The Inheritance (12 page)

Daniel’s grandmother lived in a two-storey cottage on the outskirts of town.  It was built of beige stone that served as a neutral background for the multicolored roses that tried to smother the first floor.  I took a deep breath inhaling the sweet scent as Daniel rang the bell. 

Janet Wilson had to be close to ninety.  She was small and thin with rosy cheeks
, and an old-fashioned bob that was entirely gray.  She must have been pretty once, I thought.  She welcomed me warmly, and then told us to go into the parlor while she got the tea.  Danny escorted me into a room that could have been straight out of a period movie. 

The wallpaper was covered in little bouquets of flowers
, and the lace curtains and old-fashioned furniture were relics of another time.  There were many black-and-white pictures in heavy silver frames, several color photos of a smiling bride and groom, and of a little boy at various ages.  The boy had dark hair and gray eyes and looked very seriously into the camera.

“Is that you?” I asked.

“Cute, wasn’t I?” he smiled. “I’m the only grandchild.”

“Modest, too.”

Danny went to the kitchen to help his grandmother while I sat down on the sofa.  My palms were sweaty, all the effects of the whisky having worn off as soon as we got to the cottage.

Daniel brought in the tea tray with a silver teapot and pretty china cups
, and his gran followed with a plate of sandwiches and a cake.  They sat everything on the low table in front of the sofa, and sat across from me.  Mrs. Wilson looked at me for a moment and nodded, as if I’d confirmed her worst suspicions.

“I remember Claire well.  You have the look of her.”  She seemed to be studying my face, maybe looking for traces of Angus as well. 

“Did you know Angus well?” I began.

“I knew Angus since he was a lad, as well as James and your grandmother.  She was a feisty little thing.  My husband was the only doctor hereabouts, so we knew everybody.”  She poured out the tea and settled more comfortably in her chair.  I didn’t want to rush her, but I was dying to find out what I came for. 

“I can see you’re fit to burst with curiosity, so I’ll tell you everything from the beginning. 

My husband and I came here in the early
‘30s because the old doctor had died and there was a position.  It was a good opportunity for a young doctor, so we settled here.  We used to live in town; Angus and James were teenagers then.  Did you know they were identical twins?  No?  Well, you couldn’t tell them apart until they started speaking.  Angus was older by 12 minutes, and very proud of the fact.  He considered himself James’s older brother.  Angus was cocky and outgoing.  He played sports and was popular with the other boys, as well as with the girls.  James was the quiet one.  He was shy and bookish and worshipped his brother.  They were the best of friends, those two. 

It was in 1935 when the new headmaster, your great grandfather, came to town.  The old one had retired and the new family moved in.  That’s when they met Claire.   She looked a lot like you, with honey
-colored hair and those amber eyes.  All the boys were in love with her, including Angus and James.  They all made a play for her sooner or later, but to everyone’s astonishment she chose James. 

They
completed each other.  He was quiet and reserved, and she was fun-loving, the life of the party.  James wanted to be a teacher, so Claire asked her father to give him a job at the school.  He began to teach history to the younger children, and they were married in 1937, I believe.  Angus was a little resentful, but he adored his brother and wished him well.  He went off to Inverness, where he got a job at a distillery outside of town. 

Not long after Claire and James were married, there was an epidemic of chicken pox at the school.  James had never had them in his childhood and they didn’t have vaccines back then.  His case was bad
, and chicken pox can be dangerous for adults.  He had a very high fever for several days, and by the time he’d improved, he was left sterile.  He refused to believe my husband when he told him that it was a possibility, and had him do a test to make sure.  He was heartbroken, poor lad.  Claire assured him that it was all right, but he grieved.  They wanted a house full of bairns and now they would have none.  Their marriage became strained and they were both grieving their loss separately. 

