Up On Cove Bay

1

Since moving to the United States after university, Rachel had reestablished a strong bond with her mother, but none of the others had done the same. And not just Ez, all five of them had an uneasy relationship with their father. It was gran—with her fading red hair, twinkling blue eyes, ready smile and the lingering lilt of Glasgow in her voice, who held them together and made them a family.

"Did you phone to complain about dad, or is something else on your mind?" Rachel asked her sister.

"Oh, I can always find something to complain about with dad," she admitted, "but I actually need your help."

"Anything," Rachel said at once. "Just tell me what you need." She was close to all her siblings, but wee Ez held a special place in her heart, perhaps because of the big different in their ages and her awareness of how their mothers departure and their fathers frequent absences had affected her. Rachel had been stepping in to fill that gap in Ez's life since the day Marion had left.

"Could you come home?" Ez pleaded. "It's a little too complicated to get into on the phone."

"Oh, sweetie, I don't know," Rachel began, hesitating. "Work is crazy."

"Work is always crazy, which is exactly why you need to come home. It's been ages. Before the girls came along, you used work as an excuse. Then it was the twins. Now it's work and the twins."

Rachel winced, it was true. She had been making excuses for years now. She'd eased her conscience with the fact that every member of her family loved visiting London and cane down frequently. As long as she saw them all often, it didn't seem to matter that it was almost always on her turf rather than in Aberdeen. She'd never stopped to analyse why it had been so easy to stay away. Maybe it was because it really hadn't felt like home after her mother had left.

Before she could reply, Ez added, "Come on, Rachie. When was the last time you took a real holiday? Your honeymoon, I bet. You know you could use a break, and the girls would love being here. They should spend quality time in the place you grew up. Gran could spoil them for a couple of weeks. Please. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

"Life or death important?" Rachel asked. It was an old exchange, used to rank whether any crisis was truly monumental or only a temporary blip in their lives.

"It could be," Ez said seriously. "At least in the sense that my whole futures at stake. I think you're the only one who can fix this, or at least the only one I'm willing to ask for help."

Struck by the somber tone in her voice, Rachel said, "Maybe it's best if you tell me right now."

"You need to be here to understand. If you can't stay for a couple of weeks, then at least come for a few days. Please."

There was something in her sisters voice that Rachel had never heard before, an urgency that suggested she wasn't exaggerating her claim that her future was at stake. Since Ez was the only one of the five siblings who'd been floundering for a focus since reaching adulthood, Rachel knew she couldn't turn her back on her. And admittedly, a break would do Rachel the world of good. Hadn't she just been bemoaning her workaholic tendencies earlier tonight?

She smiled, thinking about how wonderful it would be to breathe the salty Cove Bay air again. Even better, she would have uninterrupted time with her girls in a place where they could swing on the playground next to the floodlights of Pittodrie Stadium, build sand castles on the beach and run barefoot through the chilly waters of Cove Bay.