by Tanya Allan
“Wow, quite a roll-call. Are both your folks still alive?”
“Yup, still going strong, living in the same farm house that Dad was born in.”
“How big is the farm?”
“I am not sure exactly. I think it is a couple of thousand acres. But much of it is moor and hills and we have the sheep on that part. I just remember when I was a girl that I used to get rides across the hills on the back of one of my brother’s motorcycles. So when I was old enough, I would ride them myself,” she said, smiling.
“You sound to have been a bit of a tomboy,” I observed, and she laughed.
“Oh more than a bit, but that’s another story,” she said.
“Where about in Scotland is it?”
“Do you know Scotland?”
“No, I must confess I don’t,” I admitted.
“Then we are about in the middle somewhere,” she said, with a grin. “We are in the county of Perthshire, between a place called Pitlochry and Kirkmichael. It is a long way from civilisation, thank God!”
I went to my bureau, dug out an atlas and found Scotland. She pointed to the part she referred to, but it meant little to me.
“You will see it soon enough. I hope you will like it.”
“I am sure I will,” I said.
Ed joined us, his clothes were dry now, and he had another beer in his hand.
He took Gillian’s hand, yet still they said nothing to each other, but the looks they exchanged were worth a thousand words. Once more, I felt that they didn’t need to speak, for some obscure reason.
Eventually, they thanked me for the evening and said goodnight, promising to call me with the details of the wedding. They walked down the path, arm in arm, and it made me feel good to see them. I was just sad that Carol wasn’t there to share the moment.
* * *
Ed
Gigi was quiet on the way back to my quarters, we had been mind-speaking all evening, which was fun. She has a wicked sense of humour, and I still can’t quite believe my fortune to have met her.
We sat on the porch and enjoyed a bit of peace and quiet after the hectic party. I was pleased that Rick had agreed to be my best man, it meant a lot to me.
“Ed?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you get any of your old feelings anymore?” she asked.
“Nope, not so far. Do you?”
She shook her head.
“Do you miss them?” I asked.
She smiled and shook her head again.
“I miss them not being there, but not in the sense that I want them at all. Not that I ever did, but I think you know what I mean. Do you?”
I thought for a moment. It was strange, as they had once been almost like old friends, these feelings. But when it came down to it, they weren’t friends anymore.
“No, I’m glad they’ve gone,” I said. “Sometimes I don’t quite believe that they have. It’s like I half expect them to be lurking there, hiding.”
“When I first came round, because of what had been done, I thought I was you,” she said.
“Yeah, me too.”
“I didn’t mind, but this is better.”
“We got the best of both worlds now. We are about as close as two people could ever be, and then some,” I said.
“Don’t leave me, ever,” she said. I pulled her close to me.
“I won’t, as a far as I can.”
I held her for a while, as she rested her head against me.
“What are we going to do tomorrow?” she asked.
“Well, once I get my uniform sorted, we could make for the airport, I guess. I don’t take up my new post for four weeks, so we have time to get married and have a honeymoon.”
“Where shall we go?”
“To be honest, I don’t give a damn. I have been with you in paradise, so anywhere is good for me, as long as you’re with me,” I said.
She laughed. “You really are a soppy bastard.”
“Well, the island was fantastic, so does it matter?” I said.
“We could just tour Scotland. I could show you my home, before I leave it to make a home with you.”
“That would be good.”
“Besides, the grouse season starts on the 12th of August, so we will be there for that.”
“The grouse season?”
“You do know what a grouse is?”
“Yeah, some dumb bastard who complains a lot,” I said, and she laughed.
“The grouse is a bird, a wee bit bigger than a partridge that lives on the moors and is very nice to eat. The season is short, to allow them to breed, so then we get to freeze them for the year. All the farmers and local gentry go out and shoot them. It can be very expensive if you take a large moor for a couple of weeks.
“Our farm has a few hundred acres of moor, so the shooting is quite good. When I was a girl, I used to go out with the beaters, to earn some holiday cash.”
“Beaters?”
“Aye, the guns would be in the butts, ..”
“Butts?”
“Butts are where the guns stand. A man with a gun is called a gun, and he stands in a butt, which is either a small circle of stones, or a small heather and wood screen that he can keep behind so the grouse don’t see him. They stretch down the hill, about twenty yards to forty apart, depending on the length of the slope. Then the line of beaters would start about a mile or so away, and drive the birds towards the guns.”
“So the guys with guns just stand there, and shoot, no walking or anything?” I asked.
“That’s right, but they have to walk up to the butts and they change round for each drive, so as to have a different position on the hillside each time.”
“Sounds like an easy life. Don’t the beaters get shot?” I asked, and she smiled.
“Sometimes, if the guns don’t do what they are told. The keeper should blow a whistle, so after that no shots should go forward, just behind for the birds flying past.”
“I can’t say I’ve ever been into killing things for the hell of it,” I said.
“We used to spend days walking up the grouse,” she said.
“What’s that, walking up behind them and shouting, ‘Boo!’?” I said, teasing her.
