The Girl on the Cliff (42 page)

‘Come here, pet. I don’t know what it is that’s upset you, but come to Mam for a cuddle.’

Grania raised her weary head and her mother glimpsed her pale, pinched face. Kathleen closed her arms around her daughter and Grania began to sob pitifully. The kettle whistled for a full two minutes before Kathleen stirred. ‘I’ll be turning that kettle off now and making us both a cup of tea.’ Silently, she made the tea, then brought it back and placed a cup in front of Grania, who
was sitting upright now, but catatonic, staring straight ahead.

‘Grania, I don’t want to interfere, but God help me, the look of you is awful. Can you be telling your mammy what’s happened?’

Grania opened her mouth to try and form words, but failed on the first few attempts. Finally, she managed to utter: ‘He’s dead, Mam. Alexander’s dead.’

Kathleen’s hand flew to her mouth and she crossed herself with the other. ‘Oh no, oh no, no, no … 
how
?’

Grania licked her lips. ‘He had –
has
had – a brain tumour. He was having treatment all the times he’s been away. He died … four days ago. As his wife, I had to stay and arrange his funeral. And sign all the papers.’ Her words were robotic.

‘Sweetheart, pet, can you be managing to drink your tea? I think you’re needing some sugar. And I’m going to get something else that will help both of us.’ Kathleen searched in a cupboard for the brandy she used to cook with. She poured a healthy amount into each of their mugs. Then she lifted the mug to her daughter’s mouth. ‘Drink, Grania.’

Grania took three sips before she coughed and refused a fourth.

‘Grania, I know there is a story you’ve got to tell me, but –’ she glanced up and checked the time on the kitchen clock – ‘Aurora will be home in less than an hour. Shall I call Jennifer, the mammy of Aurora’s best friend, and ask her to collect her from school and keep her for her tea? I’m thinking she shouldn’t see you like this.’

‘Please,’ Grania agreed. ‘I’m not up to … I can’t … no.’ A silent tear rolled down one cheek.

Kathleen brushed it away with a gentle finger. ‘You look like you haven’t slept for a week. How about you getting into bed and your mammy bringing you a hot bottle?’

‘I don’t think I can sleep,’ said Grania as her mother helped her to standing and led her up the stairs.

‘No, but where’s the harm in trying?’ Kathleen removed Grania’s jacket and then her shoes and jeans, and tucked her up into the bed. She sat on the edge of it, as she used to do when Grania was small, and stroked her daughter’s forehead. ‘You try and sleep now, sweetheart. I’ll be downstairs if you need me.’ As she rose, she could see Grania’s eyes were already closing. Kathleen paused on the landing, tears filling her own eyes. For all that her family laughed at her sixth sense, and her worry about her beloved daughter becoming involved with the Lisles, it seemed that her premonition had been proved right.

Two hours later, Grania reappeared in the kitchen, looking disorientated.

‘How long have I been asleep? It’s almost dark.’

‘Just as long as you needed to be,’ said Kathleen. ‘Now, so, I’ve arranged with Jennifer that Aurora sleep over with them. Your daddy popped an overnight bag round there half an hour ago, and he’s taken himself off to the pub with your brother. So you needn’t be worrying about anyone coming in.’

‘Thanks, Mam.’ Grania sat down at the table wearily.

‘I’ve made you some lamb stew. ’Twas always your favourite. And you look to me as though that tummy of yours hasn’t seen a square meal since you left.’

‘Thanks, Mam,’ Grania repeated as Kathleen put a bowl of stew in front of her.

‘There now, eat what you can. An empty stomach doesn’t help a painful heart.’

‘Oh, Mam …’

‘Eat, Grania, don’t talk.’

Grania shovelled the food into her mouth, chewed and swallowed automatically. ‘I can’t eat any more, Mam, really.’ She pushed the bowl away.

‘Well now, at least there’s a little more colour in those cheeks of yours.’ Kathleen removed the bowl and put it in the sink. ‘Grania, I’ll not be pushing you to talk, but you know I’ll be listening if you want me to.’

‘I – I don’t know … where to begin.’

‘I’m sure you don’t. While you were sleeping, I’ve been putting two and two together. When Alexander came here that night when Aurora was lost, the colour on him, well … that told me then something wasn’t right inside him. I’d say he knew a long time ago how ill he was.’

‘Yes, he did. But by the time the doctors discovered the problem, they couldn’t operate because of the size of the tumour and the position in his brain. All he could hope for was that chemotherapy would help. But it didn’t.’

