⇾ 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐄 𝐈'𝐌 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 | 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐌𝐜𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐈𝐈

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙧 ➪ 𝙁𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙮!

ꕥ March 6, 1969 ꕥ

Our days in Scotland were quickly coming to an end. The month had been exactly what we needed to get everything together. We had successfully laid down our hardwood, and the place was beginning to look and feel a lot more like a home with decorations, running water, and electricity. Mary had really come to love it here. She loved to prance around in the enormous yard with Martha, and would have done it all day and all night long if we didn't intervene and tell her it was time to go to bed. I'd even celebrated my birthday just a few days previous.

We had visited the town quite a bit this time around and were becoming more acquainted with the area. Today, we had rented a boat down by the harbor and planned to spend the day cruising around. Paul even brought a fishing pole along.

"I don't like it," Mary whined as I buckled her life jacket around her. Paul was bringing some of our stuff onto the boat. We'd brought a bag with some snacks and drinks in it.

"But, you have to wear it," I told her. "You know why?"

"Why?" she asked, not looking convinced already.

"Because of you don't, you'll fall in and the Loch Ness Monster will jump up and he'll...get you!" I reached forward and pretended to attack her. She started to giggle.

"Bad monster!"

"Yeah. We don't want that, so we?"

She shook her head. "No," she responded.

"Then, you've gotta wear your life jacket, alright?"

"Alright," she huffed.

"Ought to stop twistin' that pretty little face," Paul said to her, coming up and taking her into his arms. He looked at her and she began to giggle. "What're you laughin' at? My hair isn't messed up, is it?" Paul pretended to try and look at his own hair. Mary began to laugh harder. I raised my eyebrows. What a fucking idiot. I was in love with an idiot.

"Okay, let's get on now, okay?" he said finally. Mary nodded, wrapped her arms around his neck securely as he stepped on. I followed them, then turned to Martha, who was looking at us rather-apprehensively. She didn't look too please with the boat.

"C'mon, Martha!" I said encouragingly, patting my legs to get her to follow. She finally did after a long pause where she seemed to really consider it. She immediately tried to back away as she felt how unsteady the surface of the boat was, but I quickly closed the door behind her. God knows we didn't need her running away. "It's alright," I said, leaning down to pet her behind her ears.

Paul sat Mary down on one of the seats. She also looked slightly nervous about the boat's rocking, it I sat down and pulled her onto my lap. "It'll be alright," I told her. "We won't let anything happen, alright? You've got me, Daddy, and Martha all right here. Martha seemed completely unbothered now, and had already made herself comfortable in the floorboards in front of us.

Paul hopped back out and went to talk to a man who had helped up rent the boat, just to clear a few last things up before we took off.

Mary circled up close to me in my arms, whining slightly. I ran my hands through her hair like she liked. It always helped calm her down when she was upset. "Guess what?" I asked her. She looked up at me imploringly. "We're gonna see some fishies today," I said with a smile. "Don't you wanna see some fish?"

She smiled and nodded. Paul climbed into the front of the boat and turned around to use. "Are we ready?" he asked us, looking giddy with excitement.

I nodded to him. He carefully turned the boat on and began to fidget with buttons until he got it to move. Once we were out on the water fully, Mary got used to the bobbing feeling of us in the water and perked up, looking over at the water below the boat. Martha sat up and let her shaggy fur blow in the wind. They were already having a great time.

ꕥ ꕥ ꕥ

"Mary, love, come over here." Mary's head looked up from where she was looking down at her carrots she had been eating. She saw Paul standing by the edge of the boat with a fishing rod and scooted her away across the seat to watch him.

"What tha'?" she asked, her mouth full of food.

"It's a fishing rod," he responded. "I'm gonna catch some fish. You wanna see them?"

She broke into a wide grin and nodded. Paul carefully cast the line into the water and waited. "Now, it could take a while, but I promise I get you a fish."

I scooted over there too, wrapped my arms around Mary, and kissed her on the cheek, causing her to giggle. "You like the fishies, don't you?" I asked.

"Fishy!" she yelled. Martha was laying on the ground again, asleep. I could tell that Mary's eyes were getting droopy. I figured she'd probably end up falling asleep soon too.

Paul was wearing a straw sun hat on his head, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he kept his eyes trained solely on the little bobber in the water. He was wearing a thin, baby blue button-up and some khaki pants. He didn't exactly look dressed to be on a boat, but it seemed to work for him at the very same time.

Mary was wearing some blue jeans and a light sweater that was her favorite shade of purple, her hair tied back in two little pigtails and a pair of small sunglasses on her face. It wasn't exactly warm out today, but it was just breezy enough to where it was chilly when the boat was moving, so I thought the sweater would do her good.

It still amazed me to this day how much Mary resembled Paul. Her eyes were still a striking green and her hair was still the light brown color of mine. It was still curly like mine had been when I was her age too. Other than that, she had Paul's face shape, his nose, his lips, even his bloody ears. It was quite incredible how similar they looked, actually.

Mary finished eating her carrots and I snapped the little plastic bowl she had been eating from closed, putting it back into our bag. She moved so that she was on my lap, laying her head against my chest as she kept her eyes on Paul, still waiting to see the fish that he had promised her.

"Are you sleepy?" I asked Mary, rocking her back and forth gently as she rubbed her eyes. She shook her head stubbornly. Paul looked back and we smiled at one another after he saw her. He carefully sat down his fishing pole and reached into my bag to pull out the camera. Before we could protest, he snapped a picture of us.

"My two favorite girls," he mused.

ꕥ ꕥ ꕥ

"Mary," Paul sang, trying to get the little girl's attention. We were off the boat now, sitting at a restaurant. Mary turned towards Paul and Paul blew his straw paper at her, hitting her in the face as she giggled. She was sitting on her knees so that she could reach the table. It made me a little nervous, but as long as my eyes were on her, there was no way I was going to let her fall.

She couldn't figure out how he did it, so I leaned over. "Watch this," I said. I peeled the end of the wrapper off of the straw and put it to her lips. "Blow," I said. She blew and the straw wrapper flew into Paul's face. We all three laughed again.

"Did you have a good time on the boat?" Paul asked Mary and I.

Mary nodded. "I like fishies!" she said.

"Oh, I know you do!" Paul replied. "When we get back to London, we'll have to get Holly a friend. A fishy!"

Mary's face lit up and she nodded rapidly. She approved of the fish idea.

Paul leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm glad you had a good time," he said with a wide grin, causing me to smile.