Page 89 of The Moon Sister
are well and healthy. You’ll never guess what there’s a guest staying in our main lodge at the moment called Zed Eszu. Apparently he knew Maia at uni, and they ‘saw’ each other. I don’t want to mention this or him to her as it might be upsetting, but I thought you would know what happened, as you two are so close. He’s an unusual man (!) and seems very keen to get to know me. He’s even offered me a job! The question is, why?
Anyway, got to run now and count some deer, but email me back as soon as you can with anything you know.
A big hug to you, that little one of yours, and your newly discovered twin brother (I’d love to meet him soon!)
Tiggy xxx
‘So,’ I said, as I stood up and made my way back to the cottage, with Thistle by my side, ‘let’s see what my big sis has to say about Zed, shall we?’
18
‘By the way,’ Cal said as we drove back from the birch copse after the fourth day’s fruitless dawn vigil looking for the white stag, ‘Beryl told me last night that the Laird’s wife wants to come up here tae Kinnaird tae stay for a while. Apparently she’s irritated that our guest is outstaying his welcome.’
‘I think we’d all agree with her on that,’ I said with feeling.
‘Odd though, as in their whole marriage, she’s probably come up here for no more than a few nights. I reckon she designed the Lodge with an eye on livin’ in it herself.’
‘Well, I’m sure Zed wouldn’t mind sharing it with her – Ulrika’s probably exactly his type.’
‘Aye, if he’s intae older women,’ Cal said bitchily. ‘Yae up for another dawn stakeout tomorrow?’
‘Absolutely, we just have to persevere and wewillsee that white stag, Cal, I promise.’
It was another three freezing-cold mornings until we did . . .
At first, I thought I was hallucinating; I’d been staring at the snow for so long and his white coat blended in so perfectly with the snow beneath him, his large antlers the same soft brown as the trees he slowly emerged from. But now he stood alone, away from the other red deer, perhaps only a few metres from me.
‘Pegasus.’ The name arrived on my tongue as though it had always been there. And then, as if he knew it was his name, he lifted his head and looked straight at me.
A precious five seconds passed, during which I thought I might never breathe again. Pegasus blinked slowly, and I blinked back, a moment of understanding passing between us.
‘Jesus!’
Pegasus started, then ran into the copse and disappeared. I groaned in frustration and glared at Cal, who had just lowered his binoculars and was staring at me as though he reallyhadjust seen Jesus.
‘Tig, he’s real!’ he stage-whispered.
‘Yes, and you scared him away,’ I scolded him. ‘But he’ll be back, I know he will.’
‘Are you sure you saw him too?’
‘Absolutely,’ I confirmed.
‘Oh my God.’ Cal swallowed hard and blinked. I realised he was close to tears. ‘We’d better tell the Laird what he has on his land. Ask what he wants us tae do about the stag. It’ll need protecting from poachers once word gets out, that’s for sure. I couldn’t name a price for a white stag’s head but it would be just that – priceless.’
‘God, Cal,’ I shuddered, horrified at the thought. ‘Can we not just keep it between ourselves for now?’
‘The Laird should know, Tig, it’s his land after all – his stag come tae that. An’ he wouldnae put any animal in danger, I promise. I need tae ask him if I can build a hide near the copse. We’re going tae have to put our Pegasus under twenty-four-hour watch just in case, an’ that’ll take manpower. The stag’s as vulnerable as a newborn baby naked in the snow once others find out about him.’
So Cal put in the call to Charlie, and with the help of Lochie and Ben, the handyman, swiftly erected a simple but effective hide from timber and tarpaulin, which would keep Pegasus’s protectors shielded from the freezing wind.
Over the next week, I got into the habit of waking at five every morning and going down with a thermos of coffee to take over from the night shift made up of tried and trusted ex-Kinnaird employees, to wait for Pegasus to arrive. It was as if he could sense me, because like clockwork, he would arrive out of the foggy darkness, and we would watch the sun rise together, the red and purple lights streaking across the sky and dappling his white coat like a painting, before he would retreat once more into the safety of the copse.
Charlie had asked for photos, and it was one snowy dawn in the fourth week of January that we managed to snap pictures of Pegasus before the stag disappeared into the blinding white landscape.
‘I’ll go and get these pictures developed so at least the Laird won’t think we’re imagining things. And nor will I,’ Cal added with a grin.
I went with him to the tiny local post office that did everything from developing pictures to cutting keys. We had a coffee whilst we waited for the film to be developed, then pounced on the photos, which were still sticky from the machine.
