*
I was still well and truly reeling from the revelations the beginning of my day had brought about, but thankfully I wasn’t treading the unexpected path alone. Hope was journeying along it with me and it was a comfort to have her by my side.
‘You know,’ she told me, shaking her head in wonder as we walked back into the village together. ‘I’ve always wondered if I had brothers and sisters somewhere in the world.’
‘Have you?’
I had cited my phone parcel as an excuse to leave the café, but really, I needed a bit of fresh air and some space in which to pull my thoughts together. Hope’s quick offer to accompany me told me that she was feeling much the same way.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I have and,’ she added with a nudge, ‘here you are.’
I nudged her back, still struggling to find the words.
‘Yes,’ I managed to whisper, ‘here I am.’
We carried on a few steps in silence again.
‘Do you think they’re going to get together now?’ she then shocked me by asking.
‘Who?’
‘Our parents,’ she said, ‘Do you think they’re going to become a couple?’
‘Crikey,’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’
‘I reckon they’re still into each other,’ she said, as she linked her arm through mine. ‘You can just tell, can’t you?’
‘I don’t know,’ I swallowed, ‘it was all such a shock I can’t say that I had time to notice details like that.’
‘Well, I did,’ she said.
I pressed the tips of my fingers into my temples.
‘Are you all right?’
‘I think so,’ I said breathing slowly in and out. ‘It’s just such a lot to take in.’
‘It’s epic though, right?’ she said, stopping to look at me, her head cocked to one side.
I could sense her concern. She needed some reassurance from me.
‘Totally,’ I agreed, ‘and I honestly couldn’t wish for a better sister, it’s just . . .’
‘Too much for a mid-summer morning?’ she suggested. ‘Way too much,’ I agreed.
Hope might have just discovered who her dad was but I was still recovering from the revelation that my mum wasn’t who I thought she was and she never had been. It was a miracle I was still on my feet.
‘Would you mind if we kept this to ourselves for now?’ I asked, when we reached the cottage.
‘I was just about to ask you the same thing,’ she smiled. ‘I want to get it all fathomed out first before we go making any big announcements.’
‘Same,’ I smiled back, relieved that she agreed with me, but surprised nonetheless.
For Hope to hold back on anything it must have been a really big deal, not that I was in any doubt just how life-changing this all was, but it was yet another shock, to have her agreeing to hang fire when it came to telling everyone.
‘I won’t tell a soul,’ she said, ‘not even Sam, but let’s not take too long working it all out. After all, we’ve got almost three decades of sisterhood to make up for.’
After hugging at the gate, I slipped into the cottage, banishing the thought of how difficult it was going to be making up for all that lost time with my half-sister when her partner and I had kissed and he had subsequently taken against me, and thought instead that I should probably open Dad’s letter. However, as seemed to be the way of it these days, the universe had other ideas.
I had barely had time to fill the kettle when I was stopped in my tracks.
‘Tess!’
‘Joe,’ I smiled, turning to find his face peeping around the door I hadn’t thought to lock behind me. ‘This is a surprise.’
‘A good one, I hope?’
I knew my smile was strained, but it was the best I could offer him.
‘I thought I might pop down to the pub for a bite of breakfast,’ he said. ‘Will you come with me?’
My head might have been caught up in an emotional maelstrom, but I still had enough about me to know that there was no way I could let him go to the Smuggler’s.
‘I’m not really in the mood.’ I said. ‘Let’s have something here instead. I’ve got bacon from the butcher’s so I could make us sandwiches.’
‘No,’ he said, holding the door further open. ‘Come on. Let’s go to the pub. That way Sam gets to deal with the washing up.’
Sam was the last person I wanted to see, but I couldn’t let Joe face him alone so, with a heavy heart I followed him up the lane, forgetting all about my expected phone delivery, and quickly ushered him into the snug before he was spotted.
‘I’ll order,’ I said, making for the bar, ‘you stay here. It can be my treat.’
‘Tess,’ Sam frowned as I approached. ‘I thought you’d be long gone by now.’
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘about that . . .’
‘I think I’ll have a sausage bap, instead of a bacon roll,’ said Joe’s voice, unexpectedly close behind me, ‘if you haven’t already ordered, Tess?’
Sam looked from me to Joe and back again, his expression darkening with every beat of my heart.
‘Are you actually serious?’ Sam said to me.
‘What’s going on?’ Joe retaliated, instantly ruffled by Sam’s belligerent tone.
‘Nothing,’ I said, turning around and trying to push him away. ‘It’s nothing. Come on, let’s go.’
‘How dare the pair of you even think about coming in here together?’ Sam hissed. ‘I always knew you had some front, Joe, but this is too much.’
Joe suddenly looked every bit as pale and peaky as I had earlier.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ he demanded, pulling himself out of my grasp. ‘What are you talking about?’
Sam scowled at him and ground his jaw and I looked between the two of them. For a moment I thought Hope really had been right, that there was some complication between the pair that was still to be unearthed.
‘I’m talking about the land sale,’ said Sam, ‘what else?’
‘The land sale?’ Joe frowned, and although he sounded confused, there was also an edge of relief.
‘When were you going to tell us, Joe?’ Sam glowered. ‘When were you going to warn us that the village was about to be changed forever. Don’t you need some sort of public consultation before you go ahead with something like that?’
‘How do you know about any of that?’ Joe demanded, now looking at me.
‘Had you come to us and explained,’ Sam went on, ‘we might have been able to help, you might have even drummed up a bit of support, but this is a whitewash, and if you think,’ he went on, now including me in his argument, ‘that just because you’ve hired her and the fancy bloody PR company that her family owns, that you’re going to convince us otherwise, then you’re a bigger fool than I thought you were.’
‘How do you know about Tyler PR?’ I stuttered.
‘I told you yesterday,’ Sam said to me, ‘that you weren’t the person I thought you were, didn’t I? Turning up here and helping pull the community back together, what a joke.’ He laughed. ‘I saw the franking mark on that letter, Tess Tyler. I know who you work for and how Joe has planted you here to soften us all up and convince us that a few more visitors to the area will be a good thing.’