The Blessed Blend

by Allison Shaw

  Callie took deep breaths of the chilled autumn air, listening to the calls of the birds and squirrels, and taking in the beauty all around her. The mountains were constant even as the seasons rolled and the years passed. Her ancestors had lived here for thousands of years, their flesh and blood part of the soil, part of the life all around. This was where she belonged, where she drew her strength from, where she found peace. Her refuge.

  With each breath she tried to calm her spirit and settle her mind. Memories of the love she had shared with Euan warred with the hurt he had caused her, and her fears of his motives for being there enshrouded all of it like a suffocating fog. He had been the first and only man she had ever loved or been with and she had been bonded to him to the marrow of her soul. Even after all of this time, after all of the hurt, there was still the residual of love amongst the pieces of her broken heart.

  Maybe it was because she saw him every time she looked at her children. Red Wolf was very much his father’s son in both appearance and manner, and some of Mountain Rose’s mannerisms, such as her laugh and the way she would shake her leg or wiggle a foot when her legs were propped up, were very much like Euan’s. Maybe she loved her children too much to truly hate their father no matter what he had done to her.

  Dinner was ready by the time they arrived at the lodge. Their mother and grandmother had fried up the fish Papa and Euan had caught, serving it with fried potatoes, cornbread, creamed corn, and a mess of collard greens. Other relatives started showing up with more food- fried chicken, rolls, homemade bread, several vegetable dishes, and desserts ranging from chess pie to blackberry cobbler to spice cake. A folding table was set up near the long dining table, both loaded with food, and the desserts were placed upon the sideboard.

  Euan and John watched as the elder members of Callie’s extended family came in. Some were more Native American in appearance while others were more Caucasian and still others almost Mediterranean. There were familiar Scottish surnames, a few of old English origin, and several that were rather unfamiliar. Awiakta, they had learned, meant Deer Eye in Cherokee. Cumbow and Niccans also came from Native American languages although the meanings had been lost over time. Mullins, Goins, Gibson, Bowlin and Collins were Irish in origin but were some of the more common surnames among the Melungeons.

  Papa’s two younger brothers came with their wives. His three surviving sisters, their husbands, and widowed brother-in-law were there. All six of Papa and Jolena’s children were present, along with three of Jolena’s siblings. A few teenagers and young children came with the adults.

  Five great-great-aunts and great-great-uncles arrived as well. There was enough shared Celtic blood and culture among these people for Euan and John to understand that this wasn’t just a social function. When the clan elders show up together, serious decisions are being made. With a sympathetic look, John put a hand on Euan’s shoulder and then patted his back.

  Everyone looked Euan over quite closely, with a bit of perusal going John’s way as well. Most offered a hand with their greeting. Others simply nodded.

  There was a bit of noise until one elderly lady entered. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned towards her. Her hair was white with age, her face beautifully wizened, her hands slightly gnarled from years of hard work, but her gray eyes were clear, her back straight, and she needed no cane to assist her as she made her way through the room. Her presence as was commanding as any queen and Euan knew she was someone of great importance to those assembled.

  She walked straight up to him and looked him over with the same keen intelligence that seemed to run in this family. Euan stood more than a foot taller than she and was easily twice her weight, yet he felt small in comparison. She nodded slightly and said, “So ye’ve finally come, young man. It’s about time.”

  Before Euan could stammer out a reply, Papa said, “Euan Wallace, this is my mother, Elizabeth Conley Robertson. Mama, this is Euan Wallace.”

  Callie had spoken often of her great-grandmother, who had been ninety-six four years ago. Elizabeth Robertson was a healer, midwife, story-teller, and local historian and genealogist. She knew every plant and its uses, every attribute of the land within a fifty-mile radius, and every family and family tree going back at least eight generations from her own and down to the most recent newborn baby. She could recall details of generations past and present that wouldn’t be found in the county records and some rarely even whispered about. There were those who thought her a witch and for good reason, as she had been raised up in a family whose women possessed a lot of secret knowledge.

