Chapter 30

Charlie.

I looked down at the young girl in amazement. None of my ancestors had any coloured blood so if she was related to me there must be a story there or a scam was about to take place. Still she was beaten, badly bruised and frightened, so something needed to be done to help her. Lucy was the first to move and she went forward and took the girl in her arms.

"What has happened to you?" she asked. "You look if somebody has beaten you up."

"It was my stepfather," the girl said. "He beat my mother and she is unconscious then he started on me but I managed to hit him with a vase and dazed him, so I was able to escape and come looking for Mr. MacBain."

I was puzzled about why she would come looking for me but it seemed to me that there were more pressing matters to be attended to. I looked over at Dave and his eyes signified that he agreed with what I was thinking.

"I think you had better take us back to your house so that we can take care of this guy and get help for your mum. It sounds as if she will need it. Why didn't you call the police?"

"I've called them before, but he is a policeman and my mum always says it was an accident. They know it wasn't but they cover up for him and let it go."

When she took us back to her apartment it was above some shops in one of the less prosperous districts. When we entered the building her stepfather was nowhere to be seen. We found her mother lying unconscious on the living room floor and she looked to be in a bad way. Dave pulled out his mobile and dialed 911 gave the address, which he got from the girl and asked for the police and an ambulance.

We asked the young lass her name and she told me she was Charlotte MacBain. I knew I was going to need to ask her some questions about that, but now was not the time. The police and the paramedics arrived about the same time.

The medics immediately put the mother on oxygen and pronounced that she was in a bad way and that they would need to get her to the hospital in a hurry. Lucy and I said we would go with Charlotte in the ambulance and Dave and my mum could put them in the picture about what happened here. They would want to interview Charlotte but they could do that at the hospital. The police agreed and said they would get someone to speak to her there.

Lucy

When we arrived at the hospital Charlotte's mother was rushed to the operating theatre and we sat with her in the waiting room.

"Do you feel like talking about what happened and how you come to be related to Charlie?" I asked her. "You don't have to deal with questions like that now if you don't feel up to it."

"My dad died of cancer, and my mum married again. He was a policeman and seemed nice, but almost from the beginning he would get drunk and beat her up.

I tried to tell her we should leave but the medical expenses for my dad had left us with nothing and she was too scared to get out. When he wanted to adopt me I refused and kept my own name. This time he was attacking her so violently I tried to stop him and he started on me. I hit him with a vase which dazed hum and I managed to escape from the house.

"So your Father's name was MacBain; was he white?"

"No he was mixed race like me. His grandmother, my great-grandmother, when she was in high school, had a one-night stand with a white boy from a rich family. He was called Charles MacBain and she got pregnant by him. It happened after a school dance. To cross the colour line in those days was unthinkable and her family was too proud and too scared to claim that he was the father so they forbade her to tell him. But when she registered the birth she registered him as the father.

When she started to talk it seemed as if she could not stop and wanted us to know everything about her and her family's history

"My dad told mum and I about his history for he always laughed and said he was proud to be a black Scotsman. He also told us why his great grandmother did not make any claim against my great grandfather. I think because he was so proud of his Scottish blood he decided to trace his Ancestry. That is why I knew we had far out relations who had gone back to Scotland.

The mother of one of my school friends works at the casino and she told me that a couple with the same name as me was staying there. She said that their ancestors had emigrated back to Scotland from this area. I did not say anything to mum, but I thought that you were probably part of the same family. When I ran away from the house I was desperate and the only thing I could think of was coming to you for help."

"I am glad you did," Charlie told her. "We can check out your relationship, but whether or not you are right about this, we will help you anyway. We are not going to leave a young girl and her mum facing this kind of thing alone."

At that a coloured detective inspector approached us and asked Charlotte if she was prepared to answer some questions regarding what happened.

I asked if I could stay with her while she did so as she was pretty upset by everything that had occurred. I told him we were distant relatives and he looked surprised but did not object. Charlotte told him what had happened and why she had come to us for help.

The inspector listened to her story without interruption and when she had finished he said,

"Fortunately, your mum reported being beaten up by your father several times in the past, but when it came to pressing charges, like many battered wives she refused so we could not take things further. Add to that the fact that he was a policeman and sometimes colleagues will not press too hard for his wife to make charges that would stick. This time with your testimony they will. Your evidence along with the medical records will make sure that he pays for what he has done."

The policeman asked what she would do now and I told him that she would come back to the hotel with us and that we would look after her. He told us to bring her to the police station the next day and he would have her statement typed out for her to sign. I agreed we would do that.

We were just thinking about going to the canteen to get coffee, when a solemn faced young doctor asked to speak to us. He took us into a small room off the waiting room and then he turned to Charlotte.

"I am so sorry," he told her, "But your mother has died in the operating room. A blow to her head caused massive bleeding in the brain and we couldn't save her."

Charlotte went ashen at this and she burst into tears. I took her in my arms and held her.

"Have you someone to take care of you or do I need to ask for help from social services," the doctor asked gently.

"Surprising as it may seem," Charlie told him, "Charlotte is related to us and we will look after her. We will be staying with her and seeing her through this ordeal and any trial which may follow."

"We will also make arrangements for her future, and if necessary, and she wants it, we will let her make her home with us when this is all over," Chantelle told him.

Charlie.