She laughed, “Almost. You get a line of people with guns, and you spread out and walk a hillside or piece of moor, and shoot anything that is put up. It is good exercise and you don’t shoot more than you can eat or freeze.”
“That is more my line, I have been hunting a few times up in Colorado. They even give horses Kevlar blankets up there,” I said, and she laughed again.
“At least the Scots know the difference between a grouse and a horse.”
“I’d like to see your country, so let’s do that. Just tour about and see a bit of Scotland.”
“I have to go to Edinburgh and give in my resignation. Then I must put my flat on the market or list it to rent. Oh, and I suppose I will have to sell my Kawasaki,” she said.
“You can always get another in the States.”
“Good, I will,” she said, and grinned. “I like my bikes.”
“The new Gilly will cause a bit of a stir back home then?”
“I hadn’t thought about it, but I guess she will,” she said, smiling at the thought. “My nickname was the Ice Maiden at college.”
“You’ve come a long way in a real short time,” I told her.
“I know, and I wouldn’t go back. I just feel so sorry for all the poor sods who are still as screwed up as we were.”
“I know. I realised when I decided to follow the path that I did, that someday there would come a time of decision. I am just so grateful for what happened.”
“What would you have done, had we not met and gone to the island?” she asked.
I shrugged. It was a question I could not answer. I dreaded to think of what I would have done.
“I really don’t know, babe. The Time Corps were simply putting off the inevitable, which in a way made it worse.”
&nbs
p; “How so?”
“Well, being able to live a full and active life as a normal female was great, but then I’d come back to being me again. After the first trip, they offered me some time out. I couldn’t get back into it again.”
“As a woman?”
“Sure. So, now I am just so glad the burden has been taken away. How about you?”
“I think I would have just got on with life as I was, and been a lonely and miserable cow,” she said.
“But, hey, it’s not our problem anymore. We have each other, and we’re free of the whole thing!”
She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed.
“Mmm, I know, and I am so happy,” she said.
We went in and went to bed. She was so affectionate and loving, I almost cried. I felt I didn’t deserve her.
The next morning she was already up and dressed by the time I awoke at 07:00. I was pleased, as I was a morning person too. She was dressed in a stunning pair of shorts and a yellow vest. She had some training shoes on. She looked real good.
“Come on lazy bones, let’s run,” she said.
I slung on my combat pants, boots and black tee shirt. She handed me a glass of OJ and we were off out the door. We ran through the base, and more than a few heads turned as we passed, but none to look at me. We left the base, running through the local community for a while. I was pleased that my knee seemed great, as there wasn’t even the slightest twinge.
We did a circuit of the road system, heading back to the Fort. The guards waved as we re-entered. I showed her round the base, so we stopped at the gym for a while, and did some stretching and push ups. She matched me to one hundred and twenty this time, and then laughed and gave up. She was one tough girl.
We jogged back to my quarters, and she received several whistles from some of the guys. She just grinned.
“I never got that before. It is quite nice,” she said. I just shook my head and chuckled.
“Would you have liked it?” I asked.
“Probably not. It is like starting again,” she said, smiling broadly.
“Well, you do look great, and I feel real proud of you,” I said, so she blew a kiss at me.
We got back and showered together. She was very tactile and loving, I wished that she was not having her period, but she did things to me with her mouth that blew me away, literally!
I went down to stores and sorted out my personal issue equipment and uniform. My transfer was official, so I sent most it on to Parris Island. My dress uniform I kept with me, with my new rank insignia. I intended to get married in it, as I had the last time. But I was entering this marriage with a whole new attitude.
Gilly was on the phone to her Mom, to find that she had booked a church and a marquee for the reception. She had already started sending out invitations. We had a date now, the 14th August. I called the Colonel to let him know. He told me he would try to get there for the 11th, so as to have a couple of days before the event.
Our business in America complete, we got a lift to the airport. Macey arranged to have my car taken to Parris Island for me, so it would be there when we returned. The booking clerk took one look at me, and realised that a standard seat was not an option for an eight hour flight. Gillian flashed her eyes and persuaded him we were suitable for an upgrade and, hey presto, we got into business class!
I have flown in all kinds of aircraft, some should never have taken off, and others nearly didn’t. But I really hate modern airliners, with the canned air, canned food, tiny TVs and radio, and plastic cabin crew. This time, in a big comfortable seat, with the most beautiful girl in the world beside me, I knew what it meant to be at peace.
She was excited at the prospect of going home, as she was very fond of her parents and her brothers. However, I sensed she was dying to show me off, and wanted to see her mother’s reaction to the new, improved, Gillian MacLeish.
We landed at Heathrow at about seven in the morning local time. I had lost six or so hours somewhere, but I had done that through excess beer several times.
We had to change terminals at Heathrow, to catch the shuttle to Edinburgh from a different terminal at eight thirty.
Forty-five minutes later, we started to descend over Edinburgh, and I began to see a little of her homeland.
