Go Gently

by Nancy M Bell

  “Colt! Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Anna scolded her husband but her eyes danced with laughter.

  Anna insisted in helping with the washing up while Sarie took Colt out to see the horses. They came back in just as the Laurel placed the last mug on the hook.

  “The rain has stopped, it’s just heavy mist now,” Sarie announced. “We might want to take a mac with us, though.”

  Colt looked at Laurel and mouthed silently, “A what?”

  “A mac, a mackintosh is a rain coat, Daddy.” She giggled at the face he pulled.

  “I’m jus’ a poor old Alberty cow hand, missy. Cain’t you jus’ call it a slicker?” Colt dropped into the querulous old man persona he used to tease her with when she was little.

  “Don’t be silly, Dad.” Inwardly, she was glad he was in such a good mood and ready to tease her.

  “We’ll have to take both vehicles, we won’t all fit into one,” Emily said.

  “Where are we gonna park?” Laurel remembered the tiny narrow streets in Mousehole. She wondered how anyone managed to park there at all.

  “Up by the old Penolva Quarry on the hill if there’s room. Just before the lifeboat station. Or if we’re too late to get a spot there, we’ll have to park in Newlyn and walk up.” Sarie glanced at the clock.

  Laurel found herself in the back seat of Sarie’s car with Coll. Her mom got into the front passenger seat. Dad squeezed into the front of Emily’s car, with Aisling and Gort in the rear.

  “I think Dad is hoping Emily drives slower than Sarie,” Laurel remarked with a giggle.

  “You know how he hates not being in control,” Anna agreed. “It’s killing him not to drive.”

  “Did you see him at the roundabout?” Laurel giggled.

  “He was comical,” her mom agreed. “But I wouldn’t like to have to negotiate it, I have no idea what the rules are. How in heaven’s name do you know when to go, or how to get off it?” Anna shook her head.

  “Gramma’s not quite as scary as Sarie to drive with,” Coll ventured to comment.

  Anna smiled at him kindly. “Colt was quite the mad man when he was younger, we used to go mud bogging and I’m still not sure how we stayed shiny side up.”

  “Mud bogging?” Coll looked at Laurel.

  “It’s kind of a sport, I guess. Chance and the boys like it well enough. They find a big mud hole and drive through it making as much splash as you can. Then you skid and spin the truck around. They count to see who can spin the most times around. I only went with him once,” she glanced at her mom. “They were all drinking and Chance had a hard time driving home.”

  “Just as well you were only driving on the back roads. I spoke to his mother about that afterward. If he wants to drink underage, that’s his problem. But I don’t like him taking you to a tailgate party like that.” Anna’s lips thinned in annoyance.

  “I never went again. Chance is…different when he drinks,” she assured her mom.

  “Most men are,” she replied. “There’s plenty of time for that when you’re older.” She eyed Coll over Laurel’s head.

  Sarie followed Emily through Penzance and along the Western Promenade where the waves slapped at the sea wall. They passed through Newlyn and up the hill toward the old quarry.

  “Why, the sign says Mousehole, I thought you said we were going to Mouzel,” Anna exclaimed as the head lamps illuminated the sign when they climbed a hill.

  “That how it’s pronounced, Mom. Don’t ask me why,” Laurel replied.

  Sarie pulled up behind Emily, snugging the car up against the hill in the tiny layby. “You’ll have to get the other side,” she told Laurel. Once everyone scrambled out of the vehicles, they assembled on the shoulder of the road and Sarie and Emily led the way around a bend in the road. Coll and Laurel walked behind them, with Gort and Aisling following. Anna and Colt brought up the rear holding hands.

  “Oh, isn’t it beautiful!” Anna came up beside Laurel when the harbour came in view. “Even some of the boats have light displays. What a pretty pretty little village.”

  “Look, Mom. See the display that looks like a pie with fish heads? That’s Star-Gazey Pie.”

  The lights shone from the shops lining the harbour and more twinkled on the hillside where the village clung to the side of the steep incline that rose above the sea.

  “Isn’t it spectacular, Colt?” Her mother’s face shone in the reflected light.

  “It is a mighty pretty sight,” he agreed.

