Bob’s faded blue eyes blinked. For a moment he looked ready to up and run to the comparative safety of the male-dominated parlour, but suddenly a twinkle lit his face. ‘I’ve felt that way myself since that wily bugger Joe went and married himself to Grace.’ He sighed heavily. ‘Ay, many’s the night I’m cold up there in my biggin thinkin’ o’ Grace and Joe cosy and happy together in their house by the harbour, and wi’ Captain Mac biding there now I see my chances o’ Grace growing less and less.’
Elspeth’s eyes gleamed. ‘I know, I know! The disgrace o’ it. I aye liked Captain Mac for he has manners on him even though he has spent most o’ his life at sea, but never never did I think he would be as brazen as to move in wi’ Grace and Joe, and the old man past caring about what goes on under his own roof. Mind, the bodach landed a good catch in Grace. She looks after him that well I doubt he might live for another hundred years yet – if the Lord spares him of course.’
‘Ay, he might at that.’ Bob settled himself back in his seat to delve one gnarled hand into the depths of his waistcoat pocket. From it he withdrew a very fancy hip flask, made of silver and leather with a little silver screw top attached by a chain. ‘Will you hae a dram wi’ me, Elspeth? I ken fine you are no’ the sort o’ woman to imbibe but this has been a strange sort o’ night. I’m sure you will agree that a wee snifter will put us both on our feets.’
Solemnly Elspeth held out her cup. ‘Just a wee tate,’ she intoned graciously. ‘As you say, I’m no’ one to tipple in the normal way o’ things but these past hours have been anything but normal.’
Bob was almost ashamed of himself as he uncorked the flask and poured a measure of spirits into Elspeth’s cup – almost but not quite! It would do no harm to lead the woman on a bit. The besom deserved to have the wind knocked out her sails and, by God! He was going to enjoy doing it. For too long now her viper’s tongue had spat its poison at him and for once he was going to get the chance of biting back!
At past two in the morning a baby’s cry shattered the stillness of the house. A powerful cry it was too for such a tiny bairn, certainly loud enough to penetrate the thick old walls of the house and filter downstairs.
In the kitchen Elspeth and Bob stirred unwillingly from a companionable slumber, Kirsteen and Phebie sat bolt upright to rub sleep from their eyes and stare at one another in dawning delight.
‘I slept, after all I slept!’ wailed Kirsteen guiltily.
‘Shame on you,’ chuckled Phebie, ‘and you a step-grandmother again. The bairn will never forgive you.’
In the parlour the men stirred on the couch where they had collapsed exhausted some time before, and looked at one another.
‘It’s here.’ Niall’s haggard face was disbelieving.
‘Ay, it sounds like it.’ Fergus lifted his face upwards, listening.
‘I’m a grandfather again.’ Lachlan’s weary brown eyes suddenly lit.
‘So am I.’ Fergus spoke a trifle shakily, his deep laugh springing to his throat.
‘And I’m a father again.’ Niall stared at the other two. Pandemonium broke out, they all began laughing and slapping one another.
‘You have a son! And Shona’s fine!’ Babbie’s joyous shout reverberated from the banisters. Everyone ran into the hall to gaze upwards at her triumphant face, Elspeth’s spindly legs just as swift as younger ones, Bob’s twisted ankle forgotten in the excitement of the moment.
‘A McLachlan son.’ Elspeth was so overcome with the emotion of the moment she grabbed Bob and kissed him soundly on the lips. He recoiled, shock on his seamed countenance, then he remembered and the gleam returned to his eyes.
‘Woman, woman! I never kent you possessed such passions!’ he cried, advancing on her.
With a shriek she was off, scurrying back to the kitchen to shut the door soundly in his face. Banging on it, he shouted, ‘Let me in, you daft cailleach. I only want to be alone wi’ you for a while! Surely there’s no harm in that?’
‘Go you away, Bob Paterson, we’re both far too old for such nonsense!’ Elspeth’s words were warning but a softness had crept into the querulous tones.
‘If your idea is to play wi’ her, you’d better no’ take it too far, Bob,’ laughed Phebie, ‘she might just take you seriously.’
‘A cat can play wi’ a mouse,’ answered Bob enigmatically, but retired from the door just the same as if he had decided that there was safety in numbers after all.
