Back at The Bosun’s Locker he put the pub name into the sat nav and set it. He loaded the boxes into the car, put Girly’s harness on and clipped her in. Time to go.
The journey took him longer than expected but three quarters of an hour later he was pulling into the pub car park. He’d deliberately come early in the hope that Tony Trumble wouldn’t be too busy to talk to him. He let Girly out of the car for a few moments before he put her back in. He opened the windows for her before making his way into the pub.
Tony, behind the bar, with his back to the door, was busy restocking the shelves, and called out, ’Be with you in a second.’
‘No worries, Tony. I’m not in a hurry. I’m not even a customer. I simply want to ask directions.’
Tony turned round at the sound of his voice. ‘Bruce Adams?’
Bruce nodded. ‘Can you tell me where I’ll find Carrie please?’
‘Why?’
‘Because, as you know, she’s my late wife’s daughter and I believe she might like to talk to me about her mother.’
Tony regarded him for several seconds before coming out from behind the bar and shouting in the direction of the kitchen, ‘I’m going out for fifteen minutes.’
Turning to Bruce, he said, ‘I’ll take you. Land Rover’s outside, follow me.’
‘If you’re busy just give me directions,’ Bruce said. ‘I’m sure I can find the house from here.’ When Tony ignored his words, he sighed and followed him out to the car park.
Five minutes later he was in the driveway of Carrie’s house, parked alongside Tony’s Land Rover.
‘Wait here. I’ll go and find Carrie.’
Two minutes later Tony was back. ‘This way. Carrie’s in the garden with her parents.’
Bruce glanced at him. He hadn’t anticipated meeting her adoptive parents. ‘Are they happy about meeting me?’
‘Of course. Why wouldn’t they be?’
Bruce couldn’t think of a reason so he stayed quiet as he followed Tony into the house. As they reached the sitting room Carrie came in from the garden and walked towards him, her hand held out, ready to shake his.
‘Mr Adams. What a lovely surprise. I need to apologise for intruding the other evening.’
Bruce shook her hand as he got his first proper look at her. Karen had been right – she did have Gabby’s eyes.
‘Please – call me Bruce. Carrie, I hope I’m not the one intruding now, especially as you have your parents here, but I felt I had to come and see you, both for your sake and my wife’s.’
‘After that evening I promised myself I would treat the circumstances of my birth as a closed book. I particularly didn’t want to upset you or sully the memories of the life you shared with your wife. Does your coming here mean you’re happy to talk to me about my birth mother?’ Carrie asked.
‘Yes. I’ve also brought some things along that belonged to her that I thought you might like to see.’
‘Thank you. Right now I’d like you to come and meet my parents.’
‘I’ll see you later,’ Tony said, leaning in and giving Carrie a goodbye kiss on the cheek. ‘You OK?’
‘Yes.’ Carrie smiled at Bruce. ‘Everything is good. What’s happening with Lola today? She still needs her walk.’
‘She can stay in the apartment for the morning. If you all come down to the pub for lunch you can pick her up then.’
‘If you like dogs, may I fetch mine from the car?’ Bruce said. ‘I haven’t had her long; she was a rescue dog and gets nervous if I leave her for too long.’
‘Of course. I’ll put some coffee on while you get her,’ Carrie said. ‘Bring her through to the garden.’
Fetching Girly from the car, Bruce stood for a few moments taking deep breaths and sending a silent promise up to Gabby. It was going to be all right.
Girly, being her usual self, greeted everyone with a tail wag and a hand-lick but stayed close to Bruce as Carrie introduced him to her parents. Elizabeth said how sorry she was to hear about Gabby’s death. ‘I’m sure you must miss her.’ She looked at Malcolm fleetingly before continuing. ‘We only met her the once. The agency and the social workers handled everything. It was the morning we collected Carrie. I felt so, so sorry for her. She seemed so fragile and alone. I could tell she was desperately trying to hold it all together. She looked so unhappy at giving up her baby.’
Carrie glanced at her mother. ‘You’ve never mentioned this before.’
