Page 88 of The Key to the Last House Before the Sea

‘Did she?’ Valerie gave a brittle laugh. ‘She was mistaken.’

‘That’s what I thought, at first, but then she told me things about him that she wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t caught sight of him, talking to you. And suddenly everything fell into place.’

Valerie sighed. After reading the email she’d sent him, Billy Gantwich had rung up out of the blue and said he’d like to call round. All Alan had to do was keep Lily out of the way while he was there. But Alan couldn’t even manage that. He’d taken Lily out for a walk – rather reluctantly, it must be said – but had come back too early and told her to play in the garden.

Even so, Valerie had assumed Lily wouldn’t know what was going on. But she should have realised the child would cotton on because she was bright. She took after her father in that regard.

Nessa was staring at her, her eyes huge with disappointment.

‘Why did you do it, Valerie? All I can think is that you exaggerated how poorly Lily was to get me to leave the house and then you told Billy all about it.’

Valerie opened her mouth to speak but didn’t know what to say, so closed it again.

‘So you’re not going to deny it?’

‘There’s not much point, is there?’

‘I know you don’t rate me much as a mother but were you so desperate to take Lily away from me that you ruined a chance we had of making a better life together?’

Indignation began to smother the guilt that Valerie was feeling. ‘A better life?’ she spat out. ‘You wanted to take my granddaughter to live in a derelict cottage and I couldn’t let that happen.’

‘I wanted to give Lily a permanent home that couldn’t be taken away from us. And you hadn’t seen the cottage for a while. It’s so much better now than it was when you visited.’

‘But she still didn’t want to live there. She told me.’

‘If she really didn’t like it there, we’d have found somewhere else. Somewhere together. But I think she’d have come around to the cottage because it was starting to look good. I’ve had so much help from local people.’

‘Including Mr Gantwich’s son,’ said Valerie, raising an eyebrow.

That news had been a catalyst for Valerie’s increasingly desperate actions. Nessa had got her claws into Gabriel – giving him painting supplies and who knew what else – so he would, presumably, do her bidding when it came to the cottage. And Valerie couldn’t allow that. He’d even slept over on the night of the storm but, as Valerie had suspected, hadn’t told his father about Nessa’s absence.

‘Gabriel.’ Nessa gave a sad smile. ‘I thought he’d told his father about me being away from the house. But all the time it was you, someone I should have been able to trust. Tell me, Valerie, why do you hate me so much?’

Her direct question took Valerie’s breath away.

‘I don’t hate you,’ she managed, while leaves rustled around her, as though the trees were discussing her actions and didn’t approve.

‘Then why are you trying to scupper me at every turn? I know you’ve been telling people in the village that I’m a rubbish mother.’ When Valerie went to speak, Nessa held up her hand to stop her. ‘And I could cope with that. Words don’t hurt me. Not really. But you told tales to Billy Gantwich and that’s hurt me and my daughter. If you really cared about her, why have you never offered to help pay for a roof over her head? I don’t want your money but that’s not the point – you’ve never even offered.’

‘You get quite enough from Jacob.’

Shock crossed Nessa’s face. ‘You really have no idea, do you? You don’t know what your son is really like.’

This was too much. The gloves were finally off. Valerie hissed, ‘I hate what you did to Jacob.’

‘What I did to him?’ Nessa shook her head. ‘Your son abandoned me and our daughter after having a one-night stand. He moved hundreds of miles away when she was just a year old and he never comes back to see Lily. As a father, he’s hopeless, and he doesn’t even pay regular maintenance for her.’

‘Of course he does,’ stuttered Valerie.

‘No, he doesn’t. He flits from job to job and pleads poverty, though the flat he lives in looks nice enough and he’s just bought a car. I see his Instagram. So he’s not on the breadline. But I can never guarantee that a maintenance payment will arrive on time. How can I pay rent regularly when the money he agreed to provide to support his daughter is often late or sometimes doesn’t turn up at all?’

‘He’s busy,’ said Valerie, stung by Nessa’s criticism.

‘Oh, I know he’s busy. Too busy to be a good parent or a good son.’ Nessa paused and wiped her hand across her eyes. ‘I know you love him, Valerie. Once upon a time, I loved him too. And I know he’s your son and you’d do anything for him. That’s how I feel about Lily. But your devotion has blinded you to how he treats people. How he treats me and Lily, and how he treats you and his father.’

‘You drove him out of Heaven’s Cove,’ retorted Valerie, blindsided by Nessa’s words. She wouldn’t believe bad things about her son. She couldn’t. Her boy wouldn’t behave like that and abandon his daughter. She’d brought him up to be better than that.

‘Exactly how did I drive him out of the village? Tell me that,’ asked Nessa, her words soft and sad.

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