Chapter 7

Marianne hands off a piece of sliced celery to Puck before adding the rest into her pan. Cutting the carrots prove to be hard with a pair of thieving beaks but with practice born from years of experience, soon the julienned vegetables join the other ingredients in the pan. Munching on the leftover sliced apples while frying her dinner, Marianne lets her mind drift back through the past week and a half.

Her talk with Bog during lunch that first time had given her a lot of insight about the father and sons. Maybe she was out of line to lecture him about keeping Beathan's heart condition a secret but Bog bore the brunt of her scolding with a good attitude and even explained his reasons for it.

"I didn't want Beathan to be outcasted from the other kids as being different," Bog started. "It was better that they called me a spoilsport for all my rules of what he wasn't allowed to do than for them to not even want to play with Beathan because of his condition."

"But keeping him from knowing could have put him in danger," she had pointed out. "He could have had trouble and they wouldn't have known what was wrong."

"There wasn't any danger," he reassured. "At least, not when he was younger and obeyed the rules I set for him concerning his activities and diet. His cardiomyopathy was very mild when it was discovered, so much in fact, that if they weren't checking the lads' hearts as a precaution with them being born early then they never would have discovered it until he was at least in his teens when it would have progressed to a dangerous level. The doctors prescribed him some medication and a heart-healthy lifestyle as a way to prevent the cardiomyopathy from progressing. It's worked for the most part because each test showed no signs of progression."

"Beathan never questioned why he had to take his medicine or go to doctor visits," Marianne asked?

"Not really," Bog commented. "As I said, the only thing Beathan had a complaint about is when the rules I set for him interfered with his playing in the other lads' games. He was very compliant to my wishes, though, and never broke them. I didn't know how to tell him when he got old enough to understand about his condition and he never asked the doctors. I guess he just got used to going there enough that he wasn't curious of why he went."

That was as far as their conversation got before Puck maneuvered himself closer on the bench they were sitting at and tried to steal a piece of Bog's sandwich. If she didn't do it herself then she would have called the man a loony for lecturing the cockatoo on etiquette but that didn't stop her from laughing heartily when the unrepentant bird tried again.

It wasn't equal to her laughter at his confession on the way to her flat of his full name and why he dislikes it, though.

"I don't care if Bogart means orchard and Humphrey means peaceful warrior, I'd rather not be known for being evil," he complained. "I know he played a few good-guy roles but Da and Maw liked his older movies because they went to a theater playing an older movie of his and that's how they met each other."

She thought it was cute when he confessed that he didn't really mind the name so much but that he got teased relentlessly by some older kids who knew who the actor was and by other kids who thought he was named after a boggart. It was also embarrassing to have a name that represented your parents' first meeting.

Transferring her cooked food onto her waiting plate, Marianne catches sight of the face-down picture and lets out a sigh. She knows that she should tell him because it wouldn't be fair to any one of them to go into a relationship while she's carrying baggage but it's just so hard to bring up the subject.

"Guess I understand his trouble in explaining things to his sons more than I thought," Marianne mutters.

Beathan's questions when they arrived at the infirmary that day almost made her confess everything but then the doctor interrupted. She couldn't find the courage to bring it up during dinner with Bog, either. Good thing that Bog was as concerned about Beathan as she was or the man probably would have thought that she had a thing for his son with all her questions about the boy. Then again, it seemed like he was also avoiding telling her something but she couldn't blame him.

They didn't really have a chance to talk more in-depth when she visited before she left for work for the rest of the week. Not only because time was short but it wouldn't have been fair to ignore Beathan. It was a bit guilt-inducing to think that they were exploiting his terrible circumstances as a way to date each other but the lanky teenager didn't seem to mind. If anything, Marianne would swear that he is trying to set her up with his father. Their conversation on her day off four days ago sure seemed to hint that after a heartbreaking start.

"He doesn't care," Beathan mumbled.

"That is a lie and you know it," Marianne murmured, looking pointedly to the sleeping man draped uncomfortably in the hospital chair. "Your father loves you. He's lived and breathed in this infirmary since your accident."

"Ye don't understand," Beathan remarked softly. "Da didn't even want us when Maw told him that she was pregnant and in the end, he took me because I'm the eldest, the heir and all."

"Your father told you this," Marianne questioned?

"Maw did," he admitted. "Neither Da nor any of the Mcgallrigh family talk about that year because Granda died a few weeks before we were born."

"I'm not going to call your mother a liar because I don't know what happened but even if your father didn't want you before you were born that doesn't mean that he didn't want you after you were born," she countered. "People may think that they want one thing and then turn around they decide they want something else."

