Fiona of Glenmorie

by Ruth Hay

  “We will be off very shortly, Ashley. We came by to take a prepared dish out of the freezer. There’s enough there for two and I think you will find a bottle of wine in the cupboard above your head.

  Christine and I had a lovely day walking and exploring around the area until the rain started, but I am sure she will be glad to get her feet up in her hotel room for the evening. The food there is very good and the manager has been most obliging.”

  “Excellent! May I contact you in the morning, Christine? We have lots to catch up on.”

  Christine Jansen sensed there was no point in objecting. Between them, the conspirators had arranged her life for the night and the next morning. She considered calling her son to warn him he had a visitor waiting at home, but she noticed Ashley had one of these smartphones on the table beside her. She would call Edmund before Christine could get to the hotel phone. Her tentative plan to occupy all Edmund’s spare time was rapidly dissolving. Now she would be relegated to third place in his affections, or so it seemed.

  Perhaps the only way forward was to make a friend of this ambitious young woman with the fair hair and the knowing eyes who had captured her son’s heart. It was not exactly what she wanted, but it was better than nothing. Truth to tell, Edmund had not been overly glad to see his mother in Oban.

  The one compensation in all of this was the friendship of several nice females who had rallied around to make sure she had a good time while in the town. There was talk of a boat trip to Iona and the young woman who owned the cottage had invited her to see a castle.

  All was not lost. It was a wise woman who knew when she had lost a battle.

  Christine Jansen decided to retreat and live to fight another day.

  Edmund Jansen pushed aside the paperwork and stretched his shoulders back. At this rate he would be developing a hunch well before his time. He really needed a competent doctor to work with him. The girls in reception were wonderful and took as much of the load as they could. Together they were a good team but they were always lurching from one unexpected event to another.

  He never thought he would look back on the days when he was assistant locum to old curmudgeon Connor Williams with affection. Two doctors could just about manage this busy practice. One doctor was left teetering on the verge of collapse almost every day.

  The thought of going home was no longer as comforting as it normally was, now that his mother had made an unanticipated appearance. He mentally chided himself for his ungrateful attitude.

  His mother was trying to be helpful. She prepared an evening meal for him, and she had cleaned the place up, but her constant chatter was exhausting when he really needed peace and quiet to restore his depleted energy. Since her arrival, he was staying even longer in the surgery after the girls left for the day. None of this was helping matters.

  He stood and stretched his long frame and made his way to the entrance. The final task of the day was to set the alarm. Then came the breather. He left his car parked in front of the surgery in a dedicated parking spot. Then he walked back to the cottage through the street fronting on the bay with the busy docks to his left. Lights were on in the few shops still open and some of the locals passed him with a friendly greeting. He took deep breaths of the salty air and looked longingly out to sea. How long would it be before he could escape on a ship and be free of all these responsibilities?

  He wished he could take flight across the Atlantic and end up in Ashley’s arms. It had been several days since he last heard from her.

  Edmund Jansen gave himself a mental shake.

  Enough of this dismal, defeatist thinking.

  Spring was coming, his application for a locum must be successful soon, and Ashley would come home to him. Eventually.

  He fished the old key out of his coat pocket and found the door swinging open before he applied the usual pressure.

  Mother must still be inside waiting for me to tell her about my day! God help me!

  There was the clattering sound of steps racing down the stairs. Before he could react, a warm, scented, lovely, woman threw herself into his arms and he was almost knocked off his feet.

  “Edmund! At last! I was about to come to the surgery and winkle you out of there, my darling man.”

  “Ashley? Are you real? I was just dreaming about you and here you are!”

  She delivered a passionate kiss, full on his mouth, and his doubts were eliminated at once. This was his Ashley, all right. It was akin to a miracle. One he was not about to question.

  Answers were for much later. For now, he joyously absorbed the healing strength she brought to him. His urgent task was to make sure she knew how much he needed her at this very moment.

  Everything else was swept aside.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “What do you mean by a film?”

  “Look, Fergus, it’s not something to worry about. If you or Shona don’t want to be involved it’s fine with your Mum and me.”

  “But, does this mean they will be digging up the hillside and the cairn? Is that a good idea, Dad?”

  “The archaeologists have promised to restore everything to its former condition once they have finished the excavation. I don’t doubt they will make a huge mess to start with, but it will be good for us if they find more evidence there.”

  Shona was listening to this two-way conversation but she wanted in.

  “Mum, these men can’t just come here and do whatever they want, can they?”

  A glance went between Fiona and Gordon. No flies on this one!

  “Shona, my lamb, it’s our family’s property but when it comes to matters of national interest, the authorities can command access until they are satisfied.”

  The words, ‘national interest’ lingered in the air of the kitchen for a brief moment like the scent of good cooking.

  “But, I want to see what they do. I don’t like the idea of that special place being ripped apart by big men in their hobnail boots, ye ken?”

  “Can I take it you feel the same as your sister, Fergus?”

  “Aye, Dad! When is this supposed to happen?”

