Dreamlander

by Samantha Liddell

  * * *

  I grabbed the two bags of groceries from the boot and made my way around to the front steps that lead up into the cottage only to be greeted with my Scottish warrior waiting for me at the top of the steps holding a long, rolled up piece of paper that looked like an important document.

  * * *

  “Hey Scott, everything ok?” I asked as I continued walking up the steps. Scott didn’t answer but proceeded to get down on one knee as he dug deep into his pocket and brought out a little box with a ring inside it. As I stood there staring at the ring that familiar sentence went through my mind: ‘A circle has no beginning or end and is, therefore, a symbol of infinity.’ Scott was about to propose to me in order for our love to never end. Our love, the symbol of the ring he was holding, was to go on for infinity.

  * * *

  Scott kept the ring in his hand tightly while he drew my attention to the rolled up piece of paper he was holding. He finally spoke, “Letticia Little, here I present you the plans to…” he paused as he pulled down a cloth that was covering up a plaque that had been nailed up onto the wall next to the front door. It read ‘Swan’s Cottage’. He continued his announcement, “plans to extend Swan’s Cottage into four bedrooms, enough space for you and I plus Polly and Leah, and on the odd occasion Brysen. He said with a wink of his eye.

  * * *

  “So, what do you say, will you take this commitment ring from me and be my partner in crime in this life because hells bells I surely never want to lose you Letticia Little, and I want to be there for Polly and Leah also. I want to share our life’s together; I want to look after you and your girls forever.

  Ok so this wasn’t a marriage proposal at all and in a way I was glad it wasn’t as I was still married to Paul back in Australia, but instead it was a commitment promise. committing to Scott was something I could do and something I wanted to do. “Hells bells Scott, of course I will take this ring of commitment to you.

  * * *

  I was in shock, but a good shock, if there is such a thing. “Scott, you would do all of this for us?” I asked.

  * * *

  “Yes of course, and a whole lot more,” Scott said. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.

  * * *

  “Letticia are you ok, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Scott said sounding concerned.

  * * *

  “No, you didn’t, not at all Scott. These are happy tears, tears of joy and tears of infinity yeses.”

  * * *

  Just like the infinity symbol of that ring Scott was about to put on my finger. Scott was in shock now too, good shock, we decided there was such a thing after all. He couldn’t believe I had accepted his hand in commitment.

  * * *

  “Did you just say ‘yes’ Letticia?” Scott needed reassuring after all the declines he had got in our dreams.

  * * *

  “Yes, I think I just did.” I sounded just as shocked at myself. “But first I have to ask Paul if he fine with the girls moving to Scotland,” I said.

  * * *

  “Of course, Letticia, that is understandable,” Scott said.

  * * *

  “By the way, Swan’s Cottage has a nice ring to it. Smooth move there Scott,” I teased.

  * * *

  “Aye glad you like it. It has significant meaning after all. You will always be my swan and I want to love you and look after you for eternity,” Scott said with such seriousness in his voice.

  * * *

  “Well, in that case, I shall ruffle my feathers up and allow you to do so. Now let’s have a look at these plans you have drawn up for Swan’s Cottage. I hope our room does not involve a ladder to get up and down from it anymore and has four walls,” I joked.

  * * *

  “Aye, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at what Swan’s Cottage has in store for the coming year. Your very own piece of paradise in the Scottish woodlands,” Scott said.

  * * *

  I was feeling so overwhelmed with joy and so positive about what the future was going to hold, but I wasn’t allowing myself to fully fall into this life of pure happiness just yet. I had a few important phone calls to make back home before I could fully accept Scott’s offer and live happily ever after.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Calling home

  Scott had left Swan’s Cottage to meet his boss to discuss returning back to work at the hospital he had worked at in Edinburgh before moving to Australia. His boss wasn’t expecting him to return for a few more months yet, but unforeseen circumstances had caused his early return.

  This had left me some privacy to make those four very important phone calls home. I needed to call Sophie, my parents, Paul, and my kids, but now I had to work out in what order. It was almost like a chain reaction was about to take place. I had to work out the order quickly.

  Ok, so I needed to get permission from Paul first to ensure Polly and Leah could move to Scotland and that would determine if this whole situation could even take place. So, say he said yes, then I would need to call my kids to tell them the news and to see if they even wanted to make the move as if they didn’t I wouldn’t either. But if they were to say yes, I would then need to call my parents to let them know my decision, and then lastly, I would call Sophie to keep her in the loop.

  Right, I had it all sorted in my head. Paul, my children, my parents then Sophie. And in that order, I started my calls. The call to Paul ended well, Paul said yes that fine, as long as he could come to visit them as much as he wanted (tick). Polly and Leah said, “Omg mummy, yes, yes, yes, yes,” (tick). The chain was looking strong until I got to my parents.

  “Are you out of your mind Letticia, you can’t just drop everything for this man and stay in Scotland with him. You have obviously damaged your brain’s frontal lobe. You know, the part that allows one to think and make mature choices, which sadly I will have to say you are not doing so, therefore, you will need to come home so we can work on fixing that area of your brain sooner rather than later,” was mums reaction.