"How are ye so sure that it isn't Da trying to get back at Maw for whatever reason they didn't stay a couple," Beathan grunted?

"Truthfully, I don't," Marianne stated. "But do you really believe your father is that type of man? He raised you by himself for eighteen years. Griselda even told me two days ago that he refused to let anyone raise you but him or your mother and that he was determined that the only woman that you would see as your mother is your mother. I've been around a lot of spiteful lovers in my life and if your father was one of them, then he would have been smarter to marry the next girl that came around and have her raise you. That would have been a more painful blow."

"Ye applying for the job," Beathan quipped.

The cheeky teenager had started snickering at her flushed face before she joined him in full laughter as Bog snorted himself awake.

The dazed man was not aware of their conversation and it wasn't repeated on her next short visits. Beathan's lack of faith in his father still stirs unease in Marianne's breastbone and she can't keep his look of dejection as he talked about it out of her mind. It was as if it was painful for him to even consider that his father didn't love him which meant that the idea is a new one.

"Doesn't take a genius to guess where he got it from since he named the culprit," Marianne mumbles, taking a bite of her dinner.

It was a good thing that she and Griselda had that talk beforehand or she would not have had an acceptable answer but she's unsure how well she managed to help the boy. The only thing they really talked about was how close father and son were before the accident and how good a father Bog was to both his sons or tried to be in Bhaltair's case. There was also the subtle warning that Marianne had better not be playing either Macgallrigh man with false or misplaced compassion.

Griselda's surprise interrogation was kind of expected from what Bog had warned her about but Marianne is quite sure that her superiors violated a rule or something when they allowed the mother to corner her while she was working. Not like Brutus was much help since he was the one who drove her to the impromptu trial and his warning afterward was a little nervewracking.

"Ye need to be careful and don't get into a relationship with Bog unless ye really mean it, Meri," Brutus remarked, pulling out onto the road. "Scots don't take a threat lying down and the Mcgallrighs are true Scots. Ye best be sure that ye don't hurt any member of that clan because they're very protective of their own."

"I don't plan on hurting anyone," Marianne commented. "Bog and I already talked about taking it a little slow to make sure that we don't make a mistake. He's told me that he doesn't want to get serious until all his ties with Angelina are done as a way to make sure that she can't interfere in our lives. I'm not about to let a spiteful woman or well-meaning relatives scare me off."

"Ye should be worried. The Mcgallrighs have more than just well-meaning relatives on their side," he started. "This is an ancient land and it still has its unexplainable happenings that science can't make heads or tails of. During the wars with the English, the Mcgallrigh's ancestral home Caisteal Coille Dorcha was destroyed like most Scottish castles were but within a fortnight every man of the English battalion that had a part in Caisteal Coille Dorcha's destruction was dead. They were not killed on a battlefield or even by normal human means. The Mcgallrighs are connected to the otherworld and all those who wrong them will face punishment."

"I never pegged you for the superstitious type, Brutus," she teased. "If that was really a threat then how come Angelina has done all that she has done and gotten away with it?"

"It ain't superstition, Meri, but hard cold facts," Brutus denied. "Angelina is protected only because of Bhaltair and Beathan and that protection won't last much longer. She'll get her comeuppance soon enough."

Even though she brushed Brutus' warning off with a reply of not leaving Bog unless he himself specifically told her to go, the first thing Marianne did when she returned home that night was a little internet research on the Mcgallrigh clan. She wasn't able to find too much but what she did find was clear evidence that Brutus' warning was thoroughly justified. Not that it is going to stop her but like she told Bog, she'd rather be prepared.

Then there is the whole matter of Bhaltair, who has remained absent the entire time Beathan was in the infirmary. It was clear from the talks of Bog and Griselda that although the boys weren't as close as they should be and argued a lot it was common for the brothers to have contact with one another at least every day. It doesn't make any sense to her that the other teenager seems to be entirely uncaring of his twin. Yes, the Justice did inform both brothers in their letters that they were to remain separated until the court hearing but it didn't restrict all contact between the two.

Marianne just can't shake the feeling that there is something deeper to this whole ordeal. Something more wrong than a relationship that went bad. Something more that caused the twins to be separated and slowly to become enemies to each other and to their father. Maybe Brutus is right, after all.

"Maybe I should have a talk with Griselda again," Marianne remarks.

A soft knock causes her to look up from her task of washing the dishes and she quickly opens the door.

'Speaking of the gobliness.'