A Family By Design Read online

  “Aye, that’ll be, how shall I put it - entertaining? Reckon I’d be OK in them though,” said Gordon. He performed a clumsy high-kick and staggered across the kitchen lino.

  “Oh stop it, Gordon. She’ll blow everyone away with her Oscar-winning performance, and you two will have to eat your words.”

  “How was the sea today Daddy?” said Allannah, as part of her welcome home to Dad routine.

  “Rough, again. Far too many sick passengers.”

  Allannah pulled a face. “Aww Dad, don’t. I’m eating.”

  Gordon guffawed before grating parmesan over his dinner. “You did ask,” he said. “Hope it’s OK Anna, I said I’d meet a few of the lads later at The Angel.”

  “Course, I might join you. But it’ll have to be after Pride and Prejudice, final episode tonight. Oh, I know what I meant to tell you. I’ve booked the flights to Oslo. I rang Mum, and she’s so excited about seeing us again.”

  “Och heck. I’ll have to brush up on my Norwegian,” he said, and managed a poor impersonation of Anna’s accent while he twisted spaghetti around his fork. “Give me the dates, and I’ll book the time off. How was your shift? You weren’t back when I left.”

  “Busy as ever. But, I stayed on because I wanted to sit with young Frances until her mum arrived.” Anna glanced at Allannah. “I don’t think she’s got long. The poor lass is asleep more than awake now, bless her heart.” Anna rested her spoon and fork against the bowl. “It’s breaking her parents’ hearts, and they haven’t begun to come to terms with what’s happening. Don’t expect they ever will.” Anna’s eyes brimmed with tears.

  Gordon chewed slowly. “Life can be so cruel. It’s hard to believe I watched Frances compete against Katriina at sports day only last year. I remember Kat saying how pleased she was to have beaten her, as if she was the one to beat.”

  Allannah fiddled with a strand of her curly auburn hair. “Tom wasn’t in school last week. I wondered if it was because of Frances.”

  “It might be better if the boys were in school, help take their mind off things.” Anna reached across the table and gave her daughter’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Gordon, could you drop round and see Michael when you get a chance? He can’t be at Frances’ bedside as much as Pearl. Someone has to look after the boys.” Anna’s tears rolled freely down her cheeks as her food grew cold.

  “Aye, I’ll go tomorrow. I can stay with the boys while he visits. And I’ll take him some bottles of homebrew too,” he added as an afterthought.

  As their evening turned to night, the McNalty family, minus one Katriina McNalty, continued talking with ease around the kitchen table, of both the significant things going on in their lives, as well as the day’s trivialities. The lampposts began to light up in turn around the harbour, sending shimmering flickers across the gentle ripples of the sheltered water as the last of the fishing boats returned to their moorings beside the harbour walls. Outside, the melodic clinking of the flagpole sounded in the wind, and the occasional call of a gull still scavenging for any fish discarded by the fishermen.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Temptation

  The Swan Theatre, Oban

  Late that evening, after one diabolical dress rehearsal was followed by another marginally less diabolical dress rehearsal, we changed out of our costumes and made our way, somewhat dispiritedly, into the auditorium. Adrian sat alongside Pat the stage manager with several sheets of notes spread out on the table in front of them. They talked in undertones, with solemn expressions.

  I slumped into the seat next to Polly and awaited the dressing down I knew was about to hit us. We’d been rehearsing for hours, I was shattered and just wanted to go home, soak in a hot bubble bath then collapse into my warm bed.

  “Here we go,” I said to Polly, and looked at my watch.

  “Hey guys, settle down. Shhh!” Adrian stood and waved his arms melodramatically until the talking died down. “Listen guys. I realise you’re all here for the love of your art, but we have to make this production the best we can. We want good reviews in the press don’t we?” He paused for emphasis. “And I was thinking, if we pull it off we could take it to the Edinburgh Fringe Fest’. Rent a flat on Princes Street. We’ll wow a more cultured, slash, international audience.” He drew a breath. “But some of you are still making slip-ups on your lines. Steve, Kim.” Adrian consulted his notes, “Polly, Ricky. I’m sorry, but that cannot happen on Tuesday. It’s not fair to the rest of the cast, and it’ll be humiliating. Get ‘em right, yah?”