  Euan offered his hand and greeted the clan matriarch respectfully. “I’m pleased t’ meet ye, Mrs. Robertson. Callie spoke often of ye.” He held his breath, wondering if she would bless or curse him.

  Granny Robertson, as most called her, took his hand gently, her eyes steady upon his. There seemed to be a power that flowed from her. Euan felt it slide up his arm and run through him. Oddly, he wasn’t afraid, just surprised. He could see in her raised eyebrow and slight smile that she knew what was happening.

  She spoke, her voice clear and strong despite its softness. “Our Callie came home with a gift from ye, and a bane as well. It remains to be seen if the bane be healed, but the gift carries on in the blood.”

  A murmur went through the assembled kinfolk and some nodded their heads. Euan was used to people speaking in riddles, which a good many traditional Scots often did, but he couldn’t quite grasp the inference in what he had just heard. Did she mean the children were the gifts and Callie’s broken heart was the bane, or was there more to it than that? He began to notice several other elderly women in the crowd looking at him with the same expression as Granny Robertson and felt some sort of connection running between them all.

  Oh, good Lord, were they witches? He had thought Callie had been joking when she said that many of the women in her family had what she called “the gift”. Maybe she had been serious. Maybe she had it as well.

  That would definitely explain some things.

  Granny turned to Papa and said, “I believe we’uns have some business to attend to, Daniel, but supper’s awaitin’.” With that, she put her hand upon Papa’s proffered arm and let him escort her to the table, where she was seated at the head.

  The family took their places, with the twins between Callie and Euan, and John next to him. Darlene prepared a small plate with a sample of each dish being served and Papa’s uncle, Abel Conley, offered a prayer over it to thank the Almighty for the meal and those assembled. The family then sat down to eat.

  The food was delicious. John and Euan bantered about how each had spent their day- Euan fishing and John splitting and stacking firewood, helping to hew logs for one of several guest cabins to be built over the winter, and talking with Jim about this and that. Once Layla and Eli had returned from school they had grilled him about Euan.

  It had been a good day for John, with his only complaint being that his hands were too big to be much good at milking a cow. “M’ wee finger be longer by half than one o’ their teats,” he said as he flexed his hands and wiggled his fingers. “An’ its nae gude tryin’ tae milk wi’ just m’ twa fingers an’ thumb.”

  Red Wolf and Mountain Rose told Callie about John swinging them about like airplanes. “Mama, he flew us around and up and down!” Mountain Rose squealed. “It was fun!”

  Red Wolf nodded. “I liked it, too,” he said. “I wish we could fly for real.”

  Callie wished she could just fly right on out of there. Knowing the purpose of this family gathering sat like a stone in her gut and the food seemed to have lost its savor. What she wouldn’t give to take a run in the woods with Brutus and the wolves, running until she was too tired to think about anything and dropped into a dreamless sleep where nothing could touch her. Maybe she would sleep until all of this was over and the world was fresh and new again.

  She sighed. Fat chance of that happening. Her luck seemed to run according to Murphy’s Law with no loop-
holes or exemptions.

  Caleb noticed her lack of appetite and gave her a pointed look. Callie narrowed her eyes and all but growled at him. When he chuckled at her, she lifted her hand with the first three fingers up and said, “Read between the lines.” Layla scolded her for being rude at the table and Callie shot her sister a seething look before offering her that same gesture.

  “You know, just because your drawers are in a wad doesn’t mean you have to take it out on the rest of us,” Layla countered. “Try being a little less bitchy, sis. You might actually like it.”

  Eli decided to ignore the unpleasant exchange and started asking John about Scotland. His view was that food and family were meant for good times shared with both in abundance. Why let a little thing like attitude spoil an opportunity for fun?

