‘You read…’
‘We hope you don’t mind.’
‘No, but…’
‘But they’re part of who you are,’ he said. ‘Part of the whole. Misty, we tried to love only the part of you that I wanted. That was so dumb it doesn’t bear thinking of. I’m hoping against hope that it’s not too late to let me repair the damage. I’m hoping it’s not too late to tell you that I love all of you, without reservations. That Bailey and I fell in love with Misty the schoolteacher, Misty the dog-lover, Misty the sailor. But we want more. We want Misty the traveller. Misty the adventurer.’ He hesitated. ‘And… And Misty, my wife?’
‘Oh, Nick…’
‘And Misty the mother,’ Bailey piped up from behind. ‘When we talked about this at home…Dad, you said Misty the mother. You said let’s come over here and see if we can make Misty love us. Let’s come over here and see if we can get Misty to teach me how to make scrapbooks. But I’ve already started,’ he said proudly. ‘I have a picture of a motorbike on the first page.’
‘A motorbike,’ Misty said faintly. ‘Aren’t they dangerous?’
‘Yes,’ Bailey said, peeping a smile. ‘And they’re noisy. Like balloons.’
She smiled back. She wasn’t sure how she managed to smile. She believed there were tears slipping down her cheeks.
Tears? Who felt like crying now?
‘We have a tour mapped out,’ Nick said. He reached a hand towards her and then pulled it back again. As if he was afraid to touch-as if she might turn and flee if he did. ‘Santorini, Mykonos, the Cyclades Islands.’
‘They’re the ones on your list but Dad says we can do more,’ Bailey said. ’Cos Mahelkee is a smaller boat. She can go into lots of places big boats can’t go. Dad showed me on the Internet-there’s beaches and beaches and beaches. There’s even places where Ketchup and Took can get off. They can’t get off here because of…qu… Dad, what is it?’
‘Quarantine,’ Nick said, his eyes not leaving Misty’s face. ‘We had a friend sail Mahelkee here, and Ketchup and Took flew with us. Fred’s given them every inoculation they need. If they stay on the boat when there’s any restrictions then they can go with us wherever we want.’
‘You’ve brought the dogs?’
‘Family,’ he said diffidently. ‘They didn’t want to stay at home.’
‘You’ve brought two stray dogs to Greece?’
‘Their inoculations will cover them for almost every place on your list. There’s a couple of places they can’t go, but Rose and Bill will look after them then.’
‘Rose and Bill?’
‘Isabelle’s parents,’ he said, and there was a tension in his voice that said he wasn’t sure if he was stepping over some invisible line with this. ‘They’ve been desperate to help since Isabelle died. They love Bailey. We’ve sort of…I’ve sort of backed off from them, but they’re lovely people. They’re Bailey’s grandparents. I know they’ll like you.’
‘And they have a really big boat,’ Bailey said. ‘So they can look after Took and Ketchup every time we go and have adventures and then we can come back and get them. And Took’s even learned to swim. Dad went swimming yesterday and Took jumped right in and swam as well-and they already know how to use their sand tray.’
‘How long have you been here?’ she asked faintly.
‘Four days,’ Nick said. ‘Waiting for you.’
‘Four days…’
‘We’ll wait for a year if we must. If you really want to do your list alone. Only we’d very much like to do it with you.’
‘I want to see snow buntings,’ Bailey said.
Oh, help. She was really crying now. She was crying and crying, and an elderly woman cast her a sideways look and stopped.
‘Are you okay, dear?’ she said. ‘Is this man annoying you? Can I get my husband to carry your bags aboard?’
‘I…’ She had to pull herself together. Somehow. She sniffed and sniffed again. ‘I’m fine,’ she managed. ‘I’m really fine. This gentleman’s not annoying me at all. In fact…’ She took a deep breath. Regrouped. Cast a last look at a big white fibreglass boat that was no longer about to carry her to her dreams.
‘In fact, I might have found someone to carry my bags for me,’ she managed, and she smiled. And then she smiled and smiled, and before the elderly lady knew what hit her she reached out and hugged her. ‘But thank you for offering. I love it that you offered your husband, but I believe I might just have found my own.’
‘You mean you’ll let us join you?’ Nick asked and the whole world held its breath.
Her world settled. Her heart started beating again. She was standing before the man she loved with all her heart, and her list was waiting.
‘Why, yes,’ she said as he reached for her and beside her an extremely astonished elderly lady started to smile as well. ‘Why, yes, I believe I will.’
Sunrise.
Bailey was still in bed, deeply asleep. He’d had a really big day yesterday, trudging gamely up the sides of the hills of Tulloch. He’d seen snow buntings. He’d giggled and run and been every inch the child he should be.
He seemed younger now than he’d been twelve months ago. That was great. It was how it should be. He was confident and happy. If he woke now, he had his dogs on his bed and the lovely lady who ran their bed and breakfast overlooking the loch would reassure him that Dad and Misty would soon be home.
But not yet. Bailey might have seen a snow bunting but Misty wanted to hear them, and there wasn’t a lot of listening to be had with a chattering seven-year-old. So they’d crept away at dawn, rugged up, because even in summer the Highlands could be cool and misty.
They walked side by side up the scree, sometimes hand in hand, steadying each other, sometimes coming close, hugging, then clambering the tricky bits apart…and then coming together again as they intended coming together for the rest of their lives.
They reached the point the landlady had suggested. They sank into a bed of heather-not so soft as Misty had imagined-she did need to keep adjusting these dreams-and they watched the sun rise over the distant peaks.
In silence. Apart from the snow buntings.
It was the best…
Where had she read the words… ‘It’s not how many breaths you take; it’s how often your breath is taken away’?
Her breath was taken away now. She was lying in heather on a Scottish hillside, listening to the birds she’d read about for so long, beside the man she loved. Her husband.
They’d married in Greece, on the Isle of Lindos. In an ancient temple overlooking the Aegean Sea. Lindos hadn’t been on her list but there’d been a few wonderful additions to her list and there were more to come.
‘Does this place come up to scratch?’ Nick asked her as the sun rose higher and the tangerine blush faded to the cool, clear grey of the day. ‘Can we put a tick beside this one?’
‘Yep,’ she said and rolled happily into his arms. ‘Yes, we can. Definitely a tick. Or maybe a scratch is a better description. Oh, Nick, I love you.’
‘I love you, too,’ he said and he kissed her long and wondrously and they clung and held-two lovers finding their dreams together. ‘You want to go back to bed?’ he asked as the kiss finally ended and she knew by the passion in his voice what he wanted-what they both wanted right now.
‘Wuss,’ she said. ‘Just because heather’s a bit scratchy.’
‘A lot scratchy. Double bed back at the house. Pillows. More pillows. Lovely, soft quilt.’
‘Take your coat off,’ she ordered. ‘Heather. More heather. Lovely soft coat.’
‘Wicked woman. Someone might see.’
‘We’re the only people in the world,’ she said and kissed him again. ‘Don’t you know?’
‘We’re not, you know,’ he said and held her close. ‘Misty, it’s almost time we went home.’