  “Steady on Olive,” I heard my dad say in the background.

  “Well actually, mum and dad, there is nothing wrong with my brain’s frontal lobe but thanks for that little lesson on the functioning of the brain. Please just give me your blessing,” I begged. It took a little bit more convincing that my brain was fine, plus suggesting that they two could come visit whenever they wanted, before I got their approval too (tick).

  Only one more link to this chain was to be made and it was a weak link at that. I didn’t really need Sophie’s approval. After all, she was to be moving back to London with James in the coming months as it was, this call was more or a courtesy call over anything else.

  The phone rang a few times before a soft, sad sounding voice answered, “Hello Sophie speaking.”

  “Hi Sop, it’s me, Letticia.”

  “Oh, hi Letticia,” she said before falling apart into tears.

  “Sophie what is wrong, what has happened?” I asked concerned.

  “It’s James, he wasn’t the man I thought he was, we have broken up Letticia. I’m going to head home to London in the next few days. Your parents will look after Polly and Leah for you until you get back,” she said.

  I had just talked to my parents only moments before and they hadn't mentioned any of this to me. How strange, I thought, maybe their frontal lobes weren't up to scratch either. They should have told me, that was a poor choice they made also.

  “Oh, Sophie I’m so sorry to hear that, but you know what, that James was bad news I could tell from the very start. And not just because he put me in a coma for six months, then I found out you two were dating each other, but it was more he just gave me a bad feeling deep in my gut. Anyway, mark my words, Sophie, you will meet someone in the very near future and he will be everything you have ever dreamed of.”

  Literally, I said to myself. I knew her Scottish James was out there for her somewhere. “Thanks Letticia, I do hope so,” Sophie said wit
h a bit more hope in her voice.

  “Anyway, I have a proposition for you. As you are already heading back this way in a few days, how would you feel about hand delivering me my children to Scotland? It would be a great adventure for you all and you are welcome to stay with us for as long as you need, until you are ready to move back to London that is?”

  There was a long silence as Sophie contemplated this offer. “You know what Letticia, I would love to do that. It would be good to spend some time with you, I haven’t really had the opportunity to do so for years or since we were kids even,” Sophie said.

  I, on the other hand, felt like I had just spent the last six months with Sophie as my nanny for my children while we lived in Scotland, but I had to remember that that was in my dream, and this was going to be in reality. My memories were so mixed up at the moment I often found it hard to disguise which memories of mine were from my dream and which ones were reality.

  “Well that settles it then, we will see you over here very soon. I will organise flights straight away,” I said with pure excitement. I could hear the tone in Sophie’s voice had uplifted and there was a sense of positivity, purpose, hope, and excitement coming out.

  “Sounds like a plan Letticia, and don’t worry I will get Polly and Leah to you safely,” Sophie promised.

  “You better Sophie, I’m counting on you,” I said, and with that we hung up the phone and I jumped for joy. I was starting to love my reality now over my dream. Everything was just falling into place rather nicely.

  Chapter Thirty

  Scotland bound

  Scott got home that afternoon after being out in the wild Scottish weather all day. The rain was pounding down and the wind was blowing fiercely. He looked like he had been knocked around a bit, and here I was cozy and snug in Swan’s Cottage with the fire roaring, drinking cups of tea all day long and bursting to tell him the good news.

  Scott had only just opened the door and was yet to take off his jacket, which was dripping with water leaving a puddle in the doorway, when I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Scott could see I had something of interest to tell him, “Go on then spit it out Letticia before you burst,” he said.

  “Ahhhhhhhh you will never guess what? Looks like I will be committing my life to you after all and staying right here at Swan’s Cottage with not only you but along with Polly, Leah, and Sophie.”

  Scott, forgetting how wet he was, came straight over to me hugged me, picked me up and spun me around. “That is the best news ever. Even better than the news that I got my old job back so now we can afford to build on to the cottage, which we are going to need to start straight away to fit our growing clan in,” Scott said.

  “Congratulations Scott, that is great news and of course I will look for work once the girls and I are settled,” I said. Just then Scott did the math in his head, “Polly, Leah, and Sophie, but what about James?” He asked, sounding hopeful that his thought was correct.

  “Sophie and James are no longer together,” I said.

  “Aye, thank goodness for that then, something about him just didn’t sit right with me. Well, Clan King here we come, watch out world,” Scott laughed.

  “Yes, watch out world, we come in numbers,” I replied.

  I booked Polly and Leah’s tickets to Edinburgh the day they said ‘yes’ to me on the phone and they were due to arrive in five days’ time. To say I was excited was the understatement of the year. I was beyond excited. I also was fully aware that the next five days here with Scott alone, just the two of us, was going to have to be spent wisely and we were going to need to appreciate this time before our clan arrived.

  This was going to be like the period couples have before they have children, where the world just revolves around each other; late nights, long sleep-ins, eating and drinking, partying with no real responsibility. However, instead of this period lasting a year or two, it was only going to be lasting a whole measly five days for us.

