Authors: Jean S. MacLeod
Tears of gratitude for his trust welled in her eyes.
‘It’s kind of you,’ she said, ‘but this is Charles’s home. I can’t stay for ever.’
‘You can’t leave, either, until your car is repaired,’ he pointed out, ‘so you’ve at least got a day or two to make up your mind about the exhibition. Emma can’t be in Edinburgh for more than a week because of the hotel and I’d like to be with Sandy as much as possible, so you see how essential your help would be. We’d fix you up in Edinburgh in Charles’s flat.’
‘No! I’d rather not do that.’ She sat looking down at her clasped hands. ‘I’d rather be completely independent,’ she added.
‘Which sounds as if you might consider my idea?’ he suggested happily. ‘It would help a lot, believe me, and you needn’t worry about Charles. He seems to be leaning over backwards to please me at the moment, which probably has something to do with that debt of gratitude you spoke about.’
He was not entirely blind, Katherine thought. He had seen the trend of his brother’s reasoning and was half amused by it.
‘Can I think about the exhibition?’ she asked. ‘There must be plenty of other people you could get to help out.’
‘Not as many as you might think for so short a time,’ said Fergus. ‘If it was a local showing it would be easy enough, but people aren’t prepared to go so far afield as Edinburgh for just a couple of weeks. It would mean staying over there, for one thing, and farmers’ wives are far too busy in the spring to leave home, however arty-crafty they may be during the winter months.’
‘It was just a thought,’ Katherine said, already warming to the idea. ‘How long would it be for?’
‘Three weeks in all. We’d need the extra week for packing everything and bringing most of it back! We won’t get the gallery for longer than that,’ he explained. ‘They’re in big demand, especially in the summer and leading up to the Festival. You’ll love Edinburgh,’ he added, as if she had already accepted his offer. ‘It’s a magic city at any time of the year, but it comes into its own in the spring—like Paris.’
This new enthusiasm in him was what Charles had been waiting for and Katherine realised that she could not ignore it. For the first time since the accident Fergus was turning his face to the sun, giving himself a second chance, and his brother would do everything in his power to further it.
‘You make it sound tempting,’ she heard herself saying. ‘What does Emma think?’
He looked at her, perplexed by the question.
‘Emma? Oh, she’d be all for it,’ he declared. ‘She knows she couldn’t be in Edinburgh all the time herself because Morag needs her at the hotel and she’ll be as grateful as I am if you take it on. Well—nearly!’ he laughed when Katherine looked doubtful. ‘Emma doesn’t enthuse very much and neither do I, but this means quite a lot to her, I guess. Neither of us have ever been part of a professional exhibition before and this will be breaking new ground for us both. Maybe it won’t be such a howling success this first time,’ he added, ‘but at least we’ve tried.’
Katherine got up to look out of the window.
‘That’s it, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘Trying. I know it’s all going to work out for you,’ she added almost passionately. ‘It has to!’
‘It will,’ he said, getting up to stand beside her, ‘with your help.’
It looked as if she had made her final decision as far as Edinburgh was concerned, and Charles would probably be pleased with the effort she had made. For one thing, it would mean the end of her sojourn at Glassary, and that was something he must surely want.
Thinking about the events which had led up to their meeting and the conflict which had existed between them ever since, she decided to phone London again in another effort to contact Coralie, who had been the instigator of it all. The number rang out, but there was no immediate response, and she was about to put the receiver down when someone spoke from the far end. It was a man’s voice, high-pitched and effeminate, and for a moment Katherine wondered if she had dialled the wrong number.
‘Coralie?’ he said when she asked. ‘Oh, my dear—yes! Coralie Edgar, of course. You know she went to New York?’
‘Yes, I know,’ said Katherine. ‘I’m phoning to ask if she’s come back.’
‘Not yet, dear,’ the voice said. ‘She may be staying over there for some time, you know. For a week or two, anyway. She has this marvellous assignment which ought to put her on her feet for a long time. It’s decor, you know, dear. Quite a feather in her cap, I would say, and it could lead to greater things. She’s always wanted to get to the top and she’s on her way.’
Katherine stood holding the receiver with a sense of shock.
‘Does that mean she won’t be coming back at all?’ she asked.
