Anna Mason realized she was not having much success in her hunt for an artist to paint a portrait of Aunt Helen.
Had she not felt so strongly about it, she would long since have given up the search.
The trouble was, she could already visualize the finished effect, to the point where she could see the framed painting as it would appear, mounted on the fireplace wall in the big double bedroom upstairs where the morning light would illuminate the face of the woman she fervently wished she had met in life. The idea had seemed so perfect that she hated to let it go, but now weeks had gone by and no artist had emerged to satisfy her need.
Recent events had shortened the available time before the next trip to Oban. Fiona had sent an engraved invitation for Anna and Alina to attend her graduation ceremony in Inverness. The date was the beginning of June and there was no way Anna would miss this milestone in Fiona’s career.
There were also two more pressing occasions to be marked in the same month. George and Jeanette’s new baby daughter was to be christened and Jeanette had requested a Canadian presence in Oban since her own mother could not be there.
The other item was not really any of Anna’s concern. Her brother, Philip, and her best friend and business partner, Alina, had been in contact through the winter. Phone calls, Skype and emailss were, no doubt, helpful in establishing some basis for a relationship but Alina felt the time had come for a face-to-face meeting on Philip’s home ground.
As Alina had said, just the evening before, when this topic of conversation had occurred for the fifteenth time,
“Let’s be frank about this, Anna, I hardly know the man. If, and it’s a big IF, I want to take the connection further, I need to see how Philip lives and works in Manchester.
It is possible that we will discover we have little in common, other than you, Anna, and I am not about to make a mistake at this late stage in my life by getting involved with a man who does not suit me.”
Anna was astounded to hear this amount of interest from her friend. From childhood on, Alina had expressed little inclination toward the opposite sex. There were a few dances when Richard and Anna made a foursome with Alina and some eligible young man of their acquaintance, but none of these dates had developed into a romance. Of course, Alina had been scared off men by a frightening attack when she was still a teenager. After that, she seemed content to stay home with her mother and only ventured out with Anna to places where she felt comfortable.
That was a long, long time ago, thought Anna. I truly believed Alina was a confirmed loner when it comes to romance. Yet, she might have said the same of her brother Philip. Not that she knew him that well, or for long enough to justify her opinion. It was just that he seemed ill-at-ease with women, in general. Perhaps, in his profession he dealt mainly with male clients.
Anna had met his sister, Lynn, when Anna and Philip had driven together from Oban in Scotland to Heathfield in East Sussex. Lynn had asked Philip to return to see their mother before she died.
In a brief conversation that day, Lynn confided a little about Philip’s childhood. He had left home very early to apprentice to a construction company in Manchester. The shocking part of the story was that he had cut himself off entirely from his sister and his parents.
Anna now knew more about the reason for this estrangement. Philip was the illegitimate son of Anna’s own father, Angus. Philip had been adopted by Kyle Purdy and never told about his origins. Lynn suspected that the shock of discovering his parents’ deception had caused him to reject his mother and her husband, despite the fact that Kyle Purdy had been a true, caring father to him.
It was not difficult to see that Lynn resented the responsibilities Philip’s decision had left for her to deal with.
Alina knew all this about Philip, of course, but she told Anna it was all water under the bridge by now and neither of them had reached their sixties without considerable baggage, including health problems.
“It could never be ‘love’s young dream’ at this stage in our lives, Anna!” she asserted. “I am a lot more realistic than that. I don’t need a man. My life is complete with you and our business and our Samba friends. Philip may be another friend in my life and I am happy if that is what happens. After all, he is in your life now, and forever. That makes him a part of my life too.”
Anna had replied, “So, why would you want to take the step of travelling to England to see Philip?”
Alina took a moment to think about her response then smiled and said, “I guess I just want to be sure I am not missing out on something that could be beneficial for both of us….and Philip, too!
He needs a female influence in his life, I suspect. In any case, he has agreed to meet me the next time we go to Scotland and I am pleased about it because you will be there in Oban if I should need to cut the visit short and flee back to Scotland.”
“Aha! Hedging your bets, my dear!” laughed Anna.
“Well, certainly I am, and not ashamed to admit it! I may be old but I am not stupid. Living this long confers some wisdom. I don’t wish to be trapped in a hotel in Manchester if things don’t go well with Philip.”
Anna could only agree with her friend’s caution and the conversation had turned to other topics.
Remembering this exchange, Anna felt increasing frustration. There was not much time between Easter and the beginning of June. Everything seemed to be falling into place for the desired trip to the U.K. except the business of the portrait.
