Brave Faces

by Mary Arden

  I told Duncan that I was going to get into bed and warm it up for us, but unfortunately for my husband, I was now so relaxed that as soon as I got into bed, I fell fast asleep before he had even got out of the bath.

  I woke at dawn and noticed that it was quite light outside already. Duncan must have pulled one of the curtains open in the night perhaps to let in some fresh air. It felt strange to see him sleeping next to me and after gazing at him for a few seconds I decided to snuggle up close to his body. His skin felt lovely and warm and then I realised he was naked. I had forgotten that he had told me that he preferred to sleep with nothing on. Suddenly he turned on his back and after checking that he was still fast asleep my curiosity got the better of me and I lifted the bedclothes to have a closer look at his willy. Very gently I touched it with my finger and then got the shock of my life. It moved! It must have a life all of its own I thought. I was fascinated and touched it again to see what would happen. This time I let out a loud gasp, as I now knew that what Jane had told me was true. Chipolatas really can turn into German sausages!

  ‘Good morning darling!’ Duncan said with a huge grin on his face.

  As I emerged from under the sheet, I felt so embarrassed that for a moment I was speechless but Duncan just kissed me tenderly and then without another word, took off my nightdress and started to kiss me all over my body. I soon found myself pressing myself closer and closer to him. Duncan whispered that I was to tell him to stop if he was hurting me. When he finally entered me, I let out a little gasp but then suddenly my body yielded and we were joined together for the first time. He moved very gently to start with but as I responded he became more and more passionate and then I seemed to lose all my senses and experienced a sensation that I had never even thought was possible. He then shuddered and collapsed on top of me.

  ‘Oh Duncan,’ I cried out, ‘why didn’t we do this before?’

  CHAPTER 16

  1944

  We spent a lot of time in bed making love the next day and by the evening we were feeling very hungry. While we were getting dressed for dinner, Duncan watched me attaching my suspenders to my stockings, but that wasn’t such a good idea as it got him going again and soon one thing lead to another and we were late for dinner. He was still buckling up his sporran around his waist, as we hurried down the stairs to the dining room, which made us both giggle, and when the other guests looked up from their meals it was obvious that they all knew exactly what we had been up to.

  After dinner, we decided to play chess and, much to Duncan’s disgust, I beat him. He made the poor excuse that his eyes were playing up. ‘It must be all this love making. It’s making my eyes squint and I can’t see properly!’

  ‘Well, we’d better not make love anymore then,’ I teased.

  ‘No, wait a minute,’ he said grinning, ‘I can see again. It’s a miracle!’

  Before we went to bed that night, Duncan suggested that we go for a walk in the forest the following morning. I suggested that we could go fishing instead, which wouldn’t involve walking quite as far. Duncan was delighted with the idea, as it would give him a chance to try out his new flies.

  When we got off the bus at Blair Athol, Duncan checked with the driver that we would be able to get the return bus from the same spot later that afternoon and once he was reassured that we could, we started to walk to the river. We were heavily laden because, as well as two fishing rods, a bag and a net, we also had to carry our picnic lunch, a thermos and a jacket each, in case the weather suddenly turned cooler.

  After walking for twenty minutes, we found an open grassy area, which Duncan said would be perfect spot to learn to cast without getting caught up in the bushes. He was a very patient teacher and let me cast again and again until I got the hang of it. It seemed quite easy to start with, but he told me that he was only letting me use a short line while I was learning to cast, and now he wanted me to pull out more line. I then realised how much harder it was with a longer line and immediately got it caught in a branch behind me, as I attempted a rather ambitious cast. Duncan told me to persevere and after another dozen or so attempts, I finally managed to swing the line in a lovely arc through the air. It felt very satisfying even though I never actually cast my fly anywhere near where I had been aiming and knew that I was unlikely to catch anything. I told Duncan that having him standing so close to me was putting me off and I made a complete hash of the next cast, which proved the point. I then suggested that he go further up stream to enjoy some fishing while I practised by myself.

  ‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’ Duncan asked, thinking I might just be being polite knowing that he was desperate to start fishing himself.

  ‘Absolutely,’ I insisted, ‘I can always sunbathe if I get bored.’

  ‘Bored!’ Duncan gasped. ‘How could you possibly get bored?’

  I wasn’t going to spoil his day by giving him my list of reasons, so just blew him a kiss and wished him luck. Waving cheerfully, Duncan took himself upstream and I continued trying to cast again and again, thinking that once he was completely out of view I would sit down and read my book for a while.

  Suddenly, I noticed a tiny ripple on the other side of the river where the water had been very still before. If I were a fish, I thought, that is exactly where I would have a siesta out of the sunlight and somewhere quiet. I held my breath and cast as far as I could reach, but the fly landed several feet too short, so the next time I let out a bit more line and, taking a deep breath, I cast again. This time to my amazement it reached exactly where I had been aiming for. A whisper of wind then moved my fly a quarter of an inch on the surface and then without any warning I felt a violent tug on the line, which bit into my hands and hurt. I then let out a gasp, as I saw a fish leap out of the water.

  ‘I’ve caught a fish!’ I screamed, hoping Duncan would come and help me, and then noticed the rod was starting to bend, ‘No, it’s not a fish it’s a bloody whale!’ I yelled.

  I was now up to my knees in the water and my arms were beginning to ache. It was cold and wet and I felt as though I was being pulled towards the fish rather than the other way around. For a moment I was tempted to let go of the rod, but then decided I owed it to Duncan to at least try and bring this damn fish to the shore. As I tried to reel in the line as fast as I could, the fish suddenly leapt out of the river, and I could see that it was a decent sized salmon. I let out a piercing scream, which Duncan must have heard from wherever he was, as he was now running towards me to see what was going on.

  ‘Well done that girl!’ he yelled, before instructing me on what to do next. ‘Hold on as tight as you can. Don’t let him go.’

  ‘Duncan! Don’t just stand there, help me!’ I begged.

  Duncan now realised that he had left the landing net by his rod. ‘I am going to go and get the net,’ he told me, ‘so keep playing the fish until I get back.’

  ‘I don’t want to play with a bloody fish!’ I said. Duncan wasn’t there to hear me but in less than a minute he was back by my side and when I asked him to take over the rod he said, ‘No my girl, it’s your fish and you can land it yourself, but I will help you.’

  Seeing that I was about to give up he then added, ‘Think how you can boast to your family that you caught a whopper on your first attempt at fly fishing.’

  When the fish leapt out of the water again, I could see that it was indeed a whopper, so now, spurred on by my husband’s enthusiasm I held on for dear life. Duncan took off his shoes and rolled up his trouser legs before wading into the river, and then told me to walk back towards the bank and to reel in the fish very gently.

  ‘Slowly does it darling,’ Duncan said, as he edged closer and closer to me. Suddenly the salmon began to thrash about in the net and as Duncan raised it above the water to get a better look at our catch he exclaimed, ‘Well I never, this is one of the biggest salmon I have seen in a long time, you clever girl!’

  Duncan gave me a very passionate kiss and put an arm around me to hold me close to
him, and then realising that I was both wet and cold, he helped me get back to the bank. ‘Why not take off your wet clothes and put on my shirt instead?’ Duncan suggested, as he took out his penknife and removed the hook from the salmon’s mouth. Having put the poor fish out of its misery, he then held it up and said, ‘A fishy feast, special courtesy of Mrs Ogilvie.’

  As I started to strip off my wet clothes Duncan took off his shirt and under vest and suggested that I dry myself with his vest and then put on his shirt while he hung my wet things on a tree, ‘The sun and wind will soon dry them,’ he assured me.

