Time Shall Reap
Page 36
‘You’d every right to be angry and bitter, I don’t hold that against you, but I can’t leave Edinburgh till I’ve sold the shop and ... there’s Meg, too.’
‘Laura told me how good she had been to you.’
‘I can’t go off and leave her just like that. She’s going blind, and she’ll soon not be able to manage by herself.’ ‘We could take her to live with us. We’d have room.’ ‘But she’s John Forrest’s mother, remember?’
‘That wouldn’t bother me.’
Elspeth sighed. ‘You think that now, but having her there all the time, and the clock ...’
‘Maybe you won’t believe this, Elspeth, but I love the clock now. It’s like a friend waiting to greet me when I come home at nights. I polish it every week, and John Forrest’s initials made me realize that he was only another man who had loved you as much as I love you. I’m changed, my dear, and having his mother there wouldn’t make a whit of difference to me.’
At that moment, Meg herself came bustling in. ‘There’s a young couple sitting outside in a car... I wonder what they’re up to? ... I didna bide long wi’ Phemmy, for ...’ Coming to an abrupt halt, she peered at David. ‘I’m sorry, Elspeth, I didna realize you’d a visitor.’
‘Meet David, Meg.’
The old lady’s face broke into a smile. ‘So everything’s all right now, I suppose?’
Elspeth turned to David again. ‘Is it John and his wife in the car?’ When he nodded, she said, ‘Go down and bring them up.’
As soon as he went out, Meg said, ‘I didna bide wi’ Phemmy because ... I was telling her about you and David, and she wondered if it was me that was keeping you here.’
‘It wasn’t you, though I didn’t really like the idea of leaving you on your own.’
‘But I’ll not be on my own,’ Meg said, looking a little smug. ‘Phemmy said I should sell up and move in wi’ her.’
‘Would you not mind selling the house?’
‘Not a bit, and Phemmy and me have always got on well. When I go to see Mr Lindsay, I could tell him to sell your shop, and all.’
‘I believe Jane Farquharson might buy it. She used to be a tailoress at one time, and she’s often helped me out if I was busy. She did once say she envied me the shop, so she’d likely jump at the chance ...’
‘Well then, that’s everything arranged.’
Smiling, Elspeth said, ‘Meg, do you not realize who it is that David’ll be taking in?’
‘Aye, the young couple in the ... oh!’ As comprehension dawned, the old lady’s hand jumped to her heart. ‘It’s never ...? You said John, but it didna click.’
When the door opened again, Elspeth said, ‘David, I think I know a buyer for the shop, but I’ll have to go and ask her. Will you come with me?’
Leaving Meg alone with her grandson and his wife, they went to see Jane Farquharson, who did jump at the chance of buying the shop, and walking back, Elspeth said bliss-fully, ‘That’s it all settled now.’
David gripped her arm more tightly. ‘What about Meg?’
‘She’s going to move in with Mrs Milne, down the stairs.’
‘So you’ll come home with me?’
‘If there’s room in John’s car,’ she joked.
‘I would make sure there was room, supposing I’d to make Agnes get out and walk, but John hasn’t enough petrol to make another journey to Aberdeen and back to Leuchars. We’ll have to take a train. There’s one just after six.’
‘That’s good. It’ll give me time to pack.’
Meg was also glad that they were not to be leaving right away. ‘You’ll all have time for something to eat. There’s not a lot of mutton, but the veggies will eke it out.’
Leaving Agnes to help the old lady to prepare the meal, and John and David to talk, Elspeth went through to her room, and as she folded her clothes and put them in her suitcase, her mind was on other things. She had no feelings for John Forrest now, just a sadness that he had died so young. It was David who meant everything to her ... had always meant everything to her, although she had once thought that her love for him was not deep enough. Their future would be much better than their past, for there were no secrets left to come out. It was strange, though, she reflected, how two grandfather clocks had figured so largely in her life. The one that she had grown up loving had made it possible for her to buy her shop – the shop that had kept her sane at a time she might have become deranged altogether – and its twin, apart from the different initials, had been the means of David finally coming to terms with her first love, despite his previous hatred of it.
Her father had often said, ‘Time shall reap’, meaning that people would be punished for the wicked things they did, and she had certainly been punished, over and over, for all the wicked things she had done when she was younger, but she had survived everything that God or the Devil had sent. The slate was wiped clean, and she could begin afresh. Giving a satisfied grunt, she laid the last item into her case and closed the lid, having to press her full weight on it before she could get the catch to engage.
At half past five, John offered to drive them to Waverley Station, and David, knowing that parting from Meg would be a wrench for his wife, said that they would wait in the car for her. She held out her hand to the old lady as soon as the others went out. ‘This is goodbye, then, Meg, but I’ll always be grateful for what you did for me.’
Sniffling, the old lady ignored the hand and hugged her old friend. ‘And I’ll always be grateful to you for giving me a grandson. They said they’d come and see me sometimes, for Leuchars is just up the road a bit ... oh, Elspeth, I can see my John in him.’ She stopped with a sob, then said, ‘I’m going to miss you.’
‘I’m going to miss you, and all.’ Elspeth could feel the tears welling up as they clung to each other. ‘I’ll write to you, and I’ll come back some time wi’ David, to see how you’re getting on wi’ Phemmy.’
‘I’ll be pleased to see you any time. You’d better hurry though, and not keep the folk waiting. God bless you, lass.’
‘God bless you, Meg.’ Kissing the wrinkled cheek, Elspeth hurried out, but as she went downstairs she shed her sadness like a snake sloughs its skin. What had she to be sad about, after all? She was going to be with her husband again, Meg would be in good hands and Phemmy wouldn’t let her mope, Laura would be married soon, and although her mother would rather it was to a Scotsman – even an Englishman or a Welshman – the Norwegian was the girl’s choice, and no one could interfere.
John was waiting at the outside door to put her case in the boot of his car, and in another seven minutes he was pulling up at the station. ‘It won’t be long till we see you again,’ he remarked cheerfully, ‘as soon as I get my next month’s ration of petrol.’
David gripped his hand for a moment. ‘Thanks for taking me to Edinburgh. It meant an awful lot to me, for I don’t know if I’d have had the courage to come on my own.’ Picking up the case, he made to walk away, but Elspeth slipped her arm through his as the car moved off.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ she murmured. ‘Would you mind if I gave the grandfather clock to John?’
He seemed surprised. ‘I don’t mind, if that’s what you want to do, but I can assure you I’m not jeal ...’
‘I know, but I still think it would be best. It would be something of his father’s for him to keep ... to let him see that ...’ She broke off, looking at him apprehensively, then went on with what she had been about to say, ‘... to let him see that he was conceived in love, not lust.’
He squeezed her hand. ‘I do understand that, and I’d think he’d be proud to have it, as long as you’re sure?’
‘I never really wanted it ... it was Meg who made me take it, if you remember? All I want now is to be with you, and there’ll just be the two of us when Laura goes to Norway. Maybe we could go to see her sometimes, though? Once the sale of the shop’s all settled, we’ll have plenty money. Oh, David, I can hardly believe I’m really going home again.’
‘We’ll never be too old for that,’ he smiled, kissing her again to the accompaniment of wild applause and shouts of ‘Encore! Encore!’