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Alistair helped Caitlin lay Scott’s body out on the kitchen table. Caitlin removed his wedding band. She used warm soapy water to wash away the blood, dirt, coagulation powder, which had become a blood-soaked gel, and other bodily fluids now leaving Scott’s corpse. The others arrived home. Kelly and Rory walked in the backdoor. Caitlin hastily covered Scott’s dead body with towels. A young woman followed behind them.
“Ahh, Mum this is Mandy. She asked us for help.” Rory shrugged.
Mandy stood in the doorway; her eyes fixed on Scott’s covered corpse. Caitlin turned to Kelly.
“There is plenty of hot water. Why don’t you run a bath for our guest? And find some clothes to fit her.”
“Okay, Mum.” Kelly ushered Mandy into the bathroom.
Caitlin leaned on the table then lifted her gaze to Rory.
“She’s desperate, Mum, and she had nowhere to go. We always give help when needed,” Rory said.
“I don’t really know what the circumstances were, but she was in a room.”
“What do you mean ‘in a room’?”
“The slavers went into the room, one at a time. I can only imagine what degradations this poor woman has gone through.”
Rory’s eyes narrowed. Caitlin uncovered Scott’s body and started to dress him for burial. Rory helped.
“We’ll have to make a coffin.” Alistair had stood to one side, watching.
“Mum!” Kelly interrupted their conversation.
Caitlin responded to the anxiety in her daughter’s voice and ran into the bathroom. Rory followed. From the door Caitlin could see the bathwater was blood tinged. She stopped Rory at the door. “Out! Women only.” Caitlin shut the door in Rory’s face.
The bath water was a deepening red. Mandy bent over in the water, holding her belly. Caitlin turned to Kelly. “Quick. Go get a medical pack from the pantry.”
Kelly ran out of the bathroom, got what she needed and ran back in to help Caitlin.
“What’s going on?” Both men asked through the partially open door. Kelly shook her head at them as she closed the door in their faces.
Caitlin’s attention was on Mandy, but the scraping of furniture over the wooden floors of the cottage came through the bathroom walls. Once Mandy had passed her miscarriage, Caitlin left Kelly to support her. She’d had enough blood and trauma for one day.
Caitlin walked to the kitchen to find it empty of its long table bearing her husband’s body. A shard of ice hit her gut.
No, the boys moved him.
The room lost its oxygen. Caitlin had to go outside to sit on her bench and suck in the fresh mountain air. She halted at the doorway.
Rory was outside alone. He sat on the bench seat at the backdoor which faced the mountains, now dark with night. The stars were showing themselves. Caitlin lifted her head; her rapid breathing settled.
Rory must recognise familiar constellations from another time. The night-sky hadn’t changed. The air was cooling, and Rory shivered. Caitlin was sure the day hadn’t gone as he’d expected. Out of the corner of her vision, Rory’s head bowed, and his shoulders shook.
Caitlin sat next to him and put her arms around him—the first contact she’d ever had with her twenty-three-year-old son. They both shook together, as her breath caught in her throat and no words came. She had no thoughts either, only blank numbness.
After a few moments, Rory composed himself.
“We started making a coffin.” He wiped his tears off his face. “We need to cut more timber.” He wiped his cheek with the heel of his hand. “How is she?” Rory needed to change the subject.
Caitlin shrugged a reply and stayed silent.
“What happened, can I ask?” Rory’s concern pushed her out of her fog and prompted her to answer.
“That young woman has been through hell.” Caitlin would be breeching a confidence but continued regardless. “She just miscarried. Mandy said she had been with those slavers for about three months and abused for most of them. I would estimate the foetus was about seven weeks.”
The muscles in Rory’s jaw tightened, like Scott’s had when he was angry.
“Will she be okay?”
“Yes, probably, I think she’s made of strong stuff. She should recover. With time, the support of a Community and the love of a good man, she might make it.” She regarded her son for a moment, then returned her focus to her own trials. “Where have you put him?” Her voice was quiet, barely above a whisper.
“Come with me, Mum.” Rory rose and took her gently by the hand.
They entered the rearranged bedroom. Rory and Alistair had placed the kitchen table with Scott’s body on it near the open window where the cold air would come in. Due to the Aga, the rest of the cottage was always warm. After covering it with a sheet of plastic, they had packed his body with ice from the freezer.
