Aberdeen Street

By Charlotte Ellen Ritchie

Kate is the third child of four to a Scottish immigrant couple. She is raised in a healthy, loving family, of a tight knit Western Canadian community. Love is lost during the WWII but is found again, only to be shipped back overseas not to return. Post war finds Kate happy on her own but so wanting a family that she marries the first man who asks, believing it’s true love. Brett is older, selfish, set in his ways, and puts his own needs before everyone except his Mother. Kate’s children travel to Scotland and meet Andy, the love shipped out of their Mother’s life. Through this innocent contact Andy returns to Canada for a visit and cannot stay away. Kate is secretly so happy she could burst, but guilt and loyalty to her marriage vows with Brett cause almost as much damage as Brett does on his own. Can Andy be the true Scottish warrior that Kate will test her faith?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charlotte Ellen Ritchie
• Release date: Apr 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9780986763816

Charlotte Ellen Ritchie

Charlotte is a first time author living in the Calgary, Alberta area. Her own struggles with finding self-achievement inspired this fictional novel of taking a leap of faith in finding true love.

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Aberdeen Street

Charlotte Ellen Ritchie

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Smashwords Edition

COPYRIGHT 2013

Copyright © 2013 by Front Rowe Seat Publications

All rights reserved. It is a violation of Canadian and all Federal Laws to reproduce or transmit this e-book, in part or in whole, in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher, except for reviewers, who may quote brief passages.

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For information about the author, please contact the publisher.

This book is dedicated to my treasured mother-in-law – thanks for always having faith in me!

Table of Contents

Introduction (1975)

Kate (1942)

Andy (1944)

Peggy (1945 onward)

Mary (1938 onward)

Kate – post war 1946

Kate and Brett Raise a Family (1948)

Kate and Brett’s Children Grow Into Adults (1958 onward)

Everyone Grows Up On Aberdeen Street (1965 onward)

Scotland Calls (1975)

Andy visits Canada (1975)

Andy in the Hat (1976)

Kate Finally Visits Scotland (1976)

Andy Contemplates a Return to Canada (1977)

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Introduction (1975)

The young brother and sister wait outside Waverly Station for their arranged ride. The day is rare and inviting with a warming Scottish sun. The city is bustling and vibrant, and the overheard accents put a smile on the faces of these two young adults. It has been a long time since their grandparents’ friends had passed away. He was the last real tie to Scotland filtering in their ears through a thick and exotic brogue accent.

Aunt Abby’s friend in Scotland, Mary McKinney, had made arrangements for the kids to be picked up at the train station. Mary would ensure they had a place to stay and was busy making arrangements with distant relatives. She wants the kids to really see Scotland, not just the tourist bits.

Ewan and Rorie sit on a hard bench, staring at their backpacks at their feet, wondering if the timing had been off, or if Mary’s schedule was off. They had never met Mary, but had exchanged pictures through Aunt Abby. Rorie had a picture in her pocket along with Mary’s contact information. The flight into Prestwick, bus to Glasgow and then the bone rattling train ride had been exhilarating, but now with the arrival in Edinburgh and no more connections, fatigue settles in.

A red car drives slowly toward them, looking for a parking spot. Suddenly, he hits the brakes right in front of the station, almost causing a pile up in the street, the colorful insults of honking drivers fading as they moved on.

A man, lean like an athlete, but with compassionate green eyes, comes running down the sidewalk shouting robust hellos and grabbing Rorie in a hug. Tears are running down his cheeks. He barely gets the words out, seeing that Ewan is preparing to slug him for hugging his sister. Ewan’s dark eyes glint with anger, his face pulled taut over his high cheekbones and dark skin.

You look just like Kate!

Kate (1942)

Kate strolled home from work, trapped in a state of contemplation and reflection. Her clear olive skin shone, despite her faraway thoughts. The Second World War was thundering on and events were unfolding no one could control yet all were consumed by it. The grass had recently been mowed trying to force spring and the sweet cutting smell remained. It was that sweet smell that reminded her Jonah was gone. He had left their town of Medicine Hat over a year ago with her brother Joel, both to become pilots with the Canadian Army. The fellas had been friends in school, but Jonah was older, same age as Kate. The boys were always getting into trouble, exploring anything and everything, just having great fun. They were lovably goofy. Kate smiled to herself as she recalled this wonderful innocence. They were always laughing, even when being chastised; there were sneaky smiles or giggles. Everyone had trouble punishing them, their joy in life would take over and soon all would be sharing their humor.

