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‘But actually, in your case, you don’t need to do that.’
‘How come? He finds long-lost relatives, doesn’t he?’
‘Yes, but you don’t need Ray. All you have to do is ask your mum.’
Callum stared at Mabel. ‘Right, I’m going home.’
Mabel looked at the ticket in her hand. ‘Do you want some company while you wait for the train?’
Callum smiled, and held out the crook of his arm. ‘Yes, why not.’
They got some strange looks as they walked along the platform, arm in arm, but neither of them cared. Mabel glanced at Callum and imagined just for one glorious moment that she was seventeen again, and she had got that note from Douglas, and had met him at the train station. How would her life have turned out if her sister had given her the note from Douglas telling her about the change of plan? Perhaps she would have lived in a Scottish castle. Or maybe her sister had been right, and he’d only said that to impress her.
Mabel looked up at Callum as they waited together for the train to pull into the station. It would take him to London, from where he’d catch the sleeper train to Scotland. Oh, how she wished she could accompany him! But Mabel knew she was far too old for such a long journey, and besides, she wouldn’t have had time to pack a suitcase for the trip.
Mabel was there to see him off. Her taxi was waiting outside the station to take her back to Aldeburgh.
Callum had entrusted her with a note, along with Thea’s train ticket, asking Thea to meet him at the station. Meanwhile, Callum had had to take the cat and the campervan to his friends, Beth and Jack, to look after while he was gone.
Mabel thought of her sister, Marjorie, whom she’d implored to try and help her find Thea. When she’d told Marjorie about the note and the train ticket that Callum had entrusted to her, her sister had broken down and had revealed a terrible secret she’d harboured for many years – something truly awful she’d done. She hadn’t given Mabel the note from Douglas about the rendezvous.
Marjorie had even visited the bookshop back when Thea had first arrived, saying she too wanted to introduce herself to Thea, and perhaps find a book. Mabel recalled minding the fort while Marjorie had nipped across the yard. But she hadn’t been there to find a book; she had been looking for a note – the one from Douglas, which she’d hidden in an obscure book. Miraculously, she had found it.
Mabel had the book, and the old note from Douglas, in her handbag. She’d treasure it; of course she would. But as she’d told her sister, she’d married a lovely man, and had wonderful children and grandchildren. She had no regrets. And she didn’t want her sister to have any regrets either. All was forgiven. But that didn’t mean she hadn’t always wondered what had happened to her first love, Douglas.
Mabel clutched Callum’s arm as they stood waiting for the train. He was the spitting image of Douglas – even Marjorie had said so. She stared at him.
He turned his head to look at her and smiled.
Callum even had Douglas’s smile. She thought of the journey he was about to make, in search of his real father. Was he a descendant of Douglas?
Mabel smiled up at him, thinking,Anything is possible.
Chapter 58
‘Mabel?’
Mabel turned and looked at her sister, who had joined her in the charity shop window. Mabel sighed. ‘He’s back again.’
Marjorie looked over at the bookshop. ‘What a silly cat. When will Dickens get the message that the bookshop is closed again, and won’t be reopening any time soon?’
‘If ever,’ said Mabel sadly.
Her sister looked at her and nodded. ‘It’s so sad.’
They both turned to look at the bookshop. The new blinds that a local shop had donated for the grand reopening were pulled down, the bookshop all closed up. The only visitors were Lili, who walked over there every day and watered the potted plants and hanging baskets outside, and of course the black and white cat now sitting outside the shop, meowing at the door.
‘He can meow until the cows come home,’ commented Marjorie, turning from the window. ‘But it’s not going to change a thing.’
Mabel looked at her sister. ‘I’m sick and tired of people coming into the charity shop just to inquire when the bookshop will be open again.’
‘I know. When will everyone get the message that The Bookshop of Memories is just that; an abandoned old bookshop just full of memories of what was.’
‘And what will never be,’ Mabel added.
Marjorie looked at her sister. She didn’t have to ask her who she was thinking of; a young couple whose paths had briefly crossed in the bookshop – Callum and Thea.
Mabel heaved a sigh. She was about to turn from the window when she spotted two people entering the yard. The window was open. She heard them as they passed by. ‘Are you sure this is the place? I left my taxi idling at the kerb outside. I don’t want to leave you here if you’re not sure. Sorry, but you seem a bit confused.’
