You And Me, Always(18)

       
           



       

‘God. And how about now? Does Lily see much of him these days?'

‘Who, Keir? She's never seen him.'

Declan did a double-take. ‘What? Never ever?'

‘His parents paid Jo to have the "inconvenience" taken care of. She told  them she wasn't going to do that. So she bought a car, left Exeter and  ended up here instead.'

It didn't bear thinking about. ‘Poor Jo. What a thing to have to go through. She must have been-'

‘Devastated?' Coral was already shaking her head. ‘Maybe at first, but  not for long. By the time she arrived here, she'd made up her mind. If  Keir didn't want to know, he wasn't worth crying over. It was his loss  and she wasn't going to waste a minute of her time wishing things could  have been different. Well,' another amendment, ‘between her and Keir.'

‘So did Keir never even know he had a daughter?'

‘Oh he did, after she was born. Jo wrote to tell him the news, just  because she thought he should know. If he'd wanted a relationship with  his daughter, she would have allowed it to happen, for Lily's sake  rather than his. But it never did happen. Keir wrote back and said it  was her decision to have the baby and nothing to do with him.'

‘Nice.'

Coral shrugged. ‘As I said. He revealed his true colours. There was never any more contact after that.'

‘What, not even child support?'

She shook her head. ‘You know what Jo was like. Once she made up her  mind to do something, that was it. If Keir wasn't interested, he'd be  the one missing out.'

Declan watched a wasp bashing itself against one of the smaller windows  in the office. He did know what Jo was like. Her ability to make a  decision and stick to it was something he'd been only too familiar with.

‘Um, Coral?' The door opened and Marty stuck his head round. ‘Sorry, but  it's getting busy out here. There's a new delivery just arrived,  someone's asking about the Venetian chandelier, and Mrs Ingalls wants a  hand getting those church pews into the back of her truck.'

‘No problem, on my way.' Coral slid down from the desk and looked at  Declan. ‘I'm sorry, I need to get out there. Look, do you want to go off  and explore the village, then come back just before three?'

Through the open door, they heard a female voice saying, ‘I've tried, I really have, but I just can't lift them by myself.'

‘I can go off and explore if you want me out of the way,' said Declan.  ‘Or if you could do with an extra pair of hands here, I'm happy to stay  and help out.'

Coral said, ‘Would you? Are you sure?'

‘Of course.' He rose to his feet. ‘Just tell me what to do.'



For the next three and a half hours, Declan worked with Marty, lifting  and carrying oversized objects, helping to load heavy items into cars  and vans, and offering honest opinions when potential customers were  torn between various options.

Across the yard, Coral was doing the same. Every so often Declan would  pause to watch her, listening to her interactions with other people and  observing the way her blond hair glistened when she moved her head.  Occasionally, catching his eye, she would mouth: Everything OK? And he  would nod, because everything was more than OK. As far as days went,  this one was turning out to be pretty much perfect.

And he hadn't even met Lily yet.





Chapter 17



At twenty to three, he was outside the gates, hauling the last of a  stack of Cotswold roof tiles into the back of an ancient Volvo, when a  van drew up and parked half on, half off the pavement next to a sporty  silver Toyota. The Toyota's owner, her arms full of flowers and  shopping, was standing beside her car, rooting around in her bag for her  keys.

The van was dark blue, with the Goldstone logo on the side. Declan  straightened up, held his breath and waited for the driver's door to  swing open.

The next moment it did, and his heart stepped up a pace as the girl who  had to be Lily jumped out. Simultaneously, the silver Toyota sped away  from the kerb and something fell into the road with a thunk. The girl  who had to be Lily bent down to retrieve the pink leather purse that the  driver of the Toyota had managed to leave on the roof of her car.

The next moment she was off, racing up the street after the departing  Toyota, waving madly and clutching the purse in her other hand. Up  ahead, the traffic lights turned from green to red and the car slowed.  Declan watched as the girl carried on running, finally catching up and  tapping on the Toyota's window on the passenger's side. The window slid  down, the purse was handed back to its rightful owner and the girl  laughed at something the driver said. Then the traffic lights changed  back to green, the Toyota pulled away once more and the girl who had to  be Lily began to make her way back down the main street to Goldstone  House.                       
       
