Page 61 of Coming Home to Winter Island
I stare at the number in astonishment, not believing it’s the same page we closed the computer lid on last night, thinking this was never going to happen, that we’d blown it.
I turn to Lachlan once again, tears in my eyes, but this time they are tears of joy at the happiness I seem to have shared by being happy myself. He looks at me, his face close to mine, and I study its now familiar lines and curves, a map of the journey life has taken him on, just like Hector’s well-worn and weathered face.
‘Do you still want me to take it down?’ he asks.
I shake my head. ‘No, leave it there. Thank you. It’s lovely. It’ll be a lovely memento of my time here,’ I say, my mouth suddenly dry. ‘And other people seem to like it too, which is what counts,’ I add quickly. Teach Mhor’s Winter Gin appears to be gathering an expectant audience. ‘Maybe this is how I finally helped!’ I realise I’ve said that last bit out loud, and I feel my cheeks pink.
‘Without you and your love of music, we’d never have found the recipe,’ Lachlan gently reminds me.
‘But without you, the gin will never be made.’
‘Well in that case, as I’ve told you, we make a good team.’ He smiles. ‘Who’d’ve thought it?!’
I can’t help but smile back. Who indeed?
I look back at the screen.
‘But even if we do make the target, we still haven’t found the final ingredient. We still have to deliver a special edition bottle of Teach Mhor Winter Gin, A Taste of the Wild Side to each of these bidders, or we don’t get our money. We won’t be able to deliver!’
Lachlan nods thoughtfully. ‘There’s less than a week to go. Even if we start now, we’re pushing it to get the gin ready for the weekend. We’re going to have to go ahead without the final ingredient.’
‘But what if someone notices that it’s not the same? That we haven’t brought back Teach Mhor gin? That’s what you promised Hector you’d do. Besides, we’ve said on the crowdfunding page that it has five special ingredients gathered from the island. We’ve shown the first four...look, people are waiting to hear what the fifth one is!’ I point to the screen and the comments there.
Hector wanders into the kitchen with the dogs at his heels.
‘Hello, Hector. We’re just watching all the orders come in for Teach Mhor’s Winter Gin.’
‘Always was popular!’ He smiles and sits in the rocking chair by the range, the dogs at his feet. And then the younger of the two dogs, Douglas, stands and comes to sit by mine. Rhona stays put. ‘Wish I could find the recipe. Can’t think where I’ve put it. Lovely singing, by the way. Heard it from the other room. Was it Mairead singing?’
Lachlan and I look at each other and smile.
‘I think it was, Hector.’
‘Beautiful voice has Mairead. Always did have. She’s probably getting ready to go out. I’ll wait for her here,’ and he rocks back and forth in the chair, humming gently to himself. ‘I think that’s why Campbell fell for a woman who could sing. He loved hearing his mother sing. Loved the house being full of music.’ He closes his eyes. ‘I proposed to her in the pine forest, you know. Where we pick the pine needles for the gin. It’s what gave me the idea. Always loved the smell of pine. That and the smell of the sea. This place runs on water. It’s who we are. We wouldn’t be the island we are without it.’
‘You know,’ Lachlan says quietly, ‘they say that in brain function tests, they can’t find where the memories are...that they’re not actually stored in the brain.’
‘So where are they stored?’ I tip my head and look up at him.
‘Some would say in the heart,’ Lachlan says, fetching two glasses and pouring two shots of his tester gin. ‘And when we have nothing else, we’ll still have memories, so we’d better make them good ones.’
We chink our glasses together and sip. I can see the island, taste it...but there is something missing. What is it?!
‘I have an idea, if we really want to get more crowdfunders,’ he says.
‘What is it?’
‘We offer an intimate gig, with you, at the tea party. They obviously love your voice. You sing, and by the sounds of it, they’ll come.’
Could I? Could I get back up there and sing again?
‘Actually...’ he continues, ‘look, don’t be cross at me again, but I’ve already said you will.’
‘What? Why?’
The screen pings again and another investor is added to the list. I know one thing for sure: I can’t go home now. Not yet.
‘Excuse me, but I have to make a call,’ I say, and I step outside to ring Joe. I know exactly what I’m going to say, and why.