Well, it looks like I will just have to abandon the whole idea, she sighed. Not the right time; and definitely not a suitable person on the horizon.
The phone message came a week after Anna had given up the whole idea of Helen’s portrait. She had heard the phone ring when she was sending pictures to the A Plus’ Oban knitting team. The process of attaching photos to a descriptive email was not yet so easy for her that she could afford to drop it in the middle of the operation, so she let the answer phone take a message.
Alina was at the warehouse doing the quarterly inventory with the business manager she was training to take over the complex job for her. Should her eyesight deteriorate, she wanted to be sure all aspects of the business were covered.
Anna admired this forethought and planned to help as much as possible. Hence, the email contact with Scotland. Alina had spotted a new trend towards knitted tuques on her last foray through the fashion magazines and she wanted to see if the Scottish knitters could do fairisle versions and devise other patterns to make the A Plus hats desirable to a new generation.
Anna’s input to this idea was to suggest that the edge of the tuques, where the knitted border touched the wearer’s forehead, should be lined with cashmere, or a soft cotton. She well remembered her childhood knitted caps causing skin irritation whenever she had worn them for a few hours.
Eventually, Anna had transferred all this information to email and she sat back with the contented sigh of a job well done. She stretched, then walked to the kitchen and contemplated which vegetables were available for a pasta supper dish. The flashing red button on the wall phone attracted her attention and she remembered the phone message she had missed.
Picking up the pen and writing pad by the phone, she pressed the button and prepared to take notes but she soon changed her mind when the strange message began to unroll.
“Look! I know this is a bit crazy, but I have been dreaming about out last conversation and I can’t get on with my work until I settle this problem.
Would you mind coming to my studio this week? I have an idea that might work but it’s kind of far out and you may not want to pursue it. I apologize if this is a bit disjointed.
You couldn’t know this about me, of course, but I am slightly psychic.
Don’t be alarmed, Miss Mason! I am sane most of the time! It’s just that I got some weird vibes from your home and I can’t seem to get it out of my mind.
Sorry if this sounds garbled. I am working on instinct here.
Please call my number. If you decide not to, I will totally understand.”
The message ended and Anna immediately played it over again, hardly trusting her memory to grasp the details. What on earth did this mean? Did the caller realize he had not even given his name? Did he expect Anna to remember him from a brief encounter weeks before? And yet, she did recognize that quiet voice. It could only be Lawren Drake. His phone message was similar to his face-to face speech, in as much as he gave little detail and expected the listener to follow along.
Anna did not know whether to be intrigued or annoyed by his presumption. What should she do, if anything? That was the strangest phone message she had ever received.
Alina’s voice broke into Anna’s confused thoughts at this juncture.
“Hello! I’m back, and there’s lots to tell you, Anna. How did you get on with the emailss?”
Anna tried to bring her mind back to the present situation but when Alina entered the kitchen rubbing her hands together and complaining of a chill spring breeze outside, it took only a moment for her to assess the distracted look on her friend’s face.
“What’s happened, Anna? Who’s hurt or in trouble?”
“It’s nothing! Really! I just had a very strange phone message. Sit down and I’ll play it for you. I have no idea what to do about it.”
“Well. You have certainly got me interested already. I won’t ask anything until I hear for myself.”
By the time the message had replayed, Alina was giving every evidence of feeling just as confused as Anna.
“Who was that? What is he talking about?”
“Oh, I didn’t remember that you never met the artist I interviewed here some weeks ago.”
“So, it’s that painter fellow? What was his name again; something about a bird?”
“Yes, it’s Lawren Drake. I told you that Susan and I went to her former offices to see a sample of his portrait work but he was sure he could do nothing without a live subject to work with and I can’t supply that of course. I have given up on the whole project.”
“Do you mean this call came out of the blue?”
“Absolutely! I am stunned to hear from him again. Do you think I should do as he asked and go to his studio?”
“I have no idea, Anna. It’s your decision, but I caution you about getting involved with someone who declares himself to be ‘somewhat psychic’. What on earth does that mean? How did he behave while he was here?”
Anna had to stop and think about Lawren Drake’s manner when he visited the house. He had stayed such a brief time. Was there anything weird in his behaviour?
“I didn’t really notice anything. He spoke very little and only looked at me once or twice. He had eyes of a peculiar colour; almost golden, I would say, and they darkened when he was thinking.”
