Lawren Drake had made his way through the empty front section of the barn where a car could be parked, and was now in the rear, locked part, where a variety of things from the farmhouse were stored. He quickly found the easel and drawing materials he had left here after the unveiling of the large portrait which now hung above the fireplace in his and Anna’s bedroom.
He stopped to take a moment to appreciate how important a role that portrait of Anna and Helen had played in his life. He could never have imagined the results of answering Anna’s enquiry about an artist to paint a portrait for her. If he had turned down her very unusual request, his life would have been devoid of the love and companionship he now enjoyed, and so much more than that. Anna had opened up her friendships and connections to him in such a generous way. Every day seemed richer and more full and yet he still had his skills as an artist to concentrate on. Nothing had been taken from his life. So much more had been added.
With renewed enthusiasm, he unwrapped the sketch paper he had encased in plastic against dampness and found the large clips to attach the paper to the frame. The oil paints looked to be in fine shape in their wooden boxes but, for now, he left these aside. Ever since returning to Scotland his mind had been burdened by the overpowering need to get some sketches done. His whole experience in England while searching for his father’s family home had impacted his imagination so strongly that the need to get some of his impressions down on paper was becoming overwhelming.
As he moved across the floor, a shaft of light fell upon him and he looked up to see a hole in the rafters above.
Surely Anna would not have allowed a hole in the roof of the barn to remain unrepaired?
He looked again at the dark space just beneath the hole and was amazed to see eyes glittering back at him. A flutter of feathers alerted him to the possibility that there were birds roosting above. Just then a dislodged feather floated down and landed at his feet. Bending to pick it up he recognized the brown and beige barred pattern of a barn owl’s feather. The tip was translucent and pointed. He spun it in his fingers and sent a thank you for the gift to the silent birds above. He knew that long ago artists used quills to paint and write. This quill, at this moment, was a sign of approval.
He pulled the easel into position under the shaft of light and clipped the paper in place. Selecting a handful of drawing pencils and setting one behind his ear he began to draw.
Anna had unintentionally fallen asleep upstairs on the comfy bed and she wakened with a jolt when she heard Lawren’s voice calling her name. For a moment she could not orient herself in time and space. She had been daydreaming about Fiona and a castle and a knight in armour with a helm that covered his face and obscured his features. Was he a good or evil knight?
The dream vanished as Anna struggled to her feet. “I’m up here, Lawren! I’ll be right down.”
When she reached the kitchen it was to see paper spread all over the kitchen table and Lawren diving around talking under his breath and shuffling the papers from one position to another.
His excitement was palpable. The air in the room was electric.
“What’s all this, my darling?”
“Look over here, Anna! What do you think of this? I tell you the images just poured out of me. It was like a catharsis. I hardly know what I was drawing. Most of them are of Hartfield Hall as I saw it that day in Wiltshire. God! That seems like a year ago!”
“But, Lawren, there’s such detail! You were there only the once and not in the best of circumstances, I understand. Where does all that memory come from?”
Anna went around the table looking at each sketch of the house that had once meant so much to Lawren’s father. She was astounded at the speed with which Lawren had composed this amount of material. He could not have been at the barn for more than an hour.
“Oh, I don’t know, Anna. Years of training, I suppose. Once I look carefully, the images just seem to get burned onto my brain.”
“What’s this shield bit just under the roof line? I can see something that looks like stars.”
“A family crest, I believe. I haven’t had the chance to look it up yet.”
Anna recognized other monuments like Stonehenge that Lawren had seen on his travels, but again and again her eyes were pulled back to the house drawings. She felt a powerful emotional response to them and could only guess what Lawren’s feelings had been to create such sketches.
“You know I love your work, Lawren. I am no expert but these are amazing. You should include them in your show when we get back to London. Would you ever want to give one to your father?”
“I doubt it! I think he is happier with the glory days he remembers. I’d never want to shatter his dreams.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
She moved over to him and placed her hands on his back. She could feel the excited tension in his shoulders and began automatically to massage them with her warm hands. He had told her how soothing it was to feel that warmth and she was glad to be able to do something to help. She lacked his talents but she could express her appreciation for his skill in this simple way.
In the centre of the table lay a feather. She reached to pick it up and continued to massage Lawren’s shoulders with her other hand.
“This is a barn owl’s wing feather. Did you see my owls? There are more of them this year since they found the safe place to roost during the day.”
“That was a generous thing for you to do, Anna. This feather was a gift from the owls. It inspired me to begin drawing and I felt them watch silently from the rafters as I worked.”
