Astrid laid down her pen and sighed, partly with satisfaction, and partly with regret. She wasn’t going to write any more. She was going to stop, here, at this point in the island’s history, and leave the book for someone else to continue. She’d ended it with both a map, and a description of all the households currently on the island (and also a family tree – which wasn’t too difficult to draw at the moment, but might get a lot more complicated later on!)
“This is my family – I am Nell and Jon’s grand-daughter, and I was their heir. Ben, my husband, is a Waverider, from the Waverider crew that came to see if Nils Svenson had been shipwrecked here. And Jon, our eldest son, is our heir. His wife, Carla, rescued from Istria, has given him three children, Nell, the eldest, red-haired Maria and then little Jacob.”
“Tobias is one of my twin sons, and he’s married to Morag. They both share Nell and Jon as great-grandparents.”
“And Barnabas is my other twin son, married to Bianca, Carla’s sister. They have three boys, Mario, Pietro and David. Cecelia, Morag’s aunt, also lives with them.”
“Anders is my cousin, and Sal, his wife, is another Waverider. She’s Ben’s younger sister! Rachel, their eldest, lives at home with them, with her husband, Gil, and their two children, Benjamin and Andre. Rachel met Gil when she went on her voyage on Waverider, and stayed with the Waverider cousins.”
“This household is a new venture – Luisa is Carla and Bianca’s youngest sister, Sarah and Hannah are Sal and Anders’ other two daughters, and Siobhan is Bella and Patrick’s daughter.”
“Bella, Patrick and Callum, their son. They have four children, but only Callum is here – Morag has married my Tobias, Siobhan has moved out to clear new ground with the other three girls, and Brede, their youngest, is living somewhere else too.”
“Brede – with Ingrid and David, my brother and sister. Like me, they are Nell and Jon’s grandchildren, and like me, they have seen many changes on this island. And doubtless, there will be many more to come, though I will not be here to see them or write about them. But someone else will be able to carry on this work, and record our history as it unfolds, our hopes and fears, loves and laughter, losses and griefs. I lay down my pen here, but some day another of my descendants will pick it up, and continue this story for others to read.”
Time did what time does, and moved on. Sometimes Astrid was tempted to add a bit more to her book, but she resisted the temptation. The four girls had made great progress (with a bit of help!) on their little house, and were now planting in the somewhat haphazard space they had cleared outside it.
At first Callum came over to see Siobhan – he missed her hugely. The house was so quiet without her boisterous personality in it. But after a while, he realised that he was really coming to see Hannah Waverider.
He wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but one day when there was no-one else in, he suddenly found himself kissing her.
It was so nice that he did it again. And again. And again. When they both finally came up for air, it was hard to tell who’d been more surprised.
Callum needed a word with his father.
“We’d like to live here. You and Bella won’t be able to manage on your own as you get older – you need our help. But you have to make sure that Bella doesn’t try to take over any babies we might have. I don’t want a repeat of all that nonsense with Brede.”
Patrick smiled back at his son. He understood him.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep your mother under control.”
“And I’m so pleased for you!”
He gave Callum one of his big bear hugs, and Callum was warmed by his father’s approval. They’d always been close – all those hours of fishing, gutting, salting and smoking. Siobhan and Morag had just wanted to get away from Bella, but Callum wanted to stay near his father.
Patrick had told Bella about Callum’s marriage – and about the limits she had to respect – and now she was in the garden, reflecting on all he’d said. Looking back, she could see now how she’d put her own satisfaction before the good of the family.
“I just thought about what made me feel good.”
Brede hadn’t come back, even when she could have done.
“David and Ingrid need me,” she’d said, quite quietly. “They’re getting older, and there’s things they’re finding hard to do. They’ve taught me so much – I want to repay them.”
It was Maria’s turn to learn to fish – she was being taught by her grandfather. And Ben was enjoying the chance to talk to her, listen to her, and tell her stories of his childhood as well.
Astrid was playing with her little blond grandson, keeping an eye on him while everyone else was outside. Although Jacob was a Waverider by name, in looks he was a total throwback to the Svenson side of the family. Or possibly even his great-great-grandfather, Jon.
Jon, Carla and Nell were hard at work in the vineyard. Next stop for Nell was going to be learning to tread the grapes.
It was very squishy and slippery!