‘It’s never come up before,’ Elizabeth said. ‘That morning we were left alone for, oh, I don’t know, thirty seconds maybe? I asked her if she’d like to receive news about you – we knew we could send yearly updates and photos to the agency, who would forward them on. I offered to send a photo every year. She thanked me but refused. Said a complete break was the only way she could see herself coping. When the nurse came back she was in floods of tears and was whisked away. I always hoped she’d gone on to meet someone and have another child.’
‘We met and I think I made her happy. She certainly made me happy,’ Bruce said. ‘I know now, though, that she never forgot Carrie.’
‘For years I kept expecting her to turn up wanting to meet her grown-up daughter,’ Elizabeth said.
Bruce turned to Carrie. ‘You weren’t curious when you turned eighteen? Didn’t want to find her?’
Carrie shook her head. ‘No. Mum was my mum. I’d had a lovely childhood and didn’t feel the need. I didn’t want to hurt my parents either after all they’d done for me. They did tell me if I wanted to find her I should. I think I’m feeling a tad guilty now for not wanting to.’ She glanced at Bruce. ‘But how would you have reacted if I’d turned up?’
‘I wish you’d turned up on our doorstep years ago,’ Bruce said honestly. ‘It would still have been a huge shock, particularly after all we’d been through trying for a family together. Gabby would have had to tell me about your existence then. Instead she took her secret to the grave, leaving me wondering whether we’d truly been as happy as I’d thought we were. But I don’t doubt you would have been made more than welcome after the initial shock.’ He took a deep breath. ‘I have to ask, why did you become curious now?’
‘Robert’s legacy has changed things. A stranger leaving a fortune to a daughter he’d never met, whom he’d had with a woman he’d never married. Was it a one-night stand or something more? I wanted to know.’
‘There are a couple of entries in Gabby’s diary that will help explain her side of the story,’ Bruce said. ‘I’ll fetch it from the car and you can read it.’
When he returned, Carrie was alone, Elizabeth and Malcolm having wandered off down to the far end of the stream. As he handed her the diary, Carrie said, ‘Bruce, will you tell me how Gabby died, please?’
There was a short silence before Bruce said, ‘It was a silly accident. One of those where you might expect to break a leg or an arm but nothing serious enough to kill you.’ He looked at Carrie. ‘Gabby fell down a short flight of stairs at home. She got up almost immediately, rubbing her elbow and calling herself names for being so stupid as to trip. I could see the fall had shaken her, though, and suggested a trip to A&E to check her out, but she wouldn’t go. Insisted she was fine.’
Bruce bit his lip and took a deep breath before continuing. ‘An hour later she complained of a headache and admitted she’d banged her head on a step as she fell. I took her straight to the nearest hospital. An hour later she was in a coma.’
He rubbed his hand over his eyes, which were glistening with tears. ‘Seven hours later she was dead. And ever since I’ve felt guilty for not getting her to hospital sooner.’
Carrie touched his arm compassionately. ‘She had a brain hemorrhage?’
Bruce nodded. ‘The doctors and nurses at the hospital were wonderful. Did everything possible to save her, but…’ He shook his head. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you to read read in private. Maybe your parents will show me round the garden.’ He gave her a tremulous smile before taking Girly and g
oing to join Elizabeth and Malcolm.
Carrie carefully opened the diary and began to read.
*
Carrie closed the diary and wiped her tears away. The entries had told her she had meant something to both her birth parents. That she was the result of more than a quick fling or one-night stand. It had been a love affair that lasted two years and, if Robert had reacted differently to the news of the pregnancy, might have continued beyond her birth.
Whether her childhood, her whole life actually, would have been as stable and happy as it had been with Elizabeth and Malcolm she’d never know. They were truly her real parents.
She did know one thing, though – she felt incredibly sad for Bruce. To long passionately, and ultimately unsuccessfully, for a child with a beloved wife, only to learn the heartbreaking secret that a baby had been born and given away, must have hurt him beyond measure.
‘Are you OK?’ Elizabeth asked gently, coming to sit next to her on the granite bench.