  Laurel rolled her eyes when he leaned down and kissed her mom. “Ewww, get a room, you guys!” she teased them.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The area around the harbour was so crowded it was hard to find a place to stand. Sarie and Emily took Laurel’s parents into the bar of the Ship Inn. Laurel and her friends climbed up on some pilings to look out over the crowd.

  “Have you heard from Gwin? That stupid council meeting should be over by now,” Laurel whispered in Aisling’s ear.

  “I haven’t heard anything, but remember how time runs different there? Still, I thought we would have heard something by now.” Worry furrowed Ash’s forehead.

  “No sense worrying about what we can’t change,” Gort said. “Here come your parents.” He nodded toward the noise and lights of the Inn.

  Anna handed around take out cups of coco, while the adults held dark glasses of Guinness. Colt made a face as he took a sip. “I think I’ll try some of the local beer next, maybe one of those ones with the weird name. Maybe a Doom Bar or a Proper Job.” He grinned at his wife.

  Emily joined them. “I just talked to Elvira, they’re almost ready to make the announcement.”

  “What announcement?” Anna wanted to know.

  “They make a big announcement in the bar that the Starry-Gazey Pie is ready to be served,” Sarie said. “Let’s get in there so we get a chance at some of the first pieces.” The adults shoved their way through the crowd and into the Ship Inn. Laurel and her friends stayed at their vantage point.

  “They’ll bring some for us,” Coll assured Laurel.

  A man emerged from the Ship Inn holding a huge pan over his head. A loud cheer went up from the crowd. From her vantage point Laurel got a good look at the massive browned crust, but her stomach flipped at the sight of the fish heads and tails sticking up out of the crust. Dead blank eyes staring upward.

  “You aren’t supposed to eat the fish, are you?” She swallowed, unable to pull her gaze away from the fish heads. “What kind are they, anyway?”

  “They’re pilchards. Tom Bawcock is supposed to have brought in seven kinds of fish for his Starry-Gazey Pie, but it’s only made with pilchards now,” Coll said.

  “You don’t have to eat the fish if you don’t want to,” Ash told her.

  “See why they call it Star-Gazey Pie, though?” Coll leaned forward on his perch. “Just look at those poor buggers.”

  The man disappeared back into the building. Laurel wasn’t sure she’d be able to get any bit of the pie past her lips. Ash jumped beside her and almost bumped Laurel off the piling. She swivelled around to see what happened.

  Gwin Scawen sat on Ash’s knee, clutching the pocket of her jacket to keep from falling. “Gwin, what happened?” she demanded.

  “Good even to you, Mistress Laurel,” the little man said formerly.

  Laurel sighed and remembered her manners. “Hello, Gwin. How are you tonight?”

  “It is fine, I am. Thanks for asking,” he replied.

  “Gwin has news for us,” Aisling said.

  Laurel found Coll’s hand and gripped it tightly. They have to have ruled in Vear’s favour, they have to. She willed the piskie to get on with it and tell them what the verdict was. He seemed more interested in arranging himself comfortably tucked inside Aisling’s jacket.

  “Are you ready, now?” Ash smiled indulgently as the piskie.

  “Yes, Mistress Aisling, my flower. I am ready to relate my tale.” He paused to clear his throat. “The Grand Council
convened and heard the appeal which the Council of Alba put forward on Vear’s behalf, as they agreed to. It was a long and tedious affair. The Council of Kernow wasn’t happy at all, they weren’t, with having their ruling brought into question. They argued long and loudly and I thought they had tipped the scales in their favour before the selkie even had a chance to speak. But then his turn came and he spoke most eloquently, so he did. He confessed to breaking with tradition and common sense and falling in love with a mortal. The Council of Kernow hissed with pleasure at that admission, they were ready to start celebrating right then and there, so they were. But the selkie continued, he brought up all the old bad blood between some of Kernow council members and himself. That set the Grand Council members to thinking, so it did. Then he called Morgawr, the sea serpent, to speak on his behalf. You know, Morgawr, he can be quite amusing when he sets his mind to it. He spun them quite a tale, told how he had just happened to be swimming and fishing near where the Council of Kernow were holding a secret meeting. Oh, they protested when they heard that, the Kernow members, but the Grand Council ruled they wanted to hear what he had to say. The sea serpent related how they’d conspired to blacken Vear’s reputation and get him banished. They didn’t like it one bit, that he consorted with the mortals and sometimes helped drive schools of fish toward the fishermen’s nets when times were hard. By the time Morg was finished speaking I was feeling much more confident.” The piskie paused and took a pull on a flask he produced from an inner pocket of his coat. “Tale telling is thirsty work. At any rate, I thought the hearing would end there and they’d hand down their decision. But no, then they called me forward. I wasn’t expecting it, I wasn’t. I can tell you my knees were fair knocking together, me speaking to the likes of the Grand Council. They asked me a lot of questions and I don’t rightly recall what I said in return, but it must have been suitable because the selkie was smiling and nodding when I was allowed to step down.”

