It had been two hours, since Colt had exited the small airport in the outskirts of Inverness, got in her taxi and picked up her new car from the dealership in the city centre. She was finally here, after three flights and two stop overs. Even she couldn't hide the blossoming exhaustion taking over her body now. Between her jetlag, and leaving Elijah asleep in the hospital she was both physically and emotionally done. At least, that was what she was telling herself. Colt refused to admit that since she stepped foot outside of the hospital she was having second thoughts, and instead was channeling all her energy into the anger she still held towards Elijah Lupus, hoping that the more she nourished it, the less she would feel like she was making a huge mistake. At least she now had the drive to keep her mind occupied.
Driving on the left hand side of the road had been an added challenging and strange experience. Especially on the long winding single track roads of the Highlands, where the sheep liked to play chicken, and since no one seemed to comprehend that livestock should be behind fences, the animals had plenty of opportunities to indulge in their games. But, thankfully her new Toyota Hilux was taking very good care of her. As it should do, for the price, she thought to herself. It was a total indulgence, but the pick up truck did have certain practical implications, and that was all the justification she decided she needed. Plus if anyone questioned her, Colt decided she could always blame the *confusing* exchange rates, claiming by the time she understood the actual cost it was too late, then leave it at that. It was nice and pretty though, shiny too.
Colt pulled over on the left again, for another string of cyclists to pass. She couldn't help feeling incredibly worried about their sense of self preservation, though. Next to none of the dozen riders were wearing anything that would distinguish them in the dense fog that had settled around, and if it weren't for Colt's feline eyesight she would have plowed right through them.
Sighing, she stretched out her back in her seat, as much as the steering wheel would allow her to that is. Then Colt found herself turning up the heat to full blast straight after, as a foreboding chill over took her. The heavy fog creeping down from the mountain tops of the glen she was travelling through were making her cold, just on sight, and she wasn't particularly enjoying the experience. Giving herself a shake to snap out of it, she pushed herself to continue her drive onwards, through the hills of Scotland to her new home.
After about another fifteen minutes Colt came to a fork in the road, to the left led to the rugged coast line, and the little old run down cottage she had bought, with the aim to restore it as her first project. However, to the right was the road to her grandparents house. On a whim, or more likely the prospect of an already heated house, and Colt's secret desire to connect to people, and not feel so alone, she turned right. Heading towards the Campbell clan lands, and the area her Mom grew up in.
As the roads progressed, turning inland and, away from the sea, the fog began to thin out somewhat lower down. Colt was beginning to be able to make out the silhouettes of the mountains surrounding her. Craggy rock faces, were displaced with patches of pine forests, before being surrounded again by endless moors of heathers and sweeping slopes of bracken, all enclosed under thick grey low standing clouds. Those thick overhead clouds would have given the world a gloomy look anywhere else, but here it felt atmospheric, like there was something waiting, or being foretold. The land seemed ageless and ancient all at once. Colt absently thought of Maeve, her shaman friend, thinking how much she would love it here.
Colt followed the road along, quickly punching in the address she got from her Mom's things to her grandparents home, into the sat nav. She really hoped they didn't hate surprises. Before too long, Colt had pulled up at a relatively modern house. It was a sandy coloured bungalow, set amongst a curving arc of birch and Rowan trees. There was barely ten foot of garden between the front of the house and the road, with a place to park on the opposite side of the road, across from the building.
Suddenly, Colt felt apprehensive. She had never met her grandparents before. They hadn't really tried to contact her family after her Mom left for the States with Kalvin. She knew enough to know they didn't like her Dad, but as he did whisk their child across the world, she felt she could somewhat understand their dislike, even if she didn't agree with it. But, it all made her speculate on whether they would actually welcome their long lost granddaughter - here, right now, showing up on their doorstep - without any prior warning.
It was about eleven-thirty in the morning, and suddenly Colt felt as though she should have went home first. She has been travelling for over a day, had very little sleep under her belt, and was in desperate need of a shower. Yet, here she was. Outside the house of total strangers, looking for something, she wasn't quite sure of.
"Fuck it." She cursed, and opened the truck door, deciding it was a now or never kind of situation.
She walked briskly through the gate, and up to the door, finding it was unusually warm, considering the low lying clouds and the dampness that permeated the air. Before she could change her mind she knocked the door quickly and stepped back to wait for an answer.
A few minutes later, the twitching of the curtains from a close by window drew her attention back to the house, and off of the potted plants surrounding the front. She enjoyed gardening and couldn't help but wonder if this was a family trait, she had maybe picked up from who ever was responsible for the climbing rosebush, flowering across the front of the house, or the lavender and peonies delicately placed along the buildings front. But what made her smile most, were the poppies and corn flowers growing in a wild looking border on the inside of the fence line beside the road. It was eye catching and pretty, and Colt did like pretty things.
Someone was opening the door, as Colt turned around, and standing in the doorway was a tall slight man, with thick white hair. He was scrutinizing her from under thick white furrowed brows, like he was trying to place where he knew her from. But, before he could speak he was joined by an older woman, with the same harassed expression across her face.
"James, who is it then?" She asked, turning her scrutiny onto Colt.
"Maureen, give me a bloody chance to ask will you?" Came the quick, but sighing response.
Colt studied the two and although they were older, she could make out the familiar traits in both of them that her Mom had, some that even she had. The women wore the same hazel eyes that both she and her mother carried. While the man shared her Mom's displeased pout, and her own straight nose.
"Hi?" Colt began cautiously, pulling both their attention onto her. "I'm Colt Merrier. My Mom is Isla, your daughter?" She asked more than stated.
At this, the woman's face lit up, and the man let out a disgruntled scoff, before abruptly turning and walking away. The woman stepped forward with a huge grin for Colt, after scowling after her husband in annoyance as he walked away.
"Oh, of course you are, Dear! Come in, come in. Ignore him, he is just a grumpy old sod sometimes. Come on, let's get a proper look at you." Maureen said, grabbing Colt's arm in her vice like grip and hauling her through, into the house.
Colt let out a small squeak, as she was unexpectedly pulled through the bright airy hallways and into a very modern kitchen, with a polished granite island in the centre, and two full size glass doors that opened onto a patio, beside a wall with a cat flap. She paused at the cat flap curiously.
Maureen caught her looking at it, and laughed.
"Oh please, we are far too old to be galavanting outside in the absolute buff. We shift indoors in the warmth like civilised people, and then we go out." She answered Colt's unasked question very matter of factly.
Colt smiled at the woman that was her grandmother. This was the woman who raised her Mom, and watching her move about in her kitchen seemed so familiar, that suddenly she realised her Mom inherited a lot more than her eyes from Maureen Campbell.