Alina began to sense something unusual in her friend’s description of this artist. “But what did he do, Anna? You are telling me how he looked while he was here. Did he do anything spooky?”
Anna laughed. “Spooky? No, I think I would have noticed that! He did look around the room quite intensely. I remember wondering at one point if he was intent on burglary.”
“What? That’s enough for me! It’s best to ignore the entire thing, Anna. You don’t want to get mixed up with some man who makes you feel unsafe in your own home.”
Anna had to agree with Alina’s sensible conclusion. She changed the subject by asking Alina to explain what had transpired at the warehouse and soon they were discussing the success of employing a female manager.
“She just multi tasks so much better than a man could,” Alina said. “She has a good grasp of the need to keep a ready supply of inventory tied to seasonal demand. For example, if the knitted tuque idea works out, we need to have supplies in the warehouse before fall this year to meet anticipated demand in winter and for the Christmas market.”
“Yes, I understand the principle, Alina, yet it always worries me that we might be left with piles of goods no one wants.”
“That’s the name of the game in retail, Anna. Our advantage is the wide range of customers we reach online. Anyone in the western hemisphere who remembers cosy knitted hats and wants to buy one for family or friends could make this idea a winner for us. So far we haven’t lost money on new products and the site is growing in design and creativity thanks to James’ skills.”
“You are right, my dear. You are the expert in this area as your choices have proved.
Now, what idea do you have for supper? Shall we throw together a pasta or order out tonight?”
This weighty decision required consulting a folder full of take-out menus and discussing the virtues of vegetarian versus simply decadent choices.
The topic of Lawren Drake’s phone message, slipped to the back of Anna’s mind but it was not forgotten and much later in the night it returned with some force.
Anna awakened with a start and sat up in bed. Her heart was racing. Was there an intruder in the house? Had a noise woken her from a deep dream state?
She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and turned on a bedside lamp. Her ears were alert to any unusual sounds but she could detect only the dim hum of the heating system. False alarm, then.
She turned out the lamp and turned over in bed after a quick glance at the clock showed it was very early in the morning.
She soon discovered that not only her ears and eyes had been woken up, her brain also was firing on all cylinders. “Drat!” she moaned with clenched teeth. It was clear she was not going back to sleep any time soon. Propping up her pillow and pulling the bedcovers up to her neck, Anna resigned herself to an hour or more of night thoughts. This was a familiar pattern. Too many things to think about always resulted in wakeful nights. The trouble was not the extra thinking time. In the quiet hours that was a bonus. The problem arose from the propensity of the mind to think only dark thoughts in the dark hours. It was rare to come to a positive conclusion from such musings but Anna knew she had to complete the cycle before blessed oblivion would be returned.
So what was on her mind? She cast aside all the domestic trivia that first presented themselves, leaving the trip to Scotland in the forefront. Certainly there were a few items to be done in preparation; gifts for Fiona and the new baby girl, for example. No problems there. Alina would find something exquisite for the baby and something suitable for her brother, Liam. It was always best to present two children’s gifts at such times. Fiona would be given a substantial cheque along with a beautiful bouquet. Anna made a mental note to ensure a photographer was available to take pictures and video of the graduation ceremony. She would wear a new summer outfit from Maria’s shop for the occasion.
There, now! She sighed deeply. Everything is in order. I can sleep.
Minutes went by and again sleep eluded her. What next?
The phone message from Lawren Drake popped into her mind.
“Of course! I should have known that was going to haunt me. What do I do about it? I need to make a decision if I want to get any more sleep tonight.
Go to his studio and see what happens? Forget the whole thing and admit the idea was hopeless right from the start?
Once again the vision of the fine portrait of Helen Dunlop, hanging over the mantle in the McCaig Estate Farmhouse, rose before Anna’s eyes. Deep down she was unwilling to give up on the idea. It had seemed such an appropriate thing to do. It was meant to be something to honour not only Aunt Helen, but also Anna’s own mother.
Was it possible to take a chance on the strange young man? What if Alina was right and he was more than strange and less than sensible? Anna gave herself a mental shake. She was no giddy girl. She could take a chance if she wished, and if it did not work out she could withdraw. After all, a little psychic ability was probably a good thing in a creative person and if the portrait was ever to be completed it would require more than a little creativity on the part of the artist, and on her own part, if she was to provide any clear idea of who Helen was.
A surge of fatigue washed over Anna when she made this decision.
I will go ahead, she promised herself, as sweet darkness filled her mind and slumber overcame her.