Blue Skies Over Wildflower Lock (The Wildflower Lock)

Chapter 45

The movement was worryingly slow. The engine of the September Rose was giving everything it had, yet they were going nowhere fast. If it kept struggling like this for too long, it would surely end up overheating. Daisy cursed herself. How irresponsible could she be? Taking a trip this long should not have been a spur-of-the-moment decision. Her mother was right. This was a trip you spent months planning. This was a trip you had your engine triple-checked for, so that you knew everything was up to working standards, and didn’t just rely on the word of some man who gave the boat a quick once over when he fitted your new propeller. This wasn’t a trip you did with an old woman who had a manual from 1993, and an engine that hadn’t gone over ten miles on a round trip since she’d had it.

Daisy was an idiot, and she knew it. At this rate, she was going to have to have the September Rose lifted on a crane back to Wildflower Lock. She could practically hear the money leaking out of the boat as it growled forward.

‘Have you got that phone of yours?’ Yvonne asked as they carried on at their snail-like pace. ‘You said you wanted to check it. We don’t want to miss the turning again.’

At the pace they were going, Daisy didn’t think that was likely. Still, she didn’t say as much.

‘My phone is in the boat. I’ll just go get it.’

As Daisy stuck her head inside the September Rose, she let out a long groan. She had been right in thinking there had been clattering, and correct in assuming that glass had broken. Thankfully, it wasn’t any of her pictures, as she had feared. Clearly, they were fixed to the walls better than she had expected. Instead, it was several jars that had tumbled out of cupboards. Some had landed on the worktops and in the sink, but a jar of sun-dried tomatoes had smashed straight onto the floor. Yellow oil was spreading out with little flecks of red in it, like part of a crime scene.

At least the sofa was spared the broken glass, unlike when the window had smashed before. It was a good job, too; there would have been no way she could afford to replace that.

As she headed inside, the dog went to follow her.

‘No, absolutely no way,’ she said to it. ‘You’ve already cost me enough in one vet’s bill. I can’t pay for another. Stay.’

Seemingly understanding what she was saying, the dog promptly sat down and turned his head so that it was looking up at Yvonne on the tiller.

Daisy would have loved to have dealt with the mess then and there, but she had more pressing priorities. Mainly finding out where the hell the turning onto the canal was. However, when she picked up her phone, the canal turning slipped from her mind, as four missed calls from Theo glared at her on the screen.

‘Crap,’ she said to herself. There were also three messages.

I take it you’re busy, that’s good news. Ring me when you can.

That was the first one. The second message read:

I’ve got a lunch break in a minute. Give me a call if you can.

She didn’t even read the third message. It would only increase her feelings of guilt, and that wasn’t something she wanted to deal with.

Now, more than ever, she was regretting the decision not to tell him. Perhaps it would be best if she did, she thought, only to shake the thought away. There was nothing he could do now. They needed to get off the main Thames, onto the canal, and then she could think about ringing Theo, or at least send him a quick text.

With her phone in her hand, Daisy stepped back onto the stern, typing into a search engine as she did so.

‘This website looks like it might have some answers,’ she said, looking up at Yvonne. The old woman was hurriedly brushing something off her cheeks.

‘Yvonne, is everything okay?’ she asked. ‘You’re not hurt, are you?’

A tight smile twisted Yvonne’s lips, though it didn’t reach her eyes, which, to Daisy, looked as though they were filling with tears.

‘No, not hurt. No more than normal, anyway. No dear, I was just thinking.’

‘About Harry?’ Daisy didn’t want to intrude, but if Yvonne wanted to talk, then she wanted to give her that opportunity.

Yvonne glanced down at the book in her hand, drawing a breath into her lungs, which she held there for a moment before realising it into a long sigh.

‘They tell you that life moves faster the older you get, and you never really believe it. But this—’ she lifted the yellow booklet and waved it slightly ‘—this was the last time we did this journey. 1993. Thirty years ago. I don’t understand where the time’s gone. It feels like yesterday in some ways. I think it’s even worse if you have children, isn’t it? People always say the years fly by then. One day, you’re holding a tiny baby in your arms and the next, they’re asking if you want to be called Nanny or Grandma. But Harry and I weren’t that lucky. Not that we weren’t lucky in plenty of other ways, mind. We had lots of luck of our own.’

Daisy had always wondered whether Yvonne had any children or relatives, but had never asked out of fear of prying. It had crossed her mind to ask her mother once or twice, just in passing conversation, but unless the topic revolved around Nicholas or the coffee shop, her mum was not one for talking about Wildflower Lock, which included Yvonne. But it made sense. It wasn’t like Daisy ever saw her have any visitors. It also explained why she relied on Theo so heavily to help with the Ariadne.

‘It must be hard,’ she said, not sure how else she could reply, but wanting to fill the silence that was building around them. ‘You two were obviously very much in love.’

‘We were. We were. And not all the years go fast, mind,’ Yvonne said wistfully. ‘The years after I lost him. Those ones, where I could hardly leave the boat for fear… No, those ones dragged. Every hour dragged. When you lose someone, it takes part of you. All those memories you had, the laughter, the joy, it’s tainted now. You can’t remember the happiness, because you’re so consumed in the injustice of it all. Losing him like that, so suddenly. We didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to face the world again.’

Daisy recalled the words Yvonne had been uttering through her nightmare. How she had been talking to someone. Not Harry. Wasn’t that what she had said? There were a thousand possibilities for what could have happened, though. It could have even been a boating accident.

Daisy pushed the thought from her mind and focused on the moment. Even with all the chaos, there had been no melancholy on the boat, and Daisy wanted to keep it that way.

‘But you are facing the world,’ she said softly. ‘Some people never leave their homes at all after something happens to a loved one. And you’re out here, doing U-turns in the middle of the freaking Thames! I bet Harry would love to know how well you’re doing.’

Yvonne raised her eyebrows and nodded, though she offered only a fleeting smile.

‘Yes. He would be proud of me for the last couple of days. Let’s be honest, though, this is a little different from my average day. But you’re right. He wouldn’t have wanted me to hide away, that’s for sure. No, he would want me to be out there, living my life. And I’ve tried. Perhaps not as hard as I should’ve done. Not as hard as he would have liked me to. But I have tried.’

A pause spanned between them. This was by far the most Yvonne had shared. In that moment, Daisy felt that something had passed between them. Something special and sacred, and she wanted to acknowledge it, even if it was just with a touch of her hand. But as she moved, she caught sight of something on the other side of the riverbank.

‘It’s there!’ she shouted while pointing wildly. ‘The turning! It’s there!’

All the advances in technology, from solar power to smart phones, and the turning to the canal was still marked with three rusted, yellow oil drums. It really was a funny old world.