  Adrian talked, no wittered on, for another fifteen minutes, each and every one of us instructed where we had gone wrong.

  I sat next to Polly on Row G, and rested my Doc Martens on the seat in front. I raised my hand.

  “Yes, Katriina.” Adrian plucked off his reading glasses and sucked the end of an earpiece as though he were deep in intellectual thought.

  I tilted my head and smiled sweetly. “Did any of it go OK?”

  “Of course it did.” He nodded, enthused. “It’s just I don’t want to keep you here all night. There were plenty of fantastic performances, and some of the scenes were quite moving.” He paused briefly. “Right, thanks people. Any questions?” He skimmed the auditorium. “Great. I’ll see you all tomorrow for the technical rehearsal, OK? Change into costumes if you want to get into character, but otherwise come as you are. Six on the dot.”

  We all got up to leave. As I reached the bottom step, Adrian put a heavy hand on my shoulder.

  “Katriina, a quick word?”

  I glanced at Polly. “Yeah sure.”

  “It’s OK Polly.” He nodded. “You get off. I won’t keep her long.”

  “Oh right. Are you sure you don’t want me to wait Kat?”

  Before I got a chance to say, ‘Yes. Please don’t leave me alone.’

  Adrian stepped in. “No need. I’ll see Katriina safely home.”

  “See you at school then.” Polly gave a cheerful wave and followed the other young thespians out through the auditorium doors.

  I watched the doors swing shut behind her.

  “I want to run through the scene where you meet Kav for the first time, OK?”

  “I’m sure you said that one went well,” I replied, and felt annoyed at being kept later than the others.

  “It did go reasonably well. I just think you can bring out the, how can I put it, the tension a bit more.”

  “You should have asked Ricky to stay. Surely it’s a two-way thing?”

  “He had to get off, and I can play Kav. Come on. It’ll only take five minutes.”

  Full of reluctance, I followed him to the rehearsal room and wondered why we couldn’t run through it on the main stage.

  “So, as Kav walks in, you clock him, take a sip of your drink then look back at him. You can’t take your eyes off him. Your gaze drifts up and down his taut muscular body, and you imagine what it would be like to be with him. Try it from there.” Adrian pulled out a table and indicated for me to lean up against it like it was a bar. Adrian stepped out of the room, then when he walked back in I saw him flick the light switch. The door clicked shut and plunged the room into darkness.

  My voice rose. “Hey, what’s happening?”

  “Stay where you are Katriina. I’ll find you.”

  Feeling panicky, I grabbed the edge of the table, ducked down, and slipped underneath.

  As he neared, he spoke in a deep, gravelly voice. “I never resist temptation, because I have found things that are bad for me do not tempt me.”

  What was he on about? That wasn’t a line from our play. Instinctively, I knew I had every reason to be frightened and I crawled out from between the table legs and headed for the crack of light beneath the door.

  I heard him bang into the table.

  “Katriina, I want us to get to know one another better. You want it too don’t you?”

  I made a bolt for the door.

  He grabbed my leather jacket and swung me around. “Don’t go. I won’t hurt yo
u.” He forced himself up hard against me, his hands all over my backside.

  “Get off me,” I hissed, and kicked out.

  “Katriina! Katriina, are you here?”

  I heard Mum’s distinctive Norwegian accent echoing through the auditorium.

  “Mum!” I screamed. “Mummy.”

  Adrian shoved me away and opened the door wide. The fluorescent light from the corridor poured in. I bolted down the passageway and through to the auditorium, straight into Mum’s arms.

  “Katriina, whatever’s the matter?” Mum’s eyes were wide.

  Adrian appeared behind me.

  “Hi, Mrs McNalty. We were just practising one of Katriina’s scenes, and the light bulb went in the middle of it. Think it frightened you, didn’t it Katriina?” He forced a phoney smile, but looked straight through me.

  Mum took my hand. “You’re shaking my love. Are you OK?”

  “I’m all right, I think,” I said, and edged behind her.