Niall was too dazed to take in much of anything, and could only shake his head in wonderment when his father grabbed hold of him and said, ‘A son, Niall.’ There was a glint of tears in Lachlan’s brown eyes. ‘I never thought I’d live to see the day.’
Niall could only nod, too filled with emotion to be able to express what was in his heart: Phebie hugged them both. ‘Just wait till Fiona hears this. It’s what she was praying for, a lad to keep on the McLachlan line.’
Megan came out to join Babbie at the banisters and said a few quick words in her ear. Both women looked very serious suddenly and when Niall shouted, ‘Can I come up now?’ Megan shook her head and said, ‘Not yet, Niall, I want to see Lachlan for a moment.’
Everyone looked at everyone else as Lachlan left them to make his way upstairs.
‘I don’t believe it,’ Megan drew a hand across her forehead. ‘I just don’t believe it—’ she stared at Babbie. ‘How could I have missed it?’
‘It happens,’ Babbie ran a hand through her red curls and went over to the bed to smooth Shona’s hair back from her brow.
‘Where’s Niall?’ Shona spoke urgently, sweat breaking on her as fangs of pain gnawed at her.
‘He’s downstairs waiting to see his son, don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine.’
‘I thought it was over,’ Shona’s knuckles were white on the bed rails, ‘what’s wrong, Babbie? I have a right to know what’s happening.’
Babbie sat down heavily on the bed, her freckles vivid in the translucent pallor of her tired face. ‘Weesht, Shona,’ she soothed. ‘Lachlan is just coming. You mustny fret, just stay calm and you’ll be fine.’
‘Oh, it’s fine for you to talk, Babbie Cameron – I mean Buttger. You’ve never had a baby, you don’t know what it’s like!’
Babbie forced a grin. ‘That’s the Shona I know best – fiery tempered, fighting like a hell cat.’
Tears sprang to the other’s eyes. ‘Och, I’m sorry, Babbie, I don’t know what I’m saying – it’s just – I’m afraid.’
‘I know.’ Babbie kept her eyes on the door, willing Lachlan to come through it quickly.
Gently Lachlan smoothed the hair from Shona’s brow and said in a strange, bubbly sort of voice, ‘Shona, mo ghaoil, in my day I’ve been shocked, surprised, delighted at some o’ the things my patients sprung on me. I truly believed these days were done with but you’ve proved me wrong, lass, the McKenzies have done it again.’
‘Lachlan! What on earth are you havering about?’ Shona cried. ‘Done what? What’s wrong with me?’
‘Nothing, lass, everything’s right.’ He was jubilant, his eyes snapping merrily in his thin, sensitive face. ‘You’re going to have another baby, that’s what – the wee devil should arrive anytime now.’
‘Twins!’ Shona sat bolt upright. ‘But how could I be? I know I was bigger this time than with any o’ the others – but twins!’
‘Oh, it can happen more times than you would believe and they have a habit of running in your particular family. Megan missed it because it was probably lying in a position that made it difficult to detect . . .’
With a wild whoop Shona was kissing him, kissing Babbie, totally incoherent with amazed joy. Megan stood a little way apart, watching the scene, her face hollow with weariness and something else – an anxiety that she couldn’t hide, not even when Lachlan came up and took her hands. ‘She’s all yours again, Megan, it won’t be long now. I’ll save a good big dram for you when it’s over with.’
‘Oh, Lachlan,’ she burst out in a miserabl
e whisper, ‘I feel such an inadequate fool – how could I have missed it? I should have known but I didn’t – I didn’t.’
‘Megan, come out here for a minute.’ He led her out to the passageway and made her face him. ‘Now just you listen to me, my girl. This can happen to the best o’ us, believe me. There’s a dozen reasons for twins to go undetected, especially in a woman who’s had several bairns. Whatever you do, don’t blame yourself.’
He shook her a little and smiled, that slow, warm smile that had soothed so many of his patients. ‘You get back in there with pride in your heart and no more nonsense concerning your so-called inabilities.’
She gave a watery sniff and smiled back. ‘Alright, but only if you come with me. Oh, come on now, you’re longing to, I know – and,’ the smile deepened, ‘just think how exciting it is – now knowing if it’s another boy or a girl.’
