‘No problem. Just let me know when it’s ready.’
‘Okay. But in the meantime, will you please have a think about asking the family about the ashes? You never know. I mean, Albert must be in his seventies or eighties. They can’t keep passing them down through generations.’
I remember that there are no generations after Tomas. Still, it is not my problem. I am not getting in touch with the family again, and I am not going back to Prague. Besides, I have deleted Tomas’ number for a reason.
I get up to leave and ignore his plea. Unfortunately, this is something that I simply can’t be a part of.
‘Oh, Olivia. Before you go… So sorry. What am I thinking? This file’s got into a right mess. There’s a letter I must give you. Your aunt instructed me to give this to you once you had completed the trip. She said it was very important.’
I look at the letter with my name on. I flip over the envelope and see that Aunt Grace has marked a kiss where she sealed it.
‘Oh no. What’s this about?’
‘I’ve no idea.’
I look at Dewi, and I’m sure he must know more than he is letting on.
‘I swear, now. She didn’t tell me anything. She just told me to make sure you received it after you’d been to Prague and, if you didn’t go, you were never to receive it. That’s all I know.’
‘Right. Okay.’
Back in the car park, I gently place the letter on the passenger seat of the car. It sits there like an unexploded bomb. I dread to think what revelations could be in there.
I take a deep breath, look at it again and decide to get it over with. If I have learned anything these past few weeks, it is to face things head-on.
I tear at the envelope and open up the letter, resting it on the steering wheel of the car.
My darling Olivia,
Well done. You did it. I hoped you would go to Prague, and I am so proud of you for doing it. It’s been horrible watching my bubbly niece turn into a shell of herself. I hope that travelling alone has given you the confidence to believe in yourself and know that you don’t need Craig in your life to do things. I know that can seem hard when you’ve been married to someone for so long and you have to start over. But he was always a snake, and you were far too good for him. I should have warned you about him, but I didn’t want to hurt you. I regretted it every day, and I fear I made things worse by not telling you what I really thought of him. He did not deserve you and your beautiful, kind heart.
So, now that he is gone, it is time for you to start the second chapter of your life, and there’s no reason for it not to be the best.
I hope you managed to meet Marek. You will understand by now that he was the love of my life, and if things had been different with my family commitments, then I am sure we would have been so happy. Please don’t make the same mistakes I made in life. If you ever find a love like I had during that short time, you must never let it go, because it might never come back again.
Tears run down my face. I wipe my eyes with the sleeve of my jumper. Oh, Aunt Grace. I understand why she didn’t tell me about Craig, but her words make me think of Tomas and how beautiful he is. Well, Aunt Grace, sometimes a love like that letsusgo. Then we have no choice in the matter.
Anyway, I hope that the rest of your life is happy and all your dreams come true because you truly deserve the best. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise, my darling girl.
Until we meet again,
Aunt Grace x
I take the letter and place it back on the passenger seat, trying not to look at it again as I drive home an emotional, snivelling wreck.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The weather forecast had warned that snow was on its way, so I didn’t make any firm plans about signing the rest of the papers for Dewi. Sure enough, by the next morning, there is a blanket of snow settled on the ground and the branches of the trees are weighed down by the snowfall. We haven’t had heavy snow around here since the Eighties when my mother and I were completely snowed in and had to walk to the nearest farm to get eggs and milk. Somehow, the sky looks as though it could be a repeat of the infamous blizzard of 1982 when it snowed for thirty-six hours straight.
Just in case my feeling is correct, I make sure the bird feeders are topped up as there is not much chance of the poor birds finding food in this weather.
As I open the back door to feed them, I am happy to be greeted by my favourite robin.
‘Ah, there you are,’ I tell him. The robin chirps noisily and then rushes off, eventually settling down on his favourite rock, which is now laden with snow.
With the birds catered for, I get some logs from the shed to stack up ready in the porch. I have been in this shed many times since Craig left, but until now, I didn’t realise that some of Craig’s tools were still in here. It just shows what a daze I must have been walking around in. I brush against cobwebs as I near the tools that are laid together in a pile. I wonder if he wants them back. We haven’t spoken for a long time, but I will keep them safe in case he suddenly wants them returned. I have never been a vengeful person who would keep someone’s belongings, although the fancy wrench laid next to the tools would certainly come in handy for DIY at the mill.
There are all sorts of things in the shed that I haven’t taken any notice of when I have come in here before. Now I see it all with new eyes since returning from Prague. It is funny what you notice when you go away and come back home.
