The children were crying. Gaiah pushed herself out of her seat and hurried across. “Are you okay?”
They both had their arms wrapped around their mother. Their father had already released the security bar on the emergency door, and was pushing it outwards. Mrs. McCrea included Gaiah in her shepherding,
“Get your case, there’s a good girl. Come on now. Everyone move, out the door to Daddy. Bring everything, well done. No fuss, we’re all safe. Let’s go. Stay together.”
Outside, Gaiah shivered in the chilly dark. The light from the train made square shapes on the rough ground and Gaiah watched shocked passengers flit in and out of view as they emptied out from the other carriages. The embankment was not steep and most of the passengers were starting to climb up to the road, pulping fruit and vegetables from the burst crates underfoot. Traffic had stopped and headlights at various angles fractured the dark adding to the sense of unreality. Dozens of people were already on their mobile phones calling emergency services.
Gaiah carried the children's bags and followed the family as they clambered up the slippy incline. Among the stopped traffic, was an empty bus on its way back to the depot in Musselburgh. The driver opened his doors and shouted. “Come on, love, sit in here in the heat.”
Mrs. McCrea quickly ushered her brood, which now included Gaiah, onboard. Gaiah paused as she climbed in and she looked back over her shoulder into the night. Trees and bushes thrown into relief looked like alien creatures swarming in the black countryside. She was very glad to step into the welcoming warmth and light. The driver turned the heat up full and soon condensation ran down the windows blocking out the night and the packed bus became a bright cocoon on the dark road.
From her capacious bag Mrs. McCrea produced a flask of tea and some soggy sandwiches. Gaiah didn't even think of saying no. She bit into the squishy tomatoes mushed into wholemeal bread; they were perfect. The over-sweet tea spread comforting warmth throughout her body. They ate in silence but the food helped to make her feel a bit better.
The driver walked up and down the bus passing on the information as he got it. “The truck driver’s dead,” was his first announcement. Gaiah clamped her hands over her mouth and the children began to cry. Mrs. McCrea looked daggers at him. “There’s no need to be saying things like that in front of the children!”
“Sorry Missus, but them’s the facts.”
In the next hour he came back with more. The train driver was badly injured, the police and firemen were working on clearing the wreckage and getting the traffic moving. The police were also interviewing the hundred or so passengers to ascertain what they had seen or heard, and whether they needed hospital attention or wanted to continue their journey home.
The police eventually made their way to the bus. They had been looking out for Gaiah. The reason for the train's delay had been broadcast at Edinburgh station and her grandparents had already been in contact with them. She was handed a slip of paper with the name of the hotel where her grandparents would be waiting and the bus was cleared to go. Gaiah stared at the names on the page, numb. How could they possibly have anything to do with me?
The driver offered to take the survivors to Musselburgh where they could all get taxis to their respective destinations. Everyone gratefully accepted his offer. Soon the bus lumbered off into the night.
Too much had happened today. Gaiah wished it were over. I can’t believe someone has just died. It’s sickening. Somewhere, some poor family is about to have their lives ruined. This is all too crazy–first Bryant and now this crash. The little tendrils of fear began to reappear, chilling her skin and making her palms sweaty. Is it me? Am I making everything happen? Oh God, I should never have left London. She began to shiver.
Mrs. McCrea was next to her in an instant, covering her with her fleece-lined coat. “Here, take this dear, I have a big cardie as well. Accidents happen all the time love, you know. And really, we’ve been lucky, it could have been so much worse.”
Gaiah nodded. Mrs. McCrea was right. She tucked the coat around her shoulders, decided she’d been panicking about nothing, closed her eyes and allowed sleep to claim her.
She didn't stir till Mrs. McCrea was shaking her. “Come on, love, we've got a taxi for you, he’ll take you straight to your grandparents.” She bustled Gaiah and her bag out of the bus and into the waiting taxi. The children kissed her, their father shook her hand and Mrs. McCrea hugged Gaiah as if she were her own daughter heading off for parts unknown.