  As he placed my clothes carefully over a couple of low branches, I remembered that we had brought a thermos of hot tea with us, so I started to pour some into the thermos top, which acted as a cup. When I looked up, I noticed that Duncan was staring at me and grinning.

  ‘What’s so funny?’ I asked.

  ‘You look enchanting in my shirt but it doesn’t leave much to the imagination!’ he chuckled.

  Suddenly realising that his trousers were soaking wet, Duncan took them off and hung them on a branch near my things. Now, wearing only his underpants, he grabbed his fishing bag, put the strap over his neck, and then placed the bag in front of his private parts like a makeshift sporran. Then he put his hands on his hips like a fashion model, which made me roar with laughter.

  ‘How do you like my new outfit?’ he asked, ‘It’s what all the best Scotsmen are wearing this season.’

  Duncan then sat down next to me, putting his bag in his lap like a portable table and started tucking into one of the sandwiches we had brought with us, as though eating a picnic practically naked was an everyday occurrence. It made me giggle so much that I suddenly needed to pee, so I popped behind a bush.

  ‘Mind where you go, there are adders around here,’ Duncan called out.

  ‘Yes I know, I think I saw one under your bag!’ I teased.

  I then lay down on the grass intending to have a rest, but in doing so, Duncan’s shirt must have fallen open revealing more of me than I realised, because the next thing I knew we were making love in the open air.

  I thought how lovely it had been to make love out of doors with the sun on our bodies and I was just thinking how nice it would be to do it again when Duncan said, ‘Darling, I think we have been a bit silly not to take precautions. I think that from now on we’d better be more careful.’

  While our clothes were drying, Duncan decided to continue fishing and when he came back I saw that he had caught a couple of good-sized trout.

  We then walked back to the bus stop and fortunately didn’t have to wait too long for it to arrive. Unbelievably it was the same bus driver who had dropped us off earlier, but before he would continue driving he insisted on seeing what we had caught. When Duncan opened the fishing bag and showed off our catch, all the other passengers wanted to see them as well. When we finally got back to the hotel Duncan suggested that it might be better if we went in via the back door, through the kitchen, so that we could leave the fish there.

  Before we went to bed that night, I noticed that I had blisters on the palms of my hands, which I must have got while reeling in my salmon. Duncan kissed them better, promising to buy me some antiseptic dressings the next day. We were both so tired that we just fell asleep in each other’s arms and slept so soundly that we were still in the same position when we woke up.

  After breakfast, we caught the bus to Pitlochry, where we decided to do some shopping separately. I told Duncan that while he was buying some contraceptives at the chemist, not to forget the antiseptic dressings, and that I was going to look for some small presents to give his family. We agreed to meet back at the bus stop in thirty minutes. While we were sitting on a bench waiting for the bus to arrive, Duncan suddenly leapt to his feet and ran across the road to greet a very aristocratic looking man who he brought over to introduce to me.

  ‘Mary this is Sir Graham Ferguson,’ he said and then explained that Sir Graham was the father of an old friend of his called Hamish. We chatted for a moment or two and then Sir Graham told us that his gamekeeper had told him that morning that he had spotted one of the biggest stags that he has ever seen in his life.

  ‘How would you like to bring your lovely new wife deer stalking with me tomorrow?’ Sir Graham asked.

  Duncan said that we would love to come, and then Sir Graham promised to ring us at our hotel that evening to confirm what time to meet and where. Duncan told me that Hamish was a prisoner of war but that they didn’t know where he was being held captive and hadn’t heard from him in a long time. He was obviously feeling sad thinking about his friend, so when we got on the bus, I just held onto his hand and said nothing all the way back to the hotel.

  Sir Graham called Duncan that evening to say that he would pick us up from the bus stop in Pitlochry at ten o’clock the following morning. Lady Elizabeth, his wife then asked to speak to me. She kindly said that I could borrow a jacket, a pair of slacks and some wellington boots that belonged to their daughter, as she assumed that I wouldn’t have brought anything ‘sensible’ to wear on my honeymoon.