  Euan looked over at Callie, who looked as if she were going to spew fire and smoke. As she struggled to keep from venting her anger at a family meal, he tried to think of anything he could do to get her mind off on a different track. John asked her to pass him the molasses. She stared at him for a moment as her mind switched gears and then passed the jar of coffee-colored syrup to Euan, who then passed it to John.

  “Thankee,” said John in his rumbling baritone. “How d’ ye come by this stuff, Callie? It’s verra tasty on a bit o’ bread!” They had molasses in Scotland but John was also looking for a way to smooth things over.

  “We get it from a mill down in South Carolina. They’ve been milling cane since the early colonial days. Light molasses is the first step of sugar extraction, medium is the second, and black-strop is the third step.”

  “Aye,” John said, nodding. “Yer grandmother made some bread wi’ it tha’ was braw for a laird an’ served it wi’ tea when we were done wi’ the work this afternoon.”

  Callie liked molasses bread herself, especially with ginger and nuts in it. Red Wolf’s favorite cookies were ginger snaps made with fresh-grated ginger and black-strop molasses. Mountain Rose preferred oatmeal cookies with raisins, nuts, and honey. So did Papa.

  After the meal, the young folks went outside to make a bonfire for warmth and light. Layla, Eli, and their cousins would watch the little kids while the family council met inside. Caleb was asked to remain inside.

  The room was cleared and the food put away, and a large quantity of fresh coffee was brewed as Jim put more wood on the fire. Several of the chairs were placed between the fireplace and the sectional sofa.

  When the meeting started, all of the family elders were seated together by the hearth. Euan and Callie were seated together directly in front of them, which made both rather uncomfortable. Granny Robertson nodded to Papa, and he told the assembled kinfolk who Euan was and what had transpired over the past couple of days, including the conversation during their fishing trip.

  Jim described the day before that, when Euan and Callie had faced each other for the first time in four years as well as what Euan had told Jim and Darlene about his relationship with their daughter. He also mentioned their concerns that Euan might try to take the children from their mother. Caleb was asked for his input, which he gave in his usual plain manner as he spoke of his observations and concerns.

  Grandpa Conley, Granny Robertson’s brother, started the questioning, beginning with John. The big Scotsman looked a bit intimidated by all of the eyes upon him, but answered unfalteringly as he recounted everything from the day Euan had met Callie until the day they had arrived at the lodge. He winced when asked about Euan’s behavior following Callie’s departure from Scotland, embarrassed to mention his friend’s often foolish actions, especially the wenching. He gave Euan and Callie both a brief look of apology as he sat back down.

  Euan was already ashamed of himself. Hearing his behavior recounted in front of Callie’s family drove that burning stake even deeper into his heart and twisted it torturously. He looked down at his hands the whole time, his chest so tight that he could hardly breathe.

  Something caught his eye and his gaze slid over to Callie. Tears slid down her cheeks and landed softly upon her hands where they lay folded in her lap. Her jaw was clenched and her breaths were shallow. It was the first time she had heard exactly how he had led his life after that awful day when he had betrayed her trust and it was clear that he had continued that betrayal in the worst way. There was no comfort he could offer her and he dared not even try to touch her.

  If Death had offered him a way out at that moment, he would have gladly accepted it.

  Callie was called upon and questioned. She likewise recounted the day of their meeting, their relationship and her time in Scotland, what had happened the day their relationship ended, and her reasons for never mentioning any of it once she returned home. Her soul-agony flashed in her eyes, ran across her face, and radiated out from her so strongly that every person present felt it as if it were his or her own. When she spoke of her fear that Euan would take her children from her, she began to weep and there were others in the room wiping away their own tears.

  Then all eyes were upon him as Granny Robertson called his name. “Euan Wallace,” she said. “What have ye to say for y’self?”

  He stood and took a deep breath as he gathered his courage. “’Tis wha’ ‘tis an’ I canna offer excuse for it,” he finally replied, his voice softened in shame. “I was a fool an’ a coward, an’ I hae hurt her who dinna deserve it. I would ask for her forgiveness but I doona deserve e’en that.”

