The Boatman's Wife(62)

Lily kept on walking. She felt sick as she remembered that she’d kissed Daniel, Eve’s brother, last night. And she’d met Sean, who she now guessed was the author of the horrible email. How had Sean found out where Connor was living, after all those years? How had he known that Connor had married Lily? Clearly, the Malones blamed Connor for Eve’s death. But as she kept turning it over in her mind, Lily began to feel that something was a little off with Noreen’s story. She found it so hard to believe Connor would have done such a reckless thing as drink-drive with his pregnant wife in the car. Someone didn’t change that much, surely? It just didn’t fit. Had he been so very different in Ireland?

Maybe he had, she told herself. He’d just been a kid, after all. Maybe he had made a terrible mistake, and Eve’s death had been a tragic accident.

She walked in a loop back to the B&B. The rain was behind her now, pushing her forwards. She thought of her daddy. She needed him so badly right now – he always knew what to do in a crisis. At least he had done, before the fateful storm. And finding out this terrible secret after losing her husband was the biggest crisis she’d faced in her life. But she wasn’t talking to her dad. Because of what had happened. Besides, it was still the middle of the night back home. Her dad was being accused of seaman’s manslaughter for the death of Connor – but that had been an accident too. He hadn’t meant for Connor to die. He was wracked with guilt. Was she being too harsh on her dad?

What would Connor think? She knew instinctively, he would have forgiven her father. Connor had been the least judgemental man she’d ever met. Now she knew why.



When she got back to the B&B, Lily was relieved to discover Noreen had gone out. She stood dripping in the hall, pulling off her wet sneakers. As she did so, she saw a letter on the mat. To her surprise, it was addressed to her: Mrs Lily Fitzgerald. It wasn’t stamped. She ripped open the envelope.

Go home. Raking up the past and asking questions about Connor Fitzgerald will do you no good. For your own safety, leave Mullaghmore and never come back.





Lily stormed upstairs and threw the letter down on her bed. It made her furious. She was not going to be bullied like her husband had been all those years ago. She reckoned it was the surly Sean Malone who’d dropped the letter in. Well, he wasn’t going to intimidate her.

Lily picked up the map that Noreen had given her to Rosemary Kelly’s cottage. It was about time she met Connor’s grandmother.





Chapter Eighteen





Mullaghmore, 25th August 1992





As Niamh pulled into the yard, she was surprised to see the light on downstairs in the house. It was midweek, and her mam would usually have gone to bed hours ago, but as she walked in the back door, she heard voices coming from the front room.

Sitting in her father’s old armchair, cradling a mug of tea between her hands was Brendan’s girlfriend, Deirdre. Niamh’s whole body tensed with the shock of the girl’s presence in their house.

‘Well, there you are,’ her mam said, her voice hoarse with tiredness. ‘Poor Deirdre here has been waiting hours for you.’

‘Sorry for the bother, Mrs Kelly,’ Deirdre said politely, as she balanced her mug on the arm of the chair. ‘Sure, it’s not Niamh’s fault, I was only passing by, so I was.’

Her mam turned to Niamh and eyed her suspiciously. Deirdre’s Derry accent was hard to ignore. ‘You never told me you’d met Deirdre before, Niamh?’

‘Years ago, with Brendan,’ Niamh said quickly.

Her mam narrowed her eyes, but asked no more. ‘I see,’ she said. ‘Well, I’m off to bed. Make our guest welcome, won’t you, Niamh?’

As soon as her mam had left the room, Deirdre’s manner changed. She stood up, leaving the mug of tea balancing on the chair. ‘I’ve been waiting hours, so I have,’ she complained.

‘Where the hell did you come from?’ Niamh said. ‘How did you get here?’

‘Brendan dropped me off, but he didn’t come in,’ Deirdre said, taking out her cigarettes and lighting one, but not offering the packet to Niamh. ‘Thought your mam would ask him too many questions.’ Deirdre gave Niamh a slow smile, but her eyes were cold.

Niamh was furious. How dare Brendan dump his girlfriend at her house in the middle of the night!

Deirdre turned to her, flicking her long blond hair off her shoulders. ‘We’ve got to go now,’ she said, taking a drag off her cigarette, before stubbing it out half-smoked in the Connemara marble ashtray Niamh’s mam kept on the mantelpiece, but never used.

‘Go where? Why?’ Niamh asked, feeling a creeping dread.

‘Catch yourself on.’ Deirdre frowned at her. ‘You know why,’ she said, as she went out the door and into the kitchen.

‘Can you not just take the car on your own?’ Niamh said, throwing Deirdre the keys of the Toyota. Of course, this was payback for Niamh having taken the car from Tadhg. ‘I don’t want to go anywhere with you right now,’ she complained. ‘I’ve been driving all day.’

Deirdre raised her eyebrows. ‘Wise up,’ she said. ‘Mind, we’re two girls, heading back from visiting our fellas down south.’

‘Are you telling me I have to drive across the border, now?’ Niamh said in horror. She was so tired from her day with Jesse. They’d driven for hours, and all she wanted was to get into bed. Besides, tomorrow, she was supposed to be leaving with Jesse. She needed to talk to her mam about it, which meant she would have to get up early tomorrow, before her mam went to work. And then she had to pack. It had all seemed so easy earlier today, planning her adventure with Jesse – but now the whole idea of it began to overwhelm her.