Chapter 11

Rebecca

It was back to school today and as Rory and I walked hand in hand through the school gates the first person we bumped into was Marjory.

"Did you have a nice holiday?" She asked us.

"We had a lovely holiday, I replied."And Christmas was wonderful."

"Ooh!" Marjory said. "What did Santa bring you that made it so wonderful," she queried.

I smiled at her and then I held up the locket which I only take off when I go to bed.

"Rory gave me this," I told her. "It is very old and has a lot of his family history behind it."

"It is beautiful," Marjory said as she examined it. "How old is it Rory?" She asked.

"It is hard to say," Rory said. "We can authenticate its history back to the sixteenth century. Some members of the family believe it goes back to the very first descendent of Gregor the brother of King Kenneth MacAlpin of Scotland.

They believe it was given by Gregor to his son's wife to remind her of the heritage that her marriage bestowed upon her. If so that would take it back to the ninth century. It is from this brother that my clan is descended. That is why our motto is 'Rioghal Mo Dhream in the Gaelic which translates as 'My Name is Royal.'"

"Are you saying that your family is descended from the line of a Scottish King, and that the locket may go back as far as that?"

"Well the brother of the king; so that would make us have Royal connections, I suppose." Rory told her.

"Wow!" Marjory said "That would make the locket almost priceless. Some Christmas present!"

"I never thought of it like that," I told her. "Though I knew it would be valuable. But there is more to it than just its monetary value."

I went on to tell her the story of how the locket came into Rory's family and the powers it was supposed to have to help its owner in times of great need.

"That was why it was given to his mother. His great, great grandmother foresaw his father's early death and knew his mother would have need of the strength it gave," I finished

"I hope Rory's mother does not think you are going to need it," Marjory said half in fun but also with a bit of seriousness in her voice.

"Oh but she does think that." Rory told her. "One day Rebecca is going to come into the McFarlane inheritance and the responsibility it brings. She will carry a tremendous responsibility for the well being of this community as her family employs so many people in the area. It is likely to be a heavy burden to carry in these trying times."

"Gee I never thought of that," Marjory said. "Your brother's death has meant that you are the sole heir."

"Yes," I replied, "But now I am going to have Rory to help and share in the carrying of that burden. That is why his mother passed the locket on to me now."

"You two are that serious and that sure about getting married one day?"Marjory asked.

"You better believe it Marjory Brown." I said and looked around. There was no one else in hearing distance, so I continued.

"You are my best friend and I trust you. You are also the one who is most likely to notice things about Rory and me and our relationship. So I am going to trust you with a secret. Rory and I gave each other another present over the Christmas period apart from the physical presents. We gave each other our virginity"

Marjory gasped in shock.

"You really must be sure about each other if you have gone as far as that." She said.

"Well, we have spent a lot of time together in the past few months." I told her. "We have virtually been inseparable."

Rory intervened at this point and said,

"Marjory it is important you keep this to yourself, for we are both under age and will be for the next few months."

"Gosh!" Said Marjory. "That's right. I would never have thought of that?"

"Neither did we," I said. "It was my parents who pointed it out."

"You mean they know?" Asked Marjory obviously surprised by that remark

"They caught us, but not quite in the act," Rory told her. "We fell asleep still naked in Rebecca's bed, and they found us when they came home."

"Oh! I think I would have died of embarrassment if that had happened to me," gasped Marjory.

"We nearly did," I replied, "But surprisingly they have been very accepting about it. The only thing that causes them worry is the legal thing. So that is why there is a need for secrecy."

"That means that I can blackmail you later for all the juicy details," Marjory said with a laugh and Rory blushed.

At that point we were joined by a few of my other friends and so we changed the conversation to much more mundane subjects and everyone began to talk about what they had received for Christmas. During this time I noticed that Rory had pulled away from the group and seemed to be having a serious talk with Jessie. At one stage he put his arms around her and seemed to be comforting her. That really got my attention and I wondered what was going on, not in a jealous way, for I knew and trusted my Rory. But if Jessie needed comforting something in her life had to be wrong.