“Are we going to rent a car, or what?” she thought to me.
“What choices do we have?”
“We go by bike, which is impractical. We rent a car, or we get a taxi, but I think it will be too expensive.”
“If we are going to see Scotland, and I’ve heard it rains a lot over here, then let’s get ourselves a rental car.” I thought to her.
“Okay.”
“Hey hon?”
“Mmm?”
“Let’s get a good one, none of these little cars, okay?” I said.
She just laughed.
In the event, it was a wasted conversation, because as we walked out with our bags, there was an enormous shout.
“GILLIAN!”
A very tall army officer approached, I wasn’t into British ranks, but he had a crown on an epaulette that was attached to the front of his combats. I knew her brother, William, was a Major, so I guessed this was he. He had a Scottish beret style, a Tammy, Gilly told me. It had a red plume behind the ornate badge. He looked every inch a soldier, and I liked what I saw. No spare weight, lean and hard, he was my height, but a shade less weight, but his eyes had a twinkle. This man had a sense of humour, and if he was Gilly’s brother, he would be okay.
“Will!” she shrieked, running towards him and leaping into his embrace. She was wearing one of her new skirts and pretty tops, and even after nearly fifteen hours travelling, she still looked gorgeous.
Will held her at arms-length and stared.
“Bloody hell, Gilly, what has happened to you?” he said, surprise oozing from every gesture and expression.
“This has happened to me. Will, meet my husband to be, this is Ed Ryan. Ed, my love, this is Will, my brother,” she said.
Will looked at me, and we quickly got each other’s measure. He smiled, holding out his hand.
“Anyone who could have tamed my sister deserves her. How are you, Ed? Oh, and many congratulations”
I shook his hand, it was firm and dry, no excessive pressure; here was a man with nothing to prove.
“I’m good, thanks, Will. I’m afraid that I had to resist the urge to salute.”
“I am glad you did. Here, Gilly, give me your bags.”
He took his sister’s bags, and we left the terminal. We walked over to an army Land Rover and he threw the bags in the back.
“Three seats up front, with Gilly in the middle we’ll be fine,” he said, so we jumped in.
I had seen this type of vehicle a lot, particularly in Africa, it was the Brit’s equivalent to the Jeep, and I was impressed. Basic, but very functional; it was soon taking us out from the airport.
“Where do you want to go?” he asked. He had a similar accent to his sister. Not so much an accent, more a way of speaking.
“I must hand in my resignation to the university, and clear out my lodgings, but we can do that anytime. But I do need to collect my bike,” she said.
“Well, I am prepared to give you a lift all the way home. If you want, you can get the bike, so we will make our own way,” he suggested.
‘Do you mind being without me for a while?’
‘We can never be without each other as long as we have this gift.’
‘Mmm. I love you, and want you to do things to me. Nice squelchy things!’
‘Gigi, stop it!’
“Okay, I know Ed won’t mind,” she said.
He drove us into Edinburgh, and I was surprised at the age of the place. Much of the city was very old, and she showed Will where to park. We followed her up to her lodgings, where she picked up a few things. We carried a couple of cases to the Land Rover, and she appeared in her leather jacket and pants, carrying her black helmet. She put the clothes she had been w
earing into her pannier, together with her shoulder bag. A few people were about, mainly members of the faculty, and they stared in surprise at her. She looked stunning, so I felt something rise in my pants. I recalled what she had looked like when she used to wear no makeup, and could immediately see the difference.
“Hold that, I won’t be long,” she said, giving me the helmet, and disappearing across the courtyard.
Will smiled at me. “I don’t know what you’ve done to her, but I’ve never ever seen her looking like this,” he said.
“We shared a remarkable experience, and all I can say it changed both our lives.”
“When I heard that she was getting married, I thought, no, not Gilly, she will never get married. But when I saw her in the airport, I saw she has changed beyond all recognition. This experience, what was it exactly?”
“It is hard to say, really. I’d been carrying an injured knee for a long time. I was further injured during a hurricane, so the local witch doctor conducted a sort of ceremony with Gilly and I. The British doctor who came with us was observing. My knee was healed, and Gilly and I just sort of melded into soul mates or something. Look, Will, I’m a Marine, I am not a highly educated man, but I don’t understand what we went through. Gilly and I were lovers before the ceremony, but our feelings grew a hundred fold afterwards. We both grew so close together, that life without the other would have been unthinkable. We love each other, and we will grow old together, God willing.”
“Well, I’ve known my sister a long time, and that girl there is as far from the sister I knew as I could imagine,” he said. “The girl I grew up with was more a boy than a girl. I’ve never before seen her wearing a skirt, ever since she left school. This is the first time I have ever seen her wear makeup and earrings. I tell you Ed, if I didn’t know better, I would say she was a different person entirely.”
“Hell, Will, I have only known her for six weeks, and she is the only I girl I want to know. When I first met her she was a little butch, but over the weeks, I have seen a change, and ever since that little ceremony, you see the Gillian that she is today.”
