by Holly Martin
She suddenly realised how long they’d been standing like that and her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. He’d probably thought he was going in for a quick hello hug, he wouldn’t have been expecting her to cling to him like a limpet.
She quickly stepped back. ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t apologise, I wasn’t in any hurry for that to end. Hugs are medicinal and that certainly made me feel a lot better.’
She smiled. ‘Come on, let’s go and find the next clue.’
They walked through the gate onto the little footpath that would take them up to the ruins and immediately Nix took her hand again as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Maybe it was, as she couldn’t even find it in her to object this time. Although her objections were never that serious before.
Dexter ran on ahead as if he knew the way and had been along this path before.
‘I haven’t been up this part of the island before, I generally stick to the roads when I take Daisy out exploring. Have you been up here?’
‘Once or twice. The views at the top are quite incredible. You can see all the beaches on the island and the open sea stretching out for miles. It’s a good place to come and think.’
‘Well, that sounds like an excellent spot to solve a treasure hunt.’
They walked up the hill and soon the fort came into view, quickly followed by the spectacular view Nix had spoken about.
The fort was a small place, no more than four walls now and large windows that held no glass. Most of the top had gone completely. There was, however, a chimney, which was a good sign when looking for a fireplace.
Outside there was a display board that had some information about the fort, with an artist’s impression of what it would have looked like at its best. It had supposedly had three floors many years before and two chimneys, one each side, whereas it only had one now.
They walked through the large stone archway and it was clear that the inside had at one point been separated into several rooms, though the dividing walls had certainly seen better days, and some were missing completely. There was a stone staircase that led up to a second storey but there was hardly any floor at all now, and the bright blue sky could clearly be seen above them.
‘So I guess we split up and try and find a fireplace in these downstairs rooms,’ Nix said.
Lyra nodded. Nix moved off to the rooms on the left and she went off to the first room on the right. There was nothing in the first room so she progressed to the next room. Her heart leapt when she saw a fireplace but it quickly sank again when she saw it had been completely bricked up. She hurried over to it to see if any of the bricks were loose but they were all very secure. The mantel didn’t move and there were no loose stones in the floor.
Nix joined her in the room. ‘Ah, you found one.’
‘Yeah, but it’s all bricked up, and I can’t see anywhere else it might be hidden. What if it was bricked up after the fisherman hid the clue inside?’
Nix pulled a face. ‘That’s a possibility.’
Lyra ran her hand over the bricks again, disappointment flooding through her. This couldn’t be the end.
‘Was there anything in the rooms you looked at?’
He shook his head. ‘Not even a chimney breast or a mantelpiece.’
She sighed and then frowned. ‘Hang on, the picture outside showed the fort had two chimneys in its heyday.’
‘That’s right,’ Nix said. ‘Oh, that’s weird.’
She pulled out the clue sheet they’d found at the school. The remaining chimney was on the left, but Nix had checked the rooms on the left and there was no fireplace. The drawing even had a tiny trail of smoke coming out the top of the left chimney, which she hadn’t noticed before.
‘Look at this – the smoke from the chimney. Is that a hint to say which fireplace the clue is in?’
‘Oh it might be,’ Nix said.
They looked at each other.
‘It’s upstairs!’ they both said together.
They quickly ran up the stone staircase. There was only part of the floor left up here but they kept well away from the broken section. To Lyra’s delight there was a large open fireplace to the left and thankfully this one wasn’t bricked up. This part of the room seemed very solid. They moved over to it and began checking the stones at the back. There were signs of age but none of them was loose. The stones on the floor weren’t moving either. Lyra moved back out of the fireplace and started examining the mantelpiece but there didn’t seem to be anything there either.
She went back inside the fireplace to help Nix check at the back again. She looked up and the chimney stretched up above her, the blue sky peering through at the top.
‘Maybe it’s up there.’
Nix looked up. ‘It could be, but I can’t imagine it would be too high. Unless the fisherman walked in here with a really tall ladder.’
‘Or he had a little chimney sweep with him,’ Lyra said.
Nix laughed as he tried to climb up the chimney, not very successfully. ‘We need a torch.’
Lyra rummaged in her bag to get her phone so she could shine the torch up into the darkness but the phone wasn’t there. ‘Ah crap, I’ve left my phone at home.’
‘Here, I have mine,’ Nix said as he came back down to the floor after climbing up two or three stones. He pulled his out of his pocket and passed it to Lyra.
She shone it up the chimney and, after a few moments of looking, the light glinted off something glassy about two or three metres up the shaft. Her heart leapt. She peered through the gloom, focussing on where she’d seen the glint, and to her surprise realised it was a glass bottle, perched on a stone ledge.
‘Look, is that it?’ she said, excitedly.
‘It could be, but how the hell did he get it up there? It doesn’t look easy to climb.’
‘OK, we can do this,’ Lyra said. ‘I used to be top of my class in gymnastics.’
‘What, twenty years ago?’
‘Yeah probably, maybe more, but I did yoga until fairly recently, so I’m quite flexible. Give us a piggyback.’