  “It’s a good job I turned up by the look of things.” Mum’s eyes locked on Adrian’s. “I don’t know what’s been going on, but I’m taking Katriina home. Trust me, young man, it had better not be anything you might live to regret.”

  Our white, pebble-dashed terraced cottage on the harbour front was just a short walk from the theatre. Mum sat me down in our small but warm living room and switched on the television.

  “Try to relax Katriina. I’m going to make us some hot chocolate.”

  I nodded and turned to the TV. A wildlife documentary about ants. I watched as a beautiful, raven-haired scientist guided a microscopic camera into the depths of an ant’s nest, revealing its crazy inner workings, with its tunnels, clusters of shiny white eggs and myriads of ants that scurried about in manic streams.

  Mum soon returned with two large mugs and a serious expression. She placed one in my hand and sank onto the sofa next to me. “What went on in there my love? It’s important you tell me. And I want you to remember that nothing, and I mean nothing ever shocks me.”

  I lifted my cup, sipped some of the creamy froth and swallowed. “Adrian said the rehearsal was over and we could leave. Then he stopped me and said I had to rehearse one of the scenes again. All I remember is him switching off the light in the rehearsal room and shutting the door. And he started talking about never resisting temptation. It was horrible.”

  I cried and tears spilled across my cheeks. I drew a deep breath. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t come.”

  Mum mulled it over. “Did he touch you anywhere?” she said evenly.

  “In that room when it went dark, he grabbed me tight. Then you shouted, and he pushed me away. And he’s been creeping me out the past few days. Especially today when we were getting changed.”

  “He came into the girls changing room?”

  “And I wasn’t wearing much.”

  She placed her mug on the coffee table. She turned to me and took both of my hands.

  “Why did you come?” I asked. “You never pick me up.”

  Mum shook her head lightly. “I’m not sure. I only remember having an intensely strong feeling, more of a sensation really, that I must find you. I can’t explain it.”

  “I’m so glad Mum. I was scared. And he turned that light off. It wasn’t the bulb going.”

  “OK my love, leave it with me. Are you still going to do the play?”

  “I’m not missing out because of him.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll have to tell Dad, and we’ll decide what’s to be done.”

  “Thank you, Mum. And thank you for coming to find me.” I kissed her cheek, and we held one another.

  The following evening, I arrived at the theatre with Mum firmly in tow. Adrian greeted us somewhat less heartily than usual. He acted as though nothing untoward had happened the previous night, but I noticed him cast a nervous glance at Mum.

  “Right people, we’re almost there. One final push to get us ready for opening night.”

  “Hey Adrian, how did you get the black eye,” asked Polly, with a grimace. “It looks sore.”

  I looked at Mum with a lift of the eyebrows, and she gave the tiniest wink back.

  “Umm, I tripped on the stairs, fell face first into the banister,” came his chipper reply. “And yes Polly, it is extremely sore.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Cupid’s Arrow - 1997

  It was Freshers week and I was working behind the bar of the packed out Student Union, a much sought after position at Strathclyde University. Drinks promotions, combined with an air of youthful exuberance made for a vibrant atmosphere. I noticed there were also a fair number of students in their second or third years that had come along to join in the fun. As I was working, I had a legitimate excuse to check out all the new faces. Oasis’ hit Wonderwall, blasted out.

  My friend, Rosie - pretty, blonde and uber confident with the opposite sex, tapped me on the shoulder. “Hey, Kat. See the super tall Greek god with the cheekbones to your right.”

  I glanced over, but feigned only slight interest.

  “Yes, he’s gorgeous, but I bet he knows it. And if he isn’t taken I don’t reckon it’ll take him long to hook up here,” I shouted. “Anyway, looks like Pippa’s first in line.” I noticed my pint was overflowing and flicked the tap up.

  “Like hell she is,” said Rosie.

  And with all the grace of a rugby left back, Rosie elbowed Pippa aside. Pippa looked over at me, her face an absolute picture.

  As I poured a pint of snakebite and black for a fresher with an unfortunate case of acne, I noticed Rosie all but snogging her Greek god. She leaned across the bar and pretended she couldn’t hear him, then with a coquettish smile, she took his money. He grinned and lapped up the attention like a hypnotised puppy. A noticeable nudge from Jess, the manager, meant Rosie had to move on to serve some of the less attractive students.

