by Melissa Hill
The local businesspeople were intensely proud of their produce and the homegrown/handcrafted nature of their wares. Elle loved walking on Main Street in the height of summer; eating ice-cream from Scoops, smells of baking from The Grain Store Bakery, fresh fruit from SunBurst Organics and ground coffee from Pebbles Café mingling in the bright air as tourists wandered down to the beach with buckets and spades and brightly coloured towels and inflatables.
In the winter, it was much quieter and considerably greyer in the absence of bright blue skies and the kaleidoscope of beach accoutrements, and populated mostly by locals. The only thing she didn’t like about Mulberry Bay was its size and the fact that you tended to meet just about everybody you had ever known.
The entire community had been buzzing about the tall ship for the past few days. Elle had already seen the vessel twice, and had used the fact that her sister had yet to see it, as an excuse to get out of their hotel duties early and head down to the beach to watch it leave.
It was coming to the end of the heavy tourist season, and the Bay Hotel had held one of its famed ballroom dancing nights the evening before. Elle and Penny had been in the thick of the organising for days leading up to it. There was always so much to do at the hotel, but even more for any event in the ballroom; polishing the dance floor to a high shine, dusting the enormous glass chandelier, ironing the crisp white table linen, and arranging fresh flowers from the garden in the alcoves, and at reception. As well as a host of other boringly mundane tasks like replacing burnt-down candles in the candelabra, polishing the glassware, and tidying any rogue family-related paraphernalia away from the entrance or common areas.
Still, despite the annoying chores their mother, Anna set them, Elle had to admit that there was a great buzz and energy about the hotel in the lead up to such an event, and indeed at the event itself. Her mother was in her element with all the preparations, though Elle couldn’t understand the fuss about the drinks or the food when ultimately people were coming to dance, and generally tried to hide out in the gardens with her dad, whom she knew felt the same way. But inevitably Anna roped them all into participating, like it or not. And despite herself, Elle did enjoy the excitement and the fact that the bigger events always seemed to put a twinkle in her ever-busy mother’s eye and an extra bounce in her step.
Elle and Penny weren’t allowed to attend on the big night of course, but they routinely sat on the stairs and peeped out at the guests’ arrival at reception below. Women in bright red lipstick and glittering jewellery, looking like peacocks in glorious dresses and shoes that exuded pure sophistication like those women in Dynasty, accompanied by handsome men in smart suits that on closer inspection were usually many of the locals scrubbed up for the night.
Once the dancing got underway, the ballroom itself was a riot of colour and music, as the band - a group of part-time musicians from the town - played waltzes and lively jives well into the night.
Penny, who like her mother adored a celebration, had as a four-year old, nicknamed these events ‘sparkle nights’, and the name still stuck. Elle agreed that yes their hotel could indeed throw a sparkling party, but Mulberry Bay was just a small town, a tiny community, really. Imagine the likes of such of an event in Wexford, or in Dublin even? She could only guess at how sophisticated a party - a proper event - in a big city would be like, but one day she was determined to find out.
‘Isn’t it amazing?’ breathed Elle now, as she watched the boat sail away, fascination thick in her voice.
Penny looked out toward the horizon and shrugged. ‘It’s just a big boat.’
Elle turned to her little sister, a look of amazement on her face. ‘It isn’t just a big boat, Penny. It’s amazing. It’s like a living thing. Can you imagine the places it’s gone? The people who have sailed on it, the adventures it’s been in?’ She wrapped her arms around herself and proceeded to rub her elbows, warding off goose bumps. ‘It just screams excitement.’
Penny considered her sister’s words and turned around, squinting as the setting sun hit her in the face. She shrugged again. ‘Like I said, it’s just a boat.’
‘I can’t believe we’re sisters. Where’s your sense of adventure? You’re just like Mum and Dad. Sometimes I wonder if I’m adopted,’ Elle tisked. Not waiting for a response, she continued. ‘Oh, I wish I was on that boat. I’m destined to see the world. To live a big adventurous life. To get out of here.’
Penny cocked her head, seemingly confused. ‘What’s wrong with here?’ she enquired, genuinely curious.
This time Elle was the one who shrugged. ‘It’s fine I suppose. It’s just…I don’t know. It’s so small, isn’t it? Like everyone who lives here has been here forever. It’s as if none of them know that there is this big, huge world out there. Or if they do, they don’t care. I just know that I’m not meant for this place. And as soon as I can, I’m leaving Mulberry Bay, you know.’
Penny’s mouth dropped open, and she stared at her sister, shocked. ‘You mean you’re going to run away?’
