The Boatman's Wife(54)

‘Nothing, really,’ she said, feeling herself blush.

‘Niamh, come on, what is it?’ He scrutinised her face.

‘Okay, then, it’s just… I said something to you, and, well… You didn’t say it back.’ She felt silly now.

Jesse said nothing for a moment, just looked at her, before reaching forward and stroking the length of her face. ‘I’ve never met a girl like you before,’ he said. The sea rocked the boat, and waves splashed against its sides. ‘I just thought we were going to have a bit of fun, but it’s more than that…’

‘I know,’ she whispered, looking at him from under her lashes.

‘I’m so into you, Niamh,’ Jesse said. ‘It’s just…’

‘Just what?’

‘My apprenticeship finishes in five days, and then I have to go back home to America.’

‘Oh,’ was all she could say.

‘I told you right from the beginning, I’m on an apprenticeship,’ Jesse said, picking up on the look on her face. ‘I’ve a job set up in a boatyard back home, and then I’m going to open my own yard, like I told you.’ He looked flushed and guilty.

‘It’s fine, sure,’ Niamh said in a small voice. She felt stupid for revealing her feelings, but she was also angry with Jesse. Why had he sought her out again when he was leaving so soon?

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’

‘Yes, I told you,’ she snapped. ‘Forget it, okay? Let’s go back, it’s getting cold.’

Jesse hesitated, as if he wanted to say more. But what could he say? thought Niamh. He was leaving, and she was staying, of course. She would never escape.





Chapter Fifteen





Mullaghmore, 15th November 2017





Lily drove around the small roads of Sligo, making pictures in her head. The broken-down stone walls and boggy green fields were all part of her husband’s childhood. The sorry-looking sheep and the herds of cows wandering on the beaches would have been common sights for Connor, growing up. That big sea with the crashing waves was his ocean. The same ocean as hers, just the other side of it.

Everything had been turned upside down. But Lily needed to find the truth. Find Connor’s grandmother and the author of the email. Find out what the email had meant. Who had sent it?

The rain abated and the sun emerged as Lily drove along the coast road into Mullaghmore, past the sailing club Noreen had mentioned. She parked along the beachfront and got out of the car, already feeling a few curious looks as she walked back into the village centre. The first shop she came to was called ‘Micky’s Convenience Store’. She went inside. Her nerves were on edge, but she pushed them away.

There was a little old man sat up on a stool behind the counter. Surely he must know of Connor, or at least his grandmother?

‘Good afternoon to you.’ The man gave her a wide smile. Lily wondered if he was Micky, the namesake of the shop. ‘How can I help you?’

‘Good afternoon,’ Lily said. ‘I’m looking for someone by the name of Rosemary, whose grandson would be Connor Fitzgerald.’

There it was again: the pronounced flinch.

Micky gave her a good look up and down. ‘Connor Fitzgerald is long gone from these parts.’ His welcoming smile was gone, his expression chilly.

‘I know,’ Lily said, her voice almost a whisper. ‘It’s his grandmother I’m looking for.’

‘The whole family is bad news,’ Micky said. ‘Can’t help you.’

It was the same story in the few other shops, and the pubs, too. Lily got more and more frustrated. No one wanted to talk about Connor Fitzgerald and his grandmother. In the last pub, she bought herself a packet of crisps and sat on the seawall, munching them angrily. She was just going to have to go back to the B&B and prise the information out of Noreen. She wouldn’t leave, she decided, until the woman had told her everything she knew.



Back at the B&B, Lily marched down the corridor to the kitchen, but when she put her head around the door, Noreen wasn’t there. It was just Aisling and Saoirse, sitting at the kitchen table. Aisling was doing her homework, and Saoirse was of course texting on her phone. The two sisters looked up in unison as she came in.

‘Hi, girls, do you know where your mother is?’ Lily asked them.

‘Gone for messages to the shop,’ Aisling told her. ‘She’ll be back soon.’

‘Messages?’

‘Shopping for food,’ Saoirse clarified.

‘Right,’ Lily said, disappointed. She’d been so fired up. ‘Do you know when she’ll be back?’

‘She’s been gone a while, into Sligo, so I guess not long,’ Saoirse said.

‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ Aisling asked Lily, as Saoirse got up to put the kettle on.

‘Thanks,’ Lily said. She couldn’t help noticing the girls were so much more polite when their mother wasn’t around, and seemed to get on perfectly. Both sisters still had their school uniforms on, but Saoirse had pulled her shirt out of the waistband of her skirt, and had a big cardigan on over the uniform, her glasses pushed up on top of her head. She had to be about sixteen or seventeen, Lily thought, feeling a stab of jealousy. Most likely she’d be off to college soon. By the time Lily was Saoirse’s age, she’d been working full-time with her dad on the boats, and had dropped out of high school – much to her mom’s fury. But the money had been so good, trapping lobster. What had Lily needed with more schooling?