‘Oh, dear me, no! If she can get a chance of work in London she’ll be right back, I would think. New York is a wicked place, dear—so full of disappointments and broken promises. Nobody cares, really. It’s all a great big melting-pot of talent without a soul. Coralie knows that one job has to be backed up by another and she would be better nearer home for a while. Can I say who called?’
‘It doesn’t really matter,’ said Katherine. ‘I’ll ring again.’
She turned from the telephone to find Charles waiting in the hall.
‘I was trying to contact Coralie,’ she told him.
‘And?’ His mouth was grim.
‘She’s still in New York.’ She drew a deep breath. ‘Charles, I don’t really know what to say about all this,’ she confessed, ‘but if you did want to get rid of Coralie it seems that it’s all worked out to your satisfaction.’
‘You think she won’t come back?’
‘I can’t be absolutely sure, but you’ve got Sandy now, and that’s the most important thing, isn’t it? He’s back at Glassary where he belongs, with his father and you.’ There was a sudden forlorn note in her voice. ‘I don’t suppose you’ll ever forgive me for helping Coralie,’ she added, ‘but please remember that she tricked me, too. When I first met you in London I believed in her.’
‘You weren’t the only one to be taken in,’ he said grimly. ‘We all were, but I think Fergus is getting over her now. He’s far more relaxed and looking to the future. One day he’ll marry again, I hope.’
‘Will that set you free?’ she asked. ‘Free from your sense of obligation,’ she added when he didn’t answer immediately.
‘I don’t know,’ he said eventually. ‘All I want to be sure about is that he’ll come out of this without scars.’
‘I think he will,’ Katherine decided. ‘He’s not the sort of person to linger for ever in the past regretting what has happened to him. He has far more courage than that, and once his talent has been fully recognised I think he’ll put it all behind him and learn to live again. He has so much to look forward to, Charles, and so many people eager to help.’
‘Including you and Emma,’ he suggested with a brief smile which did not reach his eyes. ‘That should make a difference.’
‘If I can help I’ll be more than willing.’ Suddenly she had made her decision. ‘Fergus has asked me to go to Edinburgh for the Exhibition to arrange the commercial side of things, and Emma will help with the pictures.’
‘Where will you stay?’ he asked after the barest of pauses. ‘I have a flat in Heriot Row eating its head off for want of an occupant. You and Emma would be welcome to stay there.’
She turned her back on him.
‘It’s good of you to offer, Charles,’ she said, ‘but I couldn’t accept. You’ve been kind enough while I’ve been here, more than kind when I looked on Glassary as a prison at first, but I can’t let you feel responsible for me any longer. I’ll find somewhere to stay in Edinburgh without difficulty, I dare say. It’ll be a sort of extension of my holiday.’
‘After which you will go back to London?’ he queried.
‘I suppose so.’ She made the decision without enthusiasm. ‘I’ll have to look for a permanent job.’
After that brief encounter with Charles the days fled away with lightning speed as their preparations for the exhibition took shape, occupying all their time.
‘We’re lucky to get it in before the Festival fever begins,’ said Fergus as they wrestled with their choice of exhibits. ‘Otherwise we wouldn’t have a hope. Keep me from getting too excited about this,’ he added boyishly. ‘I’m half-way to the Academy already, so you’d better hit me on the head to bring me down to earth again!’
‘Fergus,’ said Katherine, ‘you’ll never be anything but modest, whatever happens! I’m going to put on my clairvoyant hat and tell you it’s all going to be a huge success and everything is going to turn out well for you and Emma. Her little animals are beautiful. They’re bound to make an impression and I think they’ll be a sell-out in the end.’
‘It would give her a tremendous lift,’ he said more seriously. ‘Emma has never been able to get out of the domestic rut for long, but she’s an artist to her fingertips. You’ll never hear her boast, but these little sculptures of hers are something special.’
Emma came and went between the Stable House and the hotel, quietly busy as she collected the best of his canvases to transport them to Edinburgh in good time for the exhibition. She seemed to be glad of Katherine’s assistance, yet oddly wary of her, and Katherine supposed that she was a basically friendly person who had taken her on trust after a fairly short acquaintance and wasn’t completely sure if she had done the right thing. Emma worked like a Trojan, more for Fergus’s sake than her own, but even in the rush of preparations for such an important venture she found time for Sandy, carving him lifelike replicas of seals and an otter for his collection when she was not too busy at the hotel.
