Page 10 of Edinburgh Escape
“I would think working with small children every day would make you not want to have any of your own.” Callum cocked an eyebrow.
“My mother and I had such a close relationship. We were more than mother and daughter. We were best friends.” Her voice softened. “I miss her every day. I want that kind of relationship with a daughter or son. Only I’d have more than one. I was an only child. I would have loved having a sibling to hang with or lean on during tough times.”
“Like losing your mother?” Callum asked quietly.
Maggie’s vision blurred. She blinked several times before nodding. “Yes. Thankfully, I have some amazing friends who were there for me.” She pasted a smile on her face and stared across the table at Callum. “What about you? I didn’t even think to ask if you’re married and have children. Are you? Do you?”
He laughed and shook his head. “No, on both counts.”
“Never married?”
Again, he shook his head. “Didn’t think it would be fair to marry some poor girl and then leave her alone for three hundred and sixty days a year. Other guys tried and ended in divorce and hard feelings. Some had kids split between them. I don’t wish that for any child.”
“Do you have brothers or sisters?” Maggie asked.
Callum nodded and glanced away. “I had a brother.”
Maggie’s heart squeezed hard in her chest. “Had?”
“Richard and I were as close as brothers could be. We raised enough hell in our town, we had quite the reputation. We got into quite a few scrapes, but we always looked out for each other.” He drew in a deep breath, his gaze shifting to an empty corner of the pub.
“What happened to Richard?” Maggie asked and then held up a hand. “Don’t answer if it’s too personal or painful.”
His gaze returned to her. “It’s okay. It was a long time ago. He was a year younger than I. When I joined the British Army, he was still in school. I was so busy learning how to be a soldier and then training for Special Forces, I didn’t realize my little brother had fallen into a bad group of lads. He got into drugs and dropped out of school. When his girlfriend dropped him, he committed suicide by overdosing on the drugs he was taking.” Callum shook his head. “By the time I learned he was in a downward spiral, it was too late.”
“And you feel responsible,” Maggie said softly.
For a long moment, Callum stared at a corner of the room without speaking. Then his gaze returned to hers. “I should’ve checked on him. I should’ve been there for my brother.”
Maggie reached across the table and touched his hand. “You couldn’t have known what would happen.”
He stared at her hand covering his, though he seemed miles, or maybe years, away. “I could have, if I’d stayed in closer contact. A phone call, a conversation with my parents. Anything. But I did nothing. I was too wrapped up in my own world to worry about my brother.”
Maggie curled her fingers around Callum’s hand. “You couldn’t have known. And you can’t spend your life beating yourself up over your brother’s choices. More than likely, he wouldn’t have wanted you to do so.”
Callum nodded, straightened and glanced at his wristwatch. “We’d better get going if you want to see the Tower of London, the bridge and get to your station on time.”
Maggie didn’t push the issue of Callum’s brother and the fact he wasn’t to blame for Richard’s death. She might have felt the same. Instead, she pasted a smile on her face and strode out of the pub, determined to be cheerful and positive as they continued the tour Callum was surely regretting by now.
As they stood in line for tickets to see the Tower of London, Maggie asked Callum about his favorite sports team. They got into a discussion about American football versus European football. Callum explained the sports of rugby and cricket. By the time they got tickets to get inside the Tower, the afternoon was sliding into early evening and they had little time to spend inside, viewing the Crown Jewels, the Bloody Tower, known for torture and executions and the Green Tower where Anne Boleyn had been executed.
By the time they left, Maggie was ready for something lighter, not so heavy and depressing. Outside, with the sun low on the horizon, casting a lovely glow over London and the Tower Bridge, she breathed in a grateful lungful of air.
“That was depressing,” she commented.
Callum chuckled. “London is full of history, not all of which is in the least cheerful.”
“Hopefully, Scotland will be a little more uplifting,” Maggie murmured, once again nervous about meeting the family she’d never known existed.
Callum walked with Maggie across the bridge, stopping to enjoy the sunset and the reflection of light on the River Thames. When she asked, he gladly agreed to take a picture of her with the Thames behind her. She took a moment to send the photo via text to Sadie McClain. “It’s times like these that I wish I could send pictures to my mother. Although I’m not sure how she would’ve felt about them. Whenever I asked her if she’d like to go to Scotland and visit her old stomping grounds, she’d always shake her head. Why go so far when I have everything and everyone I need right here in Montana, she’d say.”
Maggie drew in a long breath and let it out slowly. “She was content to stay in Montana, and she did until her dying breath.”
“And you?” Callum leaned against the railing along the bridge. “Were you content to stay in Montana?”
“I was.” Maggie looked out over the Thames. “As long as my mother was still alive. I loved her so much.”
“And now?” he persisted.
