Despite the Angels - By Madeline A Stringer Page 0,82

us on this. Stop him taking advantage again.”

“Surely she should learn from this, how not to be taken advantage of?” Roki grinned. “Excuse my grammar.”

“Hump your grammar.” Trynor was getting angry. “And I don’t excuse the content of what you’re saying. This is not a learning opportunity for Lucy. But it could be for Martin, to learn to stop taking advantage of her. Have you forgotten what he did in Scotland? That was bad.”

“She got her own back. Wouldn’t give us a job when she could have. He had a bad time after that. Had to ‘go on the parish’. Lost all his self-respect. Can you blame Martin for trying to get it back? I’m not going to stop him. Why’s it so important they get together? They’ve done it already, starting thousands of their years ago.”

“She and David have excellent energies when they can be together. And their baby has asked us to let her grow up with them. She felt it was helping her to develop something special, but never got past a few months. She’s had lives with each of them separately, but the energies just weren’t the same, she says. She wants to be a child with the two of them.”

“Do you think you want to have children, Martin?” Lucy asked, very quietly.

“Oh no, she always hears me when it isn’t appropriate!”

“I suppose. Haven’t thought about it.” Martin stood up. “Will you have another?”

“Good man, Martin,” Trynor was relieved, “avoid that question.” Trynor and Roki continued to argue, as they watched Lucy and Martin talk. Lucy’s eyes were shining and she looked quite beautiful. She listened to Martin as though he was the only thing in her world, and Martin believed he was.

Chapter 29

Dundee, Scotland, 28th December 1879

Lewis glanced at the clock for the hundredth time. The hands had barely moved, maybe less than a minute since the last time he looked. He sighed, turned his body on the chair so that the clock would be behind him and picked up the piece of wood and his knife. He was making another figure for Dawn, this one would be a cow. By her first birthday, next June, he planned to have a whole Noah’s Ark finished. He whittled carefully for a few minutes, tiny curls of wood coming off under his fingers and falling to his lap. The light was dim in the small room and the wind howling outside crept in occasionally round the edges of the window, making the candles gutter. He could just see the tiny horned head beginning to stick out of the little block of wood.

The clock whirred, then struck the quarter. Just another fifteen minutes and it would be time to set off for the station to meet them. He hoped Dr Ross had been able to help the wee one. Dorothy had such faith in the old doctor back in Cupar and had insisted on bringing Dawn to see him. It seemed as though they had been gone for weeks, but it was only two days. Not long now and they would be home, and with Hogmanay coming soon, maybe he and Dorothy would dance again. His hands fell still as his memory took over.

Lewis was in the forge, the sweat pouring down his body as he manoeuvred the hot metal in the flames. It was an unusually still day and though the doors were propped open no air moved, except for the tiny gusts from the bellows, when young Robert remembered to pump. Robert was the new apprentice, taken on a few months ago, so that he would be of some use to the master when Lewis got his papers next year, and moved on.

“Come on, lad, a bit harder!” Edward McIntyre came back in from the office and immediately noticed the slacker. He was a tough master, thought Lewis, but that suited me and I have learnt a lot from him. Maybe I can run my own forge one day. He gave the horseshoe another tap and held it back into the heat, wiping the sweat out of his eyes with the back of his wrist. Mr McIntyre was watching him, so he worked carefully, wanting to demonstrate his skill. He wondered later how long the girl had been watching from the doorway, and blushed often when he thought of how she had seen him stripped to the waist.

When the shoe was finished and given its last dowsing in water, steam billowed in front of Lewis, adding