Susanna swiped at the tears on her cheek. ‘I was a legend.’ She smiled.
‘And so modest,’ Addie teased. ‘He knew you loved him. And you told him you loved him at the hospital too.’
‘I thought I did, but I didn’t know whether he heard me.’
‘They always hear you,’ said Louisa. ‘Mum said that when my gran was in hospital and it was nearing the end, she recalled snippets of conversations with Mum, even when Mum had thought she was asleep. I bet your dad was the same.’
‘Hey,’ said Susanna. ‘He was your dad too.’
‘I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to talk about him in that way.’
‘Maybe if you got to know more about him,’ Addie suggested.
‘Gayle has told me quite a bit,’ said Louisa.
‘Well, we’re here to tell you so much more.’
And so for the next hour they talked until all three of them were struggling to keep their eyes open. They talked about Harry Rafferty – husband, father, man, café owner and then travel agent. They talked about fun times, frustrations, the things he’d said and his laugh; they’d talked about his curls and the Rafferty family as a whole.
Most of all, Addie realised as they talked, all three of them were struggling with the revelations, but what they could do was start processing their feelings together.
Perhaps if Susanna, Addie and Gayle had done that years ago, things might have been very different.
29
GAYLE
Gayle opened her eyes when she felt a hand on her arm. ‘Addie…’ She turned her head and saw Susanna and Louisa. All three Rafferty girls here at her bedside, and despite the circumstances in many ways it made her feel like the luckiest woman alive.
‘How are you feeling?’ Addie asked.
‘So-so,’ she said. She was tired. She’d been poked and prodded around, needles for this, that and the other, and she’d had a scan as well as an ultrasound. ‘What day is it?’
‘Thursday,’ Louisa informed her.
‘Did I sleep a whole day away?’
Susanna smiled. ‘Kind of. You had more tests yesterday. We all popped in a couple of times, but you needed your rest.’
She leaned forward a little while Susanna put another pillow behind her head to prop her up some more. She was still tired and she was still worried. Her mum had always said to her,never go into hospital or you won’t ever come out again. What if that time was now?
‘Did you sleep well?’ Addie asked her.
She shook her head and said quietly, ‘There’s either someone yelling, or alarms by the beds going off, beeping, lights flickering. I’ll be better once I get back to my cottage.’ If she was going to die, she wanted to die at home, not in a sterile environment like this. She wanted to keep eating the most delicious puddings and for the sweet smell of them to drift up the stairs as her big send off.
‘Did you all come by ferry?’ Gayle asked the girls.
‘Mateo brought us over the night you collapsed,’ said Addie. ‘You came here in the marine ambulance while he brought us by boat and got us sorted with accommodation too.’
‘He’s a good man.’ Her gaze flitted briefly to Susanna, who nodded in agreement. It felt like some sort of reprieve after what she’d done decades ago to break them up, when she did what she thought was best.
‘What was your breakfast like?’ Louisa asked.
‘Questionable.’ Gayle liked that they all giggled. The three of them together was quite something. Harry would’ve loved to see it, of that, she was sure.
When Susanna had revealed that she’d known about Harry’s affair for years but never told Addie, Gayle’s heart had gone out to her for harbouring the secret, and to Addie who had idolised her dad and had to find this out now. Gayle had been terrified that the revelations would be too much for Addie to handle. And yet, here she was. Perhaps collapsing had been the best thing that could’ve happened. And at least now she was here in the hospital having tests she was no longer avoiding her failing health.
When she saw the doctor approaching, she sat up a little further. It looked like it was time to face facts head-on, and she was glad the girls were with her.