Gaiah felt a tug saying goodbye to this lovely family. For a moment she longed to be part of it, wished she were heading off with them, rather than to the weirdness that was her life. She waved until the street corner shut them out of sight. The taxi driver was a talkative, middle-aged man who wanted to know everything about the accident. After all, he said, he’d a bona fide survivor in his cab and that was going to be worth a drink or two at the bar later. Gaiah, nervous about her impending meeting with her grandparents, welcomed his conversation as a distraction. When there were no more details left to prise from her about the crash and the fatality, he turned his attention to telling her all he thought she should know about Scotland, from the best place for salmon fishing to where to buy kilts.
It was a short journey, only about twenty minutes at this time of night, as they approached the roundabout at Broughton Street his voice began to falter and slur and he stopped mid-sentence. “Now for real Scottish music you…have…to…”
“What?” prompted Gaiah, but there was no answer. She looked at his eyes in the mirror, they seemed unfocused. The blare of a horn drew her attention to the road. They were passing a Gothic building complete with turrets and gargoyles, but what really scared her was, they were driving directly into the oncoming traffic.
She could see the oncoming headlights swerving around them. Gaiah screamed, “STOP! STOP!” But it was as if she were alone in the car. She didn't even try to have eye contact with him; she didn't pause to plan her words, they just rang in her head. 'I must stop the car now!’ She silently fired the words at his head. He jumped like someone tasered and slammed the brakes on.
“What the...dear Jesus, how did we get here…what happened?”
A police car pulled up alongside them and an officer ordered the shaken man out of the car. His face, in the beams of passing cars, was ashen and his mouth was slack. Once it became obvious he was neither drunk nor drugged the police became concerned for his health and called for an ambulance to take him to hospital. Then they ushered a very shaken Gaiah into their car, put a blanket around her and drove her the short distance to the hotel. Gaiah stared out the window. This can’t be coincidence, it just can’t be. What in God’s name is happening?
A discreet entrance to the hotel was set in a line of fresh modern shops, but all housed in the beautiful architecture of eighteenth century buildings. The police escorted Gaiah up the stairs. The roller coaster of a day had numbed her. Oh my God, this is it. The big moment, the Reveal, the answer to one of the biggest questions of my life is only a few steps away, and all I want to do is pull a blanket over my head and sleep. However, as the door sighed open into the warm, hushed foyer, her clenched teeth and white knuckled fists betrayed a deeper level of anxiety.
A couple, sitting on a deep leather sofa opposite the reception desk, turned as she came in and sprang to their feet. They were exactly as she remembered, tall and slim, tanned and smiling and even though her grandmother’s hair was tied up in a tight bun, Gaiah could tell at a glance, she had the same troublesome mane of curls as her own.
“Gaiah!” Alasdair was the first to reach her and despite all her firm intentions to reject them, to hurt them or to shame them into abject apology, all she felt was a huge sense of belonging as he wrapped her in his arms, and kissed her forehead. Blue eyes of an intensity to match her own looked at her with love and pride.
“I can’t bear to let you go, but I’d better go and see these guys out. I’ll leave you to your Gran for a moment.” He strod
e out the door with the police officers.
Kaley approached slowly, shaking her head. “I can’t believe it, you’re so like her and yet, I can see your father too. Oh Gaiah my sweet; it seemed so long and it’s been so hard to stay away. It broke our hearts. We have so much to talk about.” She cupped Gaiah’s face in her hands and stared at her.
Gaiah felt something break open inside her, and she gasped as if she’d been holding her breath for ten years and now she could breathe again.
“Oh Gran,” she wailed and threw herself into the waiting arms. She sobbed and cried as she hadn’t done for years. Kaley held her and caressed her hair. Somehow a wad of tissues found its way into her hand. Gaiah felt Alasdair come back and put his arms around the two of them. Slowly, she hiccupped to a halt; there were no more tears, just a sense of peace.
