Seacliff

Chapter nineteen: The sister

2019

"It's not fair, you know," his sister said as Aidan resurfaced on the beach.

She handed him his towel and he wrapped it around his waist.

"What's not fair?"

"I should've had the sealskin."

Chuckling, he held out his arm and she took it, while her other hand clutched a cane. They walked slowly towards the grass-lined shore.

"Do you want to swap?" he suggested. "You get to have the sealskin and I get to have a sweetheart and a family."

"Oh, yes, please," his sister croaked. "My sweetheart's dead, anyway, and my family are all morons."

Aidan couldn't help the pitiful admiration crawling to his countenance as he helped the old woman sit on the stool she'd brought from the house. His backpack leaned against it.

"I will forever be in awe of you and Ma," he said. "I can't fathom how you do it."

Despite her thin build and saggy, spotted skin, his sister still had their mother's fierceness in her age-worn eyes, sharp and clear like polished ice.

"All this time," Aidan continued, fishing out his clothes, "I didn't dare get attached to anyone, not only for fear that I might get rejected, but also... on the miraculous off-chance that I might discover someone who doesn't think I'm a monster, I – "

"...would be afraid of losing them?" his sister filled in.

She glanced at the silver wedding ring on her finger. Tiny hands cradling a crowned heart.

"You could never understand," she whispered in the wind. "It's a human thing, and a female one at that. Everything always hurts when you're a woman. And we're so used to it that we don't lose our minds and go do stupid things like starting a bloody war. We just... we let it smoulder and grow stronger through it."

The hint of a smile on her lips morphed into laughter, which finished into a worrisome-sounding cough.

"And, of course, we snap sometimes. For the most ridiculous reasons. Or so you think – "

A flimsy shake of her head and a sigh reverberating from the depths of her lungs. Aidan finished putting his shoes on and crouched beside her, concern creasing his features.

"Let's take you back inside," he said. "It's getting chilly."

Her cold hand cupped his warm cheek.

"Is it true? Have you finally found her?"

"It is." He grinned. "I have. I still can hardly believe it. Feels surreal, almost. But I know it in my bones, I... the bond is real and it's alive, no doubt about that."

With trembling hands and a wheezing snicker, his sister worked the Claddagh ring off her bony finger. She held it out to him.

Aidan hesitated to accept it. "But... your daughter... your granddaughters..."

"Take it," she commanded. "She should have it. Besides, my moronic family would only fight over it. None of those ignorant idiots has earned it."

"They're only ignorant because you've kept them in the dark," Aidan argued. "I happen to think your youngest granddaughter is bright enough to understand."

His sister gave a dismissive handwave. "I wouldn't get my hopes up."

Aidan helped her to her feet, picked up the stool, and guided her along the footpath back to the house.

"I should have never let them marry Tories. And English ones at that!"

Aidan laughed. "What are you on about? Surely, you can't be judging your son and daughters-in-law based on their political orientation!"

"Oh, but I am. You know the bastards all voted for Brexit? And when I wanted to vote for Scottish independence, they had the nerve to tell me not to!"

Aidan bit his lip to keep from commenting. He knew better than to engage in political chitchat with his sister.

"You know what their problem is? They don't remember what it was like divided."

He couldn't disagree. There was so much humans didn't remember...

"Churchill and my poor mother must be turning in their graves," she marched on. "Britain is nothing on its own. It never has been. The only power it ever had was from preying on the weak. After the Germans bombed the bleeding hell out of us, the Jamaicans came and saved us. With the spread of the EU, nurses and doctors from all over the continent came to care for us. They brought us their food and their arts. What did Britain have before all that? Tea, incest and awful weather. And the tea isn't even British! We stole it from the Chinese and made Indians cultivate it."

The Victorian sandstone cottage emerged among the trees ahead.

"So, you keep the ring," she added, "you keep the ring and you give it to her. It's only right that she should have it."

His sister's nurse approached them as they reached the edge of the woodland.

"Hello, Mr Munro. Thank you, as ever, for bringing Aoife home safely."

"My pleasure, Matylda. It is I who must thank the mistress of the Lodge for letting me take a walk on her beach."

Aidan transferred his sister from his arm to Matylda's and waved goodbye.

"I'll see you both soon."

"Won't you stay for dinner?" his sister called out.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to impose – "

"Nonsense! The more, the merrier. Besides, Matylda promised to put her Sunday roast skills to the test, isn't that right, darling?"

The young woman chuckled. "I sure did! But we must warn Mr Munro that you invited my son and husband to join us."

"I'm sure he won't mind," Aoife retorted. "Will you, Mr Munro?"

He had the urge to fiddle with his glasses and suddenly realised he hadn't put them on.

"I wouldn't," Aidan confirmed. "I wouldn't mind at all, in fact... I'd be delighted to join you, if I may."

Gulping, Aidan followed the women into the house and braced himself for the flood of childhood memories he knew would arise.