Chapter Forty-Two
Having left Cornwall in the rain, Tammy and Ruan arrived to golden evening light in Glasgow. They collected the car and he and Tammy took it in turns to drive north to the rental apartment.
Scotland seemed a world away with its long, broad valleys flanked by hills covered in purple heather, its dark forests and rivers tumbling along under stone bridges. The villages seemed few and far between compared to Cornwall, with low stone cottages amid a handful of shops and a hotel.
She wondered if her mum ever missed Rosewarne with its exotic flowers and mild climate and the sea breaking on the boulders in the cove. Tammy would have – her heart would have ached, as it did now.
‘Feels like we’re a long way from the sea …’ she said out loud.
‘Maybe not that far. There are some stunning beaches up here,’ Ruan replied, ‘especially on the west coast. I’ve been on holiday up here a couple of times with friends.’
He started to tell her about the Western Isles with their white sands and clear waters. According to Deidre, when Kathleen had initially moved to Scotland, she’d lived on one of the islands. No wonder Walter had never found her in the days without the internet or when few homes had phones.
Tammy wondered how hard he’d tried: had he harassed her friends and extended family to find out where she’d gone? Or did he simply accept that she’d left him and retreat into his house, simmering with bitterness and vowing revenge on anyone who dared to be in love and happy?
Ruan spoke up suddenly. ‘I think that’s our Airbnb.’
They parked by the apartment, the top floor of a maisonette in a small development on the edge of a village. Tammy had already read the description and planned what she had to say but with Ruan by her side, and seeing the sleeping arrangements, it took all her resolve to say her prepared piece.
‘There’s a bedroom and a sofa bed,’ Tammy said. ‘I don’t mind which I have, but you’re so tall, you might be more comfortable in the bedroom.’
‘I’ll be fine on the sofa bed. You have the bedroom,’ Ruan insisted.
‘OK. Thanks,’ she said, grateful to him not for the luxury of being offered a proper bed but for not expecting … anything.
As they unpacked, she knew it would be agony lying alone with him just feet away.
She’d no doubt the sex itself would be amazing, but it would come with the obligation to start things up all over again.
She couldn’t even contemplate any kind of commitment to another human being until she knew where she’d come from.
Only then could she even think about where she was heading.
Also, irrational and unfair though it was, she couldn’t move past the bitter truth that Ruan was a blood relative of Walter’s and had inherited her beloved childhood home.
It was more than that, though – it was almost as if Ruan had accepted stolen treasure consisting of her happiest memories and her father’s legacy.
She could only hope that tomorrow might bring her some answers.