felt something heavy being placed in them, soft, yielding, and when he said
“Open them,” she did. Looking down she gasped.
“Oh
my!” She had to blink a few times. “It’s beautiful,” she said, gazing down at
the wedding dress in her arms. She looked at it, then looked at him. “The material
that you had - that bolt – oh, Willie!” she said with tears in her eyes.
She
saw he had something else in his arms. Holding it by the top he let the rest of
it cascade down. “An’ this is for the wedding night.”
She
reached out and touched the lacy top. “You will look lovely in it,” he said,
causing her to blush. “I want you to promise me something dearest,” he said,
kissing her gently. She looked up at him and tilted her head, curious.
Hobbling
across the dining room Ian looked out the window at the goings-on in the back
yard. Frank was right beside him, helping to steady him as he wasn’t used to
hopping with one foot everywhere even with crutches. “You don’t have to do this
for me,” he said a bit impatiently.
Frank
regarded him owlishly over the rims of his glasses. “I know, but it’s been a
few weeks since I have been around anyone my age, and while I love my Aunt
Jessica, and Willie and Taylor and Tipper and Seth, it’s not the same. It‘s
like, dinner time there? All we have is seafood, because everything that walks
on land is bloody expensive. While I really do like seafood, after two weeks I
wanted anything that mooed.”
“So
you’re saying I’m like a steer?” Ian said a bit defensively as he wobbled.
Frank
grabbed him by the back of his pants and steadied him. “I happen to really like
the Moo. More than I like seafood.”
Frank
moved a chair out of the way of Ian as he wobbled by the table and saw a piece
of straw on it. He managed to get Ian into the front room where the hassocks
were and get him into a chair with his foot up and braced with pillows. From
that location they could see the comings and goings of everything, be out of
the way, and still be comfortable.
“What’s
it like to have sisters?” asked Frank suddenly.
The
younger boy regarded him, realizing that Frank was serious. “A bit of a pain,
actually,” he mumbled. “Pattie’s all right most of the time. Can’t do much without
her knowing before I do it. Shauna been
a bit daft when it comes to being a middle one. She’s seven an’ mum says that’s
a difficult age. Still young, but old enough to be knowing better. Emily’s just
five. She’s na much on reason either. The teachers at school dote on her
because she’s cute, they say. Cute doesn’t put stock in the pot, though. I hope
the new one’s going to be a boy. Don’t know if I can do much with another girl
in the family.” He regarded Frank and blurted, “Must be weird being an only.”
Regarding
the young boy’s earnest face, Frank nodded. He knew they had come with
everything they owned, in two suitcases for all of them, and that they had left
everything else behind. Sharing the room with him, he had seen Ian’s eyes widen
when he saw that Seth had three suits, and that Frank had more than one pair of
jeans. Ian was wearing one of Frank’s pair now, as his own had been cut away
when he had been taken to the hospital and so filthy that they weren’t fit even
to be washed. Frank’s pants fit over the cast and a belt kept the jeans from
falling. He was much thinner than Frank was at that age.
“New
one? What new one?” Frank asked, coming back to the current conversation
suddenly.
“It’s
why mum has been so sick every time food’s waved around, and that she’s taken
to resting a lot. Didna ye see how large she’s getting? Didna they teach ye
where the wee ones come from or do ye think the stork places them under the
cabbage?”
“I
never really had a need to think about it,” said Frank, shrugging. He saw Ian’s
bemused grin.
“So,
you live in a large house in the States?” Ian asked.
Frank
shook his head. “No, in an apartment. The neighbors are always fighting
upstairs, and when I left, the water was leaking so bad that they turned it
off. Mum was in a right state about that, the landlord called the police on
her, and well, it wasn’t good. Gets a bit scary when she gets up a head of
steam. She‘s been doing that a lot lately, or crying. When she‘s off crying, then
dad has to take over things.”