Fergus, who had been teaching his son to fish, took him out on the loch in a boat, which seemed a risky sort of adventure when he could never keep still, and Katherine watched them with a vague longing in her heart, thinking that everything would be much the same at Glassary when she had gone. The old house would still be there on its green promontory overlooking the loch; the ducks would still bob in and out among the reeds, and an eagle would soar high above the mountains, while Sandy and Fergus and Charles would remain, happy in each other’s company, as they were now. It was almost impossible to look at them without pain now that she knew she was in love with Charles.
The conviction haunted her as she went about the small routine tasks she had accepted at Glassary—helping Sandy to dress each morning; setting the table for their evening meal to relieve Mrs. Stevas of the extra work; going to the Stable House to carry old pictures down from the loft because Fergus couldn’t cope with the outside staircase yet, and putting Sandy to bed when she had supervised his final meal of the day with all Emma’s carved animals ranged in a row, looking on. Bedtime stories were also a part of this evening routine because, suddenly, they had become a family.
Watching her, Fergus seemed fascinated by the change in his child. Sandy had become almost garrulous as he recounted the adventures of his busy day, and when Charles came in he had to repeat them for his uncle’s benefit, stringing out the telling of them to gain half an hour extra downstairs before Charles finally carried him up to bed.
A deep warmth had settled on Glassary and even Charles seemed to be aware of it.
‘You’re doing a lot for Fergus,’ he told her one morning as he saddled the pony for his nephew. ‘He’s even beginning to look different.’
‘I can’t pretend it has to do with me, Charles,’ she said. ‘Several things have made this difference. Being useful again is one; being independent, if you like. And then—’ She hesitated. ‘There’s Emma,’ she went on deliberately. ‘They have so much in common, and this exhibition means a great deal to them. I know you’re helping, too—financially—and Fergus appreciates it.’
‘I’m hoping to get my money back on the deal when they’ve sold everything!’ Charles laughed, dismissing his own effort. ‘It’s the moral assistance that helps most at present, the help you and Emma are giving him. Have you made up your mind about the flat?’ he asked unexpectedly.
‘I spoke about it to Emma, but she won’t be able to stay in Edinburgh for more than a couple of days at a time because they’re busy at the hotel now.’
‘I was thinking about your own arrangements,’ said Charles.
‘Fergus knows someone who has a small private hotel in Royal Crescent.’
‘Douglas Grear and his wife? You’d find it noisy,’ he said, ‘but perhaps you wouldn’t mind that.’
Katherine turned to face him.
‘Can’t you see that I don’t want to go on inconveniencing you?’ she demanded huskily. ‘I’ve been here on sufferance when you must have wanted Glassary to yourself, and having me in your flat would only make things more uncomfortable, especially if you wanted to occupy it yourself for the odd night.’
‘It was Fergus I was thinking about,’ he said abruptly. ‘He’ll feel better about things if he knows you’re comfortable, but please yourself about the offer. I won’t be in Edinburgh, I can assure you, and I wouldn’t put you out even if I did want the flat. I have several friends who could give me a bed for the night, so think about it.’
Katherine finally discussed the proposition with Fergus.
‘Charles has offered me the use of his flat,’ she told him as they counted canvases in the downstairs sitting-room of the Stable House. ‘I don’t know whether to accept or not.’
‘It was my suggestion,’ he admitted, ‘but why don’t you use it? It would be most convenient for the gallery, for one thing, and you and Emma could shack up comfortably together on the odd night she could stay in Edinburgh.
‘What about you?’ Katherine asked. ‘And Sandy?’
He looked uncomfortable.
‘Kate, would you mind very much if I didn’t come across very often?’ he asked apologetically. ‘I’m being a terrible coward about this, but I don’t think I could take it if I saw all my pictures hanging there without one single “sold” notice on them.’
‘That’s about the last thing you need worry about,’ Katherine contended. ‘They’ll sell like hot cakes!’
‘I wish I had your confidence,’ he smiled wryly. ‘I think they’re good, but another crushing disappointment would be more than I could take.’
‘What about Emma?’ Katherine asked. ‘She would be equally disappointed.’
‘It wouldn’t be the same for Emma,’ he reasoned. ‘She’s useful in another sphere. Morag couldn’t do without her at the hotel, but I’m dispensable.’
The sudden defeatist mood surprised her a little, although she could understand it.