Chapter 43

The next morning, Pat collected the girls after breakfast. They’d protested the night before that they could walk, but Alice wouldn’t hear of it, “too cold for you girls to be walking across town,” was her final answer.

Alice, Jordan and Saoirse were already in the big Audi; Gabbie sat on Lucy’s knee rather than clamber into the third row.

“Where are we going?” Gabbie asked.

“Saoirse mentioned that Jordan had never been round Edinburgh Castle, so I thought we’d fix that,” Alice replied, “It’s an hour’s drive,” she added, looking at Lucy through the mirror.

“Maybe we should get in the back seat,” Lucy suggested, “or I might not be able to walk around the castle.”

“Are you saying I’m fat,” Gabbie pouted.

“Just the opposite, you’ve got a boney arse.”

“Ahh, OK,” Gabbie replied as they got out of the car and Pat dropped the seat-back, so they could access the 3^rd row of seats.

They spent most of the day in the castle, running up the Lang Stairs to the summit of Castle Rock, browsing the Royal Scots and Royal Scots Dragoon Guards museums, the military prison and the Prisoners of War exhibition; then they climbed up to the walls to photgraph the sun setting over the city for their Instagram.

After the castle, they wandered down the Royal Mile, Lucy dragged Pat into a whisky shop, “I want to buy Jerry a bottle for Christmas, but I’ve no idea what to get, please choose something for me.”

Pat looked around, “there’s some very expensive bottles here, how much do you want to spend?”

Lucy peered at a few prices and blanched, “I see what you mean,” she mumbled, carefully placing a £1,000 bottle back on the shelf, “what’s the most you’d think of paying for a really good bottle?”

“I don’t think I’d want to spend more than £250, unless it was a very special bottling.”

“That’s your ceiling then, you know what he likes, find me something ... please.”

Gabbie wandered in, “what are we doing?”

“I’m ... or rather Pat, is choosing a whisky for me to get Jerry for Christmas.”

“Oh really! We should get something for Diane, she liked that cognac, what was it called?”

“Remy Martin Louis XIII,” Lucy replied, “I think I saw it in a cabinet over there,” she added, pointing to the rear of the shop.

“Fucking hell!” Gabbie exclaimed as she returned, “it’s over 3 grand a bottle! I think we’ll find her something a little cheaper.”

Ten minutes later, the girls emerged from the shop with a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label for Jerry, and a bottle of Remy Martin XO for Diane, which was considerably cheaper than the Louis XIII.

Lucy smiled as she saw Jordan was holding Saoirse’s hand as they looked in a kilt shop window, she nudged Gabbie and pointed discretely, “oh that’s lovely,” Gabbie whispered, “I’ve no idea why it’s taken him so long to realise Saoirse loves him.”

“Where should we go for dinner?” Alice asked as they gathered around the car.

Gabbie whispered to Lucy, “let’s go back to that hotel where we took Jordan.”

“It’s really expensive!” Lucy replied.

“Yeah, but we didn’t have to pay last time, because they upset you, maybe they’ll remember you and give us a discount. I’ll pay anyway, this trip is my treat,”

“OK,” Lucy replied, smiling, “we know a place,” she told the others, “it’s not far, and kind of on the way home.”

Gabbie told Alice where they wanted to go.

“Oh wow! I’ve been wanting to eat there since we moved to the area. The chef is a bit of a local celebrity, he’s on the telly a lot. I’ve heard it’s very expensive.”

“It’s my treat,” Gabbie insisted, as Pat tapped the address into the sat nav.

“Is this a V8,” Lucy asked.

“Yeah,” Pat replied, “I do the books for a small environmental charity, they hate it.”

“There’s a really cool tunnel on the way, we’ll wind the windows down and see how it compares to Jerry’s Aston.”

“It will compare badly,” Pat replied as he pushed the starter, “But I still love that V8 exhaust noise,” he sighed, “I’ll miss it when we’re all forced to drive electric cars.”

To Lucy’s surprise and delight, the Maitre d’ immediately recognised and warmly welcomed Gabbie.

“Ahh, we have your table available, mademoiselle.”

Gabbie blushed furiously, “err, thank you, there’s 6 of us tonight.”

“No problem, the table can accommodate 6 easily. Please, take a seat in the bar, have a drink with my compliments while I have the table prepared.”

“He recognised YOU!” Lucy exclaimed after he’d gone, “not me ... YOU!”

“But why?”

“It’s like the man on the train, Gabbie, you entrance people.”

“Do you eat here often?” Alice asked.