Carrie nodded. ‘Fine.’ She put her arm around Elizabeth and hugged her tightly. ‘I love you, Mum. Thank you for picking me all those years ago.’ She could see Elizabeth was fighting back the tears.
‘Look, there was a photo of me in the diary.’ She handed it to Elizabeth. ‘You didn’t get one of these, did you?’
Elizabeth shook her head. ‘No. I guess one of the nurses took it for Gabby. I recognise the blanket you’re wrapped in. It’s the one we took you home in. I still have it,’ she added quietly.
‘I feel so sorry for Bruce,’ Carrie said. ‘Would you and Dad mind if I kept in touch with him? I think, now he knows about me, it would be rather cruel to disappear out of his life.’
‘I agree, especially as he longed for a family with Gabby. From the little we’ve seen of him so far, he seems such a nice, gentle man. We’ll make him an honorary member of our family. We’ll start by inviting him to join us for lunch at the pub today.’
‘Great. Then we can take Lola and Girly for a walk together.’
‘I’ll go and tell the men what’s happening,’ Elizabeth said. ‘Haven’t you got a phone call to make? You promised Max you’d let him know your decision.’
‘I’ll phone him now and then we’ll go to the pub,’ Carrie said.
Listening to the ringing tone as she waited for Max to pick up, Carrie felt a twinge of apprehension at what she was about to tell him. Aside from letting him know her decision, she also needed to ask his advice.
‘Hi, Max. First, I think I’m about to make the locum’s day. I’ve decided not to come back. If that’s still acceptable to you?’ she added anxiously.
‘He’ll be delighted. You going to live in your Devonshire house then?’
‘Yes. I’m also going to reopen a practice in the village, which is the seond thing. May I pick your brains at some stage? You set your practice up from scratch, so I know you’ll give me good advice.’
‘Great news. D’you want me to come down? Seeing the premises would make it easier to advise.’
‘That would be brilliant and it would be lovely to see you. Come for the weekend – there’s plenty of room. Sometime next month would be good. I should have signed the lease and everything by then.’
Ending the call, Carrie went back out into the garden to find her parents and Bruce laughing together at some joke Malcolm had made.
‘Lunchtime. I think we’ll walk to the pub rather than drive.’
The pub was busy when they walked in but Tony had reserved them a table in a quiet corner and they were soon selecting their meals. Carrie couldn’t help noticing that nobody seemed to be clearing tables, and while Bruce and Malcolm organised drinks for everyone, she started to gather glasses and plates and take them out to the kitchen.
‘You short-staffed again?’ she said to Tony, who was standing in front of the fryer.
‘Yep. Nothing changes. How did things go with Bruce?’
‘Good. He’s given me a diary which explains several things. I’ll show you later if you like. Robert did try and do the right thing in the end by Gabby. I’ll keep an eye on the tables out there. OK?’
‘You’ll be my favourite forever girl if you will.’
Carrie laughed. ‘Sure. You and your idle promises.’ She couldn’t help feeling their friendship seemed to be changing daily into something… something she couldn’t quite put a finger on. The way he was helping her with the official stuff over the veterinary practice was way beyond the call of duty. There was something different about the way he teased her these days too. And she certainly looked forward to seeing him.
When Carrie got back to their table, she found Elizabeth explaining to Bruce about Malcolm retiring soon and the fact they were thinking of moving down to be closer to Carrie. They’d even looked at a couple of houses already but nothing had really grabbed them.
‘Let me know if I can help in any way,’ Bruce said. ‘I’ve decided to move to The Bosun’s Locker permanently. See if I can get my house-renovation business to work down here instead of upcountry. If you like I can keep an eye out for you and let you know if I see anything that might be suitable.’
‘Thanks. No renovation properties, though,’ Malcolm said. ‘I’m aiming to enjoy my retirement, not work my socks off.’
‘Fair enough,’ Bruce said.
*
Karen woke the next morning at the crack of dawn, despite not having got to bed before midnight. She crept downstairs, not wanting to disturb anybody, made herself a cup of tea and sat in the window seat to drink it.