“An’
your dad allows it? The yelling and the crying jags?” Ian asked incredulously
“Oh,
well yes. He’s a good man. She’s not always like that either. Aunt Jessica and
my Uncle Frank raised my dad when my grandparents died in a car accident. My
other grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa Mayberry, are okay, I just didn’t
realize it until later. “
A
silence fell between them. Frank saw that Ian was becoming sleepy. Frank heard
quiet footsteps and looked over at the door. Ian’s sisters were there, peeking
in. He saw Emily yawn and lean against Patricia. He motioned for them to come
into the room. They really hadn’t seen Ian except briefly the night before, and
he could see they were a bit anxious about him. Shauna and Patricia sat
carefully on ether side of Ian and gave him a hug, then laid their heads on his
shoulder. Emily wanted to sit on his lap after her hug, but it caused Ian
distress. Frank lifted her up and placed her on his lap where he sat in the
oversized chair next to the sofa.
“Are
naptime stories any different in
Frank
looked down at Emily. She was cute,
as kids go. Her curly hair and freckled up-turned nose reminded him of the child
on the grape juice commercial.
“Well,
we have the usual run of stories, the duckling one, and the ones with
gingerbread houses. Mum said they came from Europe, so you have probably heard
them … there is one though, that every kid in
“Right,
then … Once upon a time there was a
little girl who was cute as a button, and her parents loved her very much, but
she didn’t do as she was told. She wouldn’t clean out under her bed or put away
her toys when she was told, and when it came to nap times and bed times she
would make her parents chase her all around the house many times. Each time
they caught her and put her back into bed, she would get up and race across the
room to go out her door again, and by the time they caught her for the umpteenth
time that night her parents were exhausted. If they were able to get her to
stay in bed she would wait until she heard them go down the steps and sit down
before calling for them. She would want the light on, or a glass of water, and
then she had to go to the - well, you know, after she drank so much water. Then
she wanted more covers, or less covers, and her parents who loved her very much
were becoming weary of all of this and told her that she would have to manage
until the morning.
”She decided the night
that they said that, that she was going to play after they sat down and they
wouldn’t ever know. So she dangled her feet over the edge of the bed … and a
big hairy hand reached up and grabbed at her ankles. Screaming, she lifted her
feet up and looked over the edge of the bed. Looking back at her was a monster
with fifteen eyes and three rows of very sharp teeth and a tongue that was all
drooly that was long and snapped out and snatched one of her dirty socks that
she had tossed in the corner. She screamed again, and her father came into the
room, turning on the light. Well, the monster under the bed pulled in between
her dirty pants and the shoes she hadn’t cleaned off and a stuffed teddy bear
she had forgotten and closed all of his eyes. Her father wanted to know why she
screamed and she told him there was a monster under her bed. The dad looked
under there and said that he didn’t see any, but if there was, he would surely
get lost in everything else that was under there! After scolding her about the
fuss, he turned off the light and closed the door. The monster waited until the
dad had gone downstairs and sat down before using his eight legs to bump up the
mattress, where she lay in the middle trying to stay away from the monster’s
reach… It was very late in the night before she was able to go to sleep, and
when her mother suggested a nap after lunch, she thought it was a good idea …
until the monster began to bump under her bed again.
“’What do you want?’
she asked the monster under the bed. ‘How did you get there and what do you
eat?” She heard the monster chuckle. “I want to eat you,” he said. ‘I want to
live forever here, and I eat dirty laundry then spit it back out and you have a
lovely selection of dust bunnies here! I will grow bigger and soon I can swallow
you up in a single gulp,” the monster chuckled.
“Well, of course the
little girl didn’t get much sleep that night, she was thinking of what to do,
and just when the morning dawn came, she knew what had to be done. She hurried
down to eat her breakfast and then got a broom and dust bin and a laundry
basket. She cleaned and scrubbed her room from top to bottom, but she saw the
monster just slink into a dark corner of her cupboard. The monster tried to eat
her broom and a few times was able to snatch the dust pan out of her hand. She
had to keep dumping the trash basket into a bigger one because the monster
wanted to tip it over and eat the dust she had swept up. Finally she saw that
he had lost a lot of weight when he tried to avoid her hitting him with a
broom. The morning sunlight was creeping into her room, chasing him into the
furthest corner. He couldn’t find anything to eat and now she was more than a
match for him. ‘Now what are you going to do?’ she asked the monster. ‘Find
another bed,’ he said, then crept away out of her room forever …”
“Tha’
was a good one,” said Emily as she yawned. Her eyes closed on their own accord
and she drifted off to sleep in his arms. For a moment Frank watched her as she
breathed, then he heard a sigh from Ian.