Nix squatted down without question, and she jumped on his back. He stood up and she reached over his head but she was still a good metre away from the bottle. She kicked off her sandals and, getting a good hand-hold on a large stone, and with a lot of wiggling around, she managed to climb onto his shoulders as he braced himself against the back wall of the fireplace.
‘No peeking,’ Lyra said, knowing that if he looked up, he would get a rather unflattering view right up her dress.
‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ Nix said.
She reached out for the bottle and could just about touch it with one finger but she couldn’t pick it up. She leaned up further on tiptoes, feeling Nix do the same beneath her, and she finally managed to grab it.
‘Got it,’ Lyra said.
She tucked it inside her dress and walked her hands down the wall until she was in a position, with a lot of help from Nix, to climb down from him onto the floor. They came out of the fireplace into the daylight and she pulled the bottle from the top of her dress. Sure enough, she could see another scroll rolled up inside.
‘I can’t believe we’ve found another one.’ She gave the bottle a little shake. ‘This is so exciting.’ She glanced at her watch and her heart dropped with disappointment. ‘I hate to put a stop to this fun, but I promised I’d go round to my sister’s for dinner and it’s always an early thing for her. Can we pick this up later?’
‘Sure. Come down to my boat after you’ve had dinner and we can have a look at the next clue then. Or, if you end up staying late, come round tomorrow morning.’
‘I’ll come tonight. It shouldn’t be too late,’ Lyra said. She was desperate to see the next clue and she knew she couldn’t wait until the following day.
‘I’ll walk you to your sister’s.’
‘Probably not a great idea. She still hasn’t forgiven you for how things ended between us last week.’
‘Oh no, re
ally?’
‘I did explain, but she’s very protective. I’ll sort it out, don’t worry, she won’t hate you forever.’
‘Well, I can at least walk you part of the way.’
She smiled. ‘I’d like that.’
He offered out his hand and she took it.
‘So things are better?’ Lucas asked.
Nix put the phone on loudspeaker for a moment as he flipped a burger in the pan. ‘Loads better. She’s relaxed, happy. Most of the tension has gone.’
‘Most of the tension?’
Nix glanced down at Dexter sitting hopefully next to the tiny oven. ‘Well, now we have all this unresolved sexual chemistry bubbling between us. What we shared was not like anything I’ve ever experienced before. I’m pretty keen to revisit it again. But Lyra has been hurt in the past and she’s scared of getting hurt again. She doesn’t want to risk her heart by getting involved with me.’
‘What are you going to do?’
‘I have to respect what she wants. I’ve made it clear I’d be open to trying again but I’m not going to push her on it. She has to choose to have a relationship with me, not be badgered into it.’
‘So just be your normal charming self,’ Lucas said.
Nix laughed. ‘I’m not sure how well that will work out for me, but I’m hoping that she just needs some time. She was prepared to throw caution to the wind before, hopefully she’ll give me a second chance.’
And he knew, in his heart, it was only fair to tell Lyra the whole truth about his break-up with Emily, before it ever got that far. But he couldn’t even ask his brother for advice on how to tackle that conversation as Lucas had no clue, nobody did.
‘Is she really worth all this?’ Lucas said. ‘Or are you just seeing a connection because she’s the first person you’ve slept with since Emily? There are plenty of other fish in the sea that probably wouldn’t be this much hassle.’
‘I think she is worth it. There’s something really special about her. I mean, I guess we could get together again and find that our chemistry and connection was only worth one night, but I think she’s definitely worth the wait to see.’
‘Maybe I need to come down and meet her.’
‘Maybe you need to mind your own business,’ Nix said.
‘OK, OK, I can take a hint.’
‘No hint, just a great big flashing sign saying, “Butt out”,’ Nix laughed. ‘I’m quite happy to chat to you over the phone about all this but that’s as far as your involvement goes.’
‘OK, but just… don’t rush into anything. Most people in your situation would date several women before they settle down again. Don’t go popping the question just yet.’
Nix laughed. ‘No fear of that.’
‘Hmm, I know my little brother. You’re a bit of an all-or-nothing kind of guy.’
‘I’ve told her that if we do start dating we’re going to take things slow, we have to get to know each other first. Rushing into things is your style, not mine. How was your date with Helene?’
‘Fine.’
‘Are you seeing her again?’
‘Absolutely not.’
Nix sighed. ‘Why not?’
‘She wanted to cuddle after sex.’
Nix remembered holding Lyra in bed after they’d made love; it had been wonderful. Was he weird for enjoying that? Or was Lucas right and he’d gone without intimacy and companionship for so long that he was seeing a connection there that really wasn’t? He didn’t know but he owed it to himself to find out.
‘So come on, out with it,’ Michelle said, as she ushered Lyra into the kitchen. It smelt of chocolate brownies and cookies again and Lyra’s stomach rumbled appreciatively. ‘All I know is that you took some of my brownies yesterday morning for a man who left you alone in a field after what you described as the best sex of your life.’
‘Sex!’ shouted Zach from his high chair as Ben tried to feed him and Lyra smiled. He couldn’t say her name but he could say the word Sex perfectly.
Michelle didn’t bat an eye; maybe Zach had said far worse before.
‘And now you turn up here with a goofy smile on your face as if all is right with the world,’ she went on, hands on her hips.
