Page 31 of The Midnight Secret

Donald handed him a dram and they toasted good health, knocking back the amber nectar and letting it burn their throats. Mhairi had made a stew with plenty to go around and she pulled it out of the oven to stir, the aroma filling their small home. And it was a home. They hadn’t much – not much more than they’d had in St Kilda – but there was heart here, comfort and quiet joys. She spent her evenings embroidering and stitching curtains and cushions from old pieces of laundry she rescued that had been tossed into the hotel bins. She saw David’s eyes fall to the open doorway of the bedroom, catching a glimpse of their non-marital bed: clean sheets, but not clean enough without a wedding ring.

‘How’s the job at the Forestry going?’ Donald asked, seeing the same.

David drew his attention back. ‘Well enough. Da’s making a good recovery from his accident.’

‘I was sorry to hear of it. That sounded bad,’ Donald frowned.

‘Aye, it was a close call. He was lucky. There were lots of ways it could have been worse. We had a good surgeon in the end.’

‘Thanks to Flora,’ Mhairi piped up, closing the oven door.

‘Aye. There were unexpected blessings for sure.’ He looked at Mhairi. ‘Have you heard from her?’

Mhairi shook her head. ‘Not for weeks. It’s my fault – we’ve been so busy these past few months. I’ve not had the energy in the evenings to sit down and write.’

‘Mhairi’s got a job in the laundry at the Regent Hotel,’ Donald said. ‘And I’m working in the fish market now.’

‘Oh,’ David nodded politely.

‘It’s not much,’ Donald mumbled. ‘But we’re getting by.’

‘Well, this is...’ David motioned awkwardly to the small apartment. ‘It’s a wonderful home.’

Mhairi heard the nerves in the silence that followed. ‘Well, it’s not the Paris Ritz, that’s for sure,’ she joked. ‘I think that’s where Flora was staying, wasn’t it?’

Donald nodded, although he could no more imagine the Paris Ritz than Buckingham Palace.

‘It’s going to make her rich, that show,’ David smiled. ‘Who’d have thought it? My sister, a star.’

‘Oh, I think we all knew that would happen, one way or another,’ Mhairi smiled. ‘Flora was never destined for a small life.’

They could all, at least, agree on that.

‘So what’s the news back home?’ Donald asked. Mhairi thought how strange it was that ‘home’ now meant Lochaline instead of Village Bay.

There was a hesitation. ‘Most are settling well. Your brothers are doing well in their jobs,’ David said, looking at Mhairi. ‘Angus is walking out with a lass called Bonnie from the village, the fishmonger’s daughter. He seems fair smitten.’

‘Surely not? I didn’t know Angus had feelings!’ she joked, but feeling a pang of sadness that she was missing out on seeing her brother’s happiness. He’d always been a restless spirit back on the isle. ‘Anyone for Fin?’

‘Not yet, that I’m aware. He seems more interested in four wheels than two legs. Most evenings after work he goes down to the mechanic’s and learns about oil changes and how to fit a new wheel. I think he’d prefer a job doing that than at the Forestry.’

‘He was always clever,’ she murmured. ‘He needed more than climbing cliffs and catching birds.’

David grinned. ‘And you’d be shocked at how big wee Rory is now. He’s crawling about so fast, your ma can scarcely catch him!’

Mhairi bit her lip, holding back her emotions. It had always fallen to her to look after the younger ones, to help her mother with the washing and cooking. ‘...And how about Da?’ she asked after a moment. She knew her father had struggled with his loss of position in their community after the evacuation. As the postmaster he’d had an important and central role in St Kildan life, but now he was just the same as everyone else.

‘Och, well...quiet. You know how he is. Never exactly a big talker.’

‘No,’ she agreed, wondering if she was the real cause of his melancholy.

‘He comes over most evenings to sit with my da, and they talk about the old days.’

They all felt the finality of that term. Their entire lives upto three months ago had been boxed away, guillotined away from the lives they were inhabiting now.

‘And Old Fin? I was worried about him all alone, being set so far up the lane.’

‘He’s not alone,’ David smiled. ‘Jayne checks in on him every morning on her way to the factory. She’s got a bike now, so she goes back at lunch to eat with him and then checks in again on her way past. He listens to the wireless in the meantime.’

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