Rory

I knew Rebecca would probably tell Marjory about what happened over the Christmas period. This did not worry me because I knew she could be trusted. I had heard people say that girls talk among themselves about their partners, now I was beginning to believe it after Marjory said she would blackmail Rebecca for all the juicy details. How embarrassing is that, when you know you will have to face that person next day? When a few more of her friends arrived on the scene we quickly changed the subject to less embarrassing matters and I sort of tuned out as they discussed their Christmas gifts and other aspect of their holiday. It was then that I noticed Jessie. She looked as if she had been crying and was still looking upset.

I got alongside her and asked her if she was Ok. She shook her head and said it was just that they had some bad news that morning which had upset the whole family. Thinking that it was probably bereavement or something like that I asked her if she wanted to talk about. She shook her head and told me that it was something she did not think her parents would want to have her discuss with anyone else. I told her that though she did not know much about me, she could trust me not to say anything to anyone else. If she shared it and if I thought we could help I would ask her for permission to tell Rebecca. She thought about this for a moment or two and then she

"When you came to the restaurant during the Christmas holidays you know I was your waitress" she said.

I nodded a bit puzzled about what that had to do with her distress. But she went on to explain.

"It is only recently that I have started doing this. My mum was another of the waitresses. We have to do it because before the credit crunch we were doing really well and dad decided we needed to modernise and increase the size of our place. He borrowed money from the bank to do this, but though the base rate has come down, because the banks got themselves into a mess they have been pushing up interest rates on the loan. We have had to cut back on staff and mum and I have to plug the gaps so that the service to our customers does not fall apart.

"Are you finding that difficult and affecting your schoolwork." I queried.

"No!" She told me. "I quite enjoy it and I want to help run it and work in it after I finish my studies. The problem is that the savings we have made are not enough."

"Why?" I asked her

"It's because people are not eating out enough to fill the extra places we have created. They are feeling the pinch and our Christmas takings are well down on last year and even more than the year before. For months now, we have not been able to pay back anything on the loan we are merely keeping up with the interest. The bank has been pressing us to do more than that," She said.

"I can see why that would worry all of you," I told her. "Because things may well get worse before they get better with all the cuts the government are making. These are just about to start biting and will make your situation worse."

"That is obviously what the bank thinks too," she told me. "Yesterday we received a letter saying that unless we started meeting the repayments of the loan they would have to consider foreclosing. This would put us into liquidation. If this happens we would probably end up bankrupt and lose our home and I would have to find a state school and leave all my friends."

As she said this she was close to breaking down and I put my arms around her to comfort her. She looked up at me in surprise, and I kissed her on the forehead and then said,

"Look you know I am Rebecca's boyfriend," I told her. "What you do not know, is that since the death of her brother, Rebecca and I are being groomed to take on the responsibility of the company when her dad eventually retires. Mr. McFarlane has to look ahead and make sure he has the talent at the top of his enterprises so that they remain profitable since so many people in this area depend on him for their livelihood. He is going to sponsor me through university and in return I have to agree to work for his company. I think he is really keen that I should marry Rebecca as well so that I stay with it," I said with a laugh.

"Why are you telling me this? Jessie asked, looking puzzled.

"Because it has just dawned on me as you spoke that there are probably other small businesses in the area that like yours are struggling. I would like your permission to talk to him about this and see if McFarlane Enterprises can do anything to help. This would mean Rebecca would be part of these discussions also."

"What would that achieve?" Jessie asked, "I expect the McFarlanes will be having their own problems."

"I think they are weathering the storm better than most," I told her. "And I might just have an idea that would help you and others in your situation. Will you let me talk to them?"

She wiped away her tears and nodded her head in assent.

"Good!" I told her, and gave her and gave her another hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Leave it with me and I will get back to you, Ok."

Again she nodded and I took her hand and led her back into the circle of friends.

Rebecca

I did not get a chance to speak to Rory before class so I was left wondering what was going on with Jessie. It was lunchtime before I was able to broach the subject with him and he told me of the plight of her family.

"I can't see what we can do to help" I told him.

He smiled at me and then he said,

"If we are the future of McFarlane enterprises and we are to seek the good of this community it is up to us to start coming up with ideas that will enable us to help in situations where we can. I have an idea for this one."

I grinned at him, and asked.

"This flash of inspiration of course had nothing to do with the fact that Jessie is a very pretty girl and second in line if anything happens between us?"

"Of course it does!" He said, "I have to look to the future just in case an unlikely event like that should ever happen. I don't want to step all the way down from a rich and beautiful young heiress, to a beautiful young woman in poverty."