Chapter 3
That evening, Lily turned the key in the lock to her family’s beachfront bungalow, Sea Shells.
It sat on a quarter acre of land that opened right onto the beach and the building itself was older than most on the coast. Built in the nineteen sixties, it had larger rooms that were uncommon at the time of construction, though her mother and father had made several improvements over the years.
The pool and deck had been added when Lily was a young girl and it was the ideal place to watch for turtles.
The mile and a half of beach stretch they were on was one of the largest turtle hatcheries on the island, and as a child, she and her dad would go out in search of hatchlings to aid them out to the water before predators could get to them.
When the first real estate boom hit in the eighties, and every other thereafter, her folks had been approached several times about the sale of the property, but repeatedly refused. Sea Shells was their family home and always would be. Even if these days it was filled with more pain than joy.
Lily placed her keys on the rack by the kitchen counter and left her shoes on the floor nearby.
Her mother was in bed, no doubt. Just to be sure though, she tiptoed toward the rear of the house to check.
Slowly turning the knob on the bedroom door, she peeked inside and, sure enough, could see the silhouette of her mum’s body under the covers.
But what struck the hardest was the soft sobbing Lily could hear from beneath.
It ripped her to shreds to witness it and instantly there were tears in her own eyes as she moved to provide comfort.
‘It’s OK, Mum, I’m here,’ she soothed as she slipped into bed beside her mother and cradled her in a hug. She kissed the top of her head and Barbara responded by gripping Lily’s arm in acknowledgement. Her mother had good and bad days. Today was a bad day.
They stayed curled beside each other for some time until her mum had the composure to speak. ‘How was your day, sweetheart?’
‘It was fine. The usual,’ Lily dismissed, unwilling to discuss trivialities when her mother was struggling like this.
Everyone said it was merely the way grief worked, but it was still worrying.
Lily’s dad, Richard, was a man everyone adored.
Set in his ways, but always bursting with wisdom too, he was a gentle giant at over six feet tall and two hundred and fifty pounds.
He’d been the manager of Barclays bank on the island (relocating from England before Lily was born) until his recent retirement, after which he planned to devote his time to enjoying life and indulging in his favourite pastimes of swimming and fishing.
He was doing what he loved the day it happened.
Out on the water with some of his old buddies enjoying a day of fishing.
They told them that Richard was fine one minute, and then the next he was crumpled on the deck.
An aneurism, the autopsy said, though knowing the ‘what’ didn’t cure the ache of the why.
Lily’s father was perfectly healthy, even exceptionally so for someone of sixty-five.
He ran every morning that he wasn’t out fishing, and made swimming a frequent exercise too.
There was no reason for him to die so young, and his loss was the worst kind of shock.
Lily had never seen such a gathering of people on the island as there had been for her father’s funeral.
Reverend Anderson told her that the number of locals who’d gathered to pay their respects was a fitting testament to the good and generous life her father had lived, and the many lives he’d touched.
The sight was something she would never forget, nor the kindness shown to them amid those heartbreaking days.
Even now, some still came by to check on them and occasionally drop off a food dish.
Those close to the family knew her mother still hadn’t recovered from the shock and loss, and everyone was concerned that Barbara would mourn herself into an early grave. Lily feared that too.
‘Have you eaten?’ her mother asked now, her voice no more than a whisper.
‘Not yet,’ Lily replied and stroked the top of Barbara’s fair hair that had gradually become mingled with silver. Lily wistfully recalled when that hair was dark gold and she never saw a tear in her mother’s eye that wasn’t caused by laughter.
‘I can make you something,’ her mum offered as she forced herself to sit up.
‘You don’t need to make me dinner. I was actually thinking I’d make you a nice chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes.’
‘I’m not really feeling up to anything like that.’ Her mother was staring listlessly at the wall in front of her bed, so different from the woman of old.
Barbara truly had been the cool mom everyone wanted and Lily was the lucky girl who had her. Even as she got older, their relationship remained close. She and her parents were the Three Musketeers, or four if Dee was around, as her best friend often was.
But all that changed five months ago. Her mother was just so … adrift without her dad. She had lost all desire for the things she’d once felt passionate about to the point that Lily sometimes felt as if she’d lost both parents at once.
‘What happened, Mum?’ she asked gently now, trying to confirm what had triggered this particular wave. Her mother smiled sadly.
‘I had a dream. Your father was in it. We were at The Palms’ sunset party.
We danced the night away on the beach. It was like we were young again,’ she mused, her eyes glassy at the memory, before her face fell.
‘I woke up to talk to him about it and he … wasn’t there.
’ Tears rolled down Lily’s cheek too and she quickly tried to brush them away.
‘I know I should be getting better, sweetheart. Time heals all wounds and all that. But I can’t seem to get used to him being gone.
He was my best friend for most of my life, my soulmate. ’
Her mum and dad’s marriage was the definition of happy ever after in Lily’s mind.
They had married young and remained devoted even after her father had temporarily relocated here early in their marriage.
He had initially come to St Lucia to take a stand-in role at the bank, but after they’d both fallen in love with the island, her mother had joined him for good.
Now, Barbara had lost what Lily had yet to find, and even though it was painful to watch, it was a pain she thought she would gladly accept, because it meant she would’ve experienced a love that deserved it.
Throughout her life so far, Lily’s energy had been devoted to making other people’s hopes and dreams come true.
And she worried she was fast running out of time to do the same for her own.