Her smile turned to a laugh as she tripped on a sidewalk crack, having to catch herself before falling. Her dark hair swept back with a ribbon, loosened slightly as she almost fell. Her smile widened at the irony, because she had fallen, and so wonderfully. Drifting along the sidewalk she remembered the first time Jonah kissed her. She was exiting the confines of the Munitions factory with its air filled from steel shavings, another long shift finished. A Chinook had come that day. A prairie occurrence sent to disrupt the throes of bitter cold winters in the form of a hot, dry wind that blew down from the Rocky Mountains. Kate was looking forward to her dusk walk home in the mountain clean air. The night came early even in the move from winter, and while generally bitter to breathe the ice crystals of frost, the warmth this evening promised a prairie treat.

The boys had signed up to join the war; Jonah had been standing outside her work waiting for her. She had stepped out of the factory and there he was. His reddish brown hair winking under the street lamp. He had a nervous smile that exposed his natural laugh lines defining strong cheekbones and slightly crooked teeth. His hands were jammed in his pants pockets, like he did not know what to do with them. Kate can I walk you home?

Kate had laughed at first, and then felt a strange nervousness thinking something was wrong. She had put her hand up to stop whatever bad news Jonah had been sent to deliver, but instead he had moved forward, taken her hand and continued to move even closer. His other hand had snaked under her hair to rest on the back of her neck and with his nose touching hers he whispered, Kate I have loved you since I was six and cannot go anywhere without you knowing the truth. There was a kiss that she could not remember starting or stopping. She could not breathe or stand without Jonah holding her. But the kiss had stopped, and the two had strolled home together, unable to let go of each other.

Kate touched the lips of her wide mouth, and could still feel Jonah, smell the scent of his soap and freshly starched shirts. Instead of a smile, tears filled her eyes, Jonah was gone, there would never be another kiss, never again a goofy smile, and never another touch.

Jonah had left for basic training with a secret lovers’ promise to return to Kate with a proper engagement ring, announcement and wedding date. As the engagement was neither formal nor public, Kate was left to show her dedication to Jonah by including him in Joel’s scrapbook. She wrote letters, sent local newspaper clippings and crocheted the border of post cards to both men equally. All comments and mention of Jonah stopped and her heart broke in two as she had pasted Jonah’s death notice into the scrapbook. Jonah’s plane was shot down over France in a night air raid, his body found the next morning by nuns on the steps of a Paris Church. Kate had two choices, mourn Jonah openly as a lost lover, or stick to privacy. Sharing in the grief of a family friend lost. The pride of the Scots won out. Kate continued to cry herself to sleep each night and prayed that Jonah was now with God. To the family, she only spoke of how Joel had lost a wonderful friend.

The management at the Munitions factory announced that the production of shells would need to be stepped up. Everyone committed to work with added dedication and effectiveness to ensure that each shell the factory produced was exceptional. Each staff individual was up for the task to produce more than their general quota. Secretly for Kate, her personal vow to management was to ensure with added resolution each bombshell would be created, inspected, and turned out with the intent that this would be the shell to avenge Jonah.

Her reflection of Jonah brought her home to dinner later than normal. Kate arrived home to dinner in progress with her parents and sister. Her father, Sergeant Ewan MacNeil, of the Medicine Hat Police Force, was talking about the new RAF training camp having its first round of soldiers in place. Ewan wanted to invite a few soldiers each Sunday to dinner to give them a sense of home and family that he did not have during his own war years. He was a robust man, with dark coloring, a strong nose, and MacNeil dimple under his full mouth. Abby, older sister to Kate, launched into forming plans of all the potential church socials, dances and various community events where the girls could get a date. Kate choked back her dinner one bite at a time. The last thing she wanted was a date, but her parents had instilled a sense of community into all four children that could not be denied. Kate would attend these events and do all she could to provide friendship to those away from their own families.

Kate knew her mother, Lily, especially missed both brothers. Joel was overseas as a pilot having joined up with Jonah, but her older brother Donal, being less medically fit was stationed in the Quartermasters regiment in Halifax. Even though Donal had not left Canadian soil, Kate saw that her parents worried about both of their boys equally.

It was a surprise to Kate that within only a few months she was truly enjoying all the events Abby and she attended. Slowly her heart was healing of Jonah. The wrenching ache in her soul was being soothed with the same tenderness and warmth of a hearth fire on a cold evening. Many of the RAF soldiers were from Scotland so everyone was entertained with talk around the dinner table on Sunday with stories from her parent’s homeland of Scotland.

The RAF base camp was situated about 10 miles outside of Medicine Hat, and with no streetlights, a walk, if the last bus was missed, was out of the question. There were too many rattlesnakes in the summer and too cold in the winter. So Ewan and Lily set up a Morris chair and Winnipeg couch on the enclosed porch. All soldiers at the RAF camp knew that shelter and sanctuary from the MPs could be found after curfew on the Sergeant’s porch. Every morning it was expected that the first up would check the porch before putting on the coffee and porridge. Lily was not about to send anyone off in the morning without warm oatmeal in the belly.

