by S M Mala
‘Yes,’ she said, feeling her head spin. ‘I’ll make sure everything is secure. Bye.’
Hatty hung up, knowing it was the last thing on her mind. She finished off her drink, called Philip to put a request in for boards. He reminded her there was a stash in her basement and he’d send someone over to help her tomorrow, then she headed off home.
It was nearly nine and pitch black when Jake returned. Hatty had laid the boards on the ground and had half-heartedly tried to figure out which one went where. That was after she secured her work room and removed her valuable pieces, putting them in the third bedroom. She noticed he looked shattered and let out a little sigh, knowing he’d had a hard day. Her revelation from eavesdropping wouldn’t help.
‘I made dinner,’ she smiled but was met with a frown. ‘Are you hungry?’
‘I ate at work,’ he replied and slumped into the couch, putting the television on which was parked on the news channel. ‘Go ahead and eat.’
‘I’m not hungry,’ she shrugged, just wanting him to hold her for a second. ‘Any more news about my name sake?’
‘It’s killed thirty people and billions of dollars’ worth of damage,’ he said, letting out a massive sigh. ‘I see you sorted your work room but not the house.’
‘People are coming tomorrow to help me board up. I had a couple of glasses of wine this afternoon so I wasn’t fit to handle a hammer.’
She sat opposite him and examined his face. Jake glanced at her, with a slight annoyed expression, and she took the hint not to sit there.
Hatty went to the kitchen so she could stare at the back of his head and wondered if it would change things between them, if he knew about what his father had done to her father.
She wasn’t sure how she felt.
There was no anger just a massive lump of sadness in her heart. Murray had carried this secret for so long and it scared him about her finding out. Hatty sat with her hands on the table wondering if she should tell Murray. She knew and it was alright, then she remembered what they’d said about Caroline and Delores, which made her worry they were going to do something horrible to Murray.
Everything raced through her mind, then she landed with the thought they might use it for Hatty to turn against Murray and most importantly, Jake. She shook her head ferociously knowing that wasn’t going to happen. An anger surged in her gut towards the two women as unwanted tears dripped down her face but she wasn’t crying.
‘What’s wrong?’ she heard Jake say and was startled out of her thoughts. ‘You’ve been sitting there for ages.’
‘Nothing.’ Hatty stood up quickly, wiped her face roughly as her chair fell backwards. She smiled while he leaned against the door frame, unconvinced with her answer. ‘My mind’s contemplating what to do when the hurricane comes. Makes me scared for everything’
‘Hatty?’ he said, stepping closer. ‘Are you worried about Aunt Caroline?’
‘Yes,’ she said honestly. ‘She doesn’t like me. Did you find her?’
‘I was too busy and-.’ She noticed he examined her face closely. ‘You don’t look well.’
‘I’m tired,’ she weakly replied, burying her head in his chest and feeling his arms wrap around her.
‘Why were you drinking in the hotel in the afternoon?’
‘I was watching the news and decided to have a drink. The look of the weather, I hate it.’ Hatty sniffed his shirt and closed her eyes. ‘I was thinking thank goodness you’re here and safe with me.’
‘Safe? Here?’ he let out a massive laugh. ‘On an island that’s low level and the chances it might go under the water.’
‘That’s not funny,’ she said, punching him gently in the chest. ‘We’re high up here.’
‘We’re not staying here,’ he said sternly. ‘We’re going to one of dad’s hotels.’
‘This house is strong. It survived the last hurricane to hit this island and it can withstand it again.’
‘You’re not staying here!’ he snapped and she glared at him for one moment, seeing he looked upset. ‘You stay with me.’
‘Not if Aunt Caroline has got anything to do with it.’
‘Forget about-.’
‘Jake, I love you no matter what, no matter what people think and say, I love you,’ she said, taking a deep breath. ‘People do things they shouldn’t do and it doesn’t make them a bad person, especially if they’re trying to protect the ones they love.’
‘What’ve you done?’ he asked suspiciously.
‘Don’t let anything tear us apart, don’t let anyone say anything to cause us harm, you promise me Jake? Find out the truth then sort it out.’