Lawren’s hands moved the drawings around until he had selected the ones he felt most strongly about. Anna watched the process in fascination. She could see the appeal of some of his favourites. Although oil paints were his usual way of conveying emotion, it was remarkable how even the pencil and charcoal sketches bounced off the page at the viewer.
She focused for a minute on the Avebury stone circle and wondered why it had such a powerful effect on her. It took some time before she spied the tiny figures of children peeking out from between the massive stones sunk into the turf. Immediately she could hear in her head the cries of the children as they played some version of hide and seek with their playmates. No doubt her years in a school playground supplied the sound effects but it had been Lawren’s genius to juxtapose the tiny figures with the ancient and formidable stone structures in such a way that the stones lost some of their fearful aspects and became a part of human history.
“Why have you stopped? Are you crying, Anna darling?”
“No, not really! I am just so moved by your artistry, my love. In your hands paper and pencil become something far beyond their everyday purposes. It’s a kind of magic, I suppose.”
As she spoke, Anna remembered Fiona’s use of a similar phrase. She thought it must be love that created this magic. Love for a person, a place or a creature had a transformative quality. Even inanimate objects, when bathed in love, became so much more.
“Don’t leave these here, Lawren. Morag may take an interest in sampling them. She likes to exercise her sharp little teeth on the edges of paper occasionally.”
“No worries! I’ll roll them up carefully. I think they may sell one day.”
Anna was sure of it.
“Now, my lady, I want to take you out for a meal tonight. Grant has recommended a restaurant with a spectacular sunset view and he will collect us here in a couple of hours. Go do whatever you need to. I have some business to discuss with George and Jeanette about their family portrait and then I think I’ll take a walk up Helen’s Hill. I have things to think about and matters to talk over with you later after a fine dinner and a glass or two of wine.”
“Yes, my lord!” said Anna, with a quick bob of a curtsey, then she danced up the stairs before he could catch her. Sometimes it was nice to be ordered around.
Back in the cedar-lined closet at the top of the stairs, for the second time in the day, Anna finally unearthed a long-sleeved wool dress in a rich shade of burgundy that Maria had sworn complimented her colouring. She held it against her to check the length and wondered if the belt she had bought in Glasgow would pull in the waist and add a spark of glamour to what was, in essence, a very plain dress. Plain perhaps, but classic in style and warm enough for a cool evening.
She was just emerging from the storage room to begin her search for the belt when the phone rang.
“Not again!” she begged. Another session of surprise revelations with Fiona was not something she needed. She had hardly begun to absorb the last exciting, and worrying, phone conversation.
Thankfully, a familiar voice greeted her.
“Sis, it’s me! I am glad to catch you. I want to tell you about our night with Ross and Joyce.”
Anna made a quick mental flip back to her brother’s departure for Glasgow and the unexpected invitation to meet their father’s younger brother at his Kelvinside home.
“Yes, Simon! What did you and Michelle think of them?”
“Well, once I had got over the weird idea that our father actually had a much younger brother none of us knew about, I relaxed and enjoyed them immensely.”
“Did you see a resemblance to Dad? I did at first.”
“Not at first. Physically, I didn’t notice anything, but the more Ross, I suppose he’s really Uncle Ross, isn’t that strange? The more he spoke, the more I could hear an accent that seemed familiar from my childhood, I guess. What about you?”
“I don’t recall that, Simon, but I was with them for only a short time and I think I was in shock for most of it. I am still processing the whole incident. What was it like to spend the night there?”
“Oh, they could not have been more hospitable. Rory came over for supper, and he’s just as you described him, Anna. Joyce put on a feast and Michelle was in the kitchen helping out before you could stop her. The two of them were fast friends in minutes. The house is just outstanding. We had a bedroom with an ensuite and Joyce had put in there, flowers and all the bath stuff you could ever want. Donna and Ashley shared a similar room and Michelle said it was superior to most hotels we’ve ever stayed in.”
“I imagine she’s right! Joyce struck me as a warm and wonderful woman. I hope to see much more of both of them.”
“You’ll have to stand in line, Sis! We’ve invited them to PEI already.”
“Surely you haven’t moved yet?”
“No, but we will be there before the snow flies out west. Once the idea took hold we couldn’t wait to make the change.”
“It will be a big change alright. Won’t you miss the children and grandkids?”
“We are buying a huge place with room for visitors and we are pretty sure the family will follow us there often, once they see the shoreline, the temperate climate and the gorgeous scenery. It’s time for a change and it seems change is in the air. Don’t you agree?”
