Chapter 46
46
I knocked on the door of the house on the hill. I’d not been here before and I took a moment while I was waiting to take in my surroundings. Chickens were clucking in the small fenced-off area next door and I could hear goats bleating in the next paddock over. It was slightly whiffy so I presumed that the pigs, or even pegs, were not too far away.
‘What you doing here?’
‘That’s a fine way to greet someone who’s just baked you a lemon drizzle cake, Tessa.’
‘Ah, you should have said.’ She grinned. ‘You gonna stand there gawping all day or you coming in?’
I stepped into the house, over muddy wellies with jackets and dog leads hanging up in the entrance porch, expecting it to be a typical old lady house, but was pleasantly surprised. It was decorated beautifully and was way cleaner than I imagined. I smiled as I noticed a jigsaw on the large coffee table in front of the window.
‘What an amazing view, Tessa. Is that…?’
‘Yes, that’s your lane you can see there. Juney always used to say that she felt like I was watching over her at all times.’
‘How lovely.’
Tessa folded her arms together and sighed.
‘So what have I done to deserve a visit and a cake today?’
‘Two things really, firstly I wanted to invite you along to The Lonely Hearts Club.’
‘Mmmm. I’ve been hearing about that on the village grapevine. Someone is talking about it every time I go in Mary’s shop, but it sounds like one of these modern dating clubs. Not for me, thank you.’
‘It’s far from it. It’s for people who have felt lonely at some stage in their life and are trying to find like-minded people to spend time with. People like me who are divorced, like Emma who is widowed, like Michelle who is, or should I say was, determined to be a loner for the rest of her life to protect her heart from hurt. Some may have lost friends or even children along the way.’
I watched her reaction closely. Her left eye started to twitch, she took a deep breath and those staring eyes bored into mine once more.
‘You know, don’t you?’ Her voice was croaky with emotion.
‘I’m so sorry, Tessa. I owe you the hugest of apologies. I did look in the suitcase despite promising you that I wouldn’t.’
Tessa stood and went to the sideboard behind her and opened the drawer. She passed me an envelope. It was the same type as the one that I’d discovered in the suitcase.
I carefully unfolded the flap and slid out an aged photograph.
‘This is my daughter.’
I touched the baby’s face on the image in front of me and looked up at Tessa, noticing a lone tear sliding down her papery-thin wrinkled cheek.
I sighed out loud and looked back at the photograph. My heart felt so sad for this woman and the loss that she had experienced, still clearly so very painful for her so many years on.
‘She was beautiful, Tessa.’
I looked back at Tessa as a loud sigh escaped her body and her jaw clenched.
Through trembling lips, she whispered, ‘She still is.’
I caught my breath as I turned the photograph over and read the words on the back, as clear as day.
Joanna Riddle Wylie.
18 August 1972.