The Barren Woman’s Child of Loch Awe

Mists permeated throughout the highlands of Scotland. No one knew where the mists began or where they would end. The mists were the hiding places of ghosts, secrets and legends. For the residents of the manor house near Loch Awe, going out after dusk was forbidden. Everyone knew the ghosts played through the last stroke of midnight. A faint knock on the kitchen door surprised the man servant who was tipsy with ale dripping down the front of his shirt. He pushed over a chair and asked in a raspy voice who was there. The reply was more startling. It was a woman or girl to his hearing. She sounded as if she was whispering but was actually yelling. The man servant opened the door and she slipped through underneath his arm. He quickly locked the door and turned toward the young woman.

“Now then, who are you lass? What ‘re ya doin’ ‘round the loch so late?” He grabbed at the counter to keep upright. The fire was dying down and the woman went to rub her hands in front of it. The kitchen was not as large as most manor houses. The master and mistress of the house never intended to use it for entertaining guests. There were a few carrots and potatoes set on the table next to the man servant’s ale.

The woman looked at him still warming her hands.

“Fiona. My name is Fiona. The stagecoach driver dropped me off on the far side of the loch. He was supposed to bring me here five hours ago but one of the horses died. The driver said he saw the ghost of his grandmother on the loch not a fortnight ago. He said it was too dangerous to drive through. I told him I was not afraid, and I walked the rest of the way on foot.”

“Where’s your luggage, lass?”

“Lost my bag on the walk here. It doesn’t have much. I am the new maid. The master sent for me two months ago. The master only sent half my passage fair. It took me a while to scrape up the rest. Who are you, sir?”

“Logan Campbell. I’ve been a servant to the Brown manor house all my life. My parents served here as well as their brothers and sisters.”

“Where are they now?”

“Out on the loch. Don’t think any of them would have slipped passed St. Peter. No one in my lot would be good enough for heaven.”

With that, Logan chuckled heartily until he started coughing.

Logan told Fiona there was a vacant bedroom at the top of the servant’s staircase and she could sleep there. He dare not wake the master or mistress or the cook at this hour. Fiona did as he asked and Logan fell fast asleep at the table. Maisie, the cook, found him asleep a few hours later. She woke him and he told her about Fiona. She thought he was pulling her leg until Fiona appeared. Maisie said that she knew the Brown family wanted a new maid, but she didn’t know the master had started making arrangements. Maisie had Fiona start dusting the library. The master and mistress were still asleep and Maisie knew there wasn’t anything of real value in the library. The books, in her mind, could be replaced. Fiona started dusting with the large feather duster. She waited until she could no longer hear Maisie’s footsteps to start looking through the books and the small writing table drawers. She thought that it had to be in the library. It was the only place that made sense.

Suddenly, the door flew open. It was the master.

“Who are you?” He asked.

“I’m Fiona. Who are you?” Fiona pretended to put a piece of paper back in one of the drawers but slipped it in her pocket instead.

“I am Mr. Jeremiah Brown. I am the master of this house. Now, please tell me who you are and why you are in my library at this hour?”

“I’m Fiona. You sent for me. I’m the new maid. Maisie, the cook, said I should start dusting in here until you and your wife came down.”

“Fiona, I don’t recall receiving a reply to my request. I am sorry if I frightened you. I’m not accustomed to having anyone in here. It has been a long time since this room has been dusted. Now where is it that you came from? Have you ever been to Loch Awe before?”

“I’m an orphan, sir. I grew up all over Scotland and Wales. I couldn’t tell you for certain if I have been to Loch Awe before. I was part of so many families and at so many foundling homes.”

“Why didn’t you stay with one family?” He asked and then waved his hand. “You don’t have to answer that. I do hope we haven’t made a horrible first impression on you. Carry on.”

With that, he left the room. Logan knocked on the window from the outside. Fiona opened the window and he helped her climb out. He held her right hand and she stepped on his knee to reach the ground. That’s when he saw it.

“Your fingers.” Logan grabbed them tightly.

“Please let go of me. You’re hurting me.”

“It can’t be. They said you’d be dead in a week. They said there was no way a baby with fingers like a bat’s wings could survive. We all thought she was a barren woman. We thought she’d never be able to carry a wee child. Oh, lass. I am so sorry you made your way back here. He’ll never acknowledge you. He told everyone he never knew your mother...”

“He will remember her and he will know me. She haunts him every night. He won’t go on the loch. He won’t walk by it even in the daytime. He knows she is waiting for him. Her ghost is waiting for him.”

“Please lass. Don’t go stirin’ trouble with the ghosts. I know they linger ‘round here at night. What is it you want after all these years? You want his money, the manor house? You want your name in the family Bible? You want your last name?”

“Brown. Yes. Fiona Brown of Loch Awe. That is who I am. I didn’t make it up. I belong here. I was born here.”

“But lass. The master moved on. He has a new wife. What happened with your mother was mistake. He never meant to get involved with her. She was no one. She had no title, no bloodline, no money or inheritance. He felt sorry for her, lass. He felt guilt for you. He asked me to kill you at birth. I couldn’t do it. The midwives told me you would be dead in a week. They said the devil himself marked you with webbed fingers like a bat’s wings. I am sorry Fiona, but I can’t let you...”

Logan began strangling Fiona but she managed to scream. She stepped on Logan’s foot and ran into the mists of Loch Awe. Master Brown came running out of the side door. He ran toward Logan who was now sobbing on the ground.

“Pull yourself together, man. What happened?”

“It’s the lass, sir. Fiona.”

“What about her?”

“She’s your daughter, sir. She’s Carol’s daughter.”

“Carol’s daughter. I told you to kill her.”

“I was told she would die anyway because she has webbed fingers on her right hand. Please forgive me, sir. I thought she would be dead by now.”

“Twenty years. I thought she was gone twenty years ago. Well, it looks like I’m going to have to take care of her myself.”

Master Brown went into the kitchen and took a sharp knife. He walked into the mists of Loch Awe. No one ever heard from Master Brown again. Fiona knocked on the door just before the last stroke of midnight every autumn for many years still looking for her birthright. The mistress of the house never answered. When the mistress of the house died, Fiona came back into the manor house. She went to the library and read the diary page she put in her pocket the day she met her father. It was her last day alive. Logan took her life and the ghosts welcomed her to the mists of Loch Awe. When her father pursued, not knowing she was theirs, they took their revenge.

In the diary entry, Fiona’s father acknowledges Fiona as the child of the barren woman whom he would have loved if he could risk tarnishing his reputation. He was concerned his parents would disinherit him from their family fortune. He asked for mercy for his child and for the unholy acts that followed.

Fiona made the manor house her eternal dwelling place. She claimed her birthright after death.