When they weren’t hard at work, Nell and Maria explored the island together and visited all the households. Nell was enchanted by her very new baby cousin, Beatrice. Morag and Tobias had finally had a child. It had taken a long time for Morag to believe that having children could be a good thing, but Tobias’s love for her, and time spent in Carla’s and Bianca’s company had shown her a different side to motherhood and family life. She still didn’t have the confidence that Carla and Bianca had both had, but she was beginning to believe she could do this.
“We’re going to need a bigger table – I’ll ask Bianca to make us one!”
“You’re right. As soon as Jacob’s big enough, we won’t all fit round this one.”
It was so good to be able to sit down together at the end of a long day’s work, and share a meal. If the next batch of wine sold well, maybe they could buy a few things to make the house a bit more comfortable yet. And they could certainly pay Bianca for a new and bigger table – and a couple of new chairs as well. And there was a plan afoot for spending the wine money on something for the whole island as well.
Much to everyone’s surprise (especially her own), Carla was pregnant again! She’d never conceived easily – unlike Hannah, who was expecting her first child not that long after she’d married Callum – and had thought that the three she already had would be her total family. Jon was delighted, and so were the other children too.
Jon was in the main room, a glowing fire taking the chill off the autumn air. And he was cuddling his very new son, Thorold, named after his great-grandfather. The whole family was in the room together, three generations sitting peacefully by the fire, reading, talking, playing with each other. Jon knew he wouldn’t have this time forever, but he had it now, and he was grateful.
In the little house that she shared with them, Brede was listening to David and Ingrid talking seriously to her.
“Brede – have you thought about what you’re going to do with the rest of your life? We’re so grateful to you for all the help you’ve been to us, but we’re not going to be here for ever, you know.”
“What do you mean?” Brede was totally mystified by David’s question. “What is there for me to do that isn’t what I’m already doing?”
Their reply amazed her.
“This island needs a school, Brede. We’ve talked to our sister about this, and she agrees with us. And you could be its first teacher.”
“But how could I teach anyone else? I don’t know any more than they do.”
“So you could learn more. Go and stay with Jake’s family for a year, go and learn there. They have a library in their home port – a famous one – and they have schools. While you’re there learning, we’re going to build a school building here on the island, for you to teach in when you come home.”
“Me? Do that? What do you think, Ingrid?”
“I totally agree. There’s a dozen children already in this next generation, and more on the way – and life isn’t so hand-to-mouth any more. We can make the time for the children to be taught a bit more than they know at the moment. Brede – everything we own, we’re leaving to you, including this little house, so you’ll have somewhere to live, something to cook on. I think you should do this – you’re a bright girl, and you could give this island something it’s never had before.”
Brede went to discuss this astounding new idea with her parents, but only found Hannah in. Hannah thought it was a wonderful idea.
“We could all pay you, Brede – with food, and clothes and things, so that you had the time to teach the children. It’s so what we need now. Do say you’ll do it.”
It wasn’t only Hannah who thought that a school was a good idea. Rachel and Gil had gone down to where the old mill used to be, before they’d all helped to pull it down (and kept themselves in firewood for the whole of that winter).
“I can’t believe we’re actually going to have a school here! I mean, I’d heard about schools – from you, from Patrick, from my parents and grandparents, but I never thought I’d see one on this island.”
“Well, we will. As soon as spring comes, we can start building.”
Rachel looked round at the posts marking the corners of the foundations.
“You don’t think we should have made it smaller?”
“No. There’s only going to be more and more children using it – and timber houses aren’t that hard to build. We’ll put the time in now, and not have to add on later.”
“And you think it’ll be ready by the time Brede comes back?” Rachel was still having difficulty believing in this school.
“Yes. Brede will be back sometime over the summer – we’ll start school proper after the harvest is in.”
“And just think,” Gil went on,” we’ve provided four of its scholars already. Maybe even more by the time we’re done…?”
“Maybe not!” Rachel said, but surrendered to his kiss willingly enough.
I was hoping that this chapter would be a bit longer, and also include the heir poll. And then I’d be half-way through!!! However…my game has a nasty glitch, and all my families are disappearing from it. It’s only this game that seems to have been affected – but I might have to re-make all the families and re-build the island on a new copy of the world. This will take a little time…pooey!
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