Chapter 22 #2
Before she could change her mind and chicken out, she’d cancelled her plans and come over to the island.
She wanted to meet the girls properly, even though she was scared.
She’d initially booked into the inn, but Gayle was having none of it and offered up her accommodation out the back of the cottage.
She’d said she would’ve let her have one of the spare rooms, were she not hoping that Susanna and Addie would come.
And one afternoon when Gayle and Nancy were rushed off their feet at the Sweet Life Café, the opportunity to help out and earn some extra cash had come up.
She could waitress, work the till, wash up and clear up, and Gayle even trusted her to do some of the deliveries around the island, which was fun.
Gayle had opened her arms and her heart from the first day they met, and Louisa couldn’t be happier with how she was.
She loved Gayle’s company. Gayle reminded her a lot of her late grandmother, the way she was strong yet kind.
What she’d come to realise too was that despite her successful business, and her apparently together demeanour, Gayle was lonely.
Her nieces were rarely in touch, apart from on dutiful occasions, her brother had gone, and while she had plenty of friends, Louisa suspected by the things Gayle said about her days bringing up Harry’s girls that she had a lot of regrets from that time.
She’d urged Gayle to try to repair things with the girls and not leave it the way it was and had encouraged the idea of the living funeral.
She’d even helped Gayle get the invites for the event sent out – she’d written all the envelopes, but she hadn’t seen the invite itself until Gayle handed her one to make it official.
And by that time Nancy had already raised the alarm that Gayle had made a mistake.
‘Should I put that in the holding cabinet?’ Louisa asked Nancy who had just finished making another jam roly-poly.
They were following Gayle’s plans to the letter for today.
Before guests arrived, they intended to pre-make as many puddings as possible, and as choices laid out on the tables dwindled, Nancy would be out here again if needs be.
Gayle was off duty, her only task to talk to her guests, and because she was feeling a bit off-colour this morning Nancy had made a big vat of her signature vanilla custard under her instruction.
‘Is there much room left?’ Nancy deftly sliced the roly-poly and the pieces of fresh sponge fell gently onto each other, showing off their swirls of jam in the centre.
‘This one is only half full,’ Louisa confirmed as she checked the second holding cabinet which would keep food at the required temperature until it was ready to be served.
Nancy was already clearing down her workspace in preparation for the next thing.
‘On to the spotted dick and the sticky toffee pudding. But keep an eye on the space in the holding cabinet so I don’t get carried away, otherwise we’ll have to eat a load so it doesn’t go to waste.
’ She grinned at Louisa. ‘Perk of the job.’
‘It certainly is.’ The smell of the sponge had already induced yet another rumble from her tummy. The guests were going to be very happy with all these yummy choices.
Her mum had given her blessing for Louisa to be here.
They’d never had secrets. Lily had told Louisa about Harry when she was very little, and when Louisa was old enough to understand she’d told her about the letter he’d never responded to and that he’d had a family of his own when they had their brief affair.
For years, Louisa had resisted any urge to find Harry.
She didn’t want to acknowledge a man who’d ignored her mother’s contact, a man who ignored the fact he had another daughter, and she’d held on to that feeling for years.
She’d never wanted to do anything about finding him.
It had been just her mother and her for such a long time that bringing anyone else into the equation would’ve felt weird, but both of them had started to talk about Harry more and more as the years went on.
Her mum had told her that Harry already had two daughters, and they discussed what might happen when the girls found out about Louisa.
‘They probably don’t even know I exist,’ Louisa had said. ‘And when they find out, I bet they’ll be upset.’
‘Well, there is that,’ her mum had conceded.
‘I don’t want to destroy someone else’s world.’
Lily smiled. ‘You’re my daughter, all right. That’s why I didn’t tell Harry for a long time.’
‘And when you did, you heard nothing back from him. He’s clearly not interested. And that’s fine.’
But it wasn’t fine. It never really had been. It had just taken her a while to admit to herself and to her mum that it stung.
Over the last nine months, ever since a friend of hers had made contact with her birth parents and talked about it with such positivity, Louisa had started to think about things a little differently.
Her mother had sent a letter, but what if the letter had been lost in the post?
Or what if Harry’s wife had opened it first and destroyed it?
Or it could’ve been thrown away with the junk mail.
She knew that happened because she’d accidentally binned a birthday card from one of her best friends last year and had to go fish it out of the recycling bin.
They’d had a long talk about it, her and her mum, and together they decided that Louisa would try to find Harry Rafferty.
Discovering that he’d died had upset her more than she ever thought it would.
She’d never known him after all, but in that moment she’d known that she never would.
She’d shed tears for a man who had never been her dad, not really, and her mother had comforted her.
They’d started talking more about Harry’s sister, who they knew from their search for Harry was still alive. They knew where she lived and the business she owned.
‘Harry was devastated that his sister didn’t want to run the café with him,’ her mum had said.
‘He told me they’d always got on so well, but that had driven a wedge between them.
He said that his sister’s business took off, but the café had ended up losing money and he wasn’t able to keep it going.
At the same time, the Sweet Life Café was going from strength to strength, and it made him feel like more of a failure.
He’d not visited his sister for a long time as a result of his jealousy. It’s very sad.’
‘You really talked to him, didn’t you?’ Louisa had said.
‘In the short time we knew each other, yes. I think that’s why he had an affair. His life was messy, he felt like a failure in so many ways, and never wanted his wife to think he was. What started off as the two of us talking and confiding went further than it should have.’
That day, Louisa had decided she was going to find Gayle Rafferty and she was glad she had.
The only thing she was worried about now it was almost 4 p.m. was meeting two of Gayle’s guests in particular. Because after today’s event, she and Gayle were going to sit down with Susanna and Addie and tell them the truth.
People began to arrive. Gayle was here at last and greeting everyone at the door as they came inside.
When Susanna and Addie Rafferty came into the café, plenty of people were happy to see them. They had hugs from so many different people, and as Louisa turned from the counter where she’d placed a fresh tray of glasses ready to serve drinks, she caught Susanna’s eye.
And in a few seconds, she felt her insides plummet. Because judging by the way Susanna was looking at her, she got the distinct impression that Susanna didn’t need to be told who she was.
Somehow, she had already found out.