“You’ve
fallen for her cute too,” he said.
“You’re
very lucky, Ian,” he said, regarding the other two girls who had fallen asleep
next to him. Frank pulled the lap robe off of the back of the chair and covered
Emily to keep off the chill.
He
saw Ian look at his littlest sister. “Aye, that I am,” he said, doing the same
with the afghan on the back of the sofa and covering his two sisters. “So they
tell you bedtime stories with monsters in them to get you to sleep?” he asked.
“No.
My parents wouldn’t do that. But I have found out that most every kid that I
know has heard that story from another kid, so there might be something to it …”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
long car pulled into the driveway and snuggled next to the television station’s
news truck parked under the tree in front of the bed and breakfast. The driver’s
side door opened, then the driver went around and opened the door for its passengers.
Bags were gathered, and the trio went up the steps and into the front room
where they were met with hugs from their relatives. Quite footsteps entered
into the front room and for a moment, two set of eyes gazed down at the
sleeping children.
Frank
felt something press against his head. His nose twitched. He smelt something
very familiar as he opened up his eyes. He had to blink a few times to focus.
“Mom?”
he said quietly.
“Hi,
honey … Looks like you have had a busy morning already,” she said softly as she
nodded to Emily, who was still fast asleep in his arms.
Emily
didn’t even stir when Grady lifted her up and transferred her to her aunt
Emma’s lap. When Grady straightened up, he found Frank in his arms holding him
tightly. When Frank went to hug his mother, he found her sitting on the other
sofa with her head between her knees. He put his arm over her shoulder and bent
over to see if she was all right.
“Mom?”
he asked gently. He heard a mumble from her. Blinking a few times he stepped
back and then hurried from the room to the back yard where Willie was directing
where the chairs should be set up. “Willie! Something is wrong with Mom!”
Willie handed the list over to another person and followed Frank in to the
front room. Kneeling in front of Donna he lifted her head up with his fingertips
and looked into her eyes.
“How
long have ye been dizzy and had sick spells?” he asked gently.
“Five
months,” said Grady, taking her hand in his.
Willie
moved Donna’s feet around so that she was lying on the sofa and guided Frank to
sit beside his mother’s legs. “Willie can make you better, Mom, I know he can,”
Frank said to her. He missed the glance between Grady and Willie, but saw the
look of concern on Willie’s face when he looked up at him. “You can, can’t you?
She’s not going to die, is she?”
“Everyone
dies in this lifetime, Frank. Your mother is ill for a different reason, one
that your parents will discuss with you when it’s time. For now, it’s been a
long journey for your mother, and she needs a spot of rest. Her blood pressure
is off a bit, and I dare say she’s had a bit too much salt in her diet. The
salt we can manage, the blood pressure is another matter.”
“Would
it cause her headaches when she cries and gets upset, or was that just me being
a pain?”
“Don’t
take the weight of the world on your shoulders, lad. I can na give you the
answer to that, but I do know, you’re not the same lad as before, and time
changes everything. Now, stay with your mother, I have some things to speak to
your father about.”
Frank
watched as the two men went out of the room, then out of the house across the
yard to stand under the tree. He couldn’t see what his dad was saying but the
expression on Willie’s face was very serious. He saw the look of resignation on
his father’s face, then saw his father take a breath to steady himself before
coming back into the house with Willie.
Coming
up to the men Taylor looked at Gabe. “Fill in?” she asked softly.
“Adam
was to say the wedding, to marry us,” said Willie with concern in his voice.
Laying
her hand on Willie’s arm
Willie
turned and looked at her, puzzled. “You know him?”
She
nodded as she stepped back to Willie’s side. “Yes. Tipper and Jessica have met
him, too - four years ago when they helped to close down the Nightshade shop.
I’ve known him longer than that, though.” She saw Willie breath out a sigh of
relief.
“So,
are you here just for the wedding?” she asked, brushing a few crumbs from the
lapel of Gabe’s cream colored jacket.
