Chapter 49

By the time we had given all our news to the family we were shown through to a large dinning kitchen where an extended table had been set to provide a meal for all the people present. Over lunch we told them when we would be taking up residence in St Andrews permanently and said that they would be invited to visit us when we had settled in. We also told them about the house in France and the friends we had made there.

Katrina and Douglas told us that they were trying to get planning permission to extend their house in Perth by adding a granny flat consisting of two bedrooms a sitting room, a shower room with toilet and wash hand basin, and a small laundry room. They were doing this because granny Kathleen had agreed to sell this house which was much too big for her and move into the extension.

"I told them I did not mind moving as long as I had a place of my own," granny said. I also agreed to a shower room as long as I could use their place when I wanted a bath, I think it will be nice to be nearer the family, but because I have a second bedroom, I will still be able to have friends to stay."

She then looked at me and said, "I hope that will include you and your new wife young man."

"When we want to escape from the University confines granny, I said with a laugh, "we will be sure to descend on you."

It was a reasonably nice day so after lunch had settled we were taken for a walk through the village and part of its surrounding area. At one stage during the walk along a country path, I found myself accompanied by Katrina.

"I was hoping to get a chance to speak to you alone before you left today Rory. I think I was partly responsible for your mum staying away. Our grandmother gave your mum a locket that had been in the family for centuries. Despite being told that it had mostly been passed on to someone in the family whom the seer thought would have needed it, I was young and headstrong and thought that was a lot of bunk, I felt it should have passed to me after the death of my brother and demanded it back from your mum. I am really sorry about that now. When you see her will you tell her that?"

"Yes I will," I replied. "She told me the story of the locket, and after my dad died, she wore it every day, because great granny had said she would have need of the strength it would give her. That is why she refused to give it up, she believed your granny had second sight and she drew strength from what she had told her about the locket."

"I am glad that it helped her," Katrina said, "And I hope she will forgive my brashness."

"I have no doubt she will do that, and I think I should tell you that she passed the locket on to me to give to Rebecca and I will let you know why."

I went on to relate my mother's reasons and the burden that had been laid on Rebecca because of her brother's untimely death,

"These were her words to me, when she gave me it that first Christmas to pass it on to Rebecca as her present. 'I don't have the gift of second sight Rory but I know the responsibility which has been laid on the shoulder of your young woman, and as she will need all the strength it will give her I want you to pass it on to her. So despite the fact that we might be a bit diluted kind of Macgregors we are carrying on the tradition."

Katrina laughed at the idea of being a diluted Macgregor. "Nowadays, Rory very few of us marry within the clan, the tradition of which has long gone, so I suppose we are all diluted. I would point out though, that you are marrying a lass who is a MacFarlane so she carries the same amount of Scottish blood as you do yourself, so you are not as diluted as you might think."

I was amused at the way Katrina had carried on my analogy. "I suppose you are right I told her because I think I have a bit of the Celtic mystic within me and I believe in great granny's gift. I think the reason it doesn't manifest itself today is because we have lost our faith in it and those with its seed do not nurture it and allow it to grow and flow in them."

"Oh my!" Katrina giggled, "You really are real Celt right enough much more than I am, so it seems granny was right after all and the locket has ended up in the right place"

Rebecca had come alongside as the path widened and had caught the last part of the conversation. She knew what the prophecy had been and she now chipped in.

"Maybe even more right than you realise Katrina"

"In what way?"

"Well part of what she said to Rory's mum was that she would marry Rory's dad and that they would be soul mates and find great happiness and produce a gifted child. It was after this that she went on to say 'but lass I also see great sadness further down the road and you will have need of the strength which the locket gives.' Rory is that gifted child.

"Do you mean that the gift of second sight has been passed on to him?" Katrina asked.

After my remarks, I could see why Katrina jumped to this conclusion but I left it to Rebecca to put her right.

"No, though sometimes I wish he had, it would come in handy, but then I don't think the seers could choose what was revealed to them. Nevertheless he is gifted. He has an IQ which is almost off the scale and could probably have graduated University by the time he was sixteen, but a psychiatrist advised his mother not to let him go down that route. I am glad she took that advice or I might never have met him or married him. That would have been sad, because each of us feel that in the other, we have found our soul mate."