“Just once,” Gabbie replied, “but it was quite a memorable evening, clearly. The Maitre d’ didn’t want to serve four teenagers, even though Lucy had made a reservation. So, she slapped Jerry’s black Amex down on his little desk and he went all pale. We ended up getting the meal for free.”

“Oh really! I guess that’s why he remembered you.”

“Yes, but he should remember Lucy, not me.”

“No dear, you’re far more striking than Lucy. She’s beautiful, but you’re another level entirely.”

“But, she’s got...”

“Boobs, yes, but you have simply the most amazing eyes. You have the kind of presence that sets the most successful models above their contemporaries. I should know this, as I was often in the shadow of some stunning women. Katherine for one, she was far more beautiful than me, she could have been world famous, modelling for the top designers. She didn’t want that, she wanted ... ahh, I don’t even know what she wanted ... I’m so sorry Gabbie, I wish I had answers, but I haven’t got any, Katherine was simply evil. Pat and I ran away from her as soon as we had chance, and that was wrong of us, we should have realised they’d do something appalling, but we had no idea it would be so bad.”

“I’s OK Auntie Alice, how could you know?”

“Well, she just trod all over us ... she took anyone she wanted to bed, no thought for how their partners felt about it...”

Gabbie touched Alice’s arm gently, “it’s OK, really ... I guessed what was happening between Katherine and Pat.”

“How could you? You were just a baby...”

“I’ve been having hypnotherapy; it’s brought back some very deeply buried memories that are taking a while to process. I only remembered the Pat business the other day.”

“It wasn’t just Pat, you know...” Alice replied in a nervous whisper.

“Yes, I remembered times when she took other men, and sometimes women back to her room.”

“I didn’t mean that, it wasn’t just Pat as in, she sometimes took me back to her room.”

“Oh. My. God!” Gabbie gasped, “Something about one of the memories was niggling me, I recognised one of the women, I only saw her back, but the hair was familiar.”

“Yeah, that was probably me ... I guess you hate me now.”

“Why would I hate you? I don’t hate Uncle Pat...”

“But I slept with my sister!”

“Yeah, and my mum and dad raped me more times than I can count. I’ll never hate you, or Uncle Pat.”

The Maitre d’ arrived as Alice and Gabbie were hugging and crying, “your ... err ... table is ready...” he said as he backed out.

Gabbie hadn’t heard, so Lucy gave her bottom a gentle pat, “the table is ready, go have a quick wash.”

The menu had been changed; Jordan was delighted with some of the new vegetarian options and ordered a starter of mashed new potatoes served with blueberries and jersey butter; followed by butternut squash, quinoa and pine nut ravioli.

Gabbie ordered Lamb rump served with rumbledethump, mostly because she wanted to find out what rumbledethump was (it’s mashed potato baked with shredded cabbage and onions).

The rest ordered steaks or fish.

The Maitre d’ brought two bottles of wine, a 2017 Bordeaux and a 2019 Chablis, both with his compliments, and apparently amongst the finest wines in the cellar.

As on their last visit, the food was remarkable and made all the better by the free booze.

As the bill arrived, Gabbie reached for it, then her face fell, “what’s the matter,” Lucy whispered into her mind.

“My card has a £500 a day limit,” Gabbie silently replied.

“And that’s a problem, how?”

“Well, Diane’s cognac was £150.”

“You mean this meal is more than £350!”

“It’s more than £500,” she replied.

“No problem, this is now Jerry’s treat, I’ll sort it out with him when we get home.”

Alice and Pat were both watching the pair, “you’re like twins,” Alice said, “you seem to be able to have conversations without talking.”

“Ahh...” Lucy started.

“They can!” Saoirse cried.

“Damn!” Gabbie said into Lucy’s mind.

“Anyway,” Lucy said, aloud, “let’s have a look at that bill, ahh, this is more than your daily limit, I guess it’s Jerry’s treat,” she added, slapping Jerry’s Amex on the table.

“Can you communicate silently?” Alice asked.

“If I say yes, can we leave it at that for now?” Gabbie answered.

“I guess, but I will be asking more back at the house.”

Over hot chocolate back at the house, Lucy and Gabbie told Alice about the therapy sessions with Silvie, about how she’d recommended Gabbie meditate to try to banish the memories that tormented her.

Gabbie talked about the night in the school cellar, about the people she and Lucy saw, how they faded away, how Charles set himself alight, how they found out her house had burnt to the ground, the fire starting in the cellar around the same time she and Lucy had seen Charles in their minds.

“Ahh ... apart from the psychic ability thing ... has the therapy helped?” Alice asked.

