Page 52 of The Granddaughter's Irish Secret
Rose nodded. ‘I will. In any case, we’ll be finding out about the Lincolns and Iseult and all that, which will keep us from getting too emotional. But now I have to run.’
‘Have a lovely day,’ Sylvia said. ‘And let me know if you find anything out that might be of interest.’ She tapped the box she was carrying. ‘We’ll go through these things tomorrow.’
‘Brilliant. See you tomorrow,’ Rose said and ran down the rest of the stairs carrying the photo album.
She hurried back to the gatehouse and fetched the scuffed blue velvet box from its hiding place, then put it with the album into a canvas bag. When Noel tooted outside, she was ready togo. The sight of him standing there in the sunshine made her heart beat faster; she felt a sudden jolt of love as he smiled at her.
‘Morning,’ he said, opening the passenger door. ‘Lovely morning. And you look so nice in that dress.’
‘Thank you,’ Rose said, suddenly shy.
‘We’d better be off.’ He banged the door shut. He drove off as soon as she had put her bag on the back seat. ‘Sorry to be in a rush,’ he said. ‘But it’s quite a long drive, and I thought we’d have lunch in Kenmare and then a coffee in Clonakilty. How about that?’
‘Sounds great,’ Rose said, smiling at his eagerness. ‘Nice day for a drive.’
He nodded. ‘Yes. Windy and warm.’ He was dressed casually in jeans, a green polo shirt with the Kerry football team logo under a beige windcheater. Not very trendy but so very typical of Noel, which made Rose feel a strange tenderness towards him. What did clothes matter anyway?
‘It was great you could get away,’ she said. ‘I’d have gone alone but your moral support will make it so much easier. Nice of you to cancel whatever it was.’
‘Oh that.’ Noel shrugged. ‘I was going to meet Sally for coffee, but we’ll do it tomorrow instead. No big deal.’
‘Sally?’ Rose asked. ‘Is that the old flame you met up with?’
Noel nodded. ‘That’s right. We had such a good time at our date we decided to meet again to continue the stories of our lives since we parted. She’s just been through a rather difficult divorce and I’m helping her with a few legal issues.’
‘So she’s single again,’ Rose said. ‘How do you feel about that?’
Noel glanced at Rose. ‘Not sure. It’s a bit strange to meet up after all these years. You can’t expect to pick up where you left off, you know.’
‘But what about the spark, the chemistry?’ Rose asked, anxious to know how he felt about this woman. ‘Were they still there?’
Noel looked confused as he rounded a bend in the road. ‘I’m not sure,’ he said after a while. ‘Maybe. She’s changed, I thought.’
‘For the better?’ Rose asked, hungry for every detail.
‘Just changed,’ Noel said. ‘Different. More mature. A little dented by life. But still as attractive as ever.’
‘I see,’ Rose replied, her voice flat. He sounded so enthusiastic, as if he was on the cusp of a new relationship. Was he falling in love with this Sally again?
‘But tell me,’ he continued. ‘How did you manage to get in touch with the Lincoln family?’
‘I pestered this Blennerhassett woman and told her a bit of a sob story,’ Rose said. ‘Half true, half lie. It softened her and made her want to help. And then this man called Philip Lincoln called me, said he knew something about the connection between our families. I told him about the necklaces. Not sure if he knows mine is fake and theirs is real, but whatever. I need to look at the one they have and then hear their story. And ask about Iseult and what they know about her.’
‘That’s great. Very cleverly done, even if you had to tell a fib here and there. What else did you find out about the Lincolns?’
‘I asked Granny and she told me a bit more. Iseult married a man called Patrick Lincoln, who was a lot older than her. He had children by his first wife but, as far as we know, Iseult had no children of her own. The baby she is holding in the photo can’t have been hers.’
‘No, it can’t have been. Not possible in many ways,’ Noel said, as if he was talking to himself.
‘In many ways?’ Rose asked. ‘What do you mean?’ She stared at him, waiting for an answer, but he looked ahead, concentrating on the road, and didn’t seem to want to reply.
‘We’ll take the road through the Ladies View and Moll’s Gap on the way to Kenmare,’ Noel said when they drew closer to Killarney. ‘It’s a longer road but it would be a pity to miss those beautiful views.’
‘Oh yes,’ Rose said with a happy sigh. ‘I love that road.’ She glanced at him, noticing he looked apprehensive, as if there was something he wanted to tell her but was nervous about her reaction. ‘What’s going on, Noel?’ she asked softly. ‘I can tell something is worrying you. Do you want to talk about it?’
He shook his head. ‘Not really. Could you see if my sunglasses are in the glove compartment? The sun is very bright.’
‘Okay.’ Rose found the sunglasses and handed them to Noel. Then she put on her own. They continued the journey in silence through the beautiful landscape, stopping for a moment at Ladies View to look at the stunning vista of lakes and mountains, and had a quick cup of coffee before they continued.
