Page 44 of Coming Home to Winter Island
‘Um...thank you so much for our visit,’ I say to Flora. ‘We need to get the ferry. We’ll be in touch soon.’
I run to the French doors.
‘Lachlan! We have to go!’
‘Why, what’s up?’
‘It’s Hector! He’s remembered...The pine! He used pine for the gin,’ I say, beaming.
‘What?’
‘It was the music...he responds to music.’
Lachlan beams. ‘You beauty!’ he says, and he picks me up and hugs me, much to my shock and surprise.
‘Ah, young love,’ says the old woman in the garden.
‘Oh, we’re not...’ I point between us. She just smiles dreamily. I remember what Lachlan said about going with the moment, wherever it might be. What does it matter if she thinks we’re together? It’s making her happy, and we could all do with a bit of happiness in our lives.
‘Right, let’s get back,’ Lachlan says. ‘We’ve got a pine forest to visit.’ He bids goodbye to his two garden companions and promises to come back soon.
‘Looks like that music malarkey of yours has some use after all,’ he tells me as we head back towards the ferry, all of us, by the looks of it, happier than when we left a few hours ago.
Chapter Twenty-three
‘Good trip?’ asks Isla as the ferry heads home – or should I say back to the island.
‘Very good!’ I tell her.
‘Good.’ She nods a lot, but her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes.
Lachlan keeps his distance from her, and I can’t help but think there’s some kind of problem here. I wonder if he’s spoken to her yet about the bottles.
‘So, you’re staying on the island?’ she says, as if cutting to the chase of what’s on her mind.
‘Oh no.’ I shake my head, wondering why I get the feeling she wants me gone. Suddenly I begin to suspect there’s something going on between her and Lachlan, and I quickly glance at Gordan, who seems to be also watching us.
‘So, not staying,’ she says, nodding again.
‘No, just here until...Candlemas,’ I say, thinking on my feet but once again with no idea of how I’m going to break it to Joe. ‘To help with the business,’ I add. ‘I’m here to help with the gin business,’ I repeat, as if trying to make it right in my own head.
‘Oh, so you and Lachlan aren’t together?’ She seems almost relieved, which concerns me even more. Is this what keeps Lachlan here? Are he and Isla having an affair? I glance back at where he is standing looking out towards the island. Are they cheating on Gordan?
The wind stings my face, and I’m not sure if it’s that that hurts me more, or the fact that once again, Lachlan is not the man I thought he was.
Chapter Twenty-four
‘I can drop you off at the house if you like,’ Lachlan says as we drive off the ferry. I emerge from my musings about him and Isla and realise I’m enjoying the familiarity of being back on the island. He’s watching me in the rear-view mirror and seems to understand that I have things on my mind. ‘I want to see if Hector can remember where they foraged for the pine, although I have a fairly good idea.’
‘The what?’ says Hector from the passenger seat.
‘The pine you use in the gin, Hector,’ I say over the rattle and shake of the old red Land Rover.
‘Pine,’ he repeats, the memory seeming to evaporate in front of our eyes.
‘Yes, you remember, Hector.’ Lachlan is looking from Hector to the road and back again as we swing and sway our way up the single track around the island. ‘The pine in the gin. Teach Mhor gin!’ Even he is getting frustrated now.
The sun is low in the sky, casting a bright light over the island as we drive up through the village. To the right is the water’s edge, with white horses riding the little waves, and to the left, the distant mountains. Suddenly the herd of deer are running almost parallel with the Land Rover over the rolling moorland, as if welcoming us home, glad that the travellers are back in the fold, making me feel I can breathe again after the claustrophobic heat of the nursing home.
