Rod McGregor was cold to his core as he hurried towards
Shallowfield, it was three days before Christmas and 24 hours earlier he had
been in Brisbane, which had been his home for the previous 24 years, where he
worked as a conservationist for the Enoggera Forest Reserves, and it was his
first time back in Downshire since he emigrated, and he never expected to see
it again, in fact he had promised that he would never return.
But it was the person to whom he had made that promise,
Anna Abbiss, who had summoned him back, so he couldn’t refuse.
Anna was the love of his life, and the only woman he had ever
truly loved, and he loved her still, and she had loved him in equal measure,
the only problem was that she was married, to his brother.
A two year affair between them resulted in her falling
pregnant, Rod was sure that he was the father because Bob had mumps when he was
in his teens and what Rod knew, and his brother didn’t was that such an
affliction at that time at the age he was almost without exception resulted in
rendering the recipient sterile.
However Bob was in blissful ignorance and because of his
obvious delight at his impending fatherhood, Rod and Anna decided they should
draw their affair to a close, but because they had tried previously and failed
she said the only way was for him to leave, and he agreed, so he emigrated to
Queensland.
Obviously because they were his family he couldn’t sever
all contact but he maintained the distance although there had been close calls
over the years when Bob would invite his brother to stay or would himself plan
a trip to Australia, something always came up, something fabricated, to prevent
it.
As he drove across the Vale he listened to the Radio and
the weather forecast predicted a White Christmas and the artic winds were
already blowing and had brought little flurries of hailstones and sleet
throughout the day, but the slushy particles dissolved as they hit the ground.
However as he got closer to the Dancingdean Forest wet
sleet turned to powdery snow, and the snowflakes floated and swirled through
the air and formed a soft white carpet over the silent countryside and dusted
the trees and turned the landscape into a magical wonderland.
He pulled up outside the Larkspur Hospice and took a few
deep breaths before he got out of the car to steel himself for what was ahead.
He walked inside and the first person he saw was his
brother Bob, who beamed a radiant smile at him as they approached each other
and then they hugged
“Thanks for coming bro”
He stood by the door and looked into the room, and there
she was, a pale imitation of what she had been, and beside her bed was a younger woman, clearly her daughter,
their daughter, and she was the spitting image of Anna.
When she saw
him she got up and walked towards him with tears in her eyes, because although
they had never met she recognised him and exclaimed
“Uncle Rod!”
“Sweet Amy” he retorted
Because he was unable to cut the family ties he had
managed to conduct relationships with his brother and his niece via email and maintained
one with Anna vicariously.
What they hadn’t told him in their chatty email
exchanges, at Anna’s request, was that Anna was battling breast cancer, but as
each successive treatments failed and hope was finally replaced by palliative
care, she had to see him one last time before she died.
“How is she
doing?” he asked
“It won’t be
long now” Amy said and the tears welled up and she broke down, in her father’s
arms.
“Go and sit
with her” Bob suggested “The morphine has her but talk to her”
He sat beside
her bed and held her hand and said
“I love you
my Anna”
He felt her
hand move in his and then her eyes slowly opened and a glimmer of recognition
spread across her face and she licked her lips and retorted
“Hello my
only love”
They held each
other’s gaze for what seemed an eternity, but in reality it was only seconds
before she closed her eyes and she was gone back beneath the morphine veil.
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