It was a strange thing to be told off by her little sister. Growing up, it had always been the other way round. It was clear it was going to take a lot for Michelle to forgive Nix for what had happened.
‘I told you, it was a misunderstanding. I went for a swim in the lake, he woke up and thought I’d gone and then left himself.’
‘And you believe him?’
‘I do. He was absolutely gutted when he realised what had happened and he felt awful when I told him how that had made me feel. He was so apologetic. Yesterday, he brought me some flowers and took me for lunch and he’s been really lovely, which is kind of what I fell for when we first met.’
‘I’d say he wants a round two,’ Michelle muttered as she swept some multicoloured sprinkles off the counter top into her hand and then brushed them into the bin.
‘That’s what I thought,’ Lyra said. ‘But he said if we started dating, we’d take things slow, get to know each other, do things properly.’
‘And you’re tempted?’ her sister said, in exasperation.
Lyra removed a toy car from the chair and sat down. ‘I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. We have a connection, there’s no doubt about that. There’s something about him I’ve never felt before. He makes me laugh, he’s kind, generous, funny. But I am scared. I’ve been down this road before and I always get hurt.’
‘I think…’ Ben said, carefully ‘… that if he’s that special then he’s definitely worth a second chance.’
‘Ben!’ Michelle said. ‘This guy sounds like a complete ass. He charmed her into bed once and now thinks he can trick her into bed again.’
‘I’m not naïve,’ Lyra protested.
‘You slept with a married man for months with no idea he had a wife.’
Lyra cringed. ‘Thanks for that reminder of my complete stupidity.’
‘I’m not saying you’re stupid,’ Michelle said.
‘And to be fair, Michelle, we met Greg several times over that period and we had no idea either,’ Ben pointed out. ‘So does that make us naïve too?’
‘I think this Nix is taking her for a ride,’ Michelle said, completely ignoring the fact her husband was right. They’d both loved Greg when Lyra had introduced them. He’d played them all for a fool.
‘I think we should trust Lyra’s judgement and, if she thinks it was a genuine misunderstanding, then we should trust that too,’ Ben said.
Zach was watching them with wide eyes, a fistful of cauliflower paused halfway to his mouth. If it hadn’t been her own life they were discussing, Lyra might have felt like grabbing a box of popcorn and watching this unfold herself. Ben and Michelle never argued; Ben worshipped the ground Michelle walked on. But if Ben believed Michelle to be wrong, he was never afraid to say it.
‘I just don’t want her to get hurt,’ Michelle said, as if Lyra wasn’t even in the room any more.
‘Lyra has definitely kissed her fair share of frogs, that’s for sure, but doesn’t mean the next man won’t be a prince,’ Ben said.
Lyra sighed and helped herself to one of the brownies sitting on a plate in the middle of the table.
‘Love is a risk but she can’t keep herself locked away for the rest of her life,’ her brother-in-law went on. ‘If it ends then of course it will hurt, but Lyra will get over it. She’s strong and brilliant, just like her sister.’
Michelle immediately softened at the compliment. ‘I want someone wonderful and amazing for her, just like you.’
‘And it sounds like Lyra thinks this guy is all of those things,’ Ben said. ‘Isn’t that worth the risk?’
Michelle stood for a moment, the wind visibly going out of her sails. Then she finally took a seat at the table next to Lyra. ‘I want you to be happy and, if you think Nix will give you that, then go for i
t.’
Lyra smiled, still not sure if she was brave enough to take that step.
‘And if he hurts you again, tell him Ben will break every bone in his body.’
Ben laughed. ‘I’ll definitely give him a stern talking-to.’
Lyra shook her head. ‘I’ll certainly pass that threat on, I’m sure he’ll be quaking in his boots.’
‘We want to meet him of course,’ Michelle said.
‘Do you think I really want to subject him to all this madness or your preconceived ideas of him? You can meet him on the wedding day, if it gets that far. After the ceremony. Then it’s too late for him to run away once he’s met my entire crazy family.’
‘Probably wise,’ Ben said.
‘Hey!’ Michelle said, indignantly.
‘I love you,’ he said.
‘You don’t get round me that easily,’ Michelle said, her smile belying her words.
Lyra smiled at them. She wanted what they had.
‘Anyway, let’s change the subject away from my messed-up love life,’ Lyra said. ‘I have to tell you all about this treasure hunt me and Nix have been doing over the last few days.’
She started explaining about what Seamus had told her about the lost treasure and how they’d found the first clue in what might have been an old ice house, but she couldn’t focus on it. Could she really start dating Nix, knowing that it would be something that was far from casual? She had never entered into a relationship before already knowing it would be something serious. The potential to get hurt was so much greater. And Nix reminded her of her mum in many ways, leading that carefree, exciting life she’d spent so many years trying to avoid. But Ben was right, she couldn’t lock away her heart forever for fear of getting hurt. What she had with Nix was definitely worth exploring.
Chapter Seventeen
She hurried down to the harbour as the sun made its descent across the sky. The windows of the cottages were sparkling with a rose-gold glow, reflecting the incredible sunset that trailed across the clouds.