Elle laughed. ‘Don’t be such a baby. No, I’m not going to run away. But when I’m seventeen, and finish school, I’m definitely leaving. Only five more years. And then I can go to college, somewhere that isn’t here, somewhere glamorous and sophisticated and exciting.’
Her younger sister pondered this new information and sat quiet for a moment, as if trying to picture a world where Elle couldn’t be found a couple of doors down the hallway from her own bedroom. ‘Do you mean like Dublin?’
Elle looked out toward the horizon, where the ship was fading into the distance, going on to places and ports unknown.
‘Maybe even further than Dublin,’ she said wistfully.
Penny processed this and bit her lip, as if willing herself not to become upset by her beloved big sister’s impending departure.
Noticing the silence, Elle smiled and placed an arm around her shoulder.
‘Hey kid, don’t worry,’ she said (Elle always felt very grown-up and worldly when she referred to Penny as ‘kid’), ‘I’m not going anywhere yet. Besides, you might want to skidaddle one of these days, too.’
But Penny was already shaking her head adamantly. ‘No, I never want to leave Mum and Dad or the hotel. I love it here. Mulberry Bay is my home.’
Elle repressed the urge to roll her eyes—her mother was always telling her that it wasn’t polite. ‘All teenagers do it in the movies Mum, it’s what you are supposed to do, I’m simply expressing myself,’ she had argued.
‘I don’t care if Molly Ringwald walks around with her eyes constantly in the top of her skull. It’s not nice to have a perpetual look of disdain on your face,’ scolded her mother, ending the discussion. Elle had rolled her eyes but Anna didn’t catch it as she had been walking away.
‘Well, OK,’ Elle said, making an effort not to belittle her younger sister’s (misguided) intentions to remain in their hometown forever. ‘You can just come and visit me then. Wherever I’m living. In Dublin or London with my gorgeously handsome and insanely successful husband.’
Penny’s eyes were as big as saucers. ‘But where will you live? And where will you meet your husband?’ she asked, wonder in her voice, as if Elle’s words were law and the future was certain.
Her sister smiled and said flippantly, ‘Who knows? I bet I’ll meet him in college—and we will form a big company together, and make crazy money. And then we can live wherever it suits us. London. New York. Paris. Tokyo even. What with me being a high powered career woman with a big business we might just live in multiple places. We’ll … ah, split our time.’ Elle hoped that she was using that phrase correctly—she had caught one of the characters from Dallas saying it on television the other night and thought it sounded very cool.
‘But you’ll come back here to visit won’t you?’ asked Penny. ‘What about Mum and Dad? And me? We’ll really miss you,’ she added tentatively. ‘The hotel will miss you.’
‘Ha.’ Elle laughed. Whatever about her family, she def
initely wasn’t going to miss the hotel and that endless parade of annoying visitors, ongoing chores and constant entreaties from their Mum to ‘behave’. Well, of course I’ll come to visit now and then.’ She wasn’t going to admit it, but she was pretty sure that regardless of where she was living or how rich, successful and worldly she might be, she would of course miss her family too. ‘Or whenever you need me.’
‘Promise?’ questioned Penny, holding out her small finger.
‘Promise,’ Elle agreed, entwining it with her own, and the Harte sisters completed their usual ritual, forever sealing the vow.
Order Mulberry Bay, out May, 2015
UK: Mulberry Bay
US: The Hotel on Mulberry Bay
About the Author
International #1 and USA Today bestselling author Melissa Hill lives in Dublin and is one of Ireland's most popular female fiction authors.
Her page-turning contemporary stories are published worldwide and translated into 25 different languages. Her titles are regular chart-toppers in Ireland and internationally. SOMETHING FROM TIFFANY'S (aka A GIFT FROM TIFFANY'S) became one of Italy's 2011 Top Ten bestselling books overall and THE CHARM BRACELET was a USA Today bestseller. One of her recent novels is currently in development with a major Hollywood studio.
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Contact Melissa:
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Also by Melissa Hill
Mulberry Bay (New Series)
Mulberry Bay
Lakeview
The Heartbreak Cafe
All Because of You
Never Say Never
Wishful Thinking
The Guest List
The Wedding Invite
Christmas at the Heartbreak Café
Escape to Italy
Summer in Sorrento
Autumn in Verona
Winter in Venice
Spring in Sicily
New York
A Gift From Tiffany’s
A Gift To Remember
Before I Forget (Christmas in New York)
Others
Something You Should Know
Please Forgive Me
The Last to Know
Short Stories
Fairytale on Fifth Avenue
A New York Christmas
Box Sets
Lakeview – Books 1 - 4
For more info, visit her website at www.melissahill.ie
Twitter: @melissahillbks Facebook: facebook.com/melissahillbooks