“I can hardly deny it, Simon. My life has changed radically in the last little while and the changes have been good. I will admit I am glad you and Michelle will be closer to Ontario and also to Scotland. I can see a lot more opportunities for our newly-expanded family to get together. It’s really amazing how this has all happened. Although Helen Dunlop gave this Oban house to me, I want you to think of it as yours also, Simon. It looked right to me to see Donna and Ashley here.”
“That’s very good of you, Anna. Donna says you’ll have a hard time keeping Ashley away. She really responded to the old place and she is talking of spending holidays with you.”
“I would love, that! We’ll have to keep track of each other’s schedules. For now, you can use the Holiday Home Finder site that lists the Oban house. I guess there will be little space left for other travellers with the way things are going!
Do you know, Simon, it’s not so long since I felt quite alone in the world and now I am surrounded with family and friends in an ever-widening circle. Life is certainly full of surprises, isn’t it?”
“You bet, Annabanana!”
With the sound of his laughter ringing in her ears, Anna put down the phone.
What a strange day! Phone calls bringing surprises and a date with Lawren to look forward to. I wonder what he wants to discuss? There are several possibilities. Our lives are rushing ahead like a runaway train these days. Fiona in love, Simon and Michelle moving, Ashley interested in writing about Helen, the new Samba members, Lawren’s sketches, Alina and Philip …………what could be next?
After a delicious meal of Scotch broth and Scottish salmon, washed down with wine and finishing with brandy and sherry trifle, Anna was scarcely able to summon enough brain power to focus on Lawren’s conversation.
They had talked about the view of the sunset that had appeared through the day’s clouds and admired the dining room and the food. Anna was quite replete and ready to go back to Oban and snuggle up in a warm bed.
Lawren, however, seemed to have other ideas.
“Now don’t go to sleep yet, my lovely Anna,” he begged. “I told you I had something to ask you about and now is the time. I’ve plied you with food and drink so you will be in a receptive frame of mind so please listen.”
Hearing that she had been unwittingly prepared for acquiescence, brought some adrenalin into her body and she looked searchingly at Lawren’s golden eyes. She noticed they had the characteristic darkened colour that usually meant he was concentrating on something important. She sat up in her chair and pushed her back into the frame to stiffen her resolve to stay awake.
“I know this is unexpected, my love, but I have a sense of urgency about what I am about to say to you. So much has happened, and so quickly, that it seems the tide in the affairs of men that Shakespeare spoke of is carrying us along with it and I suppose I want to go with the flow.”
Lawren had her full attention now. Every last vapour of alcohol had vanished from her brain and trepidation was beginning to take its place. What was coming? She did not dare to speak.
“I’ll get right to the point, Anna. I think we should get married.”
Her eyebrows shot upward and her eyes opened wide at these words.
What? Where? When?
Lawren continued without a break.
“You always said I should ignore the difference in our finances and you know I care nothing about the minor difference in our ages, so I feel we should waste no time making ours a formal arrangement. That doesn’t mean a fancy affair. I will be happy with whatever pleases you. I just want it to be sooner rather than later. I want you to be mine in a way that is acknowledged by the whole world.”
Finally, he looked at her and waited anxiously.
“Please, Anna. Say something! I am dying here!”
Lawren’s voice ran out of air and energy at the same instant and Anna knew she had to answer swiftly or he would think he had failed to make his case.
Fiona flashed through her mind. Who’s the impulsive one now?
Alina’s face appeared before her but she was smiling approval.
She saw Susan and Maria and Bev and Jeanette nodding their heads and lifting glasses in celebration.
She thought of all the reasons why this was too soon.
And she rejected all of them.
This would not be an easy union, but then, how many of those were around?
This would be a rare second chance and she would be a fool to miss it.
“Oh, Lawren! Yes! Yes! Yes! Of course I’ll marry you!”
He came alive again and jumped to his feet, lifting her off the chair and right into his arms. They danced around the dining room to the applause of the few diners who remained at this late hour and who could recognize a seminal moment in the lives of two people in love.
When they settled down enough to catch their respective breaths and stop their insane smiling, it was inevitable that realities and problems began to emerge. They gazed at each other with delight but with an awareness that there were many decisions to make.
Lawren took charge as soon as he saw the shadow of a question on Anna’s face.
“Not one word from you tonight, my lady. Let’s bask in this glow for now. Whatever we have to do, or decide, will wait until tomorrow and we don’t need to tell anyone anything until we are quite ready.
Let’s go home.”