Page 86 of The Key to the Last House Before the Sea

‘Yes, hold on a minute,’ said Nessa, grabbing her purse. Her mind was whirling. ‘What did Gabriel’s daddy look like?’

‘Um.’ Lily narrowed her eyes. ‘He was big and he had red shoes and grey hair that stuck up round his ears. It looked funny.’

That sounded like Billy, thought Nessa, but what was he doing at Valerie’s house? Unless…

No. She shook her head. Valerie would never sabotage Nessa’s future or, more importantly, her granddaughter’s. Nessa bit her bottom lip. Not unless Valerie felt she knew what was best for Lily.

‘Where are you two off to?’ asked Rosie, coming into the hall with a steaming cup of coffee for the guest in the sitting room.

‘The ice-cream parlour!’ shouted Lily gleefully.

‘Ooh, lucky you.’ She glanced at Nessa. ‘Are you OK, Ness? You look really pale.’

Nessa pulled herself together. ‘Yes, I’m fine thanks. We won’t be long and then I’ll be back to help with the cleaning.’

It was crazy, she told herself as she and Lily walked hand in hand down the cliff path to the village. Lily had misheard Alan’s words and got the wrong end of the stick. Billy Gantwich wouldn’t have gone to Valerie’s home, and there was no way that she’d have deliberately told tales to scupper Nessa’s dreams. However much she wanted Lily to move in with her, that would be going too far.

They walked on with Heaven’s Cove spread out before them. Pillows of grey cloud had hidden the sky and the sea was choppy.

Lily chattered all the way, about school and her friends, and whether she should have an orange or a strawberry lolly at the parlour.

But Nessa was only half listening. She was recalling all the sly digs from Valerie about her parenting skills and the way she was convinced that her precious son had only fled Heaven’s Cove because of her.

She obviously didn’t like Nessa but did she hate her enough to spoil her chances of having a proper home with Lily?

‘Mummy, you’re not listening to me again.’

Nessa pulled her thoughts back to the present and smiled down at her daughter.

‘Sorry, Lils. Mummy was thinking about grown-up stuff. Now I’m all yours.’

But, she wondered, for how long would that be the case?

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