  “What did they decide?” Laurel couldn’t bear the suspense a moment longer.

  “Hist, now. Here come the big ones.” Gwin whisked out of sight into the depths of Aisling’s coat.

  “Here you go, princess.” Dad handed her a takeaway container with a goodly portion of pie on it. A fish’s dead eye stared up at her.

  “Thanks,” she managed to say weakly.

  Colt was holding his own plate gingerly and making no effort to sink his plastic fork into it. Anna was chewing carefully while Sarie and Emily dug into theirs enthusiastically. Coll, Gort, and Aisling were making good head way on their pieces. She noticed Ash sneaking bits into the front of her coat and Gwin’s thin fingers snatching the crumbs. She caught her eye and giggled. Sarie glanced at Aisling and smiled. Laurel was sure Sarie knew exactly what was going on. Laurel decided she might as well cowboy up and try the pie. It wasn’t likely she’d ever get another chance. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as bad as she feared. If she just avoided looking the fish head in the eye and concentrated on the potatoes and egg it was actually pretty good. She grinned at Dad and silently challenged him to take a forkful. He grinned back and grimaced as he took a big bite. She giggled at the look on his face when the fish head in his piece fell against the side of the container.

  Someone started singing the Tom Bawcock song she’d heard in Sarie’s kitchen. She remembered some of the chorus and joined in. There was a lot of good hearted jostling and dancing in the middle of the crowd. Anna took Colt’s hand and dragged him out into the heart of it. Emily wandered off to see if Elvira needed help in the kitchen as the pie was now being served in the restaurant as well as the bar of the Inn.

  Gwin popped back out the moment they left. “As I was saying,” he wiped some crumbs from his upper lip and smoothed the lapels of his tattered jacket, “The Kernow craytures called foul, but the Grand Council was having none of it. They went into a conclave and it took ever so long for them to conclude it. Bella was clinging to the selkie so tight if they’d wanted to separate them someone would have had to cut off her arm. The selkie he had his arm around her, daring any of the Council of Kernow to come near her. Oh, it was a grand sight, so it was.”

  “What happened? What did they decide?” Laurel couldn’t contain herself any longer.

  “Patience is a virtue, Mistress Laurel,” Gwin chided her. “I’m coming to that, so I am. The Grand Council came back and they conferred with the Council of Alba and then met with the Council of Kernow for a bit. There were a lot of raised voices and shouting but it availed them nothing. Once the Grand Council has decided, nothing will sway them. The Kernow members had to stay and hear the decision whether they liked it or no. A lot of hissing and mumbling there was too. Then the Council Chief called Vear Du and Bella to come forward and hear the verdict. So they did, and they stood there bravely, so they did. The decision came down in Vear Du’s favour, but there were some conditions attached to it. Vear pulled the Chief aside and they nattered for the longest time. Bella was fair beside herself standing there all alone with the Kernow contingent hissing at her. Then Morgawr went to her side and I did, too.” He straightened his hat and pulled on his lapels. “Then the selkie came back and swung Bella around and around, laughing and kissing her. I came here to bring you the news straight away, so I did,” he finished proudly.

  “Where is Gramma Bella?” Laurel demanded. “Daddy’s here and she should come and see him. I know I can make them see reason and make up. I just know it. But I have to get them together first.” She smacked her fist on her thigh in frustration.

