The House on the Shore (53 page)

She sat down at the side of the bed and took Morag’s slender hand in her own.

“Oh, Morag!”
She wiped away a tear
and glanced at Lachlan who sat on the other side of the bed.

“How is she?”

“They took her to theatre again this morning.
The surgeon
wasn’t happy with the way her left leg was set.
She’s not regained consciousness since she came out of the operating room, but the doctors seem satisfied with her progress.”

Anna offered up a silent prayer.

“I’m so sorry, Lachlan.
If I’d known any of this was going to happen, I would never have let her borrow the Land Rover.”

“It’s not your fault, Anna.
She’s out of danger, thanks be to God.
The doctors say she’ll make a full recovery in time, although she may be left with a slight limp.”
He stroked his wife’s cheek.
“I’ve told the rig I’m not going back.
I don’t want to leave her on her own again.”

Anna looked at him in surprise.
“I’m sure Morag will appreciate that, but what about your dreams for a farm?”

“I don’t care about that any more.
Morag is more important.
Once she’s recovered, I’ll look for work closer to home.
What about you?
Will you stay on at the croft now this is all over?”

Anna tilted her head to gaze at Luke.
“I have a lot to consider.
I’m not sure…it depends—
”

“I understand.
It can’t be easy, not after what Grant and MacKinnon did to you.”

“
It
will take a while for folk in the village to come to terms with their antics.
I wonder what will happen to the estate now.”

“Ewan says the Bank has taken control for now.
He heard it from Mrs
.
McTavish.
I expect they’ll put it up for sale.”

Morag stirred.
She moaned and her eyes fluttered open.
“Lachlan?
Anna?”
Her voice was dry.

Lachlan leaned forward and tenderly kissed his wife’s forehead.

“
Ho mo leannan.
Oh
,
my sweetheart
,
I’m here.
Everything will be all right.”

“Anna.
She’s…she’s safe.”

Anna lifted her friend’s hand to her bruised cheek.
“I’m here too.
Don’t worry about me.
I’m fine, thanks to Luke and Sandy.
I’m so sorry you got hurt, Morag.”

“Don’t cry, lass.”

Anna wiped away her tears.
“Don’t talk.
Save your strength and put all your effort into getting better.”

A nurse appeared at the bedside.
“I’ll let doctor know you’re awake, Mrs
.
McInnes.
I’m afraid your visitors will have to leave.
Not you Mr
.
McInnes; just the lady and the other gentleman.”

Anna leant forward and kissed Morag on the forehead.
“I’ll come again in a few days, when you’re feeling stronger.”

Morag smiled at Anna then closed her eyes again, a
nd slept.

The nearer Anna and Luke got to home, the quieter and more withdrawn she became.
For most of the journey she stared out of the window, alone with her thoughts.

There was no denying they’d reached the point where their relationship had to be resolved.
However,
she needed another few days to come to terms with the fact that he would soon be leaving.

She turned to look at him.
There was an inherent strength in his face.
He’d obviously loved his fiancée very much.
C
ould he love that deeply again?

W
ould he stay if she asked him to?

Anna turned back to the window, lest he see her tears.
Her heart was torn in jagged pieces.
She bit her lips, ignoring the pain
.

It was dark by the time they reached the croft.

“You sure are quiet,” he said.

“Sorry.”
She rubbed her aching temples.
“I was thinking about Morag.
May I have a couple of those painkillers the doctor left?”

“
You should have waited another day before you visited Morag.
You need more res
t.
Why don’t you go lie down?
”

“Would you mind?”

“Of course not.
I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.
”

After they
’d
eaten their meal, Luke carried the coffee tray into the sitting room
.
He
bent down and put a match to the logs in the grate
, then
sat down on the sofa next to Anna.

“Thanks for cooking dinner again.
I don’t seem to have much energy at the moment.”

He gathered into his arms.
“MacKinnon gave you quite a beating.
It will take time for you to recover, both physically and mentally.”

She settled back, enjoying the feel of his chest against her back.
“
At
least I won’t have any physical scars like Morag.”

“
Sadly, she’ll be left with a permanent reminder of MacKinnon’s handiwork
.
I
t will be a good six months before she’ll fully recover.
S
he has a good man in Lachlan.
He’ll take care of her.”

“It’s strange the way things worked out, with Lachlan giving up his job on the rig and his idea of buying a farm
.
Morag never wanted to move.
A
nd
then there’
s
Alistair losing the estate after fighting so hard to save it.”

