Page 90 of The Moon Sister
‘Aye, he’s real enough,’ said Cal, flapping the best one of Pegasus at me.
‘He is indeed,’ I said, my fingers gently tracing the image of his elegant body as he stood in the snow. ‘Remember your promise, Mr MacKenzie,’ I teased him.
I added the completed grant applications to the envelope to send off to Charlie and scribbled him a quick note. ‘Hope you’re okay,’ I muttered as I handed over the envelope to the postmaster.
Later at Kinnaird, I was just debating whether to run the Zed gauntlet so I could access my emails in the office – I hadn’t yet had a reply to the email I’d sent Ally – when I saw Beryl come out of the house and walk towards me.
‘I’ve just had a call from the Laird. He’s just heard that Zara has gone missing from school again. She’s done it before and usually turns up here. The Laird is giving her twenty-four hours to arrive at Kinnaird before he calls the police. If I’m out and Zara comes to you, please let me know.’
‘Of course I will. You don’t seem very worried.’
‘If she’s not here by this time tomorrow, then I will be,’ she sniffed. ‘Oh, and Zed told me to tell you he’d like to see you. He thinks you may have been avoiding him.’
‘Oh no, I, well, I’ve just been busy, that’s all.’
‘Right, well, just passing on the message,’ Beryl said. ‘And let’s hope Zara shows up here soon.’
*
That evening, Cal went off to see Caitlin after his aborted visit of a few weeks ago, and with Lochie and his dad watching over Pegasus at the hide, I went to bed early. I must have dozed off immediately, for I came to at the sound of somebody tapping on my window. My immediate thought was that Zed had resorted to desperate measures to see me, but as I crept out of bed into the biting cold and twitched back the curtain to peer out surreptitiously, it was Zara’s face that appeared within the frosty frame.
‘Oh my God, Zara, you must be half frozen! Come in,’ I said through the window, then gesticulated towards the front door. ‘How on earth did you get here?’ I asked her as I opened it.
‘I hitched a lift from Tain station up to the entrance, then just walked up the rest of the way. I’m okay, really,’ she said as I drew her shivering frame to the chair by the fire.
‘You should have called me,’ I said as I stoked the fire and reached for Zara’s hands to warm them with my own.
‘There’s no signal, Tiggy, and besides, I don’t want anyone else to know that I’m here.’ She looked around nervously. ‘Where’s Cal? In bed?’
‘No, he’s in Dornoch with Caitlin. Zara, your dad has already called Beryl, so I think I should at least let them both know you’re safe.’
‘No!Please, Tiggy, I just needed some time alone to think. Twenty-four hours is all I’m asking for.’
‘I . . .’
‘If you won’t promise, I’ll find somewhere else to hide out.’ Zara stood up immediately.
‘Okay, okay, I won’t say anything for now,’ I capitulated. ‘Are you sure you’re feeling okay?’
‘Not really, no.’
‘Anything I can help with?’ I said as I walked to the kitchen to warm up some milk for cocoa.
Zara followed me and leant against the doorframe. ‘Maybe . . . Like, you’re the only grown-up I trust, but please, Tiggy, don’t say anything. I just need a bit of time to work some stuff out, okay?’
‘I’m flattered, Zara, but you hardly know me.’
‘Thanks,’ she said as she took her cocoa and we went back to sit by the fire.
‘So,’ I said as Zara cradled her mug, ‘I’d guess it’s something to do with a boy?’
‘Yes, it is. How did you know?’
‘Instinct,’ I replied with a shrug. ‘Is it that Johnnie you mentioned to me at Christmas?’
‘Yes!’ Tears sprang immediately to Zara’s eyes. ‘I really thought he liked me, y’know? Even though all the other girls had warned me, he told me I was special and I believed him . . .’
Zara’s body seemed to crumple as her shoulders heaved with sobs. I removed the mug from her hands, knelt in front of her and held them with mine.