"Oh my!" Katrina said again, "that confirms it. Granny had the sight and look what the gift of the locket has done, It not only gave strength to your mum Rory, It has brought forth a couple of Celtic mystics together who might well produce another gifted child, but this one might not merely be academically gifted," She giggled.

"Don't wish that on me," Rebecca said with laugh "It is bad enough having a brilliant husband who outshines you in so many ways, I shudder to think what it might be like to have a child who can see the future and warn you that bad things lie further down the road."

"I can see how that might be a bit difficult to live with," Katrina agreed. "But you know you have given me a real nugget of information that I will enjoy passing on to mum."

"There you go!" I said plaintively. "Once gain my lady is discussing me with another while I am in their presence. You have no idea how often this happens.

So if you are going to parade my virtues before granny can you please wait till I am gone?"

"You know Katrina, before I really met him, because he was so far ahead of his peers academically, he had difficulty relating to our puny concerns while he gazed into the mysteries of the universe that meant he was a loner and regarded as a bit of a wimp. Sometimes that leads him to act as if he was a wimp and complain about the behaviour patterns that we less gifted people fall into, like discussing the virtues and the faults of our boyfriends."

Katrina laughed, "I would have you know Rebecca that it is not just the supremely gifted intellectual men that do that. Though to be fair my Douglas is no Academic slouch he is a first class honours graduate. He also speaks at least three languages, four, if you count the Gaelic, though he is a bit rusty in that now that his mum and dad have passed away."

By the time we left Stanley that afternoon, I felt that I had really got in touch with my family and the breech that had existed was well on its way to being healed. I know my mother would be really glad to hear what Katrina had asked me to pass on to her. I also realised that Sarah was only a few years younger than me, and that by the time she got to university she would be of an age where we might be able to form quite a close relationship.

I resolved to stay in touch with her and invite her by herself and at different times with her siblings to visit our home so that I would get to know them as they matured into adulthood. When I suggested this to Rebecca she agreed that it was a good idea, for like me she did not have many relations of her own that she knew about. Maybe I should start looking at my family tree? She had suggested with a giggle.

When we go back to St Andrews we had to rustle up dinner in preparation for the arrival of our guests. When Ross and Laura arrived our first task was to give into Laura's request and give them a tour of our new home. Then after dinner we set before them the principles of our loan scheme, the amount that we were willing to lend and the rate of interest. We also pointed out that if a firm to whom we loaned money was experiencing difficulty with the repayments they could be suspended or the firm could be merely be asked to pay the interest until they found their feet again.

When he had heard all this, Ross was definitely interested and asked how he would apply. We brought out an application form and passed it over to him then he, Rebecca and Rory went about filling it in while I was dispatched to the kitchen to make some supper. By the time I got back to the lounge the business had been completed and I was able to serve what I had prepared. When they left, both Laura and Ross expressed their gratitude for the things we had done and said they were looking forward to the time when we would become permanent residents in St Andrews.

The next day we made the journey home and for the next few weeks, Rebecca had her nose buried in her books as she studied hard for her A levels. On some occasions I would help her with her revision, but at other times she wanted to be left to her own devices. I even went as far as spending a weekend at my mum's without her so that she would have peace to study without worrying about having to provide me with company for some of the time.

Being on my own let me bring my mum up to speed on all that happened when I visited my Granny in Stanley. As I expected she was relieved to hear how Katrina had mellowed and the fact that she had now accepted that great grandmother was right to have passed on the locket in the way she did. I think by the time I had finished my tale she was actually looking forward to meeting them all again.

I suggested that after the exams were over, we should arrange a visit before the wedding as granny had plenty of room to put us up. This would give us a chance to meet and bury any lingering differences before they journeyed south for the big occasion. She agreed this was a good Idea and after talking it over with Phil, we settled on two dates in late June when Rebecca would be finished with her A Levels. They left it to me to suggest these dates to my grandmother and make the arrangements.