“
Y
ou’re forgetting one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Without your land, the construction company can’t go ahead with their plans to build a
deep
water harbour for the oil industry
.
The glen will remain an unspoilt wilderness.
T
here
’s
plenty of folk in the village who are pleased about that.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“What will you do now?
Will you stay here after everything that happened?”

Anna twisted in his arms and looked up at his face.
“I don’t know,” she told him.
“It depends on a number of things.”

“Such as?”

“Morag, for one.
I can’t walk out on her when she needs me most.
And to be honest
,
unless I apply for another teaching job, I’ve no option but to stay here.”

“You know…you could always come back to Boston with me.”

This was it—the moment she’d been dreading.
Her face clouded with uneasiness.
She looked hastily away.

“But what about your girlfriend back home in Cape Cod?”

“I told you.
Kate
’s not my girlfriend.
She’s just someone I see sometimes
,
I mean someone I
saw
sometimes.
That’s all over now.
For obvious reasons,” he smiled.

She pushed herself free of his grasp.
“You say that.
But how do I know it’s true?”

“Kate is a free spirit.
She pretty well does whatever she wants.
I saw her whenever she happened to be in town, which didn’t happen to be all that often.
Trust me.”

Trust me
…
how many times had Mark said that to her?
E
ach time he’d let her down.
Her parents had
also said it
.
Every
September
they took her
to school
and told her,
‘
We’ll send for
you at the end of term, promise,
’
b
ut they never did.
With the exception of her grandparents and Morag, everybody she’d ever loved had let her down.
What reason did she have to believe Luke was any different?

“It’s kind of you to ask, but—
”

Luke pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her.

“
Kind of me
?
Haven’t you figured out that I’m in with love you?”

Anna’s lungs felt like they stopped working.
“You love me?
”

“
Of course I do
.
And I got the impression you loved me too.”
He gave her a heart-melting smile.

“
I do, Luke
.
But our lives are so different.
”

“And that’s a problem…why?”

“Don’t you see?
You’re a successful artist.
Until now I’ve always taught others how to write.
This is my chance to find out if I can make it as an author.”

“That’s a seriously weak excuse, Anna.
What we have is something rare, and you know it.
It sprang full-grown the first time we looked at each other.
Do you really want to throw it away?”

“Of course not.”
She
turned away from him and stood by the window, ramming her hands into her pocket
s
.
“
I knew you wouldn’t understand.”

“Damned right I don’t,” he said, turning her round to face him.
“You know I woul
d never
stop
you from doing something you love.”

“I know that.
I’m sorry, Luke.
I can’t come with you.
Not right now.
Perhaps…” She left the sentence go unfinished.
She didn’t have the right to ask him to wait.

“I see.”
He let her go.
The silence lengthened between them.
“I’ll stay for as long as it takes for you get a replacement for the Land Rover
and a phone installed
.
I’ll move my gear back into the spare room.
In the meantime, I’ll go
check on the yacht.
I’ll be back in a
n
hour
or so.”

Anna watched him leave the croft, fists bunched.
Tears streamed down her face.
What had she just done?

Five o’clock in the morning
.
Out on the loch
,
the mist rose off the water.
A shiny
,
green Land Rover stood on the lawn in front of Tigh na Cladach.
Morag would be out of
hospital in a few weeks’ time.

Down on the shore
,
an otter called to its cubs, its high, piercing whistle carrying over the still water.
Anna closed the door of the croft and locked it.
She stuffed her hands int
o the pockets of her jacket
and followed the dogs along the track through the trees, past the ruins until she reached the stalkers’ path.
She climbed steadily up hill, through swirling mist, her pace never slowin
g until she reached
the
viewpoint
.

It was drastically different to the last ti
me she’d climbed
Buidhe Bheinn
.

On that occasion Luke had been with h
er.

Now, as then, he was her reason for coming here.

Heather covered the hill like a purple carpet, and the berries on the bog myrtle were beginning to turn orange, a sure sign that autumn was on its way.
Halfway up, she came across a group of five hinds and their calves
, u
nperturbed by her presence,
they
continued grazing.

Breathless, she sat down with her back against a granite boulder and waited.
Ensay and Rhona
,
sensing her mood
,
lay down beside her.
As suddenly as it had arrived, the mist lifted, bathing her in vivid sunshine.
In the distance the mountains of
Skye rose
,
dark and brooding.