“I
don’t know,“ he said honestly. He tilted his head forward and kissed the top of
her head. “Time for you to get ready … Jessica and Angela are upstairs
already.”
She
nodded, and was about to go when she stopped and looked at him. “You will stay
awhile, won’t you? Tomorrow, Willie and I may be rebuilding some
windows that were damaged this morning. And I’ve never done that before - I
know you may have some insight about what should be done there.”
“I
would be happy to help in any way,” Gabe said, smiling.
She
stepped forward and kissed his other cheek. “Thank you, Gabe, for everything.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rosemary
pinned the veil on to
“Well,
that’s a time saver. Less to pack for the honeymoon,” quipped Rosemary, taking
a sip of water then placing the glass on the coaster next to a framed photo
that sat on the dresser. She saw
Rosemary
guided
Rosemary
stood up and took the pillows off of the bed and placed them over the registers
in the room. She sat down on the bed and faced
Rosemary
took a breath and whispered to her, “There is more, child. There are always
twins that are born in the family, the first born to them. Gram has a brother, and
Willie’s father has a sister, she is with him. It was not said where, because
of the blood feud between the families, and the other half was always hidden to
keep them safe. Each generation they become more like the others, taller, wiser
… In order for the family line to survive, after the birth the father and
mother separate and split the children between them so that one side may
survive, while the other goes into hiding. “
“But
Sara stayed with her husband - they had other children …”
“We
were the hidden ones. We could. Willie’s aunt and great uncle are hidden, and
no doubt she is married with a houseful that the world will never know.”
“You
wanted to be found, though. You put your photograph in the sword, and the
records. Gram didn’t know you did, did she?”
Tears
came down upon her cheeks. “Aye, I wanted to be found. I wanted someday for my
son to know I loved him and that it was the hardest thing for me to give him
up, but I knew that to be safe for my daughter I would have to go. You may need
to face that same decision, you know.”
“Why
do they follow that man? Why don’t they see his family for what they are?”
asked
“Because
they believe he does good for the village. Donations to the church, sending the
children who are bright off to the university. He was always in the papers of
all the good he was doing. The children never came back from the university,
though. Some of them did, but some of them became discontent with the village
life and they moved on. There would be letters from them, to their parents, and
after a while the letters would stop, and they were never seen or heard from
again. There are very few in this town that have not benefited from that man’s
money. For all of the good he seems to have done, it‘s robbed the village of its
young people.”
“Has
Mither benefited? Faraday went to the university …”
“I
don’t know. But she has always had the bed and breakfast, and they have always
done well turning the coin even since I was here, and I have never seen trace
that she followed that family. So now you know the dangers in marrying my son.
You know what is ahead, and what may need to be done. Would you still marry
him?”
“You
knew this before you married Willie’s father, and you did. Willie is my life. I
cannot remember what it was like before I met him.”
Rosemary
leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “It is like that,” she said,
smiling as she stood up. “Whenever you’re ready, it’s time …”
Taking
a breath
She
saw something. Something tucked behind the photo with its edge peaking out.
Carrying the frame over to the bed with her she sat down and with her fingers
she pushed up the tabs that held the back of the photo to the frame. Carefully
she lifted the back away and saw there were several photos that had been kept
hidden. She flipped them over one by one studying them, and then, just as
carefully, she placed them back in the frame, sealed it up and put it back on
the dresser where it had been. It made perfect sense …
There
was a knock on the door, and Seth came in. “Oh my…” he said in a hushed whisper.
“You’re beautiful … Is everything alright?”
“Yes.
It is now. I guess it’s time?” Seth held his hand out to her and escorted her
down the steps to the back door where she saw everything set up. The camera men
were away from everything, though she could tell they were wired for sound in
every corner. She could see Willie waiting at the area they had chosen to be
married at. He wore white, of the same material that she wore. At his side he
wore the sword and sheath. Even Frank wore a white vest over his shirt, and
though he looked a bit uncomfortable in it, he looked older. Taller as if this
moment was the most important thing in his life to do. His parents were up
front beaming. Emily was dressed in a simple frock with wild flowers that were
tied with ribbons woven in her hair. She went up shyly scattering ivy leaves,
clover and flower petals before her. Gram sat in the front next to Rosemary and
her children. Flowers had been woven into wreaths about their heads.