He gave a shout of laughter. ‘You’re on – and I bet five pounds it will be another boy.’
‘I say a girl.’
‘Right then, Doctor Megan, let’s get in and find out. But first, spare me a wee minute. Both Niall and Fergus are going daft down there thinking the worst. I want to see their faces when I break the news.’
Chapter Six
The atmosphere in the kitchen was even more electric than it had been in the parlour some hours before. Fergus and Niall, tension oozing from them, were back to their pacing while Kirsteen and Phebie, in an effort to fill the anxiety-laden time, were seated together at the fire, darning and knitting respectively.
Elspeth had fallen asleep, her boisterous grunts and snores filling the silent room and making Fergus more irritable than ever.
Bob was frankly drunk, a state he had decided was the only sensible one to be in with everyone at such fever pitch.
‘Fergus,’ Kirsteen sighed and looked up, ‘couldn’t you sit down for a wee while? You’re wearing out the rug and you’ll get holes in your socks again. At least put on your slippers. Why you have to pad about in your stocking soles is beyond me. Ruth gave you a lovely pair of slippers last Christmas and you’ve never even had the good manners to try them on yet.’
For answer he went to the door for the umpteenth time that night and looked out. The storm had long abated, the morning sky was awash with moon and stars that bathed the virginal landscape in a blue, ethereal light. Moving outside he stood for a long time, breathing deeply, remembering the last time twins had been born at Laigmhor.
Fluffy white clouds were piled on top of Sgurr nan Ruadh with silver edges to them and strange shapes like ghost faces in the moonlight.
‘A fluffy cloud morning.’ The voice of Lewis, his dead son, seemed to sigh on the breeze blowing down from the hills . . .
‘Fergus McKenzie! Put these on this minute or you’ll catch your death.’ Kirsteen was beside him, stooping down to push his sodden feet into slippers. Pulling her up, he held her close to nuzzle his lips into her hair. ‘I was thinking o’ Lewis, remembering how it was when he and Lorn ran and played here as tiny bairns. I mind o’ a time just like this, the new snow soft on the ground, Lewis out with his sledge, forgetting Lorn in the excitement o’ the moment—’
‘Oh yes, I remember that time too.’ Kirsteen put her fingers to her mouth and stared into the distance as if seeing the scene unfolding before her vision. ‘Lewis was halfway down the slope when he looked back and saw Lorn watching him from the fence. He was off that sledge so fast he almost broke his neck and then he came running back up the brae to grab Lorn and help him down to the sledge – but,’ she glanced up at him, tears in her eyes, ‘it was such a small thing yet – you remembered.’
‘It’s the little things I remember most, mo cridhe,’ his voice was husky, ‘about our children – about our lives together in this house.’
‘And now it begins all over again.’
‘Ay, and I wish to God this night would end . . .’ He stiffened. From somewhere above, a thread of sound penetrated into the dreaming morning. ‘Kirsteen, did you hear that? Was it a baby – or a cat?’
There was movement within, an instant awakening that brought the whole house to life. Niall came rushing out to whirl Kirsteen round and kiss her, the next instant, in his excitement, forgetting himself completely and kissing Fergus also.
Both men erupted into gales of laughter that released the raw tensions of the night. They shook hands, kissed Kirsteen all over again and, tripping each other up, they all rushed back inside to demand, ‘What is it? Does anyone know yet?’
Bob reeled to his feet, held his glass high and hiccuped. ‘’Tis a baby! Unless o’ course it’s pups! May God bless her and all who sail in her.’
‘Bob Paterson, you’re drunk.’ Elspeth spoke thickly for she was as drunk as he and looked almost attractive, with her grey hair falling in disarray over her face and a flush on her cheekbones lending sparkle to her eyes. ‘You’ve got holes in your shocks,’ she observed in slurred tones, ‘and your feets are non to clean either. ’Tis high time you had a good woman to see to you, ay just.’
‘And will it be yourself having that priv – that priv – that honour?’ Bob slurred, pulling her against him to rub his whiskery chin against her thin cheek.
‘Bob Paterson! You’re a God-forshaken barbarian, that you are!’ The admonishment strangled in her throat, she landed back in the rocking chair with a thump and a hiccup, her black clad legs zooming high in the air as the chair shot backwards on its rockers.
