Chapter eight
1360 Words
My dad dropped us off, May and I, at the start of the long path to Noss Head Lighthouse. The sky was largely clear, although a few clouds were still playing timidly with the sun.
“Did you take the right cane, Mom?” my father asked worriedly.
"Yes, Paul, and my umbrella and my little sweater," she said.
“Scarlett, be careful, okay? Are you sure you took your cell phone?”
“Yes, Dad, and I’ll call you as planned when we need to be picked up.”
“How long do you think you will walk?”
“Paul! Now stop behaving like you're my father, don't reverse the roles it's unbearable!”
“Yes, sorry, Mom. I'm just a little worried. I want to be sure that everything will be okay.”
"Everything will be fine, Paul," May reassured him.
Dad was both cheerful and freaked out that we were taking this walk. He figured May was going to fall, hit her head, and I wouldn't know what to do.
A melodrama, or something. Fortunately, May didn't see it that way at all. She had looked very cheerful when I asked her to go earlier in the afternoon.
Dad kissed us both, looking like he was struggling not to make yet another recommendation. When May heard the car pull away, she huffed loudly.
“Uh! I thought he would never leave!”
“He loves you, grandmother, that's why he does too much.”
“I know, my granddaughter, I know...”
The wind was blowing hard. I pulled up the hood of my sweater and tightened the collar of my parka.
“Shall we go?”
“Let’s go!” she cried with a wonderful smile.
We walked along the narrow dirt road, bordered by immense meadows on each side. The wind bent the tall grass, creating small green eddies.
"If I'm not too slow, we should be at the lighthouse in an hour," she said.
“We're in no rush. We have the whole afternoon ahead of us.”
May smiled at me.
“I'm happy to spend time with you, Scarlett. We haven't seen each other much since you arrived at the manor.”
“I'm sorry, Grandma. (I felt a little guilty.)”
“Oh... don't be, Scarlett. You seemed busy with young Jacob Brown.”
“It's true that we went out a lot.”
“Are you together?”
“Grandma!”
“What, is it a taboo subject?”
“Not at all, but...”
“We don't talk about these things with our grandmother, is that right?”
I was indeed terribly embarrassed to broach this subject with her.
“So, is he your boyfriend?”
I replied resigned, knowing that she was not going to let it go.
“No, we're just friends.”
“But you like him?”
I think before answering.
“He's nice.”
“That's not what I was referring to, Scarlett. Do you like him?”
“Yes, but I don't see him becoming my boyfriend.”
“And, why is that?”
My grandmother was very curious!
“We are too different. Our friendship is perfect and I think a romantic relationship would ruin everything.”
“I understand.”
She closed her eyes and raised her nose to the sky as if to sniff the air. She seemed to soak up the surrounding scent. Her sense of smell must have seriously developed since she lost her sight.
“Scarlett, have I ever told you about my first love?”
“Uh, no. But wasn't it grandpa?”
She smiled with a very singular intensity.
“I was a little over sixteen, he was seventeen. He was a handsome boy, dark, with beautiful eyes, and I met him here at Noss Head the first time. We were taking a walk with my parents to the lighthouse when I saw him. His father was the lighthouse keeper and he was learning this profession. At that time, technology wasn’t yet replacing people.
“We fell in love with each other from the first moment we saw each other. We were sure to spend the rest of our lives together. I even wanted to introduce him to my parents. But the circumstances were difficult, the Eagleson family wouldn’t have been ready to welcome a lighthouse keeper. My mother took a very negative view of this new companion. At the time, she did everything to keep us apart. But our relationship still lasted a year. A year in which we hid our love for each other.
“Oh, don't get me wrong, Scarlett, I stayed pure,” my grandmother said with a smile. “At that time, there was no question of consummating your love before being married! However, we had a unique and wonderful kiss, which I’ll never forget. We had hidden at the top of the lighthouse, the sun was shining brightly, we had the feeling of being alone in the world, of being one, forever.”
“And what happened next?”
“He disappeared overnight.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yes. I was heartbroken, I thought I would never get over it. His father said he had found a job as a lighthouse keeper in the south of Scotland. So I had resigned myself to never seeing him again.”
“And you never saw him again?”
“Yes, once, a few years later. I had already met your grandfather. We were married and happy. Paul was three years old. The three of us were walking as a family on the pier when I saw him. He was with his family, too. He had a very beautiful wife, I remember, and two boys. Shortly afterwards, I learned that he was taking over at Noss Head Lighthouse. He had returned, but the years had gone by quickly...”
“You didn’t speak to him at that time?”
“No, I never mentioned Oliver Sutherland to your grandfather, so I just nodded when he walked past us. He did the same.”
“Sutherland, you say? (I was speechless.)”
“Yes, why?”
“I met a Sutherland in Wick. Elgin, a boy of about twenty.”
“Oh...”
There were a few seconds of silence before May spoke again.
“His grandson.”
“His grandson?”
I shook my head to put my mind back together. This handsome, dark-haired boy that I fell in love with, was the grandson of my grandmother's secret lover? Whoa... what news!
“And this Oliver, he still lives in Wick?” I asked.
“No, he died in an accident I believe, about fifteen years ago. Tell me, how did you meet young Sutherland?”
I dreaded this question. I especially didn't want to tell her the episode of Jacob' crazy kiss. The lie came out of my mouth with surprising ease.
“We had a puncture on the road with Jacob when we came back from the pub a few days ago. Elgin Sutherland stopped to help us.”
“Oh. And what was he like?”
I blushed and my mouth was dry.
“I don't know,” I lied. “It was dark, I didn’t see him well.”
“Hmm...”
She seemed to strongly doubt what I was telling her. But I quickly changed the subject.
“We'll be at the lighthouse soon, Grandma, in twenty minutes I think. Do you want me to call Dad?”
“No, not yet. We still have to go up.”
“You want to go up to the top? But there are at least a hundred steps!”
“Seventy-six, my granddaughter. I’m in a good position to know exactly how many there are! Besides, you know, it's not particularly difficult to climb them.”
Yes, except for a city girl like me, who only took the escalator in the metro and the elevator at home! But since it was necessary...
- Writer