We don’t know who came up with the idea, James or Angus, most likely Angus, but they cooked up a plan.  Angus would come home from Inverness and stay with them for a while.  A few months later, Claire was expecting.  My husband knew it couldn’t be James’s child, but he wasn’t sure if Claire had agreed to something or was tricked, so he never said anything to her. 
She had her baby girl, your mother, and everyone was happy.  Angus was back in Inverness learning the whiskey business, and came home from time to time to visit his beautiful niece. 

Eventually, war broke out and both Angus and James joined up.  They were in different units
.  James wound up in Malaysia where he died in prison — a prisoner of war.  Angus survived and came home.  Angus had always loved Claire and might have had a chance of winning her had he waited, but he wasn’t one for the waiting.  He told her that James couldn’t have fathered Ellen and that the child was really his, and now that James was gone, they could be a family.  Claire was gone by the following week.  She took her daughter, and left for America to start a new life.  Angus tried writing and phoning, he even went there to try to win her back, but she wouldn’t have him.  She felt that he had betrayed her and James, and cut him dead.  James was her love and to her he was the father of their child no matter what. 

Angus eventually married, but it wasn’t a happy marriage and broke up very quickly.  He had bought his own distillery by that time
, and started to become more of a recluse.  He always had a fascination with that castle.  They played there as children and it held happy memories for him, not to mention that it had belonged to the family.  He inherited it when their parents died and eventually restored a part of it and moved in.  He lived there alone until his death.  There was a woman from the village who came in to clean and cook for him.  She was the one who found him.”

I put down my teacup
, not trusting my shaking hand.  How did one react to such revelations?  My sweet, prim gran, who loved to bake scones and knit me sweaters, had either agreed to sleep with her husband’s brother to get pregnant, or was tricked by a pair of identical twins who, although with the best of intentions, pulled one over on her.  I’m not sure which scenario I liked less. 

Danny and Mrs. Wilson busied themselves with the tea things to give me a few moments to compose myself.  What was I supposed to tell my mother?  How would she feel knowing that the man she believed all her life to be her father, was actually her uncle?  I felt an overwhelming need to speak to Sophia.  She would help me put this in perspective. 

I noticed Mrs. Wilson watching me with kindly eyes.  “I’m sorry, my dear, I know it’s a strange tale, but they’re all gone now and there’s nothing to be done.  Accept your rightful inheritance and make the best of it.”  I nodded in agreement.  She was right.  They were all gone and their sins were gone with them.  I still felt a little stunned, and needed to divert my attention to something else until I was ready to think about this again.

“Mrs. Wilson, can you tell me about Isobel?” I asked.

Janet sat back down and poured herself another cup of tea.  “What would you like to know?”

“Just anything you can tell me.  I saw her bedroom at the castle and it left an impression on me.  I’d like to know more.”

“Isobel is a bit of a local mystery.  She wasn’t from around here — she was a Grant by birth.  They had their lands further inland, a few hours’ drive from here.  Back then it was a day’s ride or more.  The castle ruin is still there if you care to see it. 

Isobel
married the Laird’s son just before the ’45 uprising. It was said that she was a rare beauty.  She had the auburn hair and green eyes particular to the Grants.  She and John were married less than a year, when Prince Charles landed in Scotland, and called the clans.  Her husband, who was Laird by then, was one of the first to answer.  He was a staunch Jacobite.  Isobel never saw him again.  He was taken prisoner at Culloden, and later executed in London.  It was assumed that she grieved for him and jumped off the tower.  However, her maid, who was a bit slow, said that Isobel disappeared.  She claimed that some things were missing, including her mother’s pearls. 

The body was never found
, and she never turned up anywhere.  Some folk said they saw her walking the battlements at night, but I don’t put much stock in such fancies.  I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for what happened to her.”  Mrs. Wilson finished her tale and took a sip of tea.  I was amused by her no-nonsense attitude to the legend.  A romantic she was not.

