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‘That’s why we try to set you up with suitable men who—’
‘—who aren’t right for me. Men like Simon.’
‘But Simon’s ideal. He lives in London and is charming and—’ Daisy stopped talking and bit down hard on her lower lip. ‘OK, maybe the matchmaking is a bit over the top. But my life isn’t so perfect either.’
‘You’re always telling me and everyone else that it is, and it seems pretty damn good. So Jason bought you a steam mop for your birthday, so what? He loves you and you love him. And you have two gorgeous children and a beautiful home and you’re forging a new career, and you always look immaculate. Look at me!’
When Lettie ran her hands down her body, over her hair being whipped into her eyes by the wind, her old T-shirt and holey jeans, the corner of Daisy’s mouth lifted.
‘Jason can occasionally be very annoying, though I’ll deny it if you tell anyone else.’ She sighed, and the fight seemed to go right out of her. ‘To be honest, my life is only practically perfect because you’re picking up the slack. I’m not sure I could do everything without your help with the kids. And I can’t take on Mum and Dad too. Ed’s hopeless and Fran is too involved with her own family to take on ours. We need you, Lettie. I need you.’
That was quite an admission! Lettie grabbed Daisy’s hands and held on tight when she tried to snatch them away.
‘You could get some proper childcare and Mum could take up the offers of lifts and outings from friends that she always turns down.’
‘Proper childcare would cost a fortune. I’d have to give up my course.’
‘No you wouldn’t. You’d all manage perfectly well without me because you’d have to.’
‘Good grief, you are thinking of staying here.’
When Daisy managed to pull her hands free, Lettie turned to face the sea. It was all very well having a minor rebellion, but she had to be practical.
‘No, I’m not,’ she told her sister. ‘Not really. I know staying in Heaven’s Cove is just a daft dream and I wouldn’t be particularly welcome here. Rather like Iris.’
Daisy stepped in front of her and narrowed her eyes. ‘Why wasn’t Iris welcome here?’
Damn. Lettie shrugged. ‘What I meant was that Iris didn’t want to come back to the village after she left so perhaps she didn’t find the place particularly welcoming.’ Daisy looked wholly unconvinced so Lettie ploughed on. ‘I just need some time on my own to figure a few things out.’
‘And you’ve had almost two weeks here so you’ve had a break and you’ve realised there’s no great mystery over the letter to Iris so it’s time to come home to sort out your employment situation and to fit back into the family. That’s the right thing to do, Lettie, and you know it.’
The squeals of children far below on the curve of golden sand caught Lettie’s attention and she glanced towards the village which was buzzing with tourists on such a gorgeous summer’s day. She was tired of arguing when she was surrounded by such beauty.
‘Let’s finish our picnic and enjoy our walk, especially if you’re heading back to London tomorrow,’ she said, using the conciliatory tone she often used when Elsa and Danny were squabbling. ‘We can sort everything else out later.’
‘But you are coming back, aren’t you?’
Lettie sighed. ‘Yes, of course I am.’
Suitably placated, Daisy sat back on the picnic rug and started unwrapping a punnet of strawberries. But Lettie stayed standing, staring out over the sea.
Lettie slept fitfully that night.A storm in the early hours kept her awake, wondering if Corey and his crew were in danger out at sea. And when she did eventually slip into sleep, she was assailed by dreams of Iris and a golden key which unlocked a door that led nowhere.
She woke at dawn, feeling exhausted, and padded from her bed to the window. Great streaks of gold and pink were scoring the sky near the horizon but dark clouds were massing overhead. Dark clouds that matched her mood.
She glanced at her suitcase on the floor, which she’d half-filled last night, and touched the key that was nestled against her pyjamas. If only she could speak to Iris about all of this. What would she think of it – of Daisy pleading for her to come home, of talking about the past with Florence, of seeing the memorial to Cornelius by the waterfall, of meeting Corey?
Find out for me, darling girl, seemed to whisper in the wind that was blowing around the eaves of Driftwood House.
Lettie stepped away from the window, put on her dressing gown against the chill of the morning, and started to unpack her case. She’d found out who’d written the letter, and what had happened to Cornelius and Iris all those years ago. But there was more. The mystery of the key remained and she was the only person who cared enough to solve it.
Two hours later,Daisy had gone and Lettie was standing on the grass outside Driftwood House.
More guests were arriving in a couple of days’ time, according to Rosie, so Daisy’s vacated room wouldn’t stay empty for long. It seemed right that Iris’s childhood home would soon be filled with people once more. Lettie felt her great-aunt would approve.
And tonight, Lettie would have the house completely to herself. Daisy, it seemed, had rather presumptuously informed Rosie that they would both be leaving. So Rosie, thinking the house would be empty, had arranged to stay in a local spa hotel overnight with Liam and his parents.
It was an impromptu treat to celebrate his parents’ thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, she told Lettie, who’d overheard her trying to change her booking. But the hotel wouldn’t budge and she’d been grateful when Lettie had offered to stay at Driftwood House overnight on her own.
For her part, Lettie felt honoured that Rosie trusted her to look after the house, and she’d especially loved it when Rosie said: ‘I feel that you care about the house because of your family connection to it.’
She did care about the house, thought Lettie, admiring its whitewashed walls and sparkling windows that overlooked the sea. It was a link to Iris and her life.
Lettie walked to the edge of the cliff and looked to the horizon, where dark clouds were clustered.
Daisy would probably be past Exeter by now, on her way back to London and raiding Sainsbury’s on the way for the rainbow cake her daughter had requested. Lettie had suggested she might make the cake herself but Daisy’s horrified expression had put paid to that idea.
Her sister had been miffed, to say the least, when Lettie appeared at breakfast without her suitcase and had only been placated when Lettie assured her she was only staying for a couple more days. She would have to work fast if she was going to achieve Iris’s dying wish. The problem was she wasn’t quite sure where to start.