‘Sure,’ he said and she knew he had no idea what she was going on about. ‘Anything you say.’
She woke up to find Jake was looking down at her.
‘What time is it?’ she asked, glancing over and noticing it was around four in the morning.
‘You were talking in your sleep,’ he said, propped up on his elbow.
‘Sorry,’ she said and automatically sat up. ‘I’ll sleep next door and-.’
‘Hey, no you don’t,’ he said, pulling her gently back down. ‘Something’s bothering you.’
‘You need to sleep,’ Hatty said, biting her lip anxiously as she looked into his clear green eyes which were frowning at her. ‘Was I loud?’
‘You know Ha Ha, do you need to tell me something?’
‘What do you mean?’ She knew she looked guilty. ‘Did I say something?’
‘It’s a bit worrying when the woman you love is calling out your father’s name,’ he said with a smirk. ‘Did you and dad have a falling out?’
‘No,’ she said, bolting upright. ‘Not at all. Murray didn’t do anything wrong!’
‘Then why are you calling for him?’ he said, kissing her arm as she closed her eyes for a moment. ‘An erotic dream?’
‘I don’t know,’ she shrugged and bit her lip. ‘You know, would you love me regardless of anything I’ve done, you know if it was really bad, would you still love me?’
‘Depends on what you’ve done.’
‘If I was protecting you from bad things, would you still love me?’
‘I’m too tired to figure out what you’re saying,’ he replied, putting the diamond from the necklace in his hand and smiling. ‘But I expect when I’m fifty, it’ll easily fall into place.’
‘I’d never do anything to hurt you or Murray,’ Hatty said quietly and examined his face. ‘I’ll always put you first and never let someone upset you.’
‘I know that,’ Jake smiled and kissed her necklace. ‘Why won’t you tell me what’s bothering you?’
‘I did something bad, well not that bad but I overheard a conversation and-.’
‘The one saying Aunt Caroline was on the island?’
‘Something like that and-.’ She looked away for a second knowing she couldn’t tell him anything. ‘And sometimes knowing the truth isn’t a good thing.’ Hatty turned to face him. ‘Before you go will you finish my story? ‘The Secret History of Hatty Ha Ha.’’
‘It’s practically finished. The ending being the handsome human married the mental mermaid. The end.’
‘And they lived happily ever after?’
‘Sure did.’
‘I don’t want to find out any more about my father. I think it’s best left dead and buried, like him, well not like him as he was cremated. It’s not important now.’
‘Why not?’ he sighed and started to kiss her neck.
‘I’m not interested because we should be thinking about the future not the past,’ she said quietly, examining the top of his head and feeling his lips on her skin. ‘And we should look after your dad to make sure he’s happy too.’
‘So you do want him!’ he laughed out and looked straight into her eyes. ‘You little sly dog.’
‘That depends how you define ‘sly’.’
Twenty nine
Hatty stood there later on in the morning, pissed off, as she watched
two men from Philip’s yard hammer nails into the windows. She frowned at Philip.
‘What’s wrong?’ he said, watching the men work.
‘Look at the weather,’ she said, pointing to the clear blue sky and hot sunshine. ‘There’s no way that hurricane is going to hit us and my paint work is getting ruined ‘just in case’.’
‘Jake called me this morning to check this was going to be done,’ he said and Hatty saw him looking at the arse of the younger man before shaking her head. ‘We’re boarding up right now.’
‘People don’t understand the tropical rains and hurricanes, that’s why people were killed.’
‘It was due to mass flooding of the inland water,’ Philip replied sharply. ‘What wrong wid ya gal?’
‘Nothing. I’m just tired. I couldn’t sleep last night.’
‘Why didn’t you want me to tell Murray and dad you were in the yard yesterday? I know you heard something from the office.’
‘No I didn’t!’ she snapped louder than intended. ‘Me heard nuttin!’
‘Hatty gal, me know when ya lie.’
‘Delores is trying to cause trouble. She went to see Jake’s Aunt Caroline in New York. Caroline suddenly turns up here yesterday and I know she’s not around to give her blessing.’
