CHAPTER TWELVE

EDINBURGH

June 1919

There were no larks.

Ramsay shook his head to clear it of the images and realised that Gillian was looking at him.

“Is it the war?” Her voice was sympathetic.

“And other things,” Ramsay said. That tune was still bouncing around his head.

“Après la guerre finie

Soldat Ecosse parti

Mademoiselle in the family way

Après la guerre finie”

Well, the guerre was finie now and his mademoiselle had been in the family way when she left him. He looked down at Gillian and smiled. This was his future now. Mrs Gillian Ramsay.

And what of his son? Ramsay thought of a little boy growing up in the mining community of Newtongrange. He thought of men such as Flockhart and McKim, Blackley and Niven. They were honest, forthright men, generous with their passions and loyal to their friends. Ramsay smiled as a hundred memories crowded and jostled through his head. He had gone to war feeling like he belonged to a different species from the men he would command. He had marched to peace with the humbling knowledge that they were better men than he. With men like that, and women like Grace, his son was in good hands.

I still want to see the little tyke though. I will keep looking for him. It may take me a lifetime but I will never give up.

Gillian hooked her arm through his.

“Come away, Douglas. The war is finished and done with. It is time to think about other things.”

They walked away from the Botanical Garden and into the bustle of Inverleith Row. But the words were still circulating around Ramsay’s head. He knew they always would.

“Après la guerre finie

Soldat Ecosse parti

Mademoiselle in the family way

Après la guerre finie”