The doctor was satisfied with this and when he had gone we assured her that there would be no problem about her staying with us. It told her that at the casino as we had a large suite with two bedrooms. By the time we returned to the Casino and our hotel suite, Charlotte was a bit more composed and was gradually coming to terms with her mother's death. So I ordered a mid afternoon snack with drinks for all of us.

Once our order had arrived I sat down and had a talk with Charlotte. She told me she could show me the Ancestral Chart her father had put on his computer and she hoped that would be enough to prove that she was truly related to us. I said I would accept that, but if we were to be able to make her part of her family I would also go into the records and get copies of her great grandmother's birth certificate and the birth certificate of the child. With that we could prove in a court of law that she was related to us if we needed to. She accepted that in the circumstances we might need to do that. All the same I reassured her that we did not doubt the truth of what she told us.

Because the house was now a crime scene, Lucy and Chantelle took Charlotte shopping for a change of clothes. When they returned, they had obviously had a good time, for they had bought her several pairs of jeans and tops to go with them, three skirts and several sets of underwear. I told her that when we went to the police station tomorrow we would ask if we could retrieve the things she needed from her house.

When we arrived at the police station next day she signed the statement she had given. I then asked the inspector if we could have access to her home so that we could get her things. He said that the lab boys would be finished by lunch time, although it might be another day or so before they were completely finished. He said he would meet us at the house as he wanted to go over the place again. He pointed out that if he were there he would be able to make sure we did not disturb anything that might contaminate evidence that might still be gathered from the house.

He also told us that her stepfather was now in jail on a charge of murder and was not likely to be released any time soon. He assured us that there was no way he would get bail and even if he did than the sum set would be way beyond his means and that there was no way he would be able to raise that kind of money. This was reassuring to hear and one thing less we had to worry about.

I got onto the airline and asked if we could rearrange our home flights. Chantelle and Dave had to get back, but Lucy and I were able to stay until we got things cleared up and had permission to bring Charlotte back with us.

I got her school records and was pleased to see that she was an 'A' student. I immediately phoned, St Leonards, (a private secondary school in St Andrews, ) and asked if we could get a place for her. I faxed through her academic records and since I was able to pay the fees, they agreed that if I she got a visa they would accept her.

I asked them to send me proof of her acceptance so that I could begin work on getting her a visa to come and study in Scotland. This started a quite difficult process on two fronts. I had to reassure the law enforcement people that she would return to give evidence at any trial if this was needed then I had to try and get her a visa to come to Britain as this was still the province of the Westminster parliament and not the Scottish Assembly. This is where our main difficulty would be encountered because of the paranoia the conservative government had with immigration figures and possibly even more so because she was coloured.

We were able to extend our stay at the ranch another week and I informed the University that we would be a bit late in resuming our studies. Fortunately we were able to get a Visa for her to holiday in Britain for the maximum period allowed and we took her back with us on that basis. While she was with us we would continue the application for her to stay and take up her educational place at St. Leonard's. The school told us she could start the new term and they would only charge us for that if she had difficulty with the visa. This was a big help to us since she was then at school while we resumed our studies.

It was a stiff fight but we did manage to get a Visa that would cover Charlotte for the seven or eight years that it would take her to complete her education here. Lucy, Chantelle, Dave and I all agreed that since she was so young we would keep her out of our somewhat incestuous family's sexual relationships. If she ever discovered what we were up to when she was older then it would be up to her whether or not she joined in.

With this in mind, and using her visa restrictions as an excuse, I suggested that when the next year's session began in September she should become a boarder and be able to take part in all the advantages the school had to offer. I pointed out she would spend all her holidays with us or with Chantelle and Dave, and any other time when she wanted to stay with us for an overnight or a weekend.

I also said to her that it would also mean she would be more in control; of her own destiny since we would not know what she was up to during term time. She readily agreed to this with a laugh and pointed out with the school rules to limit her activities she would not really be all that free.

Lucy.

After getting confirmation from the office for registering births that her great grandmother had indeed registered the father as one Charles Edward MacBain, Charlie accepted our new girl's claim and welcomed her wholeheartedly into his family circle. He wanted to protect her as much as possible from thinking that she was being accepted because we wanted her to join in the sexual side of our family relationships. I agreed with him and was pleased when she agreed that the start of the next term she would become a boarder at the school.

I was quite pleased about this for another reason. After all we were newlyweds with a very unconventional lifestyle which would be severely restricted over the next few months while she remained at home with us. I liked her and enjoyed her company but I missed the freedom of being Charlie's sexual slut whenever he desired that it should be so. After School began again in September things would return to something which passed as normal in our commitment to one another.

That is not to say that we did not enjoy having her with us. She was a bright, pretty girl and as she gradually came to terms with her mother's death she proved to have a quirky sense of humour. Once she started school they found out she was also very bright and the school felt that she could sit her GCSEs in Maths, English French, and Spanish, along with Physics, Chemistry, Art and Arithmetic which was a separate subject from maths at this grade. This would enable her to stay with her classmates and go on to take her higher grade studies if the following year.

Just before the Easter break she came and asked us if she could have a boyfriend as one of her classmates had asked her out. She told us that his name was Sam Westerman from Kent who was a boarder at the school. Charlie made some inquiries and it turned out he was also a good student and that his family had their own long distance haulage business. So we gave her the go ahead. Having done that, I took her aside and suggested that I take her to the doctor's and that she should go on the pill.