  ‘I asked my husband to give me your approximate measurements,’ Lady Elizabeth said, ’but he could only tell me that you were knee-high to a bee, had golden locks and blue eyes. He was no help at all!’

  Before going to bed that night, Duncan gently covered the palms of my hands with the antiseptic dressings, which eased the pain straight away.

  The next morning, Sir Graham pulled up in a rather dirty old estate car. He apologised for bringing his ‘doggy car’, but said that this wife had taken the clean one. I sat in the back with the dogs, while Duncan sat in the front with Sir Graham, who said that his wife had remembered to put out some clothes for me and we would go back to the house first, so that I could change.

  After arriving at the lovely old house, Duncan was told to show me to the spare room. As we went up the stairs, I pointed out to him that all the family portraits were of men, which I thought was strange. He explained that this was a family tradition and that all the portraits of women, were in another part of the house, which I would see later. Lady Elizabeth had laid out the clothes on the bed for me and everything fitted perfectly, except the slacks, which were a size too big around the middle and too long. I went downstairs to ask Sir Graham for a piece of string, so that I could thread it through the loops to keep them up and then tuck the legs into the wellington boots, they had also provided for me. I now looked a bit like a second-hand scarecrow in my borrowed clothing, but at least I was warm and comfortable. I was also thankful that she had thoughtfully left out a pair of gloves, which I carefully pulled over the dressings on my hands.

  It took nearly an hour to drive to the spot where the last sighting of the stag had been noted. Angus, the gamekeeper, was already waiting for us and greeted Duncan like an old friend. He then introduced himself to me and suggested that we all have our picnic lunch first, as we had a long walk ahead of us. Before we set off, I looked around for a suitable tree to hide behind to have a pee. Sir Graham must have noticed, as he suddenly called out, ‘Ladies to the left and gentlemen to the right!’

  After we had all relieved ourselves, we began our walk and the men marched on so fast that I had difficulty keeping up with them. However, Angus, kindly fell back behind the others, until I caught up with him and then we walked on together. After about half an hour, I got a stitch in my side and had to bend down to touch my toes. Duncan, now suddenly remembering for the first time that he had his wife with him, waited for us to catch up. He gave me a quick hug and told me to go at my own pace, but not to lose sight of him. Twenty minutes later, just as I was starting to get tired, I saw Sir Graham stop and hold up his hand, as a warning that he had spotted something.

  ‘Walk very slowly, keep your head down and do exactly what Sir Graham does,’ Angus whispered beside me.

  Suddenly all three men lay flat on the ground, so I did the same. The men then wriggled nearer and nearer to the brow of a hill, s
o I did my best to copy them, but my bosoms kept getting in the way, so I had to raise myself up on my elbows and move forward inch by inch in a rather unladylike manner, until I was right behind the others. Now I had so much grass, gorse and earth on my clothes, on my face and in my hair that I was virtually camouflaged from head to toe and very thankful that I had been able to borrow some old clothes to wear.

  As I lifted my head, I could see that Duncan was looking through a pair of binoculars. He turned around and beckoned me to come towards him. I crawled on my elbows, as quietly as I could, and stopped by his side. It was only then that I realised we were virtually on the edge of a steep precipice. Duncan smiled and handed me the binoculars, pointing in the direction I should look. Initially, all I could see was miles and miles of blurry heather, but once I got used to the magnification and adjusted the focus to suit my eyes, I finally saw what was making him so happy. Right in front of us was a huge stag. Its antlers looked so heavy I thought the poor beast must have difficulty holding up its head.

  The stag was now sniffing the air, so I wondered if it could smell us, but then Duncan nudged me and pointed to a group of does that were grazing quietly nearby. Then, suddenly, something must have disturbed the stag, as it shot off and disappeared over the brow of the next hill.