“100%,” Gabbie replied, “I can think about them without getting angry, and that was always the problem before. I haven’t forgotten what happened, and who hurt us,” she added, reaching out for Jordan’s hand, “but the memories don’t hurt me, and I’ve not had a single nightmare since that night.”

“This Silvie, where is she based?”

“She’s in Preston, but from January she’s doing a couple of days a week at school, because...” Gabbie paused, wondering what to say.

“Well, after Gabbie’s mum killed her dad, a lot of rumours started at school,” Lucy broke in, “some of the rumours were horrible, some said Gabbie did it, because it happened during the half term holiday ... you know how kids are. So, the headmaster decided to call everyone into the sports hall and tell the whole school the truth, or at least the truth we wanted to be told. The idea was he’d tell the school, while we sat on the stage, then Gabbie said she’d prefer to tell everyone, so we prepared a script, which she proceeded to ignore, she told the whole school what had happened to her, and about how damaging it is to spread malicious gossip, and then she went a bit off topic and told everyone about the horrors of slut-shaming. It was a roller-coaster and the whole room was struck dumb. Then the applause started...”

“And then lots of girls, and some boys, came up to me with similar stories, and it got to the point where the school counsellor couldn’t cope with the number of kids needing her help.”

“So, Dr Melrose contacted Silvie,” Lucy continued, “and she’s agreed to help for a term, and the best part, she’s going to stay in the room next to ours on her overnights, which is exciting, as we like her a lot. It will give her chance to see what happens when Gabbie slips into a trance.”

“What does that mean?” Alice asked.

“Mmm, you know that memory I told you about earlier,” Gabbie replied, not wanting to give any details with Saoirse and Jordan in the room, “about the night clubs.”

“Yes, you must have only been a baby at the time.”

“We think I was less than a year old. So, what happens is I’ve started to slip into something like a trance state. I have to be really relaxed, every time it’s happened, I’ve had my head in Lucy’s lap. When I go into a trance, it’s like the most vivid dream, like I’m actually there, I can smell, hear and see things like they’re happening now. This is why it takes a while to process stuff, to work out what’s going on, because for that memory, I was seeing it through a baby’s eyes.”

“And Lucy saw this?”

“No, she can see into my head if she wants to, but that trance was my own.”

“We wandered around our old schools one time,” Lucy added.

“Yes, and you found out that Gemma fancied you at primary school.”

“We did, and I’m so looking forward to seeing her and Sophie at the weekend.”

“Do I need to know how you found this out?” Alice asked.

“It’s long and complicated,” Lucy replied, “and way too weird when you think about it.”

“I was walking around Lucy’s primary school, I saw a picture that was obviously drawn by Lucy, so I drew a little heart in the corner with LT + GT. When I told Lucy what I’d done, she asked her mum to send us a picture from her scrap book, it’s the drawing I saw, with LT + GT at the bottom. We were like ‘how is this possible?’, ‘how did I draw something in the past’?”

“Then I suddenly remembered Gemma, my best friend in primary school was Gemma Talbot. So, what Silvie thinks, is Gabbie drew the text in her trance, meaning it to be about us, but she was just interpreting something she saw in my head, thinking GT was her name, but really, back when that drawing was done, she was called GD, Gabbie Dixon.”

“Have you told Gemma about this?” Alice asked.

“We’ve not spoken to her since the trance, and I’m not sure how I could bring it up.”

“Mmm, I can see how it would be awkward,” Alice smiled, “anyway, it’s probably time for Pat to take you back to your hotel. Have you decided where you’re going for lunch tomorrow?”

“We thought we’d let Saoirse or Jordan choose.”

“Super, Pat will pick you up around 11, is that OK? You can check out and leave your bags here.”

“Thanks Alice,” Gabbie replied, getting up to hug her auntie, “and what I said before, about you and Katherine, I don’t hate you, and never will. She was evil, you are a beautiful human.”

“Thank you, Gabbie, I was so worried about you knowing that.”

The next day, after checking out of the hotel and leaving their bags with Alice; the kids had a wander around the town. It was a nice place, with a couple of small parks and plenty of artsy independent shops.

“Where do you want to eat,” Gabbie asked, “and I insist on paying today. There’s no point me being a millionaire if I can’t treat people to a meal every once in a while.”

“We could try the board game café,” Saoirse suggested, “they do jacket potatoes and toasted sandwiches.”

“That sounds fun,” Lucy said, “although most modern board games confuse me.”

“Are you really a millionaire, Gabbie?” Jordan asked, as they walked across the town square to the café.

“Yeah, but a millionaire with a £500 a day limit on her debit card. That’s why Lucy had to pay last night. Anyway, you’re a millionaire too, I gave you some of my money via Alice. Didn’t she tell you?”