  Fergus was hoping the filming would take place during the school term and he would not only have time off but also benefit among his contemporaries from the kudos of being in an actual film.

  “They want to do preliminary work on the estate quite soon, but the real filming for the documentary won’t take place for several more weeks as the excavations begin. I imagine you and Shona will be filmed at the very start to tell your story to the camera.”

  “You said this is good for us, Dad. What did you mean?”

  Another glance was exchanged between the adults and Fiona replied to her daughter.

  “You’ve heard us talk about bringing more tourists to Glenmorie, right? Well, what you and your brother discovered could be of great interest to many people in Scotland and further afield.

  Those people would need rides to the site and possibly tea in the castle afterwards.

  Do you see what I’m getting at, Shona?”

  “I do, Mum! This is exciting! Can I get one of those metal detector thingies? There could be more to find here on Glenmorie Estate.”

  Gordon laughed. “We’ll see! I don’t expect any money will be handed over to us but you two will be famous, for sure!”

  Shona was delighted to hear this.

  Fergus was more thoughtful. He was wondering if his precious stones would be taken away forever for some museum display, or hidden in a sealed box in underground storage somewhere.

  He thought back to the beginning when only he and his sister knew about the finds and wished it could have stayed that way.

  “Enough speculation! Sit down at the table and eat your supper. Dad and I will keep you in the loop about events. Congratulations to you two for bringing appropriate public attention to Glenmorie Estate. It will be a good thing all round.”

  Neil who had been playing happily at their feet, lifted the big spoon and started to bang it on the metal
pot as if to announce agreement with his mother’s words.

  Gordon scooped up his younger son and popped him into the high chair, spoon, pan and all. The impromptu drum concert continued while Fiona set out the plates and replaced the kitchen utensils with a bowl of the rich broth Neil loved.

  She looked around the table with a glad heart. No matter what resulted from the proposed documentary, she knew she had, right here in the Meco house, more wealth than all the riches of Arabia.

  The Oban Times broke the story of the ‘Viking Hoard’ shortly after a small crew arrived in Oban.

  Two men in a van stopped to ask directions to Glenmorie Castle Estate and the word soon spread around the town.

  Fiona and Gordon were besieged with requests to ‘tell all’. After numerous phone calls to try to clear up the misinterpretations, they resorted to employing the media and making declarative statements in print about what had really happened up on the remote hillside.

  As Fergus and Shona’s names were mentioned in the subsequent article, the interest at the primary school level was intense. Head Teacher, Rena Collins, decided to capitalize on this interest by doing an online search to see if anyone in the area was active in archaeology. She uncovered two elderly men with expertise in excavations further north in Scotland, and asked them to come to the school to talk to the students about their work and discoveries.

  This turned out to be a masterly move. The men brought with them examples of carved stones and a slide projection of sites they had excavated over decades showing how the work was done with the ultimate care and caution, and how the information about ancient peoples was constructed piece by piece from mere fragments of stone and bone.

  Fergus and Shona brought photographs of their findings and the two men studied them with great interest while the assembled school population held their breath, as one, and waited to see what the expert conclusion would be.

  To Rena’s delight, the men conferred together for some minutes before pronouncing that the Glenmorie children had undoubtedly added to the knowledge of Viking settlement, or, more likely, Viking travel camp sites, on the Scottish mainland. This was received with enthusiastic applause by the whole school. More excitement was to follow.

  The senior of the two old men, a tall figure with impressive white beard and mustache, and a sonorous speaking voice, asked Shona to come to his side. He seemed to be even more fascinated by her discovery of what he termed, ‘a sacred Druid circle in an enclosure of ancient oak trees’.

  He patted Shona on the head and announced that her name would be eternally attached to this place in professional journals and she would be just as famous as her brother.

  Rena was not the only adult in the audience who thought about Stonehenge, and also the opening titles of the successful television series, Outlander, with its women dancing around the circle of standing stones somewhere in Scotland.

  Fiona and Gordon beamed with pride at their offspring and whisked them away for a slap-up meal in the hotel after obtaining Rena’s permission.

  “Oh, do take them out of here for some peace and quiet! They are quite the celebrities around town nowadays. The Year Eight and the lower year pupils are after them for autographs all the time. It can only get worse once the documentary is shown on television.”

  Gordon noted this comment and, once safely inside in the hotel, he made a point of asking Fergus and Shona how they were dealing with all the attention.

  “I like it fine, Dad! The older boys in Fergus’s class look out for me now. No one pushes me out of a line or steals my backpack and throws it in the bushes.”

  “What about you, Fergus?”

  He was busy with a mouthful of custard and raspberries but he gave his full attention to his father’s enquiry as soon as he could swallow.

  “You know, I really want to see what happens during the site excavation. In the interview, I asked about it, and the camera man said he would pass on my request to the main men. I showed them my drawings. I’m thinking it could be a good art project for my new school in the autumn.”

  “Well, if the work starts in the summer months, as expected, I don’t see why you could not be given special permission to observe and record your own impressions of the process. As long as you do not interfere with the work of the archaeologists, of course.”

