Chapter 51
The beach by Oyster Point, St Aidan, Cornwall
Loose ends
Sunday
Tia and Thom become Mr and Mrs Shepherd under a dusky blue sky without rain or rainbows and take their very own place on the Brides by the Sea wedding board.
And on a windy Sunday a week later, Lando, Nemmie and I walk the dogs out to Oyster Point, and on our way home, munching on giant chocolate muffins we picked up earlier from the Little Cornish Kitchen and watching the beach hut getting bigger as it comes closer, we tell Nemmie the truth: that Lando and I were once in love a long time ago and spent a night together under the stars at Windflowers.
And that Lando went off across the world afterwards and neither of us knew about Nemmie until the night she was born.
And when Lando explains how the night Nemmie was born he was on a remote island counting turtles in Australia, Nemmie wants to know what kind of turtles, and Lando says green turtles and loggerhead turtles, and answering all Nemmie’s questions about that takes some time.
Once that’s done, I explain that I was waiting to see Lando in person so I could tell him about her, and that he’d taken a time to come home because he wasn’t sure we wanted him around.
Eventually, as she comes to the end of her muffin, Nemmie looks particularly satisfied and says, ‘I always knew you two were in love, even before we did your dates.’ Then she looks at Lando and says, ‘I couldn’t wish for a better dad. I’m so glad it’s you,’ and we all have a hug.
‘Are you going to have more children? I’ve always wanted a sister,’ Nemmie enthuses.
I laugh. ‘You never know what the future holds, Nemmie.’
She gives me a look. ‘If it’s a girl we’ll call her Andromeda.’
I try to divert her. ‘In the meantime, let’s ask Lando about koala bears.’
Lando laughs. ‘This also means you get another set of grandparents and my five brothers and sisters as your new aunts and uncles.’
Nemmie gives a blissful grin. ‘I’m actually related to an alpaca breeder.’ She hesitates for a moment. ‘Can we have a party for this?’
Lando laughs. ‘Once Esme hears there will be no stopping her.’
I lean back in my seat. ‘If there’s another party to plan, I definitely need more muffins.’
Nemmie’s jumping up and down. ‘Can the muffins wait? I need to tell Dale and Zara that Lando is my dad. We might need to go straight home!’