Page 19 of Starry Nights over Dragonfly Lake

So he took a deep breath and sat down on the vacant seat next to her on the sofa. Being around family was a new concept to him. Being around people was a new kind of feeling for him. But he couldn’t deny the homeliness of the place, with the crackle of the large fireplace nearby and Tiny the dog sprawled on the rug nearby.

‘There you go,’ said Dotty, plonking an album down on his lap already open. ‘What do you think about those little angels?’

Laughing, she pointed at the photograph in the top right-hand corner.

Noah gazed down and saw a picture of three small children, playing in some sand.

‘Oh, my goodness!’ said Hannah, who was sitting on the other side of Dotty and leant across to take a better look. ‘Is that us? Me, Ben and Noah?’

‘Look how cute your bunches are, Hannah,’ said Lily, who was standing at the back of the sofa.

Hannah tugged at her long hair a little self-consciously.

‘Very cute,’ said Alex, reaching out to squeeze her shoulders.

Noah was quickly reminded how littleself-confidence Hannah had in herself and felt glad that her boyfriend was obviously supportive of her shyness.

‘Look at Ben!’ carried on Lily, laughing. She looked across at the other sofa where Ben was sitting next to Walter. ‘You have knobbly knees!’

‘I do not!’ said Ben, with a small smile. ‘You can check later, if you like.’

‘You all used to love playing on the beach out there,’ said Faye who was sitting on the opposite sofa next to Ben. ‘Do you remember, Dotty? We always had to dig out the buckets and spades whenever Noah came to visit with his dad.’

Noah looked down at the photograph once more, trying to remember the feeling that he had been as happy as he looked in the faded picture. But he couldn’t recall any time spent playing on the sand by the lake at all. He frowned. Then again, he didn’t have any photographs from his youth. His dad had never been one to take any pictures and so all he had were his own faded memories.

‘You were probably a bit too young to remember,’ said Dotty, who had been studying his reaction and quickly turned the page. ‘What about this?’

He looked at the next photograph and saw himself older, probably around the age of ten. He was at a bench, holding a chisel, bent over a piece of wood.

‘You’re a master craftsman, like your uncle over there,’ said Dotty, smiling at her husband.

Walter was nodding in reply. ‘And we both get that from your great-great-grandfather.’

Noah looked at him with a start. ‘We do?’

He’d never thought about where he had inherited his talent from before then.

‘He taught me how to work with the correct tools,’ Walter told him. ‘And I was glad to pass on my knowledge to you and Ben.’

Ben made a face. ‘I’ve got the gear but no idea compared to your skills though, Grandad.’

Walter shook his head. ‘Your work is just fine,’ he replied. ‘And there’s only one rule, as you well know.’

‘The only difference between something good and something great is attention to detail,’ Ben told him.

Noah drew in a sharp breath. It was a phrase that he had repeated to himself so many times in his life and yet he had never known or remembered where the advice had come from. It turned out that he had been following Walter’s guidance all these years without even realising it.

‘I thought the rule around here was if you combine wine and dinner, you get winner,’ said Frankie, with a grin.

Faye shook her head with a smile at her best friend.

Dotty picked up a nearby photo album which looked far older than the others on the coffee table.

She flicked through the pages until she stopped. ‘That there is your great-great-grandfather,’ she told him. ‘Henry Jackson.’

Noah looked at the black and white photograph of a man standing next to what appeared to be Dragonfly Lake. He was a more slender build than Walter and yet there was definitely some resemblance there.

‘Is that Maple Tree Lodge?’ asked Hannah, pointing at the small wooden log structure behind the man in the photograph.