“Yeah, but not how much.”

“It’s all in a trust that dad set up,” Saoirse told him, “you get some when you’re 18, to pay for university, if you go to an English one, they’re free up here, obviously. You’ll get the rest when you’re 21.”

“Diane has done something similar with mine,” Gabbie replied, “to be honest, the £500 limit on my card was my idea, to stop me going wild.”

“What happens if you need a new phone, or a laptop, or something,” Saoirse asked.

“Then I phone Jerry,” Lucy replied, “and ask him if we can use his magic card, and Gabbie pays him back by bank transfer. We’ve only had to do it once.”

“What did you buy,” Saoirse asked as they stepped inside the warm café.

“Lucy’s Christmas present,” Gabbie told her, “it’s something I’ll be wearing on Christmas day.”

“I guessed it might be,” Lucy replied, “because nothing in that shop would suit me.”

“I’ve got you a real present as well,” Gabbie added with a grin, “so, what do we do here?”

“Well, I mostly sit and watch,” Saoirse replied, “because I don’t really understand what’s going on, Jordan enjoys some of the world building games.”

“We’ll sit and watch today,” Jordan said, “unless Freddie and Ethan come in, then I might join them, Freddy’s got a new game I want to try.”

They took a corner table, Lucy looked through the menu, which was just as Saoirse had said, toasties and jacket spuds.

“The food last night was amazing,” Saoirse said, “but I think I relate to a jacket spud with chilli and cheese more.”

“Me too,” Gabbie concurred.

They all ordered a jacket potato and mug of tea, and they were good.

“Mmm, about the other day,” Jordan started, picking through the remnants of his potato, “and what happened afterwards.”

“That’s pretty vague, bro,” Gabbie replied, smiling, because she knew exactly what he meant, but wanted him to say it.

“Well, after what I told you, Gabbie; then Lucy came up and ... well ... Saoirse kissed me, and we talked, it was nice.”

“Which part was nicest,” Gabbie asked, looking at Saoirse over a forkful of chilli.

“The kissing part was very nice.”

“Lucy showed me how to kiss,” Saoirse told him. “I kind of knew, but Lucy’s lesson was useful, and a lot of fun.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Lucy said, giving Saoirse’s hand a quick squeeze.

“I noticed you holding Saoirse’s hand yesterday, when you thought no-one was looking,” Gabbie continued, “it was lovely, seeing you so close like that. Don’t be afraid to do it more often.”

“Mum and dad...” Saoirse started.

“Your mum’s reply when I told her what you were up to, was surprise that it had taken so long for you to realise you’re made for each other.”

“So, she’s OK with me and Jordan?”

“More than OK.”

“What about school?” Saoirse asked.

“Your school is different to ours. I think,” Lucy started, “ours is quite relaxed, as long as we’re back before curfew. Do other kids date at your school?”

“A few do, we don’t get a lot of social time...”

“I guess you’ll have to make the most of those Saturday afternoons,” Lucy replied, “leave the PlayStation alone and go for walks around the city with your girlfriend.”

“Surely you have some free time in the evenings as well,” Gabbie asked.

“We do, between prep and lights out, we’ve a couple of hours,” Saoirse replied.

“And how far apart are your boarding houses?”

“Not far, about a 10 minute walk.”

“There you go, that’s about 90 minutes every night for cuddles.”

At that moment the door opened, two boys stepped inside, Lucy looked up and whispered in Gabbie’s head, “give Jordan a nudge, I think these are his friends.”

Gabbie knocked Jordan’s elbow, he looked up and raised his hand, “Hey Freddie, over here.”

“He wants his friends to see his sexy sister and her friends,” Lucy silently told Gabbie, “I wonder how he’ll introduce us, especially Saoirse?”

“Hey Jordan, I wasn’t sure if you’d be in today, Dom said you’d got visitors round.”

“I do,” Jordan replied, “this is Gabbie, my sister, and Lucy, her girlfriend. Have you met Saoirse before?”

“We haven’t,” Freddie replied, “you’ve talked about her, isn’t she your cousin or something?”

“Or something,” Jordan told him, “she’s my girlfriend,” he added, before he followed his friends to a free table.

“Mmm,” Gabbie mused, “I guess that’s boys for you, not wanting to make too much fuss about the three sexiest girls in the room.”

“He called me his girlfriend,” Saoirse gushed.

“I wondered how he’d refer to us, I’m pleasantly surprised.”

“Anyway, while he’s busy,” Saoirse said quietly, leaning close to her friends, “about what happened after the kissing. He told me what they did, his mum and dad...”