Caitlin went to Scott’s body and bent over his head, quiet for a few moments. She tried to pray. Once again, no words came, only emotion. That was enough. An all-powerful being, who knew everything, did not need to hear her words when she had none.
Caitlin’s lips brushed Scott’s forehead “Thank-you for being your brave, loving self and coming for me, as I knew you would.” She finally said. “Wish it hadn’t ended this way.” She allowed her tears release. “I love you. Goodbye my incredible man.” She kissed his cold forehead; her breathing became difficult. Her arms embraced his cool shoulders and stayed there for a while.
***
RORY AND ALISTAIR BROUGHT the coffin into the house and placed Scott’s body into it.
“We’ll bury him near the burn. He loved fishing there.” Caitlin had decided on the place.
The next morning Alistair and Rory dug the grave. On their return they carried Scott’s coffin to the grave and placed it beside his favourite place in the Highlands of Scotland. Mist covered the steep sided mountains of Glencoe. The wind blew high on the mountain peaks, shredding the clouds as they passed.
Like my soul, Caitlin thought as she wandered back to the cottage.
***
“MUM, YOU KNOW WHY I am here, don’t you?” Rory asked later that day.
“You were here to take your father back.”
Rory nodded. They sat on her bench and she now shared her favourite place in the garden with her eldest boy.
“I had a month to get it sorted. I’ve got two pods and I must be back at the abandoned farm at a particular date. The farm will be our Community in the future.”
Caitlin turned her face to him. The afternoon sun peeped below the clouds and warmed her cheek as it made its decent in the sky.
“Rory, I’m so proud of you. You’re brave and disciplined—a good soldier.”
“Dad taught me. I am what I am because of him.” His voice threatened to break.
“You are very much like him. You look like him. I think you’re very handsome, but I’m biased.” She laughed.
“Remember, I’m a twin, Mum. Callum and I are identical.”
“Wow, two handsome men like you in the world. God is good!” Caitlin smiled again. A flickering of guilt at being happy for a moment, when sadness was expected, threatened to spoil it. No. She would never see this beautiful young man like he is now, ever again. She would die before he grew to full manhood. How wonderful that she got to see him now. “So, you are returning?”
“Aye. I have a place there, Mum. And a job to do. I’ll miss you. I’ll miss you both.” Rory’s eyes filled with tears and began to overflow.
“I’ll miss you too,” she whispered as she held him.
***
DURING THE NEXT THREE weeks Caitlin and Rory were often in each other’s company, quietly conversing. Rory assisted Alistair with the running repairs to the cottage and grounds, and the energy supply, and to bring in the last of the harvests as well.
“Sorry, Alistair but I can’t stay. I have a job to do in the future.” Rory spoke in the privacy of the stables. He had become close to Alistair in the past weeks.
Bonded.
“I need to make sure they never try to come back for Dad. Just want to leave the past as it is.”
“Yeah. It’s...tragic...losing Scott.” Alistair scuffed the straw covered stable floor with the toe of his boot. “Who knows what havoc it would cause if things of the past changed further? You’re taking Mandy with you, aren’t you?” Alistair lifted his eyebrows in a knowing gesture.
Rory gave a lopsided smile but didn’t answer.
“Man, you are. I can tell.” Alistair said.
Rory’s neck heated; his face followed.
“You look after my wee sister. I ken you love her, genuinely.” Rory kept his eye contact with the dark-haired young man until he responded.
“Yeah, I do.” Alistair’s face screwed up a little. “I don’t know if your dad would be pleased.”
“Why not?”
“He was down on me. Gave me a bit of a hard time.”
“He was testing you. Figuring oot what you’re made of. He trusted you with the rescue. You saved Mum, killed McSweeny. He would’ve thanked ye for it.”
After a pause, Alistair nodded.
“Help Mum when the time comes, please. She knows what supplies she might require. She’ll need assistance and protection getting to Invercharing. I’ve given her directions and described the state it’s in. She’s no’ ready yet but, if I know my mother, she will go soon.”
“Can’t imagine being here without her. Kelly won’t be happy.”
“Nae choice really, brother, aye?”
“Yep.” Alistair picked up a curry comb and started grooming the stallion. “Doesn’t make it any easier.”