‘Ah! I heard.’
‘Ah!’ Hatty swallowed hard. ‘She apparently never approved of my mother or interracial mixing from all accounts. You can imagine how happy she’s going to be about me, especially as she thinks Jake’s life would have been better if I hadn’t distracted Murray.’
‘What does Jake say about this?’ smiled Philip and Hatty could see he was semi-amused by the information.
‘He’s too busy reporting on that stupid hurricane-.’
‘Called ‘Hatty’! he laughed.
‘He thinks it’s going to come to the Caribbean and cause problems. Personally, I think he’d like that to happen as he’d get a juicy story out of it,’ she shrugged. ‘Are you scared?’
‘The hurricane, no, Aunt Caroline and Delores causing trouble for you and Jake, yes.’ She noticed he glanced down at her throat at the necklace. ‘That’s beautiful. Is it new?’
‘I need to talk to you,’ she said, seeing this was as good as any time to tell him what was going on. Hatty dragged him to the cove and jumped on the sand before being met with a surprised expression. ‘This isn’t as scary as dealing with the two women.’
He smiled and jumped down as she walked a few steps ahead, stopping far away from the water.
‘Come on tell me what’s on your mind.’ Hatty turned to look at Philip and smiled. ‘That good?’
‘Jake asked me to marry him and I said ‘yes’.’ She watched for Philip’s expression and he didn’t look surprised. ‘This.’ Hatty held the necklace up. ‘Jake gave it to me as an engagement ring. Murray bought it for my mother as a present and he gave it to Jake to give to me so we’re all related to it, one way or another. We’re going to get married but the date will be April 13th, not next week, so keep those dates free for the next, say, twenty eight years as you never know.’
‘I think that’s wonderful,’ he said, stepping forward and giving her a massive hug.
‘You’re not shocked?’
‘No,’ he said, letting her go. ‘What did Murray say?’
‘I haven’t actually spoken to him yet and now with Caroline being here and Delores returning very soon, I’m not sure what’s going to happen.’ Hatty felt a wave of sadness sweep over her when thinking about her adopted father then her biological one. ‘Philip, I know a secret and it’s pretty bad but I think you need to know as you are my trusted friend. Louisa is as well but she’ll blab and I don’t want to upset her.’
‘So it’s better to upset me?’
‘Yep.’
‘Spit it out,’ he said and she noticed he was half smiling.
‘Murray killed my father,’ she said quickly and immediately noticed his pallor change as he stared at her. ‘I’m not mad with him about it but now I know.’
‘Who told you this?’ he said quietly.
‘I put the pieces together and I believe your father knows.’ Hatty stared at Philip who was equally staring back. ‘I’m not going to tell a soul but I wanted to tell you. Did you know?’
‘Hatty, you shouldn’t go saying things like that,’ Philip said, in a serious tone. ‘You can get people into trouble.’
‘It’s the truth,’ she said, realising Philip, once again, didn’t seem surprised. ‘You did know, didn’t you?’
‘Where did you get this information from?’
‘I heard Murray tell your father yesterday.’ Hatty watched Philip shake his head then slap his hand against his forehead. ‘He doesn’t want me to find out and he thinks Caroline is going to say something. Apparently, Delores knows and he thinks she might have told… oh I don’t know! I don’t care what Murray did. It doesn’t bother me but I don’t want him upset if he thinks this is going to come back and bite him on the arse!’
‘Why can’t ya keep out of trouble for even a minute, aye gal?’
After the phone call, Jake left promptly at the end of work to meet his aunt at the marina but took his trusted laptop just in case he needed to log on. He couldn’t understand why everyone was being so calm about the fast approaching weather storm, watching people stroll around as if it wasn’t important.
As he arrived at the hotel, he noticed some boards going up before seeing Caroline in the bar. He smiled and automatically felt sick to the stomach about what was going to come next.
‘Hello there,’ Caroline said, standing up and walking towards him then giving him a massive hug. ‘My, my, you get more handsome each time I see you, though you look a little tired.’
