Page 9 of Rose
What did she have to lose?
Nothing was ever going to happen to her if she remained in her little hut on Colonsay.
She had the skill and sensibility to sail and travel.
Why stay grounded, when she wanted to fly?
Her brothers had all known adventure. Now, it was her turn.
She gathered a satchel together with a change of tunic, the coin she had saved from fishing, and some bannock and dried meat. Then she scribbled out a letter on a scrap of parchment—"I’ve set off to explore the surrounding isles. I promise I will take great care.”
With a lightness in her step that she had not known for years, she scampered down the shore to the beach. After placing her satchel in the flat bottom of her sailing skiff, she untied the rope from the mooring and climbed inside. Then, with neither hesitation nor fear, she pushed against the pier and began to drift away.
Still too close to shore to catch the wind, she reached for the oars and secured them in their locks before she started to row. Outlined against the dark horizon were her family’s small huts, each with candles still burning. She thought of Jack and Bella and imagined that they nestled together in their own bed, surrounded by Jack’s adopted lassies and their own sweet daughter. Her gaze shifted to Quinn and Catarina’s hut. She envisioned them sitting together by the fire while young Nicholas and his wee sister slept nearby. Rory and Alex, she decided, were singing a song to their wee son while Alec and Joanie lay together in the next hut, dreaming of what it would be like to have a child of their own.
Rose’s heart brimmed full of joy for her brothers, and she gazed lovingly at her island home. “I will return,” she promised.
