Flynn tapped Nolan on the shoulder and he left Bea and Isla standing alone. Bea brought the conversation back to where it was before Nolan appeared.
‘If they haven’t spoken for years, how do you think it’s going to pan out?’ asked Bea.
‘I’m actually beginning to worry. I can still feel animosity on my mother’s part, though I’ve got no clue what has gone on between them except that my mum moved thousands of miles away as a result.’
‘That must have been some argument. Surely after all these years it’s time to move on?’
‘You’d hope so. At first, I thought it was a good idea to surprise Granny at The Lakehouse but now I’m not sure.’
‘There’s always two sides to every story, and sometimes when arguments have gone on for so long, people just push all the hurt to one side and it’s harder to make things right. What does your mum think about surprising Martha?’
Isla looked sheepish. ‘I’ve not quite told her that part ... or the whole truth. In fact, I’ve had to tell a white lie to get her here. I’m going to have to face the music very soon and I’m not relishing that thought, but, in my defence, she’s my mum and I know, deep down, she wouldn’t want to miss this.’
‘Which is understandable. It’s tricky,’ said Bea.
‘What’s tricky?’
Both of them jumped out of their skin. They spun round to see Martha standing behind them, staring inquisitively. They’d kept their eye off the ball and Martha had sneaked up behind them.
Isla was quick to think on her feet. ‘We said sticky! We sampled Rona’s sticky buns in the teashop at lunch, and they were delicious.’
‘They were,’ agreed Bea, but the look on Martha’s face suggested she wasn’t buying Isla’s answer.
‘Something is going on. I can feel it. Everyone is being weird around me.’ Martha waggled her finger. ‘You do know I’ll find out what is going on.’ She gave Isla a look that meant business before turning around and walking towards Meredith and Fraser from the pub.
‘Yikes, that was close,’ whispered Isla.
‘Too close,’ agreed Bea.
‘Right, let’s mingle.’
Bea spotted Nolan and made a beeline for him. ‘Thank you for helping out. It’s much appreciated.’
‘You don’t have to thank me. I want to see this project up and running as much as you.’
For a moment, Bea hoped he meant he was sticking around, but this project wouldn’t be up and running overnight and she knew Nolan would probably be long gone by then. ‘Refreshments?’ she said, wanting a comforting cup of tea.
On the way towards the refreshment table Bea received praise and pats on the back from the villagers.
‘They love you,’ whispered Nolan.
‘I wouldn’t go that far but I have to say, standing in front of the community, it was lovely to see everyone taking on board what I was saying, and I quite enjoyed it. I’m going to spend tonight at the B&B but tomorrow I want to go back to my attic room. I’m going to upload all the information that we’ve collected tonight to my laptop. I need to arrange meetings with Flynn and Jack, and of course the council. I’ll also need an architect to design the new rescue centre and hopefully within the next couple of months we can get the planning permission and set the wheels in motion for everything else ... and you –’ she pressed a finger to his chest ‘– you better come back and check it out once it’s all up and running.’
‘You try and stop me. You do know I think you are remarkable, don’t you?’ Bea could feel herself blushing slightly. She wasn’t used to anyone giving her compliments. ‘You turn up here, distraught because your life became a sudden mess, and did you sit and wallow? Absolutely not. I know you’re going to get Heartcross Rescue up and running no matter what it takes, and lives will be saved because of you.’
‘Anyone would have done the same.’
‘But they didn’t. This was down to you.’
‘And I second that.’ Bea hadn’t realised that Amy and Lucas were standing right behind them. ‘What you did for Lucas … we’ll never forget, and I know it’s not much but can I give you this? It’s a cheque to start off your fundraising. I wasn’t sure who to make it out to so I wrote it out to The Little Blue Boathouse.’ Amy handed over the cheque and looked down at Lucas who was pulling at her top.
Bea was overwhelmed. ‘I can’t thank you enough.’ She gave a tiny squeal as she waved the cheque in front of her. ‘We are now off the starting blocks. This is brilliant.’
‘And I think Lucas wants to give you something too.’
Lucas was wearing the cheekiest of smiles as he reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a handful of empty sweet wrappers and coins. ‘My pocket money.’ He cupped it in both hands and held it up towards Bea. ‘There’s seventy-five pence,’ he said proudly. ‘There was a pound but the village shop had some gobstoppers and they wanted to be eaten.’
Bea laughed and bent down in front of Lucas. ‘You’re a very special boy. When I get these lifeboats up and running, I think you should come back and have a special trip on one of them, because if it wasn’t for you looking for treasure then all this wouldn’t be happening.’