The three of them were using tissues now, unashamedly blowing noses and wiping away tears of happiness. She felt healed and whole, being back with them. There was so much talking to be done, so many questions to be asked and answered but no more crying. The receptionist, who had watched this emotional reunion, smiled and offered more tissues, as she handed out the key card to Gaiah’s room
“Darling Gaiah, I can’t believe you’re really here,” said Kaley as she pressed the button for the lift. The three of them held hands in silence as the lift purred them up to the third floor and, in the dimmed light of the elegant corridor, her grandmother handed Gaiah a room card.“You’re safe, you’re back with us and you’re also completely exhausted, no talking tonight–just sleep. We’re right here in the room next to you.”
Gaiah nodded, her grandmother was right. Although her brain was a holding pattern of indignant questions she couldn’t muster the energy to utter them. She hugged them both and gratefully closed the door behind her as she stepped into her room. She barely looked around it, noticed only that it was peach. Peach coloured, warm, and comfortable.
She sank back on the wonderfully yielding bed. What an exhausting, awful, bizarre day. And my grandparents, I can’t believe it. But there’s no question, they feel so familiar, they really, truly are my grandparents. Where in God’s name have they been until now? It’s extraordinary. She briefly considered ringing her father to let him know she was okay, but knew she was just too wiped to deal with it. There was so much to think about. She was looking forward to a long, hot shower but her head slowly sank back into the pillow, the mobile slid out of her hand, and the warmth of the room engulfed her.
Chapter Four
A series of loud raps on the door brought Gaiah groggily to her feet in bright sunlight. Somehow, two minutes of resting her eyes had become a whole night’s sleep, slumped sideways against her pillow. She stretched and tried to work a cramp out of her neck and shoulders as she went to open the door.
Her grandmother’s face gave her an almost physical jolt. Last night, in fact all of yesterday, had been so strange she wouldn't have been surprised to find she’d hallucinated most of it, especially the grandparent part. Kaley was brisk. Wrapped in one of the hotel’s thick, white robes, she kissed Gaiah. “It’s eight thirty, see you in the breakfast room as soon as we’re all showered.” She disappeared back through the open door of her bedroom, her hair, in a thick plait, reached to her waist.
Gaiah's brain was in overdrive. It is them. How can it be? Where were they? What am I going to say? What are they going to say? She found it hard to think at all with so many questions were bouncing around in her head. A shower cap was all she took from the shelf full of scented lotions and products. Urgency was vying with nerves as she rushed her shower. She pulled her crumpled clothes out of her bag. Yet again, she was sorry at the fit of pique that had made her throw such an odd assortment into her bag. She picked out the best; jeans and a midnight blue t-shirt. There was no need to hide her hair now, so she pulled it back into a loose pony tail.
The mirror showed her someone she had never seen before. Apart from the still slightly red eyes, there was a tall, slim, young woman with a great figure and fabulous hair! She had never allowed herself to stand so tall and she’d never worn this t-shirt without a baggy sweatshirt, but most of all it was the expression that was different. The anxious, insecure look and the scowl that said leave me alone, were gone and her wide mouth was almost smiling instead of being compressed into a thin line.
She shook her head at her reflection. Weird; this time a few days ago I was fighting off bullies in school, now I’m in Scotland and my grandparents are actually waiting downstairs for me. The thought threatened to turn her legs to water so she left the room before she lost her nerve.
Following the inviting smell of sausages and coffee downstairs, she was torn between excitement and mounting indignation at their treatment of her. God, am I ready for this?
The bright, airy breakfast room over-looked the Scott monument and the Princess Street Gardens. Her grandparents, spotlit by the sun were sitting at a table by the window. Overcome by nerves, she delayed her approach to them, stopping at the heavily laden buffet table. She paused to heap her plate with yellow, creamy eggs, bacon and toast and asked for a pot of coffee to be brought to the table. Her palms were clammy and her breathing fast as she approached them. Last night they had the advantage, I was so tired and bewildered that the mere sight of them reduced me to a blubbering wreck. No way am I going to let that happen today. Today, I’m going to get answers.
