Chapter Fourteen Evie’s House
Chapter Fourteen
Evie’s House
When Evie got back from Jack and Delima’s she spent the rest of the evening pacing about her kitchen, unable to settle.
She had already ruined a very promising painting of Rackwick Bay because she couldn’t leave it alone and managed to overcook the whole thing.
She’d have to paint over parts of it or abandon it altogether.
She told herself not to be so nervous and on edge now that Amelia had arrived in Orkney, but there was something about this stranger that was unsettling. Evie wasn’t in a fit state to do any more work, so she put down her paintbrush and went for a walk down to the shore.
It had been a long time since the night of Brodie’s death and the sight of the beach no longer brought back pain and horror. Instead, the sound of the rolling waves actually gave her a sense of peace, especially since she had overcome her fear of the water. Evie sighed. So many secrets and lies.
She told herself it was better to focus on the present where everything was out in the open.
She sat down on a rock and gazed out to the purplish-blue evening waters of Scapa Flow.
She asked herself why she was feeling so strange around Amelia?
‘Maybe it’s because she has also had the burden of secrets in her family.
Her father is my grandfather, but none of us knew the other existed until now,’ she thought.
Evie knew she would have to get up shortly and head back up the beach to her house.
Freya would be arriving soon to give Amelia a proper Orkney welcome.
She told herself she needed to get over her reservations, and help this American stranger find out as much as possible about her heritage.
Hopefully, that would give Amelia the sense of peace and belonging that Evie herself had rediscovered.
When Evie returned, Freya was already in the kitchen unloading bags of homemade pies, scones and cakes, having let herself in as usual. She plonked a bottle of Highland Park whisky on the table.
“I thought we might need this tonight,” she grinned at Evie. “Right, you go and pick up our visitor and I’ll put some picky bits out.”
Evie smiled, “There’s enough grub there to feed an army. She’s only a peedie thing.”
“Aye, but she will be famished with all the travelling and experiencing our fresh air. I didn’t want to risk her going hungry.”
Amelia was waiting for Evie at the hotel reception. She leapt to her feet when she saw Evie, throwing her arms around her for a tight hug.
Evie gently disentangled herself and the two of them got into Florence. On the short drive back to Evie’s home, Amelia sat quietly looking out of the car window at the green rolling fields and sparkling sea.
Evie was relieved by her much calmer energy.
Amelia said softly, “It really is lovely here, Evie. I can see why you wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”
“Well,” Evie replied, “It’s the spring now and we’ve been lucky with the weather. Not much rain and the wind has been soft but come back in the winter and we’ll talk then.”
Amelia smiled. “I hope I can come back, Evie, and I really hope we can be friends. I don’t have any close relatives and because we moved around a lot when I was little, I don’t have any proper friends. It’s something I always struggled with.”
Evie felt awful. She hadn’t given this poor lonely woman a chance. She knew the pain of being alone – she’d been very lucky to meet a friend like Sophia in London, who had been so kind and understanding.
Feeling guilty, she said warmly, “Well, you have found family now and you will make lots of friends here. People are very welcoming. And Freya is really looking forward to meeting you.”
They turned into Evie’s drive. Freya waved to them from the window and then Amelia found herself wrapped in the kind of warm embrace that makes you want to stay in that sweet smelling softness for ever.
“Let me look at you,” said Freya. “My goodness you truly are the spitting image of our Evie. There’s no need for DNA tests, you two look like sisters. Come and sit down and let me get you something to eat. I’ve made a few peedie snacks.”
Amelia looked at the kitchen table groaning with all kinds of homemade goodies that would have defeated an entire rugby team after a hard-won match.
The three of them would hardly make a dent in this spread. Freya smiled at her. “Would you like to try a wee dram?”
“That would be lovely, Freya. I usually drink bourbon, but obviously I know Scottish whisky is better.”
Freya nodded approvingly and poured three generous measures. Amelia asked her, “Do you have any Coca-Cola?”
Evie frowned. “I think I have some left from when Kate’s girls were round. They aren’t really allowed it but I got the zero-sugar stuff and I’ve sworn them both to secrecy.”
Amelia gratefully took the can and poured it into her whisky, drowning the dram with the sweet brown stuff. Freya looked appalled.
“I think that’s what’s known as sacrilege, Amelia. It’s actually against the law to do that to whisky here.”
Amelia looked shocked, her eyes wide, staring from Freya’s stern expression to her glass. She gave a hollow laugh. “You had me going there. I actually thought I might get arrested, but I guess you are just messing with me.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” said Freya. She kept her voice light but she was genuinely shocked at such terrible treatment of good whisky.
“Mind if I smoke?” said Amelia, getting her cigarettes out and preparing to light up. “I can lean out the window?”
“Actually,” said Freya, politely but firmly, “I do mind I’m afraid. Evie has bad asthma, and no one should smoke around her. Even if you’re leaning out of the window, it will linger in the room.”
Amelia looked stricken. “Evie. You should have said something when I was smoking in your cute little car. I am so very sorry.”
She looked distraught and almost on the verge of tears.
“And Freya what must you think of me. Can we start over? Let me drink this up so as not to waste it and then I will have it neat, or would it be OK to add a bit of water?”
Freya nodded approvingly, “Just as God intended.”
Amelia was eager to make amends. “I really can’t apologise enough.
Having a cigarette always calms me down but I won’t ever smoke around you guys again.
To be honest, I think I’m going to quit while I’m here on the island anyway.
And I will never, ever again commit the crime of adding Coke to my whisky. Can you forgive me?”
She looked like a puppy pleading not to be kicked.
“Of course,” said Freya warmly. “Now look, you must have so many questions for us.”
Amelia took a deep breath.
“Well, like I said to Evie, I’ve been doing a bit of research, but it’s only got me so far.
My dad had two letters in his belongings from a woman called Sheila – who I guess is Evie’s grandmother – and they had a daughter called Cara who was brought up on Hrossey and married a man called Duncan when she was sixteen.
I then found out online that they had two daughters. ”
Evie nodded. “Yes, and that would be me and my older sister, Liv.”
Amelia leaned forward eagerly. “I can’t wait to meet her. I want to talk to as many people as I can with a connection to my father. Do you think Liv would also be up for telling me about the past?”
Evie and Freya glanced at each other. Liv’s own past was littered with malicious lies, and a sad track record of trouble-making and addiction to drugs and alcohol, although recently she had tried to clean up her act.
Freya jumped in, “Of course you must meet Liv, but she’s been going through a lot. Evie’s helped her with rehab—”. She stopped herself, the whisky had loosened her tongue. “That stays between us. In the meantime how can we both help you right now?”
“I would just like to know more about my Orkney family. I felt like I never fitted in back home in America and maybe that’s because my roots are actually in Scotland and here in Orkney.
“So what can you tell me about Sheila and Cara?”
“Well,” said Freya slowly. “I was born on Hrossey and of course it’s a small and close-knit community, so I knew Cara Rendall as she was then, quite well. She was a few years younger than me and was more a friend of my sister when they were in the same class at primary school.”
“Your sister! Would she be willing to talk to me?”
“Ah, Amelia,” said Freya sadly. “If only she could, but Anne Marie died of breast cancer a long time ago. She was a lovely woman and apart from Evie here, she was my staunchest ally.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Freya,” said Amelia, reaching out to squeeze Freya’s hand gently.
“Thank you, it was a long time ago, but I still miss her. Every time I go back to Hrossey, I expect to see her there waiting to greet me off the boat. Even after all these years.”
Freya shook her head and went on, “Anyway. I’m afraid Cara and I didn’t get on very well.
She didn’t approve of me you see.” It was seventy years ago but Cara’s cruel stinging words calling her a freak still hurt, although just a pinprick these days compared with the deep raw ache when she was a child.
She continued on, “Like all the teenagers, Cara left the island to go to secondary school in Kirkwall, and that’s where she met Evie’s dad Duncan. They were just bairns of sixteen when they got married.”
Freya smiled sadly, remembering the big, soft-hearted man who doted on his Cara but could never make her happy, and his bafflement when his firstborn daughter Liv turned out to be such a difficult child.
But then there was his unconditional and overwhelming adoration of Evie, who he called his Teenie.
The more they talked, the more Freya warmed to Amelia, and Evie began to feel less on edge.
Amelia seemed to be so interested in Orkney, and Cara and Evie’s extended family and asked them many intelligent questions. She was careful never to ask anything overly intrusive, and both Freya and Evie found themselves opening up.
There was only one awkward moment, where Amelia asked about Evie’s time in London and Evie was stunned – she didn’t remember telling Amelia about that.
“You mentioned you’d lived away, and that a friend from London was coming to visit,” said Amelia. “Sorry, I was just putting two and two together.”
“London was … a difficult time,” said Evie. “I was glad to get back here where I belong.”
Amelia smiled at her. “Say no more, Evie. I’ve had difficult times in my own life as well.”
The three of them chatted for hours. Amelia was apologetic when she saw Freya yawning and realised it was way after midnight.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t notice the time. I’ve been so selfish, keeping you both up.”
“I’m amazed you haven’t hit the wall after all your travelling, Amelia. You are made of strong stuff,” said Freya. “It’s been good to talk to you about Hrossey and most of my memories are good ones. Like I said, I will get in touch with the Rendalls and you can hop up and visit them.”
Amelia smiled, “You’ve both been so good to me. I really appreciate it. I didn’t know what to expect. But you’ve been so very kind.” She added, “There’s so much to discover and I would like to know much more about Orkney. And to meet everyone else, especially Liv, of course.”
Freya said, “I know the very fella to help, I will put you in touch with my dear friend Andrzej. He came here from Poland many years ago and knows more about Orkney than most of the locals. He will talk to you until your ears bleed.”
She chuckled, “They do say the rescue donkeys he keeps on his land only have two front legs because he’s talked the back ones off of them.” Freya had made this joke many times in the past, and it always made Andrzej laugh too.
“And I dropped past the animal sanctuary today,” said Evie, keen to show Freya that she was doing her bit to welcome their new visitor, but also to distract from another mention of Liv. “They’d be so happy to show you around.”
Amelia clasped her hands and tears came to her eyes as she told Evie and Freya just how grateful she was for their kindness.
Freya gave her a hug, which led to Amelia enthusing about them both for so long that Evie felt decidedly uncomfortable.
She wasn’t used to such over-the-top displays of emotion.
She told herself that maybe this is how people behaved in America, but she wasn’t sure how to respond to such effusive praise. In the end, she simply patted Amelia’s arm and said she was very welcome.
Freya said she would share a cab with Amelia and drop her off at her hotel, they’d talk in the morning and sort out the trip to Hrossey.
When they had both left, Evie sat with her hands wrapped around her whisky glass. The conversation with Amelia and Freya had stirred up so many memories of the past. She hoped that Amelia would get what she needed from her visit to Orkney.
She wanted to know more about her too. She realised Amelia had asked so many questions that they hadn’t really had a chance to get to know more about her background, especially her own childhood and father.
Evie was overcome with tiredness and went to bed thinking there was plenty of time to find out more about Amelia.