Danny and I stayed a little bit longer
, then said our goodbyes and headed to the car.  Danny came back to give his grandmother another hug, and I heard her tell him that I’m a lovely girl, despite the fact that I reek of whiskey.  He was still laughing as he came up the path behind me.

“Where to,
my lady?” he asked starting the car. 

“I think I’d like to go back to the inn now.”  I was tired, my head ached
, and I didn’t relish the prospect of calling my mother. 

“How about some dinner?  I know a lovely place that does a good haggis.”

“Haggis?”

“You haven’t dined in Scotland until you’ve had sheep guts, my dear.”

“Thank you, Danny, but I think I’ll leave that culinary delight for another day.  I’d just like to be alone for a while, if that’s all right,” Danny looked genuinely disappointed and I promised him a rain check.  He dropped me off at the inn, promising to call me the following day.  I went inside and almost collided with Linda, who gave me my messages and offered to send up some dinner when I told her I wouldn’t be joining them in the dining room.  I trudged up the stairs feeling like I was about to face the Inquisition. 

I decided to call Sophia first.  I needed a bit of cheering up before talking to
my mother.  I dialed her number and she picked up on the first ring. 

“Finally!  I thought you’
d been trampled by cows or got blind drunk at your distillery.  So, what happened?”

“You
’re not that far off the mark, as usual, and no, it wasn’t cows. It was the whiskey that knocked me on my butt.”  I described my conversation with Mrs. Wilson and waited for her words of wisdom.

“I
’m speechless,” she exclaimed. “I’m trying to reconcile the image of your cute Highland grandma as a pretty young thing getting it on with twins.  It’s very difficult, but I’m equal to the task.  Oh, wait, it’s not her; it’s me I’m picturing with twins.”

“Why do you think she got it on with twins?”  I was a little offended
by that analysis. 

“Your grandmother was sharp as a tack till the day she died.  Do you really think that she had no idea that the guy
having sex with her wasn’t James?  They might have been identical, but you can always tell the difference.  They couldn’t have made love identically.  I think she knew.”

“But do you think she agreed to it
, or simply went along once she found out what they were up to?”  I mused.

“It’s hard to tell.  We
’re looking at this from the moral viewpoint of the twenty-first century.  If it was now, I might have said that she was secretly attracted to Angus, and this was a way not only to get a baby, but to secretly live out a fantasy.  However, this was in the 1930s, and she might have been ashamed to admit that she knew, even to herself.  She might have pretended not to notice the difference because she wanted a baby so desperately.  That might have been the reason that she fled when Angus confronted her.  She was ashamed.”

“That’s a very valid point.  I guess we’ll never know, but what should I tell Mom?  Which version would be less hurtful to her?”

“I don’t know.  In one scenario her mother agrees to sleep with both brothers, but still has control of the situation.  In the second, she’s duped by the man she loves and his brother, whom she trusts.  Which would you prefer?”

“Well, looking at it from the
twenty-first century viewpoint, I would say that I’d prefer the scenario where she’s in control and does this by choice.  Thanks, Soph.  I knew you’d help me reason this out.  I have to go call Mom.  I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I reluctantly dialed my parents
’ number and waited for Mom to pick up.  We skipped the usual talk about the weather and the details of my day and went straight to Mrs. Wilson’s account.  Mom listened carefully without interrupting. 

“That’s
quite a story,” she said with a sigh.

“Are you upset?”

“I’m not upset with your grandmother. She did whatever she thought was right, and I’m thankful for the life she gave me.  I am upset, however, that I never knew my father.  If Angus was really the one, I would have liked to get to know him.  Ned was a wonderful stepfather, but I always dreamed of my real dad.” 

After that we moved on to other things, like my disastrous visit to the distillery.  My parents hadn’t asked me what I was planning to do, but I knew they were wondering.  I was wondering myself.  My initial plan was to come to Scotland, sell the lot and come home, but now I wasn’t so sure.  My grandfather had spent his life building up his business.  It felt a little disloyal to just sell up and leave.