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Back The Lewis Man Save as PDF
Chapters (43)
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Prologue
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-one
  24. Twenty-two
  25. Twenty-three
  26. Twenty-four
  27. Twenty-five
  28. Twenty-six
  29. Twenty-seven
  30. Twenty-eight
  31. Twenty-nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-one
  34. Thirty-two
  35. Thirty-three
  36. Thirty-four
  37. Thirty-five
  38. Thirty-six
  39. Thirty-seven
  40. Thirty-eight
  41. Thirty-nine
  42. Forty
  43. Acknowledgments

Her eyes dipped away, and she turned her head towards the ground. “I promise.” Her words were cast away in the wind almost before I heard them. And I wrapped my arms around her and held her so tight I was afraid I might break her.

“There’s no way to explain this to anyone,” I said. “And there’s things I have to do.” I had let my mother down, and I knew that I couldn’t live with myself until I had put things right. If they ever could be.

She looked up at me, and I saw the fear in her face. “Let it go, Johnny. Just let it go.”

But I couldn’t. And she knew it, too. She wriggled free of my arms and reached around behind her neck to unclasp the chain of her Saint Christopher medal. She held it out towards me, and it turned and twisted in the wind. “I want you to have this.”

I shook my head. “I can’t. You’ve had that ever since I’ve known you.”

“Take it!” It was a tone I knew there could be no arguing with. “It’ll keep you safe, Johnny. And every time you look at it I want you to think of me. To remember me.”

Reluctantly, I took it from her and clasped it tightly in my hand. The little bit of Ceit that I would have with me all of my life. She reached up then and touched my face, the way she had done that first time, and kissed me. Such a soft, sweet kiss, full of love and sorrow.

It was the last time I ever saw her. And though I married, and fathered two wonderful girls, I have never loved anyone else since.

Oh God! What possessed me to throw it in the sea? Did I dream that, or did I really do it? Why? Why would I do something like that? Poor Ceit. Lost for ever.

The light comes on, and I blink in the harshness of its glare. A lady is looking at me as if I had two heads. “What are you doing sitting here in the dark, Mr. Macdonald? Fully dressed, too.”

“It’s time for the milking,” I tell her. “I’m just waiting for Mary to bring me my breakfast.”

“It’s too early for breakfast, Mr. Macdonald. Come on, I’ll help you back to bed.”

Crazy! I’m up now. And the cows won’t wait.

She has her hand under my arm helping me to my feet, and she is staring into my face. I can see that she’s concerned about something.

“Oh, Mr. Macdonald . . . You’ve been crying.”

Have I? I put my hand to my face and feel how wet it is.

Twenty-eight

Twenty-eight