‘No.’

‘He realised he had to accept the inevitable a few weeks ago, when he started to deteriorate. And that was when he began to make plans for Aurora. I …’

‘No rush, pet.’ Kathleen sat down next to her at the table and put her hand over Grania’s. ‘You just take your time.’

Haltingly at first, Grania began to tell her mother the story. Kathleen listened quietly, taking in and understanding all Grania was telling her. And inwardly berating herself for criticising what she had initially seen as Grania’s capriciousness in marrying Alexander.

‘Hans, his solicitor, will be coming over to see me here in the next two weeks, and bringing Alexander’s ashes with him. He said he wanted them spread on Lily’s grave.’ Grania paused and gave a long, deep sigh. ‘Oh, Mam, watching him die … it was dreadful.
Dreadful
,’ she emphasised.

‘From what you say, pet, it sounds like a merciful release.’

‘Yes. He was in so much pain.’ She looked up at her mother suddenly and gave a weak smile. ‘You know, Mam, your instinct that you needed to tell me the story of Lily before I left for Switzerland was right. I was able to tell Alexander what had happened to Lily when she was younger before he died. He said it had helped him and I think it did. He loved her so very much.’

‘Well, let’s hope they’re together now, somewhere up there, and the pain of living is over for both of them,’ said Kathleen sombrely. ‘And that they can look down and know that their precious daughter is safe here with us.’

‘Oh God, Mam,’ Grania shook her head despairingly. ‘How on earth do I tell her?’

‘Grania, that is something I don’t have the answer to.
And I’m thinking ’tis a terrible thing her daddy’s left you to do.’

‘It is,’ agreed Grania, ‘but if you’d have seen the state he was in … he looked like his own ghost. And even though he was desperate to see Aurora just one last time, he was adamant that it would make it worse for her if he did. He wants – wanted – Aurora to remember him as he was. We all know how unstable Aurora had been after her mother died. I think he did the right thing.’

‘Have you an idea of what you should tell her?’ asked Kathleen.

‘I’ve thought of nothing else for the past few days,’ Grania replied desolately. ‘Do you have any suggestions, Mam?’

‘I’d be thinking ’tis better not to lie if you can avoid it. I’d say the truth, as gently as you can.’

‘Yes,’ agreed Grania, ‘but I don’t want her to know that he suffered so much.’

‘Well, ’tis an awful burden he’s given you, but all I can say is that we’ll be here for her when you have told her, and we’ll give her,
and
you, as much love and support as we can. You know, Grania, that whatever you decide to do with your life, Aurora will always have a home here with us.’

‘Yes, Mam, thank you. It was the one thing that worried Alexander; he didn’t want my adoption of Aurora to affect my future plans.’

‘And your mammy will be making sure it doesn’t,’ said Kathleen firmly.

‘Well,’ Grania sighed, ‘I doubt I’m off anywhere soon. I have nowhere else to go,’ she shrugged. Then she yawned and rose from the table. ‘Oh, Mam, I’m so tired. If I’m to
tell Aurora tomorrow, I think I should try and get some more sleep.’

‘Yes.’ Kathleen put her arms around Grania and hugged her. ‘Sleep tight, pet. And I just want to tell you how proud your mammy is of her daughter,’ she whispered.

‘Thanks, Mam. Night-night,’ Grania answered, and left the kitchen.

John and Shane came home half an hour later. Kathleen told them the dreadful tale Grania had related to her.

‘That poor little pet,’ said John, surreptitiously wiping a tear from his eye. ‘Well now, at least Aurora has us.’

‘She does that,’ added Shane. ‘We all love her like she’s our own.’

‘And she’s going to need to feel every ounce of it,’ Kathleen underlined. ‘And Grania too. She’s been put through a terrible time, through no fault of her own.’

‘Well now, seems your sixth sense was right again, sweetheart,’ said John. ‘You said you had a bad feeling right from the start.’

‘There’s no doubt you’re a witch, Mam,’ Shane agreed and patted his mother’s arm affectionately. He stood up. ‘I’m for my bed now, Mam, but you be telling Grania and that small one I love them both.’

Later, as husband and wife climbed into bed, John asked, ‘When is Grania going to tell Aurora?’

‘I’d be thinking when she comes back from school tomorrow afternoon. It’ll give Grania another day to collect herself.’

