Dust to dust

THIRTEEN

‘Girls,’ complained Peter. ‘Why do they always have to take so long?’

Dr Steven Dunbar smiled at his young nephew’s impatience. They were standing outside the changing rooms at Dumfries swimming pool waiting for Steven’s daughter Jenny and his niece Mary to emerge. ‘It’s just the way things are, Peter. One of the things in life we blokes have to accept.’ Seeing that Peter remained unconvinced, he added, ‘The pizza will taste all the better when we finally get there.’

Steven, a medical investigator with the Sci-Med Inspectorate, based at the Home Office in London, had been on leave for the past month. He had escaped to Scotland for some respite after a particularly tough assignment, which had threatened his life and exhausted him both physically and mentally. He lived in London but his daughter Jenny stayed up here in the village of Glenvane with Steven’s sister-in-law Sue and her solicitor husband, Peter, along with their own two children, Peter and Mary — an arrangement that had been in place since the death of Steven’s wife Lisa from a brain tumour. Jenny had been a baby at the time so she had never known anything else.

In the normal course of events, Steven would spend every second weekend in Scotland, but the hell of his last assignment had meant not seeing Jenny for over six weeks so he was trying to make amends. A favourite outing for the children was always to the swimming pool in Dumfries, followed by pizza and as much ice cream as they could eat. Tradition had it that he would receive a mock telling-off from Sue when they got home but, for the children, this was part of the enjoyment.

‘At last,’ exclaimed Peter as the girls emerged. ‘What do you do in there?’

‘We have lots of hair to dry,’ said Mary. ‘You don’t.’

‘Talking to do, more like,’ grumbled Peter.

‘Are we going for pizza and ice cream, Daddy?’ asked Jenny.

‘You bet.’

‘Even if it makes Aunty Sue angry?’ she asked, suppressing a shared giggle with Mary.

‘I’ll fix things with Aunty Sue,’ Steven assured her.

They emerged into the sunshine and took hands as they crossed the main road at the traffic lights to walk on the broad pavement by the River Nith.

‘Can we go out on the bridge for a moment, Daddy?’ asked Jenny as they were about to pass an old stone bridge crossing the river.

‘Oh, yeah, let’s,’ said Peter, starting to look around for pebbles.

‘Me too,’ said Mary.

Jenny was content to hold her father’s hand as they stepped out onto the bridge. ‘I like this bridge. It’s very old, isn’t it?’ she said, running the flat of her hand along the stones.

‘Hundreds of years,’ replied Steven.

Jenny paused to read a signboard. ‘Dev… Devor… Devorgilla.’

‘Devorgilla’s Bridge, nutkin.’

‘Funny name. Why is it called that?’

‘It’s named after a very grand lady named Devorgilla. She lived a very long time ago with her husband, John, here in Galloway. The history books say they loved each other very much. They even had a son who became king of Scotland.’

Jenny seemed thoughtful for a few moments before asking, ‘Do you love Tally very much, Daddy?’

Steven swallowed. He hadn’t seen the question coming. During the course of his last assignment, he had met a woman — Natalie Simmons, a doctor at a hospital in Leicester — whom he’d come to care for and knew could be special in his life. He had brought her up to meet Jenny the week before and thought it had gone well.

‘Would it bother you an awful lot if I did, nutkin?’ he asked, looking for clues in Jenny’s eyes, but she looked down at the ground.

‘Do you love her more than me?’

Steven knelt beside Jenny and cuddled her tightly. ‘I could never love anyone more than you, Jenny.’

Jenny smiled contentedly but then pressed on with her interrogation. ‘If you and Tally get a house together… will I come? Will I have to leave Aunty Sue and Uncle Peter?’

‘What would you like to do?’

‘I think we should all live together. There’s plenty of room.’

Steven smiled at Jenny’s perfect solution. ‘That might not be possible, sweetheart. Tally is a doctor in a big hospital in England and she has lots of children to look after. They would miss her terribly if she had to leave.’

‘Mmm,’ said Jenny, deciding the conversation was over. ‘Can we go for pizza now?’

The children were in bed when Steven told Sue and Peter about Jenny bringing up the subject of his relationship with Tally.

‘It’s only natural that she should,’ said Sue. ‘Poor sausage. It’s not easy being nine years old when you think your very foundations might be under threat from an outsider.’

‘I don’t want them to be under threat,’ said Steven. ‘You know how much Jenny means to me, but… I do have feelings for Tally. God, I feel like I’m walking on broken glass at the moment.’

‘Poor Steven. But be assured, whatever you decide, we regard Jenny as one of our own and always will. She’s welcome to stay here with us as long as she wants to.’

‘Absolutely,’ said Peter. ‘In fact — and I know this isn’t going to help your decision making — we’d hate to see her go.’

‘Thanks, you two. You know how I feel about you guys and what you’ve done over the years.’

‘We do,’ said Sue, who was always uncomfortable with high praise. ‘Just keep us informed.’

Steven phoned Tally from the privacy of his own room and exchanged details of the day with her.

‘Lucky you,’ said Tally. ‘I’ve been run off my feet; didn’t even have time for a sandwich at lunchtime.’

‘But the NHS is the envy of the world, Tally.’

‘Just as well you’re at a distance, Dunbar,’ Tally growled. ‘Talking about you being at a distance, what are our chances of meeting up soon? Or don’t you have time for the number two lady in your life any more?’ Before he could respond, she said, ‘Sorry. That was unfair. I know this must be difficult for Jenny as well as you.’

‘You two seemed to get on well together, I thought.’

‘I thought she was a super kid.’

‘But?’

‘No buts. I just don’t think we should rush things, that’s all. I don’t think I should suddenly be there every time she turns round. She needs time alone with her dad and I need time alone with my man. Let’s not push the happy families button too soon.’

‘Okay.’

Steven was thinking about the conversation and feeling less than happy about it when his phone, which he’d put down on the bedside table, came to life with a text message. He hoped it was Tally wishing him sweet dreams but it wasn’t. It was the duty officer at Sci-Med, telling him his leave was over and he should return to London on the first available flight.