  The first night we went wild and ordered Thai take away with a glass of red. We watched a movie before falling asleep at 10 pm, and waking up at 6 am to start clearing the yard for the extensions that were going to be added on to Swan’s Cottage.

  The second night we were both so tired from all the yard work that we reheated our left-over Thai take away meals from the night before and both retired to bed at 10 pm, again in each other’s arms. We were just enjoying each other’s company, we didn’t need anything else to fulfil our wants and needs.

  The third night, however, we caved into peer pressure. One of Scott’s friends who also worked at the hospital invited Scott and I out for dinner at a new restaurant with himself and his wife. I, of course, had not packed an evening out outfit, so Bonnie lent me a nice little number, a little black dress that I only just fitted into. Not bad for a nearly-thirty-eight-year-old fitting into an eighteen-year-old's dress, I thought to myself. Scott was rather impressed himself. I did feel a bit like mutton dressed as lamb. But I decided to just go with it.

  We drove into Edinburgh at 7.30 pm and our table was booked for 8.00 pm. We wined and dined for three hours before Scott’s friend suggested checking out a popular night club. Scott and I again caved to peer pressure and accepted. We danced and drunk right into the early hours of the next morning, so it was safe to say the fourth day was spent indoors in bed nursing terrible hangovers, asking ourselves why we didn’t just say no and come straight home after dinner. Now we are wasting our very last day together as a childless couple.

  We were going to need to recover quickly though because we still had a lot to organise before our clan arrived; we needed to sort out the sleeping arrangements for one. We decided that Polly and Leah could take the loft bedroom with the double bed that they could share, and we would put a mattress out on the floor up there for Sophie to sleep on, and Scott and I would sleep on the pull-out couch. It was going to be a tight squeeze for the next month or two, but Scott ensured me the extension onto Swan’s Cottage would be completed within three months. I told him I would hold him to that.

  We both awoke on the fifth day fresh as a daisy after a solid nine hours sleep. Today was the day I was going to get to see my Polly and Leah. I leaped out of bed like it was Christmas morning but I didn’t get very far when Scott got hold of my hand and said, “And where do you think you are going, Sassenach? You do realise this is our last morning of privacy for the next few months. We need to use it wisely.”

  “Oh, do we now, and how do you suggest we do that?” I asked, fully knowing his intention.

  “By hopping back into bed and letting me have my way with you,” Scott replied.

  “Well, in that case, I better do as I’m told, Mr. King,” I said, and I leaped back into bed where for the next hour or so was filled with making passionate love to my Scottish warrior. His hands managed to cover every inch of my body, as did his lips. He took full control and pinned my hands down above my head, not allowing me to move. His toned Scottish body was on top of me as he lead the way into giving me an orgasm that was out of this world, in fact, I would have to put that one down as one of my top two of all time, I thought as I did a quick tally in my head.

  With our commitment for life made to each other now and the Swan’s Cottage extension due to start, I knew Scott would have plenty more opportunities to improve his number two ranking and aim for the number one spot on my tally that obviously was created by my un developed frontal lobe, the part of the brain that makes poor immature choices, because come to think of it, it’s not very mature to keep a tally of your best orgasms and rank each one. Maybe mum was right after all about my Frontal lobe, of course, she was, mothers always were.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Sophie’s adventure

  It was an emotional goodbye at Brisbane airport for all that were involved. My parents were saying goodbye to their two granddaughters, and my children were saying goodbye to their grandparents. They had all been very close since the beginning.

  Sophie had the job to settle everyo
ne down so suggested before their boarding calls they should all go get a goodbye ice cream to celebrate new beginnings. This turned out to be a band-aid solution. While everybody ate their ice creams the sugar rush helped to suppress their sad emotions. Once the ice cream was consumed however, the tears all started to flow again so Sophie tried another tactic.

  “You know what everyone, there is nothing wrong with showing one’s emotion or feelings. Cry away everybody, let it all out.” So that’s just what everybody did until it was time to board. Olive and Kevin were left waving their little hearts out as Sophie lead Polly and Leah on to the plane towards their new Scotland life that was ahead of them.

  Sophie got Polly and Leah onto the plane and seated. So far so good, although Sophie was nervous about the flights ahead with the responsibility of looking after two children. Doing this flight to Scotland was hard enough on your own, let alone with two children. It was a long-haul flight with a stopover in Singapore.

  The first leg to Singapore was done. The girls were glued to their screens for most of it. Sophie just hoped that the second leg would have them go to sleep. Her wish was indeed granted. Polly and Leah watched one more movie, ate their dinner, then they were out like a light on the second leg. They woke twenty minutes before landing.

  It was another overcast, rather dull looking day in Scotland when they landed, but it still had a charm of beauty. Scotland was always out to impress no matter what kind of day it was. Sophie had organised with me to get a Uber from Edinburgh airport to Scott’s place. It was a busy time of the day with peak hour traffic. Sophie had only requested one thing upon arrival at Swans cottage and that was a nice hot cup of English breakfast tea. I agreed and said it would be here ready and waiting.