‘Come here, darlin’.’ John reached out his strong arms and encircled his wife inside them. ‘Try not to worry. I’d
be looking on the bright side and say that, although Aurora’s in for a terrible shock tomorrow, at least there’s no future uncertainty for her. She’ll know she has a home here with us for the rest of her life. And for all it’s put our Grania through, I admire Alexander for having the foresight to make sure ’twould be the case.’

‘Yes. Night, pet.’

‘Night.’

It was only then, as Kathleen closed her eyes to try and sleep, that she remembered the phone call from Matt.

Grania woke the following morning feeling at least physically refreshed. She lay and tried to take on board what had happened to her, not just in the past two weeks, but in the past four months. Aurora had arrived like a whirlwind in her life and changed it irrevocably. To the point where she was now officially Mrs Devonshire, stepmother to a child who would soon become officially her daughter.
And
a widow …

Just like Mary before her.

Grania tried to focus on the words she would choose to tell Aurora about her father then decided it was pointless. She couldn’t plan, because she had no idea of how Aurora would react. She’d have to play it by ear. And the sooner it was over, the better.

Grania felt a sudden urge to leave the house and breathe some fresh air into her lungs. Being cooped up in a stuffy hospital for the past two weeks had been an ordeal. She threw on her tracksuit bottoms, hoodie and trainers, and went downstairs. Kathleen was nowhere to be seen, so she jogged off down the lane and turned right up the cliff
path towards Dunworley House. It was a beautiful day and the sea was mill-pond still.

Panting, Grania sat down on the grassy rock where she’d first seen the little girl standing alone on the cliff’s edge. She looked up at the house above her – a house that was now in trust for Aurora to live in if she so wished.

Hans had eventually outlined the amount Alexander had left Grania in his will; enough to ensure that, if she chose not to, she’d never have to do another day’s work for the rest of her life. She was a wealthy woman.

‘Oh, Matt.’ Grania suddenly choked out his name. Her mother had been wonderful, but right now she was in desperate need of the warmth, understanding and love of the man she’d always considered her soulmate. The pain of his loss was physical. And the fact that it was over and she would never know the comfort he had offered her again was palpable.

Grania stood and continued up the hill towards Dunworley House. She could not dwell … life had happened and there was no turning back. She pushed open the gate and walked through the front garden. Alexander had stipulated in his will that the house would become Aurora’s on her twenty-first birthday. It was then up to his daughter to decide whether she wished to keep it or sell it. He had set aside a healthy sum to renovate it, but she would discuss all that with Hans when he arrived over here.

Walking into the courtyard at the back, Grania rooted under the boulder for the key to her studio. Once inside, she studied the sculptures sitting on her workbench. And
for the first time in two weeks, felt a tiny surge of pleasure. They were as good as she’d remembered they were, but they could be better.

‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Grania! Where have you been?’ exclaimed Kathleen as Grania entered the kitchen.

‘Sorry, Mam, I went up to my studio and must have lost track of time. Is there anything to eat? I’m starving.’

‘I’ll make you a quick sandwich.’ Kathleen glanced at the clock nervously. ‘You know Aurora will be home in half an hour?’

‘Yes.’ Grania’s stomach turned over at the thought. ‘When she gets here, I’m taking her off for a walk.’

‘Grania!’ Aurora catapulted herself into Grania’s arms and hugged her tightly. Mother and daughter shared a glance of sorrow over the top of her head.

‘It’s wonderful to see you, sweetheart,’ Grania responded. ‘How have you been?’

‘I’ve been very well, thank you,’ said Aurora. ‘Did Shane tell you that Maisie, the sheepdog, is having pups? He said I can be there when she gives birth
even
if it’s the middle of the night,’ she added, throwing a surreptitious glance at Kathleen. ‘And I’ve been telling all my friends at school that you are my real mother now.’ Aurora let go of Grania and began to pirouette around the kitchen. ‘I’m so happy!’ She paused in mid-twirl and suddenly asked, ‘Where’s Daddy?’

‘Aurora, why don’t you fetch Lily and we’ll take her up the cliff path for a walk?’ suggested Grania.

‘All right,’ she agreed. ‘Be back in a minute.’

‘I’ll wait for you outside,’ Grania called to Aurora’s retreating back.

Kathleen walked over to her daughter and placed a comforting hand on her arm. ‘Good luck, Grania. We’ll be here for you both when you get back.’

Grania nodded silently and left the kitchen.

Aurora was full of chatter on the way up the hill as the puppy chased flies and darted in and out of her young mistress’s legs.