Chapter Twenty-Eight
Iris knew that Flora was concerned about her.
She could see the worry in her eyes and Brodie’s, too, when she said she was going for a lie down.
She’d been trying to put on a brave face but the effort it was taking consumed her.
Even going to the quiz last night had taken a huge amount out of her but she had gone so Flora wouldn’t worry about her and have to field queries about why she wasn’t there.
Although she had managed to answer some of the quiz questions, her mind kept wandering and she was glad when it ended and she could get back to the safety of the boathouse.
But she hadn’t slept well last night which wasn’t helping her mood today.
That was why she thought going for a lie down may help.
But she had never been good at napping during the day and lay there restless, her mind busy.
Maybe going for a walk would be better. When she went downstairs, there was no sign of Flora, so Iris scribbled a message on a scrap of paper letting her know she had gone out.
Then she pulled on her sun hat and quietly let herself out the gate, noticing that Brodie had fixed it as it swung open easily.
That man really was a godsend. As she walked, she thought again about her mother’s death all those years ago; she had slipped on an icy pavement.
It had seemed quite a minor accident to begin with but she was concussed and taken to hospital in Inverness.
By the time Iris arrived, her mother was still lucid and able to hold a conversation.
Yet, over the next few days her condition deteriorated.
She was tired and slower than usual but the doctors assured Iris that her mother just needed to rest. Iris had sat by her bedside and held her hand as her mother drifted in and out of sleep, opening up to Iris in a way she never had before.
Memories and stories poured out of her as though telling Iris about them was her way of unburdening herself and finding peace before the end.
One night, she drifted off mid-conversation and it was only when the nurses did their rounds and couldn’t wake her that they realised she had died.
It was a week after her fall and Iris had gone back to her mother’s dark and empty house, bereft and alone.
She had told Frank she would manage. He was busy with work and she didn’t want him to have to take time away.
But as she stood in her mother’s bedroom and wept silent tears, she wished he was there to hold her and tell her everything would be okay.
Then she had started trying to sort out her mother’s belongings and that was when she discovered the tin.
Her mother had mentioned it on her deathbed, but Iris didn’t want to know any more at that point.
Maybe she hadn’t wanted to look. Or perhaps grief and shock had clouded her memory, making her forget.
But since Flora had found it in Frank’s study it had preyed on her mind.
Even though she had opened the tin she still hadn’t been able to make herself focus on its contents.
Deep down she was worried that it would unleash a flood of buried emotions and secrets that she needed to face. It was time.
Iris’s foot caught on a pebble and she looked up, realising she was nearing the sauna and she shook her head in disbelief. She had been so deep in thought she didn’t even realise she had been walking along the beach.
‘Hey, Iris,’ called Emmet, his usual cheery self. ‘Beautiful day, isn’t it?’
She nodded. Normally she would stop and have a blether to Emmet but she didn’t feel at all sociable today.
‘Were you wanting to book in for a session today? We’ve got space if you do.’
‘No, thanks, Emmet. I’m just out for a stroll and enjoying the good weather,’ she managed to stutter. She looked at her watch. ‘Gosh, is that the time. I must head back before Flora thinks I’ve done a runner.’
‘She seems a nice lass.’ He grinned.
His kind words brought her back to reality for a moment and she smiled at him. ‘She’s the apple of my eye. A wee treasure.’ She noticed him fiddling with the hem of his T-shirt.
‘I might ask her out for a drink.’ A hopeful grin spread across his face.
Iris hesitated, reluctant to be drawn. She didn’t want to interfere or be a busybody.
Especially when nothing was actually happening between Flora and Brodie.
Yet. ‘Um, okay, bye for now . . .’ her voice trailed away as she failed to work out how to say the right thing.
‘Sorry, Emmet, I really need to dash.’ She turned and walked away, hoping she hadn’t been rude or upset him.
When she got home, thoughts were still swirling in her mind and she managed to tiptoe through the kitchen and past the conservatory.
The birds must have been sleeping as they didn’t greet her with their usual commotion.
She peaked into the study and smiled when she saw what a great job Flora had done of painting it.
But there was no sign or sound of her in the cottage and it was only when she reached her own bedroom and glanced out the window that she saw Flora and Brodie chatting on the jetty.
She shook her head, wishing Frank was here to ask for some advice.
Leave them be, love. If they are meant to fall in love, they will.
It was as though he was in the room beside her.
She knew he was right and she backed away from the window.
Iris reached for her mother’s tin that now sat on her dressing table.
She opened it up and gently scattered the contents of the box across her bed.
She started shaking and quickly gathered all the papers up, stuffing them straight back into the tin before stashing it right at the back of her wardrobe. She wasn’t ready yet.