Category:
Relationships
Publisher: Thomas W Devine
ISBN-10: 1501013491
Type: Fiction
ISBN-13: 9781501013492
Family and strangers brought together over a hot Christmas in the Marlborough Sounds.
A Londoner entrusts her brothers with answers that her orphaned daughter will seek from a young age... A successful English photographer, now residing in Auckland, attempts a lasting relationship, but is still trying to get over his disastrous marriage... A New Zealand-born fashion model turned businesswoman, lives with emotional scars from her teenage experiences in Milan and... In the quick sale of a luxury holiday home in the beautiful Marlborough Sounds, something is left behind. The story threads come together in an unforgettable summer vacation at Hillsend.
Excerpt
Prologue
Though separated from Marilyn by the Atlantic Ocean, David Moore agreed that if his sister died he would adopt her daughter. It wasn’t something he ever thought would happen – it just seemed like a nice thing to do, like becoming someone’s godparent; though why Marilyn had chosen him rather than their elder brother, Andrew – or their sisters – he didn’t know. Marilyn was still back in London and always was a bit of a mystery. He had moved to the United States to live in Carmel, a town in Putnam County, New York.
Marilyn had sole custody of her six-year-old daughter, Amanda. They lived as tenants in a shabby street in the East End, unable to afford anywhere nicer, and Marilyn worked part time in a bookshop nearby. Lately she had started to neglect her housekeeping, though the rundown living conditions made no difference to Amanda. She delighted in having few chores and the freedom to be messy.
Marilyn’s best friend, a stay-at-home mum, lived a few blocks away with her husband and two young daughters. Marilyn telephoned her one Friday morning and asked a favour.
“Chelle,” she said after saying hello, “when you pick up Amanda could you keep her for the weekend? And if it’s not too much trouble, could you get her off to school on Monday morning then come round to mine? I know it’s late notice.”
“Of course I’ll look after her, love. So, do you have a hot date?”
“How did you guess?”
“Wooooo!” Her friend’s voice bubbled with vicarious enthusiasm. “You’ll have to tell me all about it on Monday.”
Marilyn’s heart flipped. “I hope Mandy won’t give you any trouble.”
“She never does. She gets on better with my two than they do with each other.”
“Okay, thanks, Chelle. Tell Mandy I love her.” Marilyn’s voice almost broke.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. I’m just going to miss her, that’s all. Sorry for getting all soppy.”
“A hot date will do you good. You deserve a break.”
“He’s a nice guy – and single.” It was the opposite of Marilyn’s real situation.
“Have fun!”
On Saturday afternoon, not distracted by the prolonged argument going on between the couple next door, Marilyn tearfully wrapped an old chocolate box and placed it on the kitchen table. Next she wrote a letter to her brother, Andrew, sealed it in an addressed envelope then propped it in clear sight against the parcel.
On Sunday evening she tidied the flat a bit. Then she wrote Chelle a note that took up less than a page and enclosed it in a re-used envelope with a door key and a banknote. It was the last money she had in her purse apart from a few coins.
With a thumbtack, she pinned the envelope high on the outside of the entrance door to her flat before heading into the bedroom she usually shared with Amanda.
The envelope was in plain sight when Chelle approached Marilyn’s top floor flat on Monday morning. As she lifted her hand to knock, she saw her name and assumed her friend had left a message saying that she had had to go out unexpectedly, though it was odd that Marilyn hadn’t phoned.
The envelope’s contents did not, however, turn out to be what Chelle had anticipated. With a sickening feeling of dread, she opened the door.
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