‘Ay, ay, they’re white I see,’ chortled Bob, his inebriated state daring him to hook one horny thumbnail into her knicker elastic and let it go with a decided ping.
Her outraged yells went unheeded. There were feet on the stairs, swift feet that forgot to be tired in their hurry to reach the kitchen. Babbie stood in the doorway, green eyes lit, red hair a rumple of colour in the lamplight. ‘Guess – everybody guess what it is,’ she imparted breathlessly.
‘Oh, Babbie, don’t,’ pleaded Kirsteen.
‘I’ll carry you outside and roll you in the snow,’ threatened Niall grimly.
‘I’m all yours,’ she grinned mischievously, then, as he descended on her, ‘och, alright, spoilsport. It’s a girl, a beautiful little girl, all red and wrinkly and bald but decidedly beautiful for all that. Now – don’t all rush me at once, men first, preferably fathers – they’re more experienced.’
‘You’re immoral, Babbie Büttger, always was and always will be.’ Niall folded her in his arms and pressed a kiss on her mouth. ‘And you’re the finest wee nurse this island could have – Biddy would be right proud o’ you.’ He turned away quickly. ‘A girl.’ He spoke the words aloud for his own benefit and no one tried to stop him when he went quickly outside to savour a few richly deserved moments of solitude.
Megan placed a new little bundle in Shona’s arms. ‘There you are, Shona, your daughter, and you’ve earned every inch of her.’
Shona lay back exhausted, every fibre in her body craving for rest so that she was almost too weary to lift her hand to the little head that cooried in warm to her breast. But her eyes were very bright when she looked over at Lachlan standing by the fireplace. ‘Lachlan, look at her. Yesterday I never knew she existed, today she’s here, warm and real.’
‘I know, lassie, quite a surprise for you – for us all – a special gift from God.’
‘Ay, a gift, that’s what she is – and now, can I have her big brother to hold just for a whilie? I want to stare at them both till I fall asleep.’
Megan went through to the room once shared by Lorn and Lewis. From the old family cradle that had rocked generations of McKenzie babies she lifted the little boy and bore him back to his mother who kissed the small fair head.
‘I feel as if my son and my daughter have somehow been given back to Niall and me—’ Shona looked up. ‘I just know it’s a bonny morning, all clean and sparkling under the stars.’
Lachlan blew out the lamp and opened the curtains before he and Megan went quietly out of the room.
Shona lay back. The sky outside the window sparkled with pinpoints of light. ‘Thank you, God,’ she said simply and closed her eyes, her babies snug and warm in her arms.
Outside the door Megan smiled at Lachlan. ‘You owe me five pounds, Doctor Lachlan.’
He linked his arm in hers. ‘I owe you much, much more, Doctor Megan. You let me share that wonderful moment back there and I’m indebted to you for that.’
‘Well, it isn’t every night a man gets to become a grandfather twice over – I still can hardly believe it.’
‘Me neither – but I soon will when the womenfolk start skirling in my lugs and the talk is nothing but babies from now till next Christmas!’
‘This is for you.’ It was morning and Fergus, coming in from the barn with a tiny black and white bundle in his arms, looked haggard in the searching wintry sun streaming in through the kitchen window. ‘She’s the one you wanted and you might as well have her now. She’s a quiet wee thing and the rest are giving her a hard time o’ it.’
Megan took the trembling little dog to her bosom and kissed the tip of the black, button nose. ‘She’s adorable. I love her already and I don’t know how I can ever thank you, Mr McKenzie.’
His dark brows knitted. ‘The name is Fergus, only strangers get called mister around here – and Megan,’ roughly he took her hand, gripping it so hard that she winced, ‘you’re a fine doctor and I thank you for everything you did for my daughter last night.’
Megan was so stunned she could say nothing and went quickly to the door to hide her discomfiture.
‘A big speech from a very silent man.’ Kirsteen smiled as she caught up with the doctor and walked her to the gate. ‘From this day forward you can do nothing wrong in the eyes of McKenzie o’ the Glen.’
‘But – I only delivered babies,’ Megan replied in bewilderment, ‘I’ve brought dozens into the world.’
Storm Over Rhanna Page 8
