He turned round to Amelia again, “Inga’s my wife and she was up at the crack of dawn baking all day yesterday, Amelia, so I hope you’ve brought your appetite.”
Amelia was shown into the ‘big’ room kept for visitors and special occasions. The furniture was polished until it shone and there was a mantelpiece full of framed photos of red-cheeked, flame-haired children and the all-important graduation photograph of their eldest son, Angus.
A glass cabinet in the corner held an impressive collection of crystal and fruit bowls that were never actually used. Theoverheated room was full of women with fat babies on their knees, men laughing and a gaggle of shrieking bairns running around the best big table.
All the teenagers were away at school on the mainland or there would have been no room to swing any of the bad-tempered cats that fought each other on the rug in front of the fire. Amelia was introduced to everyone and looked rather startled at the noise level and the bewildering number of names.
“You’ve met my husband, Drew. I’m Inga and this is Elspeth, Yvonne, Lara, Kayla and their husbands big John, big Angus, big Rab and peedie William.”
Amelia was given handshake after handshake and looked more and more confused as members of the clan queued up to greet her.
“Don’t worry,” said Drew kindly. “It’s not a quiz. We don’t expect you to remember everyone right away.”
“We should have had name badges, mammy,” chirruped his granddaughter, Daisy. “Like we made at school. I could have drawn the names on them.”
“That would have been a lovely idea my pet,” said Inga. “Although there’s only five of you in the whole school so I’m not sure you really needed those name badges, even though you did a fine job. Your handwriting is beautiful.”
She gave Daisy an affectionate kiss on top of her head and then looked at Amelia. “So, what do you want to know about us then?”
Before Amelia could answer, Inga went on, “It’s such a shame granny Sheila has passed. She would have been able to give you such a lot of information.”
Drew chimed in, “There’s a few of the older ones here who remember her coming back from Orkney pregnant with Cara, but I’m sorry we don’t have all that much informationabout her. Cara left here when she was in her teens and didn’t visit much after that, except to get married to that fine man Duncan. That was a good day but after the accident here the family rarely visited.”
“What happened?” asked Amelia. The older ones looked down at their feet, but Inga eventually burst out, “Well, everyone says they don’t really know exactly what happened, although I have my suspicions. The bairns were all playing in the sea when a big wave pulled peedie Evie right under. Her dad, Duncan, was convinced that her sister, Liv, had deliberately tried to drown her, and he wasn’t the only one.”
“Hush Inga, we don’t know that for sure. I still say Duncan overreacted and Cara swore blind it was all blown out of proportion. She was fuming with Duncan.”
“Well, I know what I saw,” said Inga, her mouth in a firm line. “Anyway, they left right away and we hardly saw them for years. It really upset aunty Sheila. She doted on her granddaughters. It was awfully sad.”
“And then of course Cara went round the bend,” said Drew.
“For goodness’s sake, Amelia doesn’t need to know all that,” said Inga.
“Actually, I want to know everything. That’s why I’m here and please don’t worry, all families have their dramas. Ours certainly did.”
She paused nervously, and looked around, before continuing. “Look at how my dad took off. He might have sent money, but he was never a father to Cara. That must have been so tough for her.”
Amelia went on sadly, “My mom died giving birth to me, and I know my dad did his best, but he was so old, and I am sure I was a right handful.”
“Evie told us about your mammy. I’m sorry, Amelia,” said Inga. “That must have been so hard for you.”
“Thank you,” said Amelia with a sad sigh, “I didn’t know her, so I didn’t miss her. I mean I missed having a mom, but my dad rarely talked about her and by the time I was old enough to ask questions he had gotten rid of all her clothes and personal stuff. He just didn’t think to keep them for me. He did hang on to her wedding ring, and I have a few photos of her from just after they got married, but not much else. I think that’s why I wanted to come here and try to find out a little bit more about Cara. She and Evie and Liv are the only family I have.”
“Well, you have us too, Amelia,” said Drew.
“That’s so sweet of you and it means such a lot to me.” Amelia gave a dazzling smile, her eyes shining with tears.
Freya could feel her own eyes growing misty. The visit was going so well she decided to make the most of her time here and take a walk to the nearby churchyard, where her parents and sister were buried.
“I will be right back but I need to walk off some of that delicious spread”
“Don’t be too long, I’m putting the kettle on again. There’s so much cake left,” said Inga.
When Freya had left, Inga turned to Amelia and said, “We thought we would see Evie today with you. It’s been a while since she was here. She likes to come and catch up with the other painters and she sells some of their work in her gallery.”
“I did ask her. But, well …” Amelia pretended to hesitate.
“Go on,” said Elspeth.