  “Ye told her grandfather that ye still love our Callie?” she asked, her gaze locked upon his.

  Knowing that he could hide nothing from the old woman, he nodded. “Aye, I love her. Always hae, e’en when I nae kenned it.”

  “Have ye come to take the children from her?” asked Granny Stockett, one of Papa’s aunts and second-oldest of the elders present. Her iron-gray hair, dark eyes, and black clothes gave her a severe look that truly could have convinced anyone that the woman was a bona-fide witch.

  Euan shook his head. “Nae, ma’am,” he answered. “I just want t’ get t’ ken me bairns an’ be their fathair. I hae already dealt Callie more than a lifetime o’ hurt. I wouldna do her more.”

  Granny Stockett looked at Callie. “Would ye be willin’ to let this man be a father to his young’uns if’n he has no intentions of runnin’ off with ‘em?” she asked.

  Callie’s face showed her fears plainly and she had to force herself to talk. “How could anyone trust the man to do that?” she protested. “After all that’s been said here?”

  Grandpa Conley and Grandpa MacNab conferred quietly with one another and then Grandpa MacNab spoke. “We’uns has heard that he’s been a fool and a damned fool at that, and that he hurt ye soul-deep, Callie, but we’uns ain’t seen no deceit in the man. Unless he’s one o’ them accursed few without a conscience or shred o’ moral fiber who could pull off a good act, he appears to truly regret what he did and to be sincere in his stated purpose. He’s the daddy of yore twins and deserves the chance to prove hi’self as such.”

  Callie started to lose it again and the fury flashed like lightning in her eyes. Before she could turn it loose, however, Granny Robertson called her name sharply. “Callie! Ye’ll not disgrace this family with such lack of control! Be still!” she said, her voice flowing across the room with such authority that even the two strangers among them felt the need to obey it.

  Granny Robertson locked eyes with Callie for several moments. When she spoke, her voice was clear and level. “Child, ye’re a woman with the gift of this bloodline and the burdens that come along with it. Yore children are born to this, and yore son is the first male born to it since my grandpa’s day. The time has come for ye to quit fightin’ it.” Turning her gaze to her oldest son, she ordered, “Bring them young’uns in here. They’uns has a say in this as well.”

  Papa started towards the front door but Caleb nodded and stepped outside to retrieve Red Wolf and Mountain Rose. The room was silent as the two children made their way to stand in front of the family elders. Kinfolk smiled a
nd nodded at them as they passed.

  They came to Papa and held his hands as they stood before the elders. Grandpa Conley smiled warmly at them as he asked, “Ye young’uns have met yer daddy and spent some time with him?”

  Both children nodded, their eyes wide. Even at their tender age they knew that a gathering like this was a big thing. They could feel all of the weight of it in the air and upon everyone assembled.

  “What do ye think of him?” asked Granny Stockett, her sharp dark eyes bright with interest.

  “We like him,” Mountain Rose replied.

  “We want him to stay and be our daddy,” Red Wolf added.

  “Do ye think he’s honest?” asked Granny Robertson.

  Red Wolf nodded. “Yes ma’am,” he answered. “His heart is good.”

  “And he loves Mama,” Mountain Rose said. “And she still loves him. She just doesn’t think so.” She paused, nibbling on her lower lip and then said, “I want us’uns to be a family, Granny.”

  “Ye do?” asked Granny Robertson.

  “Yes ma’am,” replied both children in unison.

  The elders studied the twins’ faces for a few moments, eyes narrowed in thought. Granny Robertson smiled and said, “We’uns will give it some thought. Now you young’uns go back outside and play for a while.”

  After the twins left, Grandpa MacNab directed Euan, John, and Callie to go sit in the kitchen while their elders discussed the matter at hand. Caleb started to leave but Papa told him to stay put. “You’re Callie’s oldest brother,” he said. “You’ll need to know what’s decided so you can see that it gets done.”

  Chapter 7:

  A Gift