Kate enjoyed the camaraderie of these soldiers. It took her mind off Jonah’s loss plus Donal and Joel’s absence to know that she was doing her part for the war. Working was one thing but making those away from home feel welcome was ingrained in her. The community social engagements, Sunday dinners, and missed busses began to show a pattern with two Edinburgh soldiers, Bill Richards and Andy Gordon. Both Ewan and Lily picked up on this occurrence long before Kate and Abby did, so it was a surprise to the sisters to be called into their father’s study for a chat prior to one Saturday dance. The girls now in their mid-twenties, practically old maids, found this news rather inspiring much to Ewan’s shock. I did not immigrate to Canada just to see you Lassies marry a Scot and head back across the Pond!

Dances, socials and family dinners continued with Bill and Andy being attached to the girls. Late at night the girls would whisper to each other in the dark about these potential relationships; fabulous dreams of being swept off their feet in some romantic gesture. But unlike her short time with Jonah, there were no stolen kisses, no scintillating rendezvous, just camaraderie.

What the girls did not know was that the guys were incredibly interested. Bill and Andy had been pals from Grammar school so it was perfectly natural to them to be involved with sisters that would continue their bond. Some felt the state of war caused the need to hurry romance, but Bill and Andy felt romance should be carefully tempered. They agreed it was only appropriate to start a relationship with full intentions of marriage. As a result there was no open communication on this matter. Both sides were left frustrated thinking and dreaming privately of a treasured life of love and partnership.

Andy had fallen head over heels with the lovely Kate. Her beauty caused his mind to empty of all logical thought. He dreamt every night of loosening the tie of her hair and drawing his fingers lightly up her long neck to rest briefly on her soft chin before tracing the well-defined jaw bone up to the high square cheek bones. He would then follow the trace of her shaped eye brows, drinking in the dark brown iris of her oval eyes and gently touch the small rounded tip of her nose as a tease. This would bring a welcoming return smile that would further accentuate the full lower lip and draw the natural upturned corners that pointed to the natural cheek dimples. Tasting those waiting lips and drawing her tall frame against his would end all doubt for both of their shared love. But the uncertainty of the war would not allow him to act on his feelings. Sharing a dance, escorting her into a room, just being in the same room with her was enough to make him the happiest man in the world.

While Andy only wrote weekly to his parents of a great family that had taken he and his pal Bill under their roof. Bill had his parents plus a treasured sister, Mary, who held all of his confidences. Bill confided to his sister great dreams of a relationship with the bonnie Abby. He had traveled for the RAF and his country in service and had been rewarded to find the love of his life. God willing, Bill would return to this delightful prairie town at the end of the war and declare his intentions. Not entirely sure what these intentions would really be, Bill did not care. He would emigrate, take her back to Scotland, it did not matter. They would have a lifetime to figure out what was right, and that in Bill’s mind was loving his beautiful lass, for the rest of his days. His sister was thrilled with this romantic development; Mary was happily married to her own love and was fully supportive of Bill. She did not care if it meant him being on another continent, Bill would be as happy as she was in marriage and that was most important. She even began to gather immigration material for both parties providing continuous fodder to the endless scenarios of happily ever after.

But the RAF had plans for Bill. He was a skilled mechanic whose expertise was needed beyond a training camp. He was deployed to a base in southern France. His sister only received one letter from Bill in this new station before her family was notified of the base being bombed. Her brother returned to Scotland, but the storybook romance was over. Bill was interred beside the family Kirk never to leave Scotland again.

Kate’s family was informed of these tragic happenings with extended gratitude for all blessings shared to make Bill’s time in Canada wonderful. Kate knew the pain of lost love, and could not be quietly strong this time. She knew there had been a declaration by Bill the night before the fellas shipped out. Abby had quietly slid into Kate’s bed in the early hours of the morning, at first as a cover to why her own bed had gone unused, but mostly because she was slightly in shock from what had occurred.

Abby had received a call from Bill as they were about to settle in for the night, a false cover of an item being left in the car, the urgent need to return, and Kate being far too tired to accompany. The gate duty MP, at the RAF camp, being sympathetic to torn love suggested a secluded spot and return time prior to shift change for Bill. What started between Bill and Abby in the car as a shy, hesitant mumbling of sentiment and explanation rapidly turned to a torrid passion that surprised both with its intensity and lack of restraint. It was the sound of a whistle from the MP that alerted the lovers to the lapse in time and urgency to redress and return. Bill