Seth
tucked
“Children
of the Father, we are gathered here today in celebration to join Thaladirith
MacGill - Razanur and Taylor Rachael Andrews in the union of Holy Matrimony
before their heavenly Father, and before his children. Whom the Father has
brought together, let no one separate … Who gives Taylor Rachael to
Thaladirith?”
Tipper,
Seth, Jessica and Frank said seriously, “We do.” Seth gave her a last kiss upon
her cheek, then stepped back to stand beside Jessica. He took Jessica’s hand in
his and held it in his own.
Gabe
looked at Frank. “The rings…” he said, prompting him. Frank reached in his
pocket and pulled away the threads that held the rings secure.
“Repeat
after me … Tha mise Thaladirith a-nis 'gad ghabhail-sa Collacarindo gu bhith
'nam chéile phòsda. Ann am fianais Dhé 's na tha seo de fhianaisean tha mise a'
gealltainn a bhith 'nam fhear pòsda dìleas gràdhach agus tairis dhuitsa, cho
fad's a bhios an dìthis againn beò gus an dèan Dia leis a' bhàs ar dealachadh.”
Willie
turned and took her hand in his and repeated what Gabe had spoken. He looked
down at the ring that had been handed to him and slipped it on her finger as he
spoke again in English, “I, William, now take you Taylor Rachael to be my
wife. In the presence of God and before these witnesses I promise to be a
loving, faithful and loyal husband to you, for as long as we both shall live until
God shall separate us by death.”
Gabe
handed a ring to
“Tha
mise Collacarindoa-nis 'gad ghabhail-sa Thaladirithgu bhith 'nam chéile pòsda.
Ann am fianais Dhé 's na tha seo de fhianaisean tha mise a' gealltainn a bhith
'nam bhean phòsda dhìleas ghràdhach agus thairis dhuitsa, cho fad's a bhios an
dìthis againn beò gus an dèan Dia leis a' bhàs ar dealachadh… I, Taylor
Rachael now take you William to be my husband. In the presence of God and
before these witnesses I promise to be a loving, faithful and loyal wife to
you, for as long as we both shall live until God shall separate us by death.”
Carefully
she slipped the ring on the proper finger then looked up at him. Both of them
looked at Gabe, who was smiling. “In the sight of the Father, I now bind your
hearts together as husband and wife. May your union be blessed by the Father in
all ways … You may kiss your bride,” he said to Willie.
Stepping
up to
They
would see it later in the tapes that were made of the event. A perfect
miniature rainbow had formed above them, with Taylor and Willie at the end of
it. She picked up his hands and kissed the palms of them softly. “I have found
my treasure at the beginning and the end of the rainbow of this vow. My heart
and love is yours.”
Still
holding hands, Gabe turned them to face their friends and family. “I present to the Father, and to his children,
Mr. and Mrs. Thaladirith MacGill - Andrews Razanur. Let us celebrate today in
this union of love and life.” He turned to them. “Congratulations,” he said
solemnly, shaking their hands.
“Thank
you,” she said, kissing his cheek.
Willie
nodded to him the thanks for both of them before he took her hand and slipped
it in the crook of his arm. “Are you ready, wife?”
She
breathed in deeply. “I am, husband.”
He
escorted her down between where their friends and relatives stood, followed by
his mother and his sister, and her children, then Seth and Jessica, and then
Tipper on the arm of Frank who looked just a bit more than smug when he passed
by Faraday. Willie had informed him he would have the first dance with Tipper.
Not that he knew much about dancing in the way that was required for the first
dance. Seth had watched with some amusement as Willie demonstrated the dance
the night before in their room, and when he realized that he would have that
same dance with Jessica became more attentive to the process.
The
relatives filed past them in the receiving line over to where the tables were
set up, and while Taylor and Willie posed for photos they mingled with the
people who had traveled a distance to witness the event.
Dancing.
Tipper realized it wasn’t the same as when she danced on the table at her
friend from Cornell’s wedding, but it was still dancing. Different dancing. For
a brief moment she thought about teaching Faraday how to dirty dance, but there
were going to be enough shocking events in the neighborhood in the next few
days, and a scandal like that would wag tongues back in Cabot Cove where she
was the nice, respectable vet. So far she had been (what she considered) lucky.