  “No, Dad! I would ride up on my bike and walk the rest of the way if you were not able to give me a lift. I would just watch and draw and maybe make my own wee film on my phone camera?”

  Fiona was pleased to find Fergus still had intentions of going to the Art College. His summer was now pretty much taken care of. As for Shona, there was going to be a shiny new metal detecting machine waiting for her next birthday so she was not left out of the excitement.

  Another benefit for their mother would be the extra time to devote to the revised plan to draw visitors to Glenmorie. The way things were going, there should be little problem in that sphere.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ashley Stanton did not take long to assess the situation in Oban.

  First of all, she dealt with Edmund’s mother by co-ordinating with Jeanette, Jean and Bev to keep Christine occupied during the days and as much of the evenings as possible.

  During these conversations as to scheduling Christine’s time, it was made apparent to Ashley that Edmund was overworked. This was not news. She had quickly observed his pale complexion, his shadowed eyes and the fact his clothes were hanging on him.

  She implemented a routine of good breakfasts and substantial packed lunches, and insisted on set hours of work, not to be extended unless there were major incidents of flood, fire or tornado.

  Fern and Isla were delighted to help by refusing to add appointments after hours and keeping phone calls away during his lunch break which, with the improving weather, he was now enjoying in the open air in the miniscule courtyard now decorated by Ashley with healthy herbs in a variety of pots.

  Weekends were devoted to personal time with his fiancée. He was showing improvement, but Ashley decided even more intervention was required.

  She checked around and found Jeanette was a prime source of information. She suggested Steve Collins might be the person to contact with regard to speeding up the process of tracking down a locum for the practice.

  Jeanette made the introduction over tea at her house and Steve listened to Ashley’s concerns.

  “It’s not my area of influence exactly, but I can see how important it is to have medical services in the town. I will intercede at the next council meeting and see what can be done about this. One of the councillors must have influence in Glasgow, or in Edinburgh’s hospitals. If necessary, we can look further afield.”

  There was one more urgent item on Ashley’s list. She wanted to send to Canada for the remainder of her belongings but the cottage simply did not have the required storage.

  She knew the capacity of Anna Drake’s garage loft and figured that would be a good place to store her things, which included a number of books and papers. This would be a temporary measure until she and Edmund had a larger place to live. It would take some time before her goods could be shipped to Scotland and she meant to investigate suitable housing in the area while she waited.

  The plan for temporary storage should be put in place as soon as possible. This involved contacting Anna and asking permission. It also involved disturbing the McCaig Estate House’s current residents, Caroline and James.

  It took several days before she was able to contact Anna, but her great-aunt’s reaction when she realized Ashley was calling from Scotland was most satisfactory.

  “Glory be! That’s the best news! I can’t wait to get back to Oban and see everyone. Alina has recently had a check-up from the surgeon and he declares her operation a complete success. Now, she is still adjusting, Ashley, but she declares her peripheral vison is learning how to cope with additional work.

  She says colours have returned. She cried when she saw the faces of Zoe and Wesley’s
children clearly for the first time. Zoe had to explain the difference to them between sad and happy tears. We were all in tears by then.”

  “I can imagine you were! What an amazing transformation for Alina. Does this mean you two will be heading here soon?”

  “Indeed we will. I am making travel arrangements now. We will likely fly to Glasgow. The doctor has given permission for a short flight but he warns against trans-Atlantic flights for some time. Something to do with interocular pressure.”

  “Of course! So, train from there to Oban?”

  “Yes, after a night’s rest in a hotel. I have spoken to James about the house. He and Caroline must head back to Brussels soon, although I said we could manage to sleep four of us for a time.

  The other complication is that Philip has been in Egypt for months now and he is anxious to see his wife again, especially now her treatment has been such a success.”

  “So we can expect another McLeod family member at the McCaig Estate house?”

  “Oh yes! With you in Oban again, Ashley, it will be quite the reunion. I can hardly wait!”

  “Just one last thing, Aunt Anna before I let you go back to your packing. I am sending for my belongings and I need a place to store them when they arrive. May I use some of your garage space?”

  “Definitely! There’s loads of room in there and it’s quite weather proof these days. Feel free to use the garage any time. James has the keys and he would help you move.

  I am deliberately not asking about you and Edmund, Ashley. I want to be face-to-face for that conversation. Soon, my darling?

  Soon!”

  Anna Drake’s excitement was just the incentive Ashley needed. She decided her Great-Aunt Anna would be the one to put Christine Jansen in her place. Her own energy could then be reserved exclusively for Edmund. No more stressing about what his mother might do or say to disturb his newly-calm attitude.

  She immediately called and left a message for Steve Collins about the locum situation. Then she went upstairs and dragged her luggage out from underneath the bed, sorting out what she needed to wear in the next few weeks. These items of clothing would be stuffed into the single wardrobe beside Edmund’s few garments. The rest would go to Anna’s garage until better, affordable accommodation could be found for the couple.