Page 9 of A Scottish Love Story
‘I am so happy for you both,’ Amy said. ‘I shall look forward to being a surrogate granny. I know how happy your mother would have been by your news and I know I can never take her place, but I am delighted and I will do my best to help if I can. I may not be able to get around that easily, but I shall still enjoy bouncing a baby on my good knee. So, when is the baby due?’
‘Not for ages yet. Oh, well, I suppose now that Donald has let the cat out of the bag I may as well tell you. It’s due at the beginning of May.’
‘Are you keeping well, dear? You will not have to overdo things and you spent all morning cooking us a beautiful lunch.’
‘You know I enjoy cooking, Aunt Amy, and I enjoy eating too. I shall be as big as a house if this goes on.’
‘But it is good to know you are keeping well. Now that Roxanne is here, maybe we shall be able to repay you by cooking a Sunday dinner for you.’ She turned to her young companion. ‘I hear Jenny calling you Roxie. Do you prefer that, dear?’ she asked.
‘My friends all call me Roxie.’
‘What do you think then, Roxie? Would you consider cooking a Sunday dinner?’
‘I would enjoy that! Once I get used to your cooker and where everything is kept. Everything is so new to me yet.’
‘Give the girl a chance to settle in, Mum,’ Ciaran said. ‘She only arrived yesterday evening.’
‘Yes, I’m forgetting everything will seem strange at first, but I feel as though I have always known you, Roxie. You don’t seem like a stranger in the house.’
‘Thank you,’ Roxie said almost shyly, and she was not normally shy. ‘You have all made me welcome so I don’t feel like a stranger either. I was used to an Aga cooker at home and Inoticed yours is an Esse at the bungalow, so I suppose it will be a little different at first.’
‘It is, but you don’t need to worry about that. You can use the electric cooker if you prefer, especially if we’re having guests to dinner and there’s more cooking.’
‘You didn’t tell me you were wanting a cook, Mum, as well as a companion and a chauffeur,’ Ciaran said, raising his eyebrows. He winked at Roxie, but she just smiled. She felt comfortable with Amy Baxter and she was grateful for her easy, almost motherly manner. Besides, she was used to being busy. When she had first met her new employer and realised Amy would not be needing help with washing, dressing and getting ready for bed, she wondered what she would be expected to do when they weren’t out and about. The house was modern and with Iris doing the washing and cleaning, she doubted she would ever earn the generous salary.
‘So, Jenny, my dear, I shall be able to start knitting baby clothes now. I wondered how I was going to pass the long winter evenings when I can’t get around so easily. I will crochet you two baby blankets. Would you like them in white?’
‘We shall be grateful for whatever you make, Aunt Amy. That’s very kind of you.’
‘Do you knit or crochet, Roxie?’ Amy asked.
‘I’m a slow knitter. I have never learned to crochet, but I would have a go, if you are willing to teach me. I do enjoy sewing, but I left my electric sewing machine behind. I couldn’t get everything in my small car and I wanted to bring my laptop and printer. I have no accounts to do now—’ her heart sank when she remembered all the things she and her father had done together — ‘but I do want to keep in touch with my friends... that is if I can get the internet? I never thought of that! Do you have an internet connection up here?’ Donald and Ciaran burst out laughing.
‘We mayseemuncivilised, but we do have the internet.’ Ciaran chuckled. ‘Even Mum has a connection for her computer, but she rarely uses it, do you, Mum?’
‘I don’t understand it very well,’ Amy said grumpily.
‘Maybe you might succeed in teaching her what to do when you’re with her every day,’ Ciaran said. ‘I will come and get you connected up tomorrow.’
‘Yes, Aunt Amy. I could send you emails instead of letters to keep in touch more often,’ Jenny said. ‘And when the baby arrives, we could send you photographs now I’ve got a digital camera.’
‘Oh, yes, I would like that,’ Amy said. ‘But I fear Roxie will need to sort that out for me. I don’t understand these modern gadgets.’
‘I will help you,’ Roxie said. ‘Emails are easy.’
‘You might end up with more than you bargained for, Miss Roxanne Carr,’ Ciaran said with a grin. ‘Cooking and driving, tutoring Mum about emails, advising Jenny on baby care...’
‘I’m sure Jenny will not need any advice that I could give on babies,’ Roxie said with a smile. She fixed her eyes on Ciaran’s and added firmly, ‘I prefer to be occupied and know I’m earning my wages. I have always been busy.’
‘I have an electric sewing machine you can use if you want to sew, Roxie,’ Amy said. ‘I have scarcely used it. It has a lot of gadgets my old sewing machine never had. I bought it because I wanted to make all the curtains for the bungalow before we moved in.’ She looked at Ciaran and shook her head sadly. ‘That was before your father had his last heart attack, if you remember.’
‘I do.’ Ciaran nodded. ‘You did right to have them made at the shop, Mum, whatever the cost. Dad was very content in the time you had together at the bungalow.’
‘Yes, I know.’ She sighed. ‘Anyway, Roxie, remind me to show you my little machine tomorrow and you can take it upstairs to your sitting room and use it whenever you like.’
‘Oh, yes,’ Jenny said. ‘That little table under the window in your room opens up.’
‘Your aunt told me it was your idea to make me a sitting room, Jenny. I never expected such comfortable accommodation.’
