Episode 20: The Bride
The party had begun. A small, select number of people had been invited to welcome Thomas back into the fold, and others dropped in as they were passing. It wasn’t so much a party as a community obligation. Most of the town had spent months trying to find one of their own who had vanished under strange circumstances. Now here he was, a different man from the one who had left. Literally a different man, as some people thought.
Aunt Agnes bustled about in the kitchen. Thomas had turned up unexpectedly the day before, and he was still nursing the black eye that Robert had given him when they met.
“I’m telling you, that’s not Thomas,” she murmured to Esther as they poured more tea.
“Tàcharan-sìthe! That’s what he is! The fairies have taken him and left this monstrosity.”
Esther smiled. “Agnes, you know there’s no such thing as changelings. Belief in the fairies is no longer a thing. People have moved on, and we only speak Gaelic at the Church now. There are more English speakers here than Gaels.”
“Whoever that boy is, Esther, he’s not Thomas.”
Esther glanced over at Thomas, who was sitting with his legs crossed and his index finger pointing towards his ear. There was something different about him all right, but it was about how he valued himself. He seemed to have a greater sense of his own importance now. It was as though he had just arrived from Oxford.
Just at that moment, he stood up and tapped his teaspoon against his cup three times.
“I have an announcement to make.”
That caught everybody’s attention.
“I’m getting married,” he continued.
Everyone looked up.
“And you are all invited to the wedding. My bride and I will be living at the mill once the renovations are complete. Until then, I will be staying at the hotel in town.”
Agnes, Robert, Neil and the rest of the family had been forewarned about the announcement, but they still hadn’t met his bride.
Thomas leaned back in his chair, resting one hand on the wooden backrest.
Agnes chose her moment carefully and whispered to Esther, “Watch this. I’ll show you.”
She casually walked towards the other side of the room, passing behind Thomas. As she went, she took out her sewing needle and plunged it into the skin of his hand.
Thomas didn’t move, flinch or even notice that his hand had been wounded. He didn’t make a sound as Agnes marched back triumphantly.
“You see? What boy wouldn’t have felt that? He isn’t even bleeding!”
Esther looked shocked. She knew something wasn’t right and beckoned Neil over.
As Thomas brought his hand round towards his body, he caught sight of a drop of white liquid. Looking sheepish, he quickly scanned the room to see if anybody had noticed. He mumbled something, touched his wounded hand with the other, and the wound healed.
“Agnes, there’s no such thing as fairies. My grandmother used to tell me stories about them.”
“Oh, you young people and your opinions! You think you know everything. Well, I’m going to Martha Hay in the morning to find out how to get rid of that!”
Neil had just caught the end of the conversation.
“Who is Martha Hay?”
“Oh, she’s the local folk healer, fortune teller and fairy expert,” whispered Esther, rolling her eyes as she began to explain the needle episode.
Something wasn’t right, but nobody knew exactly what it was.
In Robert’s eyes, Thomas was a troubled boy. In Agnes’s eyes, he was a fairy.
Neil and Esther discussed it at length. “Nobody believes in the fairy people now, do they?” was their conclusion.
Just at that moment, somebody knocked at the door. The handle turned, and a woman walked in.
“Let me introduce my bride!” shouted Thomas.
The room fell silent, apart from a few audible gasps.
Esther dropped her cup on the floor. Neil just stared, and Aunt Agnes covered her mouth.
The woman at the door was the spitting image of Maggie, who had died.
“It can’t be…” whispered Esther. “She looks exactly like our Maggie.”
“This is Maggie Barclay,” proclaimed Thomas proudly.
“Either a weird coincidence or some kind of magic,” muttered Neil.
“She’s the spitting image of her, Neil.”
“She looks a bit like my Maggie as well,” he added, remembering his own sister, who had also died.
Everybody looked towards Robert to see his reaction, but he did his best to make light of it.
“Right, let’s have a drink and make a toast to the happy couple!” he declared, before shouting over to Neil, “Get the glasses!”
Esther and Neil looked around the room. Everyone was celebrating, yet Agnes, Neil and Esther exchanged uneasy glances.
Something wasn’t right.