Cold to the bone, I stalked to Cait’s cottage, glaring at the man who I suspected to be her arsehole boyfriend.
“Was it ye with the paint?” I barked.
The man, several inches taller than my six-three, tilted his head. “What?”
I prided myself on being a rational man, but the events of the afternoon and evening had set me on edge. The rescue had gone fine, at first. But the idiot husband of the casualty had taken it upon himself to walk to find help. He’d assumed we wouldn’t be able to find them.
He’d left their one phone with his injured wife. Then the guy had slipped and broken his leg. Worse, he’d fallen into a rocky gulley and been unable to haul himself up to a visible position.
Our easy recovery had turned into a full-service five-hour search and rescue. Cameron, the young second-in-command I’d doubted, had a dog brought in, and his team eventually located the man. With night falling, it had been the dog’s eager nose that picked up the scent. Otherwise we’d still be out there.
I was satisfied with how my first two call-outs had gone but deeply upset with myself for not being home for Isla on her first day from school. It wasn’t like me to be unprepared, yet I hadn’t been inside Cait’s home with Isla, or had the chance to make my daughter comfortable with the possibility of spending hours there while I worked.
Unwarranted annoyance broke from my control.
“You’re the boyfriend, aye? Did ye feel like the big man painting shite like that on the lass’s door? Who the fuck do ye think ye are behaving like that?”
Cait palmed the back of her neck. “No. Lochinvar, stop.”
“Why? Men dinna act like that. Boys do.” I switched my gaze to Cait. “I hope ye aren’t letting him inside with Isla in there.”
Her jaw worked, but Cait seemed lost for words. Her eyes, however, glittered with irritation.
The tall man frowned at Cait. “Did someone paint on your door? What did they write?”
I pulled up short, my anger stalling.
“Da!” Isla pushed between the two people.
I caught her in a hug, lifting her to my arms like I did when she was tiny.
“You’re cold. Are you okay?” she muttered into my neck.
“Were ye worried? Ye know I always come back.” I held her close.
Cait loomed in my vision, Isla’s coat and school bag in her extended hand. “You’re welcome, Lochinvar. Perhaps next time I babysit for ye, for free, you’ll have the good manners to thank me for it. And to not abuse my guests. Goodnight.”
She dragged the man inside and slammed the door. A moment later, as I was twisting the key in our lock, another lass poked her head out, a covered bowl in her hand. She handed it to me.
“Cait made extra for you,” she said in an American accent. “Maybe return the bowl another day when she isn’t spitting feathers about you?”
She closed the door, and I ushered Isla inside.
We set about our evening routine, and the scent from the bowl left on the kitchen table punched hunger through me. I’d snatched provisions on the hill, but a real dinner had been on my mind ever since the rescue had been concluded. I’d anticipated a frozen meal cooked in the microwave, but this had to be a thousand times better.
“Who was that other woman?” I asked Isla, poking my head into her room to find her rummaging around for pyjamas.
“That’s Casey. She’s having a baby, and the baby has two dads. One is Cait’s cousin. We made cookies. Did Cait give you one of those?”
She hadn’t, but no wonder. I dropped a heavy shoulder onto the doorframe, realisation dawning as my exhaustion set in.
I’d made an idiot of myself, jumping to conclusions.
Isla appeared by my side and peeked up at me. Our single-storey cottage was warm already, and my daughter smiled, relaxed and happy. Really, she should go straight to bed, but I sent her to the sofa while I took a two-minute shower.
When I’d dressed, hunger drove me to the kitchen. I found a spoon and took the cover off my bowl of food, exposing a still-warm chicken and vegetable curry with egg fried rice. I carried it to the sofa then tucked in.
It was all I could do to stop myself from groaning at the sheer deliciousness. My neighbour knew how to cook, and I owed her one huge apology.
Isla cuddled into my side, her gaze on the cartoon she’d lined up on the TV.
Her eyelids drooped, but I needed this moment with her, to make sure she was okay and to remind myself of the reason I’d turned our lives upside down.
“I’m sorry about today,” I told her.
My daughter yawned. “It was such fun. Brodie, one of the dads, taught me a card game. I’ll show it to you tomorrow.”
“One of the dads?” She’d said as much earlier, but it hadn’t registered.
“Two dads and one mum. When Cait has her baby, she’ll be just one mum, like I have only you.”
“Cait’s having a bairn?” Why didn’t she mention that? Or my boss, for that matter. He’d told me about his daughter, so I would’ve expected his niece to come up in the conversation, too.
It made sense that Cait was the go-to babysitting service.
But Isla’s eyes shuttered closed. I finished my last bites of the mouth-wateringly good meal and scooped up my bairn, her head lolling on my shoulder.
She needed her bed, but after all the events of the day, I didn’t think I’d rest so easily.
The following morning, I delivered Isla to school then jumped into my car. I had a later start today so would use the time to check our tracks.
I drove south for an hour, far from home if anyone could somehow trace me. In a supermarket, I picked up a cheap phone and SIM card, paying with cash. In the car park, I set it up and called a number I had long ago memorised.
After a couple of rings, a female voice answered. “Yes?”
“It’s me,” I said.
“Lochie! Finally.”
I almost sagged against the seat, the relief of hearing a familiar voice, and a much-loved one, unsettling me yet again.
“Aye, well, I couldnae get away to do this. Give me an update.”
“Little to report. A few people have asked where the two of ye have gone, but I’ve given each a different answer.”
“Who?”
Blair gave me a list of names—all parents of school friends of Isla’s. No one I’d specifically worry about.
I grunted appreciation. “Good. Thank ye.”
“Do ye have troubles in your new life?” my sister asked. Like me, she had a blunt tone, one inherited from our long-dead ma.
I briefly recalled using that voice on my gentle neighbour. The few times I’d spoken to Cait, even in her irritation, she’d been soft-edged and warm.
I didn’t know anyone like that.
Plus, she was pregnant, too, according to Isla. All the more reason to make good my apology.
Ahead, the supermarket entrance boasted bouquets of flowers in a display. Aye, that might help my case.
“Nothing worth mentioning. I’m hopeful we’ll get to see out the six-month contract.”
“And after that?”
“Somewhere else.” I’d keep moving for as long as it took.
“Ye keep that little lass safe, Lochinvar,” Blair ordered.
“I will. When do ye ship out?”
“Tomorrow. It’s going to be a long time before I see ye both again.”
“Email when ye can. I put a picture of ye in Isla’s room. She willnae forget her only family.”
“Not her only family, more’s the pity.”
“She’ll never know those fuckers,” I swore. “Not if it kills me to protect her from them.”
“I know. When I come back from deployment, I’ll be able to help again.”
My sister had already done enough. Between the two of us, we’d raised Isla, both holding service positions. Blair was made for action, like me. She’d watched her buddies be deployed while she took a base job, sharing parenting time with me.
With the fresh threat to Isla, it had only made sense for us to leave, freeing Blair to advance her career.
Isla mourned her aunt, I knew that, though at the same time, Blair had never tried to be her ma. My sister didn’t have a maternal bone in her body, as much as she loved her niece.
Maybe one day, we’d be safe and could settle. Perhaps I’d find someone who wanted the mother role. Who’d put up with my sorry arse.
My chest ached with a flutter of regret. Never once had I been in love, aside from the instant devotion I had to Isla when she’d been born. I couldn’t regret a minute of the past six years, though. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.
Everything my wife had asked.
“Stay safe,” I said to Blair.
“Exactly what I was going to say to you, brother. Kiss Isla from me, and see ye on the other side.”
Back at the cottages, Cait’s car was gone, so I left the bouquet by her door and headed off to work. Today, I was going over the training schedules before picking up Isla at four—a short day to make up for the long call-out last night.
I’d talk to my neighbour later.
One way or another, I’d make things right.
