Chapter 37

After our conversation with the Reverend John Katy decided we should do something about fixing a date for the wedding. The university term began towards the end of September and was less than a week away. We went to the registrar's office and applied for a marriage schedule and since it legally required at least three weeks before we could then marry we decided on the last Saturday in October.

We chose to keep things small. We arranged for the registrar to come and conduct the wedding in the marquee set up for the purpose. We also hired a second and slightly larger marquee for the reception and both would be erected on the lawn of our house. Invitations were sent out to our close friends and from the swimming team and their parents and of course the MacLeans. Alice and Ellie were to be our bridesmaids. Invitations also went to John and Wendy and Esther and her children. We also decided that people from the office should be represented so we invited Grace and Walter.

Once we had all these things underway I decided the next step was to prepare ourselves for the meeting we had arranged with Mr. McMillan. We arrived in his office as he had arranged at four in the afternoon. He stood and welcomed us and suggested we adjourn to another room which they used for a meeting of the partners and assistants in his firm. It turned out to be rather like a boardroom with a large table and seating around it.

"From what you said on the phone Peter I had the feeling this was going to be a fairly lengthy meeting so I have asked my secretary to bring us coffee or tea in about an hour's time. So all of you take a seat on one side of the table and I will sit across from you and then you can tell me what this is all about."

Since he already knew about our bereavements I explained to him the need for us to ensure that Sinead's future lay with us. I told him we had brought forward our wedding plans in the hope that this would strengthen the case for us acting as her parents. I also explained that it was unlikely that Isa would recover and that even if she did not die she would remain in a vegetative state. I also informed him she had arranged for me to be the one to look after her affair if that happened and Joe had died before her.

I then went on to outline the steps we had taken so far to ensure that we would be seen as competent to look after Sinead with the appointment of Esther as housekeeper and Wendy to cater for her intellectual and to some extent her emotional needs. I expressed the hope that this would prevent social services from thinking that we were too young and had too many commitments to care for her properly.

When I had finished relaying that part of our concern, Mr McMillan informed us that this seemed a fairly straightforward arrangement and he felt it was doubtful if social services would even feel inclined to look at the matter unless someone said they should. I was Isa's Guardian ad Litem and Katy was Sinead's nearest relative. In Scots law we are adults and our financial situation once Joe and Isa's wills had been settled; along with what I had already inherited from my parents was sound. The steps we had taken in arranging for the care of the child showed maturity and covered all her needs. Like Esther he also pointed out the restraints which the cutbacks were placing on their budget.

"Even if they were minded to look at your situation," He told us, "Since you will both be financially well able to look after your ward, I cannot see them doing anything other than approve. If they did not, I think the court would take a dim view of their interference and they will know that right from the outset. They are not going to even think about incurring the extra expenditure of a court case they were likely to lose"

I smiled at his assessment and Katy and Alice expressed their relief at being assured that Sinead's future would be as we planned it.

I then told him that we had another rather complicated piece of business we wanted him to deal with. I then outlined the nature of our relationship with Alice and the arrangements which we wanted to make for her within that relationship. By the time we had dealt with the matter of Sinead and I had outlined my proposals for Alice our hour was almost up.

"To give me time to get my head around all that you are asking me to do regarding the relationship the three of you have determined for yourself, I think I will ask my secretary to bring in the coffee, and then tell her she is free to go."

Once Coffee and biscuits had been laid on the table and his secretary had left, Katy told him about the fact that we had also been involved in sorting out the situation in the firm which Joe and Isa had owned. Mr MacMillan expressed admiration for the way we had dealt with a very difficult situation at the same time as we had to cope with grief and pain involved in making the arrangements for the funerals of our loved ones.

"I think all of you have shown a degree of maturity which belies your years." He concluded.

Once we got down to business again he summed up the situation as he saw it by saying that what we were trying to do was to ensure that if anything happened to one or both of us, then Alice would have all the same rights as a spouse.

"That is not as straightforward as it might seem," he said. "If for instance either you or Katy died the wife would be entitled to a third of your estate and in Katy's case the child to another part. You would need to write into your wills the portion you wished Alice to inherit and make sure it did not infringe the rights of any children you may have. Since you will be acknowledging Alice's children as your own Peter, they could also be entitled to part of your inheritance. I think you and Katy will be wealthy enough to make provision for Alice and unless one or all of your possible offspring contested the will, I don't see that you will have too much difficulty. He finished by saying he would have to look at the matter in more detail and get back to us with his proposals.

Wendy was happy to start her job with us and Alice Katy and I began our courses at Edinburgh University. Alice was entering her second year while Katy and I were freshers, that is first year students. In the light that all I was having to cope with as Peter, with the business, with a marriage in the offing, not to mention the tripartite arrangement with Alice and as a parent for Sinead, I decided to go for the easiest option as far as I was concerned. I chose to do what I had done before that was to major in psychology which I had covered in my previous existence.

For my other two first year subjects I chose German and French, these were languages in which I was fairly proficient and the German would help if I went on to do an honours degree in the subject, especially when it came to studying Freud and Jung. Katy chose to begin a Master of Science in accountancy and proposed to go on and do law as a second degree. Alice continued with her aim to do medicine after first taking an honours degree in Chemistry.

In my talk with the doctors it was agreed that if no improvement was made within a month, then if Katy and I gave permission, they would switch off the machine which was keeping Isa breathing. This was another difficult decision we had to make and one which we took with a heavy heart. When we returned home afterwards we told the rest of the household what he had decided, while they too felt sad about this they all supported us in our decision. I also contacted John and told him what we had done. He was another who was very sympathetic and understanding.

On a Saturday morning, early in October, in an unusually warm day, Katy and I were swimming lengths in the pool while the children played around and Esther was working in the kitchen when to our surprise, Wendy and John and his wife were shown out to the pool by her. We were pleased to see them and we were introduced to his wife Joan. We asked if they would like to change for a swim first and then have coffee or vice versa, they opted for the swim and after changing soon joined us in the pool.

John proved to be a strong swimmer and although both Katy and I were faster it was not by all that much. In view of his age, probably mid forties and his inconsistency of practice this said much of his general fitness. When I commented on this he told us he liked to run. He pointed out that it was easier for him to keep this up than it was to swim since he could fit it into his busy schedule more easily. By the time we had finished in the pool it was almost lunch time and we invited them to join us and they accepted

This gave us a chance to get to know Joan who was a teacher and deputy head of one of the local schools. As John's wife she had received an invitation to our wedding and she thanked us for including her. She told us she was looking forward to the occasion as she and her husband would be there as guests. She smiled and said this was a rare experience for them because usually when she was invited as the minister's wife her husband was officiating at the service. This meant he was placed at the top table while she was often sitting for the meal with people who were complete strangers. At least this time she was pleased that she would have her husband and daughter for company.

A week later, the hospital phoned us late on the Saturday evening to tell us that it appeared that Isa was dying and we rushed to her bedside, but by the time we got there, she had passed away. While we were sad not to be there in time, we realised it would have made little difference since she would not have recognised us. The doctors told that there must have been a blood clot due to her injuries which had moved and this had caused a fatal heart attack. Though we were saddened by her passing we were also relieved that for her the suffering was over and that she was at peace. Once again John took the funeral for us and all our friends and the people who worked with her turned out to support us on the occasion.