Epilogue
A week after Eilidh’s funeral, Stella and baby Billy were buried in a small ceremony at the Old Kirkyard on Hoy.
With a glance towards Kris and Rachael, Hugh said, ‘This is what I think my father would have wanted. In his journal, Ivor said Stella was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.’ He smiled at that.
Standing there in the Old Kirkyard, alongside Colin, Magnus and Jo, Erling marvelled at Hugh’s determination to set things right for Ivor, Stella and her baby. All the while blaming himself for his failure to protect his own granddaughter, Eilidh.
Something that would continue to haunt him.
On the way back to Lyness, Rachael explained that she’d been visiting Betty Corrigall’s grave the day she’d seen the digger.
‘The story of Betty Corrigall and her baby really upset me,’ she said. ‘Then, when I saw Kris waiting for me at Houton, I thought he looked too young to be a father. But I was wrong,’ she added with a smile for Kris.
Glancing at Jo, Erling watched as her own emotions seemed to briefly swallow her, before she informed him with a shy smile that she wouldn’t be going back on the ferry to Houton with the rest of them as Ethan was coming for her.
‘See you tomorrow then, Sergeant,’ Erling said, with what he hoped was an encouraging look.
Reaching Langwell, Erling spotted Rory’s car and suddenly recalled that his father was coming to have dinner with them tonight.
Drawing to a halt, he considered how the two men might get on. Whether Tommy would understand Rory’s Scouse accent. Or if Rory would be able to translate the Orkney phrases his father would undoubtedly use.
Erling smiled to himself.
Whatever happened, the two most important men in his life were about to meet properly at last, for which he was grateful.