She pulled out a chair next to her grandmother, amused to see that their plates were piled as high as hers–obviously a healthy appetite ran in the family. She looked at those two familiar faces and took a breath. “Where the hell were you for the last ten years?” The angry words burst unbidden out of her mouth.
They both looked at her calmly. “Later Gaiah, later,” replied Alasdair. “Honestly, we need hours of peace and privacy to talk, this is not the place.”
His words were immediately borne out by the friendly waitress, who came to serve Gaiah’s coffee and stayed to quiz them on their thoughts on Edinburgh. Gaiah knew he was right; this was not the place, and there would be time soon enough.
While they ate, Kaley laid out their plans. “First, some shopping. I could see that you don’t have half enough clothes with you. And then we’ll have a few uninterrupted hours in the car for explanations while we drive to Inverness.”
An hour later they were checked out of the hotel and shopping in the Princes Mall. Gaiah felt like the winning contestant on some TV show. Kaley encouraged Gaiah to splurge, and insisted on proffering her own platinum credit card. Gaiah couldn't keep a grin from her face as she walked around the shops. It was so wonderful, no matter what, to be out like this, shopping with her grandmother. It was unbelievable, something, she had never thought could happen.
Gaiah put her bags down to try on a red P.V.C. rain parker and twirled in front of a mirror. She threw a comment over her shoulder at Kaley, “What do you think?”
From behind her came an immediate answer. “I think it really suits you, but I can tell by your coloring that this Scottish weather won’t. I hope you’re not thinking of staying?”
Frowning, Gaiah whirled around. A tall, bulky guy, leaning against a pillar was scrutinizing her. She was at a complete loss as to what to say. Did she know him? His face, from what little of it she could see behind the swathe of his scarf, looked sallow and serious. To her annoyance, her face flushed, as emerald eyes met hers. Kaley called her from two aisles away, and when she turned back he was gone. Weirdo! She put it to the back of her mind as she was swept off next for shoes–heels and flats–and boots–both sturdy and dressy–until finally Kaley was satisfied that Gaiah would survive in the wilds of Craigphadraig for a while.
Alasdair met them and helped bring their shopping to the car. Kaley slipped into the back seat next to Gaiah. The car turned into Broughton Street. Gaiah shuddered as she remembered last night and the glassy eyes of the taxi driver when he drove her into the oncoming traffic. She whispered, “That driver almost killed us both just here.”<
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Kaley nodded. “We know. Our hearts were in our mouths the whole time you were travelling up and we’re so grateful that you got safely through to us.”
Hearts in their mouths? Jeez, it was only a trip from London, though given all that happened, they weren’t wrong. They were turning onto the M90. The signpost caught her attention: ‘Inverness 158 miles’. Okay, this is it. She leaned forward and said forcefully, “Now, let’s talk. You owe me a darn good explanation.”
Alasdair turned his head slightly and glanced back at Kaley. His gaze returned to the road but the crinkles at the side of his eyes betrayed a small smile as he said, “I’m sure a Ford Focus is not the best setting for such mighty revelations, but I don’t think you’re going to sit happily talking about the weather while we spend three hours driving home. So, here goes.”
Kaley held her hand out and Gaiah took it. The long fingers were soft and cool in her hand.
Alasdair took a deep breath and squared himself in the driver seat. “First of all, you have to know that we love you dearly, we always have, and second, that we never deserted you, we had to stay away to keep you safe.”
Gaiah spluttered. “Keep me safe? If you knew how awful it was, how it tore me apart…all those years...”
“Yes, safe. Away from us. We couldn't be seen to have any interest in you at all. You see Gaiah, we’re not really like other people. In fact, we’re not like them at all.” Kaley twisted in her seat to watch Gaiah’s face better. Alasdair continued, “There’s no easy way to say this so I’ll just start. You’ve heard of dimensions, right?”
Gaiah nodded.
“Well, you know the basic three dimensions, length, width and height. These are called the physical dimensions. And there’s also time, that is considered a dimension too.”
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