Last night had truly been a wonderful evening. The atmosphere in the restaurant as the evening progressed had become more and more romantic as dusk fell and candles were the only lighting reflecting dancing shadows off the glass. The food had been beyond delicious but it could have been mediocre as far as she was concerned. All that really mattered to her was the knowledge that Guy was back in her life for good.
He’d made her feel so special – and loved – all evening. She couldn’t have asked for more. Spending her silver wedding anniversary with the man she realised she’d loved from the very first time she’d met him. She sighed. It was such a shame he wasn’t her husband.
The taxi had dropped them back at the cottages at eleven and they’d spent the next hour sitting in the arbour in the garden, talking and making plans for their future. When they heard the church clock in the nearby village strike midnight, Guy had stood up.
‘It’s time for bed but, with Charlie in No. 3 and Wills in The Captain’s House, not to mention Chris and Sandra, I think it’s best we go to our own beds.’
‘Such a gentleman,’ she said, reaching up to kiss him. ‘Our time will come!’ Remembering that kiss now, Karen shivered. An almost perfect end to a special evening.
It was still only ten o’clock when the house phone rang. Karen had cooked breakfast for everyone, including Guy, and was dreamily listening to their plans for the day as she wondered what she and Guy would be doing. She picked the phone up without checking the caller ID only to hear Derek’s bossy voice. She pressed the speaker button so everybody could hear his voice booming around the kitchen.
‘House is sold. Completion at the end of September. My lawyer says we need to decide who gets what of the furniture. So you need to get back up here to choose before I get a house-clearance bloke to take the lot. You’ll need to give the place a damn good clean too while you’re here.’
Karen took a deep breath. ‘Good morning, Derek. First, both Francesca and Wills still have things in their rooms which they’ll collect soon. Second, I will be back in about ten days and will arrange for my belongings to be picked up. I’ll let you know when I’m coming and would appreciate your not being there. Third, you can damn well clean the place yourself or pay a scrubber to do it. You shouldn’t have any difficulty finding one – you know several.’
‘Might have known you’d be bloody difficult. Oh, and by the way, my lawyer says I have a definite claim on The Captain’s House on the basis that it�
�s a marital asset.’
‘Well, I shouldn’t pin any hopes on that,’ Karen said calmly. ‘My lawyer will soon set him right. Goodbye, Derek.’ She hung up and turned to face everyone, to find them staring at her in astonishment.
‘What?’
‘I think my kid sister has returned,’ Chris said. ‘Years since I’ve heard you so confident.’
Karen shrugged. ‘Worm turning and all that.’
‘One thing worries me, though,’ Chris said. ‘This place. I can see Derek getting his hands on it.’
‘Not going to happen,’ Karen said. ‘I’ve never told anybody this, but The Captain’s House isn’t mine. I took Mum and Dad’s advice when they left it to me. Even then they were worried about Derek trying to get his hands on it.’
Karen looked across at Wills. ‘The house is in trust for you and Francesca. Has been for the last fifteen years.’
*
The final sundowner of the summer was always traditionally held on the last Saturday of the month and involved a communal barbecue. This year Bruce was determined to make it a particularly memorable one. A celebration of an unusual summer and a toast to the future.
Before he’d said goodbye to Carrie and her parents the other day, he’d invited them for the evening. He’d extended the invitation to Tony when Elizabeth had whispered to him, ‘I’ve got great hopes for him! Not a word to Carrie, though!’
Tony had thanked him but said the pub was too busy on a Saturday night, particularly a bank holiday weekend, which this coming one was, for him to get away. Perhaps he and Carrie could come another evening in September? Bruce had said he’d make sure to invite them.
The emotional shock of hearing about Carrie’s existence was wearing off and being replaced by other emotions. Joy. Delight. To name but two. Gabby had left him a connection to someone he could care about. Someone he could think of as family. He was already thinking of her as the daughter he’d never had and he wanted her to be in his life.
Summer at Coastguard Cottages Page 21