‘I couldn’t sleep because of the news about New York. Is everything okay with your place?’
‘It’s all fine,’ she said in a relaxed manner which unnerved him.
It was the same way she’d behave before telling him something important or bad. Jake sat down opposite her and ordered a beer as she sipped her glass of wine.
‘I was a little surprised to hear you came over without contacting me,’ he said, as his drink was placed on the table. ‘Why come here? I know you and Dad are getting on for my sake but why didn’t you call to say? How long have you been here?’
‘All these questions,’ she said then smiled brightly. ‘I might not like the hot weather but it seems to suit you. Is work good?’
‘Yeah it’s been great,’ he said, sipping his beer. ‘I feel more confident about starting the job, getting some more grounding. I’ve been doing some bit and pieces for them on anything that might be of interest back home.’
‘Are you looking forward to coming back? I saw Serena the other day. You didn’t tell me you’d split?’
‘It was one of those things,’ he said quickly, knowing his aunt was leading up to the crescendo. ‘Serena and I had a good time but things change. It’s life.’
‘How’s Harriet?’
Caroline sat back in her chair, as if waiting for him to launch into a defensive outburst.
‘She’s lovely,’ he quietly replied, realising it made no difference what he said.
‘I hear you know she’s your father’s adopted child. Aren’t you a little upset he never told you years ago? I was shocked you’re taking this news so well.’
‘What’s there to be upset about? He told me everything and, I admit, at first it didn’t make me very happy but I see why he did it and that’s good, don’t you think?’ He sat back and copied his aunt’s body language. ‘He told me he asked my mother to take her in but she refused, stating her full objection.’
‘Don’t turn this against your mother. How would you react if your wife turned around and told you she wanted you to take in her lover’s child? Think about it Jake.’
‘I don’t know,’ he honestly replied. ‘But surely she knew he’d never let something bad happen to Hatty.’
‘He should have put her u
p for adoption and be done with it,’ she said quietly. ‘Then everything would have been different.’
‘He couldn’t. He promised her mother and-.’
‘What about your mother Jacob? What she wanted?’ Caroline stared at him for a moment. ‘Don’t be fooled by the romance on this island, not everything is so black and white. Your father let your mother down and only returned to her when she was expecting you. It’s as if he thought it would heal his wounded heart.’ Her voice sounded bitter and harsh. ‘It only hurt your mother more.’
‘I can’t answer for dad but I know he loved my mother.’ He took a deep breath. ‘And I wasn’t happy when I found out the truth, in fact I was very angry. I took it out on Hatty to be honest which wasn’t fair. She’s the innocent in all this.’
‘As so are you.’ There was silence for a moment. ‘What if you found out something about your mother that made you change your mind about things.’
‘Like what?’
‘The pain she went through. The torment.’
‘I’d be upset naturally because she’s my mother,’ he replied, letting his protectiveness over her memory surface. ‘I was upset when I was told how dad loved Eloise, it hurt me really badly because, I sort of thought my mother was forgotten about. I can’t explain.’
‘I understand,’ she said gently. ‘Is it true about you and Hatty?’ Caroline glared at him for a moment, revealing a very sad expression. ‘Why?’
‘We get on. We have a lot in common and so little. She makes me laugh and spending time with Hatty makes me feel good about myself.’ He smiled feeling warmth creep into him and shook his head. ‘We’re living together, do you know that?’ From her face she didn’t. ‘And she knows I’m going back to New York and it’s fine, all fine. She’s not trying to make me change my mind and we’re happy. Can’t you be happy we’re happy?’
‘No I can’t,’ she said, in all seriousness. ‘I think you’re making a terrible mistake by being with her, you know that? Are you doing this to please Murray?’
‘Dad’s not exactly happy about this turn of events.’
‘And Delores?’
‘She’s not happy at all,’ he said, biting his lip, looking around the room. ‘But I don’t care what she thinks.’ For a moment he noticed the half smile on his aunt’s lips. ‘Do you think I should care? I don’t like her and she’s been a bitch to Hatty.’