Page 72 of The Diary at the Last House Before the Sea

Audrey gave a shrug and nodded at two chairs near her which were covered in blue and white striped fabric, to resemble deckchairs.

Taking that as a ‘yes’, Clara took a seat and River followed while she tried to gather her thoughts. She’d been working towards this for so long, suspecting that Audrey’s drowning was not as it seemed. Yet now that this moment had arrived and a dead woman was sitting in front of her, she could hardly believe it.

Audrey was the first to break the silence.

‘Nobody has called me that name in years. But I’ve been expecting you,’ she said, her voice quiet but steady. ‘I’ve been expecting you for a very long time.’

‘We’re not here to cause you any problems,’ said River. ‘We don’t mean to disturb you or your life.’

‘Then why are you here?’ asked Audrey, raising a hand to her white bun and self-consciously checking that no hair had escaped the grips that secured it.

Why, indeed? The whole situation was so surreal, Clara was suddenly at a loss to know what to say. She’d been so focused on finding Audrey but not on what happened afterwards. She hadn’t paid enough attention to how her need to know the truth might affect the woman in front of her.

‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured. ‘We shouldn’t have come.’

‘But you have.’ Audrey’s pale eyes met Clara’s. She seemed calm, resigned almost. ‘So tell me why. You know my name so I presume you know some of my story.’

‘The story everyone believes is that you drowned in 1957 in the sea off Heaven’s Cove.’

‘Not everyone believes it. You didn’t or you wouldn’t be here. How did you find me after all this time?’ She leaned forward, staring into the faces of her visitors. ‘You have an advantage over me. You know who I am but who are you? We’ve never met, yet you both seem oddly familiar. What are your names?’

When Clara placed a hand on her chest, she could feel her heart beating extra fast. ‘I’m Clara, Clara Netherway.’

‘Netherway, you say.’ Audrey’s gaze became unfocused, as if she was remembering something from another time. ‘I knew a Netherway once. Are you any relation to Violet?’

‘I’m her granddaughter.’

‘Did she send you?’

‘I’m afraid not. Gran died a while ago.’

Audrey leaned back in her chair, a frown creasing her forehead. ‘I’m sorry to hear that. Your grandmother was a good woman, one of the best. And I can see the resemblance between you now, with your freckles and pretty eyes.’ She turned her gaze on River. ‘And you? Why do I feel that we’ve already met?’

‘I’m River Brellasham.’ Audrey’s breathing grew more shallow and her already pale face blanched. She looked like the ghost that everyone had assumed she was. River and Clara exchanged worried looks and he pushed his chair back, farther away from the elderly woman. ‘I’m sorry. Do you want us to leave?’

‘No.’ Audrey began to fidget, her hands lacing and unlacing in her lap. ‘I’m afraid your surname took me by surprise. I haven’t seen a member of that family for a very long time. But no, I don’t want you to go. I always thought someone might come one day, and today is that day.’ She peered at him more closely. ‘Who exactly are you?’

‘I’m Geoffrey’s son.’

‘Little Geoffrey?’

‘Yes, that’s right. Though he’s not so little now.’

Audrey looked River up and down before declaring: ‘You don’t look much like your father.’

‘I’m told I look more like my mother. I have her fair hair and brown eyes.’

‘Her long hair too, I dare say, and you’re very tanned for Devon.’

River stifled a grin. ‘I’ve lived in Australia for almost twenty years.’

‘With Geoffrey? He couldn’t cope with the heat of an English summer as a child.’

‘No, my mother and I left and he stayed on his own in Heaven’s Cove, at Brellasham Manor.’

‘Ah, I see.’ Audrey paused. ‘I dare say I could have found all of that out if I’d tried. They say you can find everything on the internet these days. There’s a computer here in the home and the staff encourage us to use it but I don’t often bother. Is the internet how you found me?’

‘Eventually,’ said Clara. ‘Though it took us a while.’

---