He drew in a breath and his eyes widened. ‘You’re the pudding lady!’
Gayle roared with laughter. ‘Well now, I don’t mind you calling me that at all.’
He looked perplexed. ‘But if you are mum’s aunt like Aunt Susanna is my aunt, what am I supposed to call you?’
‘Why don’t you call me Aunt Gayle? These girls can call me Gayle now they’re older.’
‘Mummy is thirty-eight. Is thirty-eight too old to have an aunt?’
‘Not at all.’
She talked to Isaac about all sorts – the island, the café, where he lived, her cottage. ‘And how’s school?’ she asked him.
Isaac let out a long sigh. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ This made Gayle laugh even harder. ‘I want to talk more about puddings,’ he enthused. ‘Me and Mummy make things sometimes.’
‘I wish we could do it more,’ said Addie, looking at her watch. ‘But right now, you need to get ready for school, young man.’
‘I’m ready,’ he said. Presumably all he had to do was pick up a bag. Life was easy when you were seven. ‘Mummy, are you coming home soon?’
‘You know I am. Only two more sleeps and I’ll see you again.’
The three girls had worked out a bit of a timetable now that Gayle had been discharged from the hospital. She was fine on her own, not likely to collapse again, but they wanted to get her into new habits before they all got back to their regular lives. And of course, Nancy had been supportive and looking after the bulk of things at the Sweet Life Café.
Isaac still hadn’t got the hint that it would soon be time for him to go to school. He said, ‘Mummy… Granny Maurie said you’d been on a boat.’
‘That’s right.’
‘Did it go fast?’
Gayle could’ve listened to him all day, and she was sad when they had to say goodbye.
Having the girls back on the island had turned all of their lives around, and she’d never be sorry for the events that had unfolded because they had all led them to now. It was a new version of the Rafferty family, and she couldn’t wait to see where they went from here.
32
ADDIE
A few weeks after they left Anchor Island, Addie was on her way back during the October half term, and this time her trip to the island was about so much more than a visit or a holiday.
She stood with Isaac, hand in hand on the top deck of the small ferry, as they left Jersey en route to the island that still meant so much to her. Isaac was beside himself with excitement at the adventure, and Addie couldn’t wait for Gayle to meet her little boy in person.
Over the short time that Addie had been back at the flat in London, she’d done a lot of soul searching. She wasn’t in her dream job, she didn’t live in a place she loved, and she desperately wanted Isaac to have more. She wanted to give him a life that had some freedom, a childhood where he could get fresh air, not city smog in his lungs, space to run around and be a kid. But it wasn’t just about Isaac. After getting back to London, she’d soon realised that Anchor Island could give them both something different, and although she hadn’t handed in her notice yet or given up their flat, she wanted to talk to Gayle this week about the possibility of trying something new. They’d had a good talk the last time Addie was on the island, they were in a good place, and she really hoped her aunt would be on board with what she had in mind.
The day Aunt Gayle had met Isaac over FaceTime, Susanna had gone upstairs to call Alex and Gayle had asked Addie if they could talk. She’d had a talk with Susanna in the hospital, so Addie had known this was coming.
‘Isaac is a credit to you, Addie,’ Gayle had told her as they sat at the kitchen table with a mug of tea each.
‘I know I’m biased, but yes, he really is.’
‘I love how he has so many questions.’
Addie laughed. ‘And then some.’
‘He has so much energy.’
‘I struggle to keep up sometimes,’ Addie admitted.
‘How do his grandparents cope?’