  “Patience,” Gwin reminded her. He stood on tiptoe balancing himself with a hand on Aisling’s shoulder. “There,” he pointed a long twiggy finger, “they come!”

  Laurel whipped her head around so fast she fell off the piling. “Where is she?”

  “I see a man who looks like Vear, but I can’t see your gramma,” Aisling reported.

  “You’ll see, oh you’ll see, so you will,” Gwin said.

  The crowd swirled around and in a gap in the revelers Laurel glimpsed Vear Du with his arm around a woman with her back to Laurel. “Gramma Bella,” she cried, starting to push through the crowd. “Gramma Bella!”

  The crowd buffeted her from her course, but finally she reached the couple. “Gramma Bella,” she threw her arms around the woman. “I’m so happy you’re here!”

  “Laurel, my pet,” Bella turned and hugged her. “Gwin Scawen said you’d be here. I need to talk to you about something important.”

  “Hello, Laurel,” Vear’s voice was rich and deep, just like she remembered it. She hugged him too, inhaling the scent of tobacco overlaid with a faint odour of fish.

  “Gwin said the council ruled in your favour, so you won. You can see Gramma whenever you want.” Laurel let him go but kept an arm around him and one around Bella. “Daddy’s here.” She looked up at Bella. Her grandmother’s face paled.

  “He’s here? With Anna?” she whispered.

  Vear tipped his head down. “Colton is here? My son is here?” The selkie’s voice broke on the last word.

  “Yes, yes. Dad and Mom are both here. C’mon, we have to find them.” She began to tow them along behind her as she bulldozed her way through the crowd.

  “Laurel,” Bella made her stop. “Don’t get your hopes up. Your father may not want to see me at all. It’s been a long time.”

  “Too long, if you ask me,” Laurel insisted. “Look, there they are. Daddy!”

  The tall man in the cowboy hat turned at the sound of her voice and started toward her, his large frame making a path for the blonde woman who followed behind. His pace slowed as he neared her and saw the couple standing with her.

  “Daddy, look who’s here.” Laurel danced on her toes. “I found Gramma Bella.” She thought it might be too soon to tell him who else was there.

  “Mother,” he tipped his head.

  “Colton, I’ve missed you,” Bella’s voice broke and tears stood in her eyes. “I should have told you the truth right from the start, I should…”
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br />   “Daddy,” Laurel scolded him, “she’s your mom. You always say you shouldn’t hold a grudge, least that’s what you always tell me when I get mad.” She stamped her foot.

  Anna pushed past her husband and gathered Bella in her arms. She hugged her mother-in-law and her daughter, and looked at her husband with a challenge in her eyes.

  “I never stopped loving you, Colt,” Bella said.

  Vear stepped forward before Laurel could stop him. “I think it is me you should be angry with and not your mother,” he began.

  “Who are you?” Colt looked the man who equaled his height directly in the eye. “This is family business.”

  “Family, yes. Well, you’ve got that part right. It was my moment of indiscretion that set all this in motion. I’m your father.”

  Laurel hid her face in her mother’s shirt. This was all wrong. Dad and Gramma hadn’t had a chance to make up yet, and now Dad was gonna go ballistic. Her mother’s arm tightened around her.

  “What kind of horseshit is this?” Colt demanded. “You’re not old enough to be my father. You’re younger than I am for God’s sake.”

  “So it may appear. But I am and truly your sire. See the way your hair grows in a huge cowlick over your forehead. And you have a birthmark on your left hip that is shaped like a great seal. You carry my blood whether you like it or no. If you wish to mad at someone, be angry with me. I should have known better, I did know better. But I loved your mother, she wasn’t more than a child herself, and in danger of being shackled to a miserable excuse for a mortal. I love her still, I have never stopped.”

  Laurel peeked at her father. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Anna stepped toward Vear Du and offered her hand. “I’m Laurel’s mother and Colton’s wife so I suppose that makes you my father-in-law.” She smiled and the selkie hugged her, keeping a wary eye on his son as he did so.

  Anna released him and took Laurel’s hand. “I think we should let your father and his parents have some time alone to come to terms with this. Let’s go find your friends.”