All too quickly, the week passed, and it was time for Meredith’s family - with the exception of Melissa, who would be staying behind, for a few weeks, at least - to return home.
“Ye’ll write as soon as ye’re safely back home, willnae ye?” Meredith asked her mother anxiously, as she kissed her goodbye. “Ye’ll send a messenger as soon as ye arrive, so I ken ye’re all well?”
“Aye, lass,” Erin reassured her for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. It was not like Meredith to be so anxious, but, for some reason she couldn’t place, she’d woken up that morning with a feeling of foreboding that she just couldn't shake.
“It’s just because yer family are leaving, and ye daenae ken when ye’ll see them next,” Ryder had said when she’d confided in him earlier that morning. Meredith nodded, but it felt like something more than that, and as she threw her arms around her mother, hugging her tightly as the tears began to fall from both of them, she found herself wishing they had made a firmer plan for their next visit, rather than the vague promises that they wouldn’t leave it too long.
“Be good for Mother and Faither, now,” she warned Felix sternly as he submitted grudgingly to her embrace. “Nae nonsense from ye, Felix, I’m warning ye! And nae whisky either, or ye’ll have Ryder and me to deal with!”
Felix grinned and Meredith smiled back, relieved that they'd managed to get through the visit without any further hostility from her brother. Maybe Angus had been good for him, or maybe he was just growing up at last.
Her father was the last person she bade farewell to, and, as she hugged him tightly, she was suddenly struck by how thin he felt in her arms. It's not just Felix who's getting older, she thought, tears streaming down her face as she watched them ride away. They all are.
The thought was not a welcome one, and as the three familiar figures rounded a corner in the road and disappeared from sight, she shook her head briskly as if to dislodge it.
“Right,” she said, a little too brightly, turning to Melissa, who stood dabbing her eyes at her side. “What shall we do today, then?”