           



       

Had there ever been any question that this was Jo's daughter? She had  her mother's mass of streaky blond ringlets, her dancing dark eyes and  her infectious smile. God, it was incredible.

Coral had appeared at his side. Reading his mind, she murmured, ‘Looks like Jo, doesn't she?'

Declan nodded. ‘Just a bit.'

When she was only a few metres away, Lily said cheerily to Coral, ‘Did  you see what happened? She left her purse on the roof of her car and  drove off. She'd be on her way up to Sheffield without it by now if the  traffic lights hadn't turned red.'

‘And if you hadn't gone chasing after her like Usain Bolt.' As she said it, Coral gave Declan a gentle nudge.

Declan looked at Lily. ‘The first time I met your mum, she was doing much the same.'

Lily stopped dead in her tracks, a slew of expressions flickering across  her face as she took in the unexpected words of a complete stranger.  The silence probably lasted only a second, but it seemed far longer as  she stared at him in disbelief. Then she saw that Coral was grinning  broadly.

‘Oh my God.' Her dark brown eyes fixed on him once more. ‘Are you  …  Declan?'

‘I am.' He nodded, breaking into a smile himself. ‘And you're Lily. Hi.'

‘Oh, this is amazing.' Lily covered her mouth. ‘I was just checking my  email to see if you'd been in touch yet, and now you're here, you're  really here. Hello!'

And then she was hugging him, and it felt like hugging the daughter he'd  never had. When they broke apart, Declan reached for her left wrist and  studied the bangle she was wearing.

‘There it is, that's the one. I bought it for Jo from a jeweller who had  a tiny studio in one of the back streets of Barcelona.' He nodded in  recognition. ‘I can't believe I'm seeing it again all these years later.  It didn't cost a lot,' he added. ‘We didn't have much money to spare  back then. It might turn your skin green.'

‘I don't care if it does. It's beautiful.' Lily twisted her arm so the  tiny embedded stones caught the light. ‘Thank you for choosing it for  her.'

‘You two go on into the house,' said Coral. ‘Me and Marty can take care of things out here.'

‘You're busy,' said Declan. ‘We can wait until you close, if that makes it easier.'

‘Er, hello? I don't think so.' Lily was already shaking her head in mock  horror at this hideous suggestion. ‘You might be happy to wait another  three hours,' she told him. ‘But I'm not!'



Lily was feeling dizzy with discovery. ‘I honestly don't know which is  best,' she said when Coral joined them at 5.30 in the back garden.  ‘Hearing the stories or seeing the photographs.'

‘Except you don't have to choose.' Declan smiled at her as he said it. ‘I've got both.'

‘You do have both. It's so brilliant, I can't tell you.' Lily wondered  if either of them could fully understand how much this meant to her.  ‘This has been one of the best days of my life.'

‘Shall I leave you two in peace?' said Coral. ‘I'll go into the kitchen and put some food together.'

‘No, don't. Stay out here with us. You have to see these photos.' Lily  patted the sun-warmed cushions beside her on the garden seat. ‘I could  look at them forever.'

Joining her on the seat, Coral said, ‘Go on then, show me.'

‘I love this one.' Swivelling the open album on the table so Coral could  see, Lily looked at Declan. ‘You tell her. They're your stories.'

And she loved to listen to them. Maybe only someone in her position  could appreciate how it felt to learn more about the person you'd loved  and lost so many years ago. It felt like being presented with glorious  long-buried treasure.

‘That was the first one taken of the two of us together,' said Declan.  ‘I'd been pretty smitten by Jo from day one, when she brought down that  thief with her serving tray. And I thought there was a chance she might  like me too, but she was playing it cool, getting her bearings and  finding her way around the new job. She'd only just arrived in Spain.'