She danced several sets with Frank, who was actually a pretty good dancer for
an eleven year old. She danced with Seth, and then with Willie, and even had a
dance with Gabe, who was an excellent dancer. She even managed a bit of a dance
with Ian, who was looking a bit lost in all of the excitement. He could hobble
about, and had to sit down. Then just before Faraday could make his move, Grady
rescued her. She danced with
“Can
ye hear what my heart is telling ye?” he asked softly, slipping into a brogue.
Tipper
glanced up at him, realizing that they had stopped dancing, and that he was
lowering his head down to her upturned one. Part of Tipper wanted to step away,
while the other half was telling her that in a week’s time she would be back in
“Oh
Faraday …” she began, not knowing what to tell him. He kissed her forehead.
“I
understand lass. I really do,” he said with a measure of sadness in his voice.
Tipper
stood up on her tiptoes and brushed a soft kiss upon his mouth before she fled
from the dance floor into the house, up to where their rooms were. She leaned
against the dresser breathing hard. She felt gentle hands guide her to the bed
and when she looked up, she realized it was Jessica who had seen her flee and
had followed her.
“Tipper,
I have known you a long time, and I have seen you face down formidable events.
Tell me, what is it?”
“I
can’t breathe, Jess, when I am near him. I don’t know why - or how - I feel dizzy
and giddy, and I know it’s not love … not what I would think love would be. He
is so beautiful and sweet and kind … most of my graduating class would trade
their practice to be with him.”
“I
take it you’re looking for someone dependable who can fix the plumbing, and put
the storm windows in, and change the diapers?”
“Children?
I’ve known him a day!” she said, a bit panicked. “Oh, why didn’t I bring my tranq
gun?”
“You
do care for him, though … otherwise your heart wouldn’t be so conflicted.”
Jessica held out her hand to Tipper. “Come along, we should really be getting
back to the reception.”
Sighing,
she stood up, took Jessica’s hand, and followed the older woman back outside to
where the people were still dancing. Faraday had moved off to the side and was
sitting glumly, and looked at her when she came out. He stood up when she came
over to him and she bid him to sit back down.
“Faraday,
I have to be honest with you. My heart is terrified of the possibilities. I
can’t breathe or think when I am around you. I - just, well, things like this -
I’ve manage all my life avoiding things, because it means dealing with people,
and I’m better at understanding animals. I know pretty much what goes on in
their hearts. I just can’t tell what is going on in my own.”
“I
understand,” he said, taking her hand in his.
“You
do?” she said with surprise. She hadn’t expected, really, to blurt out what she
had, and to have him understand it was a relief. He lifted her hand up and
kissed the back of it.
“Faraday?”
“Yes,
lass?” he asked, tilting his head to one side to gaze at her.
“I
can’t breathe.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mither
regarded the kitchen. One would think that after feasting all day, and the
wedding, and the constant stream of people through her doors to attend the
festivities, the place would be a shambles. People were dancing still under the
stars, and she had come down to see to everything. It was all away. Every dish,
spoon, even the leftover food was wrapped and placed away during the time that
she had been helping to serve the wedding cake. She opened the drawers. Not a
single spoon had been lost.
She
heard a footstep behind her and when she turned, she saw it was Flynn. His face
was unreadable as he came down to where she stood at the sink. “A word with your son is in order,” he said
softly.
Mither
watched him turn and leave the kitchen. She leaned against the counter and
lowered her head. It was the first time that she had seen Faraday like this.
Flynn was a good man. He had taken her
as a wife when Faraday was two, and not many men would do that. The town could
use a good vet. She knew what she wanted to say to her son, but she couldn’t.
If she forbade him, she would lose him, if she told him to follow his heart,
she would lose him again. She felt the burn of hot tears against her eyes and
closed them. Mither didn’t hear the footsteps entering into the kitchen and
only opened her watery eyes when a soft hand touched her own.
“Oh!”
she said, seeing Willie and Taylor standing there. “I came down to do the dishes,
and it was all done! ‘Tis na right for the guests to do the work! They might be
makin’ the beds next!”
