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Thea readily agreed. ‘I’ll say.’ Not long after Callum had left, his father had died. That was when Thea had discovered that the things that Edward had stolen, and that Henry had unwittingly sold to the Scottish laird, were still in his private collection.
They both knew that if someone had looked into their provenance, it was highly likely the police would have got involved when it was discovered they’d been stolen from a museum. And it was just as likely that an investigation would point the finger at Edward – and Henry.
No one could afford that. Thea had had to tell Callum everything about what Edward had done. Callum had gladly handed them back to Edward without a penny in recompense. And now they were back where they belonged with no one any the wiser – and no one serving a prison sentence.
‘What about the book Toby and I bound – you know, the one that Toby found wrapped in brown paper at the back of the drawer?’
‘How could I forget?’ It was the last rare book that Edward had stolen from the archives and passed on to Henry before Henry had disappeared. Edward had wanted it back to sell himself. The plan had been to buy the book from Jenna, but he was going to get a generous commission when he sold it on to a rare book collector.
That had never happened. But Edward had nearly got caught out at the last hurdle – returning that last book to the archives. Unlike with all the others, Edward had become too blasé, and had just brought it along with him one morning to work, thinking he could quickly put it back when Gracie stepped out of the office to get a coffee.
Unfortunately, Gracie had nipped back for her cardigan and had caught him in the act. Poor Edward had said he didn’t know how to explain what he was doing – no one was allowed to take anything home with them from the museum archives. But then Gracie had seen how it had been so beautifully bound, and Edward had admitted that it was the first book Toby and Callum had ever bound together.
At first, when Thea had heard that Edward had implicated her nephew and boyfriend, she had been livid, and just a little scared of what the repercussions might be. That was why she was checking in with Gracie. But Gracie had said it was so beautifully bound, and such amazing work, that it was little wonder Edward had seen the state of the book and had wanted to have it professionally bound. It wasn’t something they necessarily did with rare books, but this book had been in such a bad state of repair that it was an exception.
All Gracie said was that next time, Toby and Callum would need to visit the archives to do their work.
Thea smiled. ‘I think you and Toby might be making some trips to London together to work in the archives of the museum.’
‘Really? That sounds amazing. I can’t wait to tell Toby. He will be beyond excited.’
Thea knew he would. Toby had loved working in the bookshop, but he had started to question Thea about her job as an archivist, showing an immense interest in her work.
Thinking of Toby, Thea looked at her watch. ‘I’ve got to go soon,’ she said.
Callum looked at his watch too. ‘Crumbs, where does the day go, eh? School’s out soon, then.’
‘Yes. I’ll bring Toby back here though, as usual. You know how he loves to spend some time in the bookshop after school before we all go home.’
Callum smiled. ‘Yes, I know. I’m so glad he came back – and everything worked out for him.’
‘Yes, me too.’ She thought back to a few weeks earlier, soon after she and Callum had returned to the bookshop to find Henry there. Callum had already guessed that was where he’d be. Mabel recounted the surprise arrival of their brother. He’d walked straight into the bookshop, put theOpensign in the window, and it was as though he’d never left. Of course, Thea would have already known all about that if she’d just opened Mabel’s letters.
Thea thought back to their return to Aldeburgh. Although they were now officially a couple, back then, on their return, they hadn’t sorted out anywhere to live together. It would take time to sell her flat in London to buy a place of their own in Aldeburgh. In the meantime, the flat above the shop would have been ideal, but that was where her father was living. Mabel and Marjorie had enlisted the help of everybody in Cobblers Yard, and they’d fixed up the flat, cleaned it, redecorated, and furnished it for their brother, all in the space of one incredibly long weekend.
Callum had parked up the van again in Aldeburgh,where he’d been before, and had planned to live in it. Thea still had the keys to her sister’s place, and she’d asked Jenna if she could stay there for a bit while she sorted out where she and Callum could live permanently. Jenna had insisted that she and Callum must both stay in her house for as long as they wanted.
Although Jenna had invited Callum to live there too, and he did stay over a lot of the time, he’d said he didn’t want to take advantage of her sister’s generosity and just move into her house. But eventually, Callum spent less and less time at the van and accepted that they just had to be together. The van was left parked permanently on Jenna’s driveway.
The news of Henry’s miraculous return to the bookshop had quickly spread to Thea’s sister and mum. When she’d heard the incredible news, Thea’s mum had asked her to take some items that were stored in Jenna’s garage to the flat for Henry– a lamp, some spare linen, cutlery and crockery, a rug, and some ornaments from her mum’s far-flung travels; things she no longer needed, as she didn’t envisage returning to her flat in London any time soon. Those extra bits and bobs had made the place cosy and comfortable; the little flat above the shop was now just perfect for Henry.
Thea knew that while her mum was overjoyed at Henry’s return, her mum and dad wouldn’t get back together. Thea understood. It wasn’t just about his health. In the intervening years since his disappearance, although her mum did love him, and had never given up hope, inevitably she’d moved on. She wasn’t the same person she had been twenty-five years earlier. They couldn’t go back to the way they had been.
Thea had talked to her when she’d returned briefly from Nepal for the reopening party they’d held in Henry’s honour, even though Henry had already opened the shop. Unlike the first reopening, it was a very small, intimate affair, with just family. Mabel and Marjorie were there, along with Jenna and the twins, who had flown back from America. Henry, understandably, confused Katie with her mother.
Even though they had wanted to invite Ray and his wife Sarah, along with Lili from The Potting Shed, and especially Lexi and her grandmother, the writer, it wouldn’t have been fair on Henry to confuse him with new faces.
The question at the back of Thea’s mind had been whether he would remember his sisters, Mabel and Marjorie. At the small family gathering, Henry had surprised them all by remembering his two older sisters. Aware of his condition, both Mabel and Marjorie hadn’t held out much hope that he would. Thea had thought otherwise. She’d seen first-hand how stepping into the bookshop brought back vividly memories of the past, so she wasn’t at all surprised that he remembered Mabel and Marjorie – especially given that he was meeting them again in the place where they grew up together, The Bookshop of Memories.
Some weeks later, after the party, Thea had got a big surprise when her mum returned to England – with Toby in tow. They just turned up at the house in a taxi with their suitcases.
When she thought about it, though, it was really no surprise to Thea that Toby had wanted to come home. Toby had been deeply unhappy living abroad. He missed home. He missed his girlfriend, and Thea and Callum, and wanted the chance to get to know his grandfather, Henry. But what Thea suspected was that he missed The Bookshop of Memories more. It hadn’t helped at all when he’d briefly returned to see his grandfather, only to have to leave again.
Although Thea’s mum had promised Jenna that she’d stay in Suffolk and see Toby through school, it was barely a fortnight later when Thea came downstairs one morning and found her mum sitting at the kitchen table, staring forlornly out of the kitchen window. Thea had followed her gaze to the yellow campervan sitting in the driveway. She’d wondered what was going through her mum’s mind.
She’d soon found out.
‘I can’t do this, Thea,’ her mum had said. ‘I’m torn. I want to stay here – for Toby. His life is here. I understand that. I can’t send him back to America. I don’t know what to do.’
