Chapter 8. Finn


    1894 St.Ives England


    Innis heard his twin daughters starting to stir in the nursery.


    He gently patted them till they were quiet and watched as Charlotte


    and Beatrice reached for each other in their sleep.


    That''s all any of us want he thought to himself.


    As he got back to bed, Miriam turned to him and said she''d had


    a dream about her Mother. Innis had never met Miriam''s Mother,


    she''d died when Miriam was still in her teens - long before they''d


    ever met and married.


    "We were sitting on the house stairs and she was brushing out my


    hair. My sister Edith and I used to put twigs and flowers in our hair


    and run through the forest and hedgerows pretending to be druid


    princesses."


    Innis smiled.


    "As Mother was brushing my hair, she told me that we''d be alright."A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Who would be?"


    "The baby and me."


    Innis sat up. "Are you pregnant?"


    "I''ve been thinking I might be."


    He reached for Miriam''s hand under the blankets, the twins had


    been a difficult pregnancy. Through the windows Innis could see


    the night sky starting to lighten.


    "Not much chance of going back to sleep now," he said,


    "I''ll fix us some tea."


    "Let me finish." Miriam said. "On the step next to her was a


    beautiful statue of a peacock. I''d never seen it before, so in my


    dream I asked Mother about it."


    Innis felt his chest start to tighten.


    "Mother said she was looking after it for someone."


    Trying to keep the fright out of his voice, Innis asked Miriam


    if her Mother had said anything else. Miriam didn''t answer.


    He looked over and saw that she was fast asleep.


    Innis had talked to Miriam about his time in Australia.


    He''d told her about some of the things he''d seen and done,


    but he''d never spoken about the Loch Ard shipwreck


    or the peacock statue..


    It had been almost 5 years since he''d returned to England.


    He''d settled in Cornwall, married and started a family, and in


    all that time, not a word or a whisper from Eurides.


    Why is she speaking to me now? and why through Miriam?


    Innis got out of bed, checked on the girls and went out into the


    garden to think. It was cold outside, he started a fire and warmed


    his hands. Low on the western horizon, only Venus and the


    thinnest sliver of the moon remained of the night sky.


    Innis thought about the second chance at life Eurides had


    given him. "If I have anything to say,"  his breath steamed in the


    morning air. "It''s thank you."


    .


    *


    Before the birth, the mid-wife listened to the baby''s heartbeat


    and declared it to be that of a young bull.


    "If it''s a boy,'''' Innis said. "His name will be Finn."


    Miriam smiled weakly and squeezed his hand. The mid-wife


    shuffled him out of the room. Miriam''s Father Finn, was one of


    the most decent men that Innis had ever met and now he was


    gone too.


    The wind howled across the roof tops for most of the night.


    Innis could still hear it tugging at the shuttered windows,


    when the mid-wife handed him his swaddled newborn son.


    "Miriam is resting now." she said.


    Baby Finn yawned and stretched in his arms


    "It''s been a long night for all of us my friend." Innis said.


    Baby Finn opened his eyes and smiled.


    "You don''t see that too often," the mid-wife said. "He seems


    to know who you are already."


    Innis looked into his son''s hazel coloured eyes and knew


    his agreement with Eurides had changed.


    *