Betty reached for her bag, and pulled out an envelope. ‘The letter made everything ten times worse.’
‘What’s in the letter?’ asked Verity, immediately recognising her granny’s handwriting as Betty leaned towards Pete and handed him the envelope.
‘I’m so sorry, Pete.’
Pete took the envelope then reached for his glasses, balanced them on the bridge of his nose and sat back in the chair. Tension hung in the air and Verity watched his eyes flit up and down over the cream-coloured paper. He eventually gave a tiny gasp and then his watery eyes locked with Betty’s.
‘Hetty was pregnant?’ Pete turned the paper over but the other side was blank. ‘It says she was pregnant.’
Betty nodded. ‘I’ve always thought that that had to be the reason she went home, to marry her fiancé and give her baby the family it deserved. Her future was decided for her.’
‘But how do you know the baby wasn’t mine?’
In that second a million thoughts exploded in Verity’s mind. Betty’s answer could change everything she had ever known or thought about her past. Glancing back at Pete, she saw he was staring at her. She suspected that they were having exactly the same thoughts. But as much as she stared, she couldn’t see any physical resemblance between them.
‘Because Hetty was throwing up most mornings from the day after she arrived. My own mother pulled me aside to ask whether she was sick, as we’d often heard her. It was only after reading the letter that I realised she was suffering from morning sickness.’ Betty looked towards Sam. ‘All the letter said was that she was going back home to have the baby, so when Joe read it he put two and two together and made five. After seeing Pete and Hetty up on the cliff he thought Pete had stolen his girl and the baby was his.’
Pete looked distraught. ‘But this is the first I’m hearing about this.’
‘Joe thought you hadn’t shown for your shift because you had a guilty conscience. You were his best friend and he’d confided in you how much he liked this girl, and how, after his previous relationship breakdown, he was taking his time to get this right. But having spotted you together on the cliff, he was angry. He kept looking out of the window waiting for you to arrive. I told him I couldn’t see that it was possible for you two to have been having a secret relationship, and I was just about to tell him about her marriage proposal, when a call came in. A tourist had alerted the coastguard that they’d spotted someone in the water. I told him not to do anything daft when you arrived, and that I’d come back in an hour, after the rescue was completed. I’m not even sure Joe heard me though, as he’d already started to race towards the jetty.’
‘But there was no one found in the water, according to all the reports, and believe me, I’ve combed every article, every logbook. Where were you at this point?’ Sam cut in, staring at Pete accusingly.
‘I was making my way back up Lighthouse Lane. Joe wasn’t at the hut when I arrived, but the rescue had been logged and the phone was ringing. The caller on the other end of the line was apologetic, saying he’d rung in only moments earlier, but the tourist had made a mistake. What he thought was a person was actually a huge log that had been washed up in the waves, wrapped in some sort of material. I hurried after Joe.’ Pete was trembling, his face pained. ‘You’ve got to believe me, I didn’t mean for it to happen…’ His voice was earnest.
‘Didn’t mean for what to happen?’ pushed Verity.
‘When I arrived at the jetty, there was pandemonium, a crowd huddled together, screaming and shouting. I waded through the people to get a closer look and saw someone had thrown a life ring in, but it was too late. Joe’s body was being battered by the waves and was heading out to sea fast, taken by the rip current. I saw it in his hand…he was clutching my cap. The cap I wore every day without fail, come rain or shine. When I took off to try and stop Hetty from leaving, it must have dropped over the side of the jetty into the sea. He thought it was me in the water,’ Pete gasped on a sob. ‘My whole world was plunged into despair. Everything came crashing down around me. In the matter of an hour, I’d lost Joe and Hetty both, my best friend and the love of my life.’
Betty cupped her hand around Sam’s.
Tears were flooding Pete’s cheeks. ‘My hat lost him his life – and now I’ve just discovered that even though he thought I’d been the worst friend in the world, he still jumped into the water knowing he mightn’t survive the rip current. We were quick to get the boat launched but it was too late. When we pulled him from the sea, he was already gone.’
Sadness bled through the room. Everyone was hurting, each for a different reason.
Verity wrapped her arms around her. It was such a brutal catalogue of events that had led to the awful tragedy. She took in the despair and hurt in Pete’s and Betty’s eyes. They had both suffered from holding onto their parts of the jigsaw until now.
‘One day, I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me,’ Pete said to Sam as he mopped his brow with his handkerchief. Profound sadness and tiredness were engraved on his worn face. Verity hoped that Sam understood the depth of Pete’s pain, which had no doubt engulfed him every day since that catastrophic night.
Hopefully, now that the truth was out, the guilt and the black cloud that had hung over them all would finally begin to lift.
As they watched, Sam stood up and walked out of the cottage without saying a word.
Turning towards Pete, Betty urged, ‘Let him go and make sense of it all. He’ll be okay.’ She stood and opened her arms. ‘I think we both need a hug.’ Pete nodded and hugged Betty tight.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he whispered. ‘I should have told you.’
‘And I should have told you. I’m sorry, too.’
Verity watched with tears in her eyes as they parted. ‘Pete, when did you send the postcard?’ she asked.
Pete and Betty sat back down.
‘The next morning. I just wanted Hetty to come back. The night of the accident, I came over to your cottage.’ Pete looked at Betty. ‘You and your mum made me a drink and there was a moment when neither of you was in the room and I noticed your mum’s rental book on the dresser. Inside were Hetty’s personal details, including her home address, so I took a punt and quickly scribbled it down on a piece of paper. I honestly thought she would get in touch and come back if she heard about Joe’s death.’
‘I suppose we’ll never know whether she knew or not. