Saving Nathaniel (40 page)

'How long has she been gone?'

'About six or seven hours…maybe more.'

'What took you so long?'

'I've had a few…problems of my own.'

She opened the door wide, inviting him to enter. 'You'd better come in.' She ushered him into the sitting room and as he passed by her, she could not help but notice a strong, unusual smell. Powder residue from the shotgun blast had settled on him.

'Do you have any idea where she could be?' he said. 'Any at all?'

'No, none, but…'

'I'm worried, Rebecca. She walked out this morning saying she needed some air and she didn't come back.'

She motioned for him to sit down and he sank into the easy chair, cocooned by too many cushions. 'Can I get you something? Tea? Something stronger?'

'No thanks. Does Meg have a mobile? Can you call her?'

'No. She doesn't like mobile phones. She's never had one.'

She sat on the sofa and took a good look at him. He looked tense and anxious and tapped his hands restlessly on his knees. His eyes looked swollen and red rimmed, as if something had been irritating them.

'Where the hell is she?' he said.

'I don't know, but if she's in trouble, someone would have called already. No-one has, so she must be fine.'

He began to drum his fingers again. 'Oh Christ, where in hell can she be?'

'Calm down, Mr Mackie, I'm sure she's fine. She'll come home soon.'

He stood up and began to pace, clenching and unclenching his hands as he strode up and down the room. 'I should go back home. If she goes back there and I'm not…'

'Then she'll come here,' Rebecca said calmly, as he trod back and forth over the rug. 'There's nowhere else for her to go. Tell me what happened, did you have a fight?'

'No…sort of…aye…I think so.'

'You don't sound so sure. Did you upset her?'

He stopped walking and rubbed his hand over his brow. 'I must have…aye…aye I think I did.'

'Well that's it then! A typical Megan reaction. She'll have found somewhere to sit and cry and sort herself out. She's done it before.'

He looked at the clock on the mantle. 'But she's been gone so long.'

'She stayed away overnight once and we had no idea where she was.'

'Why hasn't she called?'

'Because that's just her way, she won't want to talk to anyone. It's like the nursery rhyme; 'leave her alone and she'll come home'. What did you fight about?'

He resumed his frantic striding. 'I asked her to marry me,' he said.

Rebecca gaped at him. 'You didn't? Bloody hell!'

'That was more or less her reaction.'

'So what did she say?'

'She turned me down flat and walked out…and I haven't seen her since.'

Despite her hatred for Nat, Rebecca felt a degree of sympathy for him. He was obviously deeply concerned for Megan's welfare. The very fact he was striding up and down her sitting room in a state of grim agitation gave her more than a twinge of apprehension that, despite Megan's habitual desire for solitude in a time of crisis, something serious could have happened to her.

Their argument was immediately cast aside as an irrelevance. Her sister's safety held a higher priority than a tiff over a man, even if it was a man she abhorred with a passion, and now, his treading her carpet was beginning to irritate her. 'Will you sit down please, Mr Mackie. You're making me dizzy.'

He apologised and re-took his seat in the chair.

'Don't worry. She'll be okay. I guarantee it.' She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. 'I'll make us some tea while we wait.'

She went into the kitchen leaving him sitting alone in the lounge. While she waited for the kettle to boil, she made a series of quick, enquiring phone calls.

None of their friends or acquaintances had seen Megan.

Neither she nor Nat noticed the lights of the taxi drawing up outside.

Chapter 39

The accident had left her shaken and confused. She wanted to go home - but where was that now? Rebecca had thrown her out of the cottage, and Nat might not want to see her at Struan.

'Where to, hen?' asked the taxi driver.

'Rose Cottage on Langdon Road?'

During the ten minute ride she thought about what she was going to do next. Nat deserved an explanation for her prolonged absence and he would get it, but first she would go home, freshen up and change her clothes. She would then plead to borrow Rebecca's Volkswagen for a few hours.

The taxi pulled up outside Rose Cottage and she paid the fare. Closing the garden gate, she glanced across the street. She felt her stomach turn over when she saw Nat's Range Rover parked under the street lamp.

'What is he doing here?'

She slipped silently through the kitchen door. She could hear voices; first Rebecca's and then Nat's. She heard her name mentioned.

'He's talking to Rebecca…they're talking about me.'

The door to the sitting room stood ajar and she sidled up to it and eavesdropped.

'Megan's independent, she always has been,' Rebecca said.

'I know,' said Nat. 'It's one of the reasons I'm so fond of her.'

'She's had some very tough times in her life, Mr Mackie. She's been used and abused more times than I can count. When her husband cheated on her for about the millionth time, she finally confronted him. He didn't appreciate her complaint. He knocked seven bells out of her.'

'He beat her up…she never said…'

'She wouldn't. Evan was very handy with his fists, especially when he'd had a few drinks inside him. He was trouble even when he hadn't. I think he just enjoyed bashing her around.'

'So why did she marry him in the first place?'

Rebecca sighed. 'Because he pitched her a tale of woe and she fell for it. She thought marrying him could make everything alright for him. It turned out to be the biggest mistake of her life. It almost cost her her life.'

'How do you mean?'

'One night he came home legless after a bender. She said something he didn't like and he gave her such a severe kicking he fractured her pelvis and ruptured her uterus. She had to have an emergency hysterectomy and she almost bled to death on the operating table.'

'That's why she can't have children? So what happened…did he get punished…go to prison?'

'Nothing happened. She wouldn't press charges and he got away Scot free. She put up with him for another six months or so, took another beating and we haven't heard anything of him since.'

Nat shook his head, sickened. 'I didn't know any of this. Why didn't she tell me? Why…why couldn't she confide in me?'

'Probably because she thought you had enough on your plate already and because she thought it more important to help you.'

He put his face into his hands, traumatised by the catalogue of dreadful disclosures.

'While all this was going on, of course,' Rebecca continued, 'she had to take care of Dad when it became obvious he couldn't look after himself properly any more. I'd already made the break here by then, so she took it on herself to look after him. She moved him into her home. He took it over and treated her like a slave. He made her life a misery. Over the last six years, Meggie has, not to put too fine a point on it, Mr Mackie, been wading knee deep in an ocean of crap.'

Nat listened, enthralled and appalled. 'I had no idea, my poor, lovely Meg.'

'Enough! Don't tell him any more, Becky, please.' Megan sent out the silent plea to her sister. She desperately wanted to throw open the door and march into the room and prevent her relating the horrors from her past, but she found herself unable to move, frozen in place at her listening post. She could only lean her head against the doorframe and let them carry on.

'Megan has a heart of gold and a soft nature, Mr Mackie,' continued Rebecca, unaware of Megan's presence only ten feet away. 'She can't help it. No matter what personal cost to her, she always has to take care of everything. She always has to make everything and everyone…'

'…better?'

'Yes. And because of it she's always been open to exploitation. She seems as tough as old army boots on the outside, but that's just a sham. Inside she's as soft as marshmallow.'

'And people take advantage of her?'

'All the time, but she just can't see it.'

'I'm not taking advantage of her, I'm truly not.'

'I believe you.'

Tears silently ran down Megan's face.

'The one thing she could never do,' Rebecca said, 'was find a decent man to take care of her. She attracted needy pathetic sorts that used her up and then tossed her aside like a dirty rag when they went home to their wives. She needs a good man she can rely on.'

'She thinks I'm needy,' he said. 'She thinks I'm weak and pathetic. I'm not good for her. I'm not strong enough to look after her. That's why she turned me down isn't it?'

'I couldn't say, but I'm sure she had her reasons. You both have your fair share of baggage to contend with.'

'Aye, some bags heavier than others.'

'And I know she thinks you're a bit…how shall I put it, lonely and…vulnerable.'

'She might be right.'

There was a brief lull in the conversation. Megan nudged the door open a touch to see more. She saw Nat leaning forward in the chair, his elbows on his knees. He wiped his hands over his face in the gesture that always betrayed his angst.

Rebecca was out of sight on the sofa, but she could well imagine her perched on the edge of the seat, her hands gesticulating as she made her points.

'I have to tell you the God's honest truth, Mr Mackie,' Rebecca said. 'I don't like you, I never have. Megan's made some shitty choices in her life and I thought she was making another one getting involved with you. I told her so and we had a huge fight about it this morning.'

'Is that why you quit Struan?'

'Yes'

'I'm sorry.'

'So am I, because I was wrong, and you don't know how lucky you are. Megan is soft-hearted, that's her way, but I believe she's very much in love with you and because she is, she will always be loyal to you. She won't cheat on you. She will never, ever walk away from you if you are in trouble. You will have to leave her.'

'I won't do that…I couldn't. Megan's done everything for me. From the first day she set foot in Struan, everything changed…I changed.'

'You do love her, don't you, Mr Mackie? Swear to me.'

'Aye…aye I do…I swear.'

Megan's tears were flowing freely and she covered her mouth to stifle her sobs. At that moment, she could not have loved two people more than she loved Nat and Rebecca.

'Then forget marriage,' Rebecca said. 'Forget legalities, certificates and rings…you don't need them. Live together, enjoy each other and be happy.'

'I want to be happy with her...married or not I can't imagine life without her. She's my guardian angel. She saved me. She turned my life around and taught me that life is worth the effort again. I won't live without her...I don't think I can.'

'Have you told her this?'

He shook his head, shamefully. 'No. Not really, not in so many words.'

'So bloody well do it!' she cried. 'When she gets back, and she will come back, tell her for crying out loud.'

'She won't believe me,' he argued. 'She'll think I'm just trying to sway her.'

'Are you?'

'No…absolutely not.'

'It's not too late,' Rebecca insisted. 'I know her. When she's calmed down, she'll be ready to listen. You probably caught her on the hop, she doesn't like that. She likes to be in control.'

'Tell me about it.'

'Do it gently, tell her how you feel…and do not lie.'

'I won't...'

'But I give you a word of warning, Mr Mackie…' Her tone became low and threatening and Nat, uneasy with it, raised his head to look into her sharp, grey eyes. 'If I hear so much as a rumour that you've caused her any grief or God forbid, laid a finger on her, I swear to you I'll hunt you down and I'll shoot you with your own gun.'

'And I'll stand there and let you do it,' he said. 'I love her Rebecca. I won't hurt her, you have my word.'

Unable to bear listening to any more, Megan dried her eyes and face on her sleeve and pushed the door fully open, making her presence known. Both turned to look at her and their faces reflected first their surprise at her presence, and then shock at her appearance.

'Jesus Christ! What the hell happened to you?' Rebecca rushed to her sister's side; Nat was already there.

Her face now showed the result of the assault by the car's airbag. The skin around her right eye had swollen and began to show the first bloom of black and purple bruising. The eye itself was bloodshot. She had angry red chemical and friction burns on her forehead and cheek, and the right side of her mouth was bruised with a small cut on her lip.

'I had a bit of a bump,' she said, sheepishly.