  Rosie sidled up to me and with a smug smile said, “Guess who’s off to see Max as soon as we finish here?”

  She pronounced his name in a bewildering accent that I couldn’t place with her overriding Yorkshire accent.

  “You’ve got a date?” I said.

  “Well, not exactly, but I asked if he wanted to hang out later, and he said, ‘yeah that’d be grand’.” Cue strange accent. “Max is from Dublin, and his voice is soo fucking sexy. Just like him.” She laughed and darted away.

  How did she do it? She couldn’t resist the urge to seduce every man she took a shine to, and most of them fell for her in a nanosecond. Not that I was in the least bit jealous. I’d recently finished with my first real love of eighteen months, David, and while I had initiated the split, I was still feeling raw and nowhere near ready to start seeing anyone else. Despite that, I’d already had three tolerable offers from eager Freshers, and that was just in the past hour. I felt rather like a seasoned undergraduate, more motherly figure than girlfriend material. I also got the impression that some of them struggled to handle being away from home for the first time, with access to unlimited cheap alcohol. I had a decent view of the room, and I figured Cupid must have been firing his arrows left, right and every which way, as the place seemed to be full of beautiful young things in search of love. Either that or everyone was intoxicated.

  By eleven o’clock I realised what a fantastic job I had. It allowed me to socialise with friends and bag several free drinks in the process. What a result. But it was hard work too, and I was relieved when the bar closed, and I’d done my fair share of collecting and washing glasses. Lots of students still milled around, although they listed in various directions and swayed when they walked.

  “Kat. Over here.”

  I spun around and saw Rosie waving. I headed over to the orange plastic sofas, and as promised, she was sitting up close to Mr-I’m-a-hunk-and-don’t-I-know-it.

  “Katriina, meet Max, he’s from Dublin.” Cue accent. “He’s doing …what was it?” she said, gazing into his eyes and placing a well-manicured hand on his thigh.

>   “Hi there Katriina, great to meet you. Have a seat. You look all done in.” He extended his hand and shifted over to make room.

  I shook his hand. Great, I thought, I look knackered. Students didn’t generally shake hands. Still, he didn’t look like your average Strathclyde student. More mature I guessed and better dressed. He wore a green shirt under a black woollen jumper, slim fitting stonewashed jeans and brown leather Jodhpur boots. A stylish look, I thought. I looked down at the gaping rip in the knee of my baggy jeans and hastily crossed my legs.

  “I’ve just finished my degree at Dublin Uni, and I’m doing a Postgrad in Sustainable Architectural Design. Think I made the right choice coming here,” he said, and smiled.

  With his warm Southern Irish accent and humorous eyes, he was becoming more attractive by the second.

  “How about you,” he asked me. “What’s your subject? Wait, let me guess.” He paused, wrinkled his nose, tilted his head and said, “Drama?”

  “Actually, no,” I said, and laughed “I’m doing Environmental Science, final year. Which means I’m going to have to knuckle down to some serious study.” Then I realised this made me sound like a signed up member of the geek squad, and quickly added. “But I’ll be making the most of the social side of things.”

  The three of us chatted for a while, and I soon realised he wasn’t anywhere near as shallow as his good looks might have suggested. He seemed super intelligent, mature and genuinely interested in what we had to tell him about Glasgow and the University.

  “Kat, I promised to show Max around campus. Do you want to come or would you rather go home and sleep?” She followed this with a non-too-subtle wink, which meant I had little option but to decline her kind offer.

  “Ah, a tour of the campus… at midnight.” I resisted the urge to wink back. “No, I’ll get back.” In fact, I felt revived. Still, I thought, all’s fair in love and war.

  Despite my tired legs and alcohol consumed I slept fitfully. I had a couple of vivid dreams, one of which involved Max. I dreamed that he gave me a piggyback up the steps of a steep lecture theatre and as he climbed he squeezed my bottom while I nibbled his earlobe. It felt exquisitely erotic and my insides pulsed with pleasure. I decided not to share that dream with Rosie.