Reaching
out
Mither
eyed Willie. “You’re off then?”
Willie
nodded. The bags had been taken down to where they were staying shortly after
the decision was made to be married that afternoon. She saw Willie’s eyes
twinkle. Willie kissed Mither’s cheek, causing her to blush. He stepped close
to her, and hugged her for a moment. “Thank you, Mither,” he said softly.
Fresh
tears came to Mither’s eyes. “Well, don’t keep your bride waiting!” she said
with a smile.
She
watched them go out the back door of the kitchen, past where people were still
dancing and celebrating. For a moment she watched them through the window as
they walked down the lane, then her gaze was drawn to the window of the back
door. She could see the people dancing. Faraday was with them, dancing with
Tipper. She leaned against the counter. Somehow, she knew that it would be the
last happy moment he would have.
“Aye.
You know there are three rooms. One we use for guests or the ill, one mine, and
one Gram’s.” He saw her lower her head. He lifted her chin with his finger
tips. “Wife, are you concerned that we will be keeping her up?” He lifted his
other hand and caressed her cheek, feeling her blush.
Taking
a breath, she looked at him and said, “Well, yes husband, I am.” She watched
his eyebrows furrow as he blinked several times, fathoming what she had said.
His eyebrows went higher as the meaning occurred to him. She raised her hand to
his cheek and felt his own blush.
Pre-dawn
arrived with the sound of the song birds outside their bedroom window.
“Willie!
What are you doing?” she hissed from the door frame. She saw him take something
from the tree and realized they were pins that he had to have placed in the
tree when he brought their bags down before. It wasn’t until he let the sheet
unfurl that she saw his intent. Both of her hands clapped over her mouth and
she turned beet red.
“WILLIE!”
she said in a louder voice. He turned his head to where the village was and saw
more than just a few curious heads glancing in their direction. He climbed down
the tree and stepped back, regarding his handiwork as he brushed off the bits
of bark from the tree from his hands. Nodding that he was satisfied, he turned
to see her in the door frame, quite mortified.
He
took her hands away from her mouth and held them. “It’s na about proving that I
was your first. Look at it, wife. What do you see?”
For
a moment she forced herself to look. He saw the realization come upon her as
she raised her hand up to her mouth to gasp again.
“How?
How did your family crest come to be made that way?”
She
saw him shrug before he led her through the door back to their bedroom, and
with his foot close the doors behind them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jessica
sat in the kitchen at Mither’s regarding the selection of tea pots and the tea
caddy. The back door opened and closed behind her. She turned her head and saw
Flynn come in brushing off bits of things from his pants. She knew that the
life of a farmer was much like that of those who fished for lobster out of the
ocean.
“Where
are you off to today?” Flynn asked pleasantly.
“To
the estate. The inspector has organized a search party for more remains and
more clues as to who is behind the kidnapping. We hope to take the afternoon to
do it.”
She
saw Flynn become somber as he scratched his scraggly beard. “Good luck to ye, then,” he said before
walking out of the kitchen. Jessica heard his footsteps go across the hall, and
then heard a door close. She folded her hands in her lap and was studying her
nails when George came in the back door and walked over to her.
“Are
you ready, Jessica?“ he asked, kissing her cheek softy. He saw her expression.
“Dear lady, what troubles your heart so?”
“I
know who is behind all of this, George.”
“I
know you know. I know you very well, Jessie MacGill Fletcher, and I have seen
that look in your eye since yesterday. Our friends are in place - they know to
touch nothing, only to observe. Shall we go?” he asked, extending his elbow in
her direction. She walked with him out the back of the house to the back lane,
where she saw the crowd of people and several cars that were ready to go.
Jessica
walked into the study and watched as the man picking up the china on the tray
turned and almost dropped everything.
“Why,
Mrs. Fletcher, what a surprise. You will excuse me while I tidy up the place a
bit,” he said, dropping the tray and the tea pot and letting them shatter on
the floor.
Jessica
took a breath as Flynn pulled out a small revolver from his pocket.
“Clumsy
me,“ he said with a wintry smile. “Oh, please say, ‘It won’t work, Flynn,’ or, ‘You
won’t get away with it.’ Because it already has worked … and I so love the
melodramatics that Willie’s family has brought into our lives.”
“You
mean, your effort to fake the stroke for Mr. Furhdaham? You weren’t here, and
Faraday neglected to say that Willie gave Mr. Furhdaham mouth-to-mouth and
could taste the same residue on his lips that was on
Flynn
regarded her, his face no longer smiling. “A man can have someone hitch the
wagon if he wants. An’ a man can change clothing midday if he wants as well.
You have nothing except flights of fancy, Mrs. Fletcher.”
She
sighed. “Well, we have the tea pot, and the tea residue that helped the doctors
determine how much was put into his system. You might be distressed to know
that after everyone was taken to the hospital, Inspector Southerland returned
here with a warrant, and managed to exchange the tea pot and serving tray with
one that I happened to have purchased in the village the day that we arrived.
He was going to ship it back home for me, but seeing the need, he made the
exchange before anyone knew. Your fingerprints were on the bottom of the
original tray. That couldn’t be helped, I suppose - though you could wipe them
off the tea pot and tea cups, they would still remain when you carried it in to
Mr. Furhdaham. Faraday didn’t know that the intention was to kill Furhdaham and
the others, did he? I knew, once you heard we were coming back here to collect
evidence, that you would return to make sure that there was no connection to
you. Innocent people have died.”
Flynn
didn’t say anything for a moment. “There are no innocent people, Mrs. Fletcher,”
he said, his voice becoming hard.
The
door opened behind Flynn and Tipper and Faraday came through it. Faraday was a
bit surprised to see the gun. “You said no one was to get hurt,” he said.
“I
said ‘no one important,’” Flynn replied,
swinging the gun point blank in Tipper’s direction.
“NO!”
Tipper felt herself being spun around and then jolted backwards as she and
Faraday fell to the floor. Tipper heard a scream, and felt a heavy wetness
spread through the material of her top. She struggled a bit, unable to move and
realized someone was on top of her. In a rush the weight lifted off. Some one
helped her sit up. Tipper looked around and saw that it was Jessica, and that
George had gently rolled Faraday off of her. She pushed George away. Bright
blood bubbled from just under Faraday’s right arm. His eyes were wide and a
trace of blood trickled down from his mouth. Tipper placed her hand over the
gasping wound. From the sound of the air issuing from the hole she knew he had
a punctured lung, and the amount of blood coming past her fingers told her
there was more damage within.
“I’m
sorry,” Faraday managed to say with great effort. Tipper put her arm under his
head and raised his body, allowing his shattered lungs to work a bit better.
“WILLIE!!!”
Tipper yelled, then looked down at Faraday as she cradled him in her arms,
desperately trying to stop his life blood from leaving his body. She knew that
Willie was close - they had been a few rooms over when Faraday had heard
Flynn’s voice speaking with Jessica. Curious, she had taken Faradays hand and led
him down the hall to the back entrance of the study. She knew George was in the
front speaking to one of the officers who had come at his request. They hadn’t
been sure exactly what or whom they would find.
Willie
came through the door and glanced at Flynn. George’s bullet had taken care of
keeping him where he could do no further harm. He hurried over to where Tipper
held Faraday, and saw blood on his left arm. Ripping open the shirt, he saw
bruising on the left side of his body.
“Faraday
… please, don’t give up … Please … don’t give up …” Tipper said, holding him
closer as Willie bunched a handkerchief under her hand to help with the
pressure. He looked up at her and made a small shake of his head.
“Faraday
- would you like to hang your wash next to mine?” asked Tipper urgently.
She
saw him focus on her. “Aye ...“
Bending
down she kissed his lips gently. When she straightened up Tipper saw Faraday
blink and look beyond her. “Myrna…” he
said softly.
Turning
her head she looked in the direction that he was. She saw a young girl who
looked a lot like Mither standing next to a young man she didn’t recognize. She felt Faraday take a breath, then it
rustled out of his body. Tipper looked back, and saw him standing next to the
young woman, hugging her. For a moment their eyes met, and then he walked out
the door with the young woman between him and the other man.
Jessica
watched as the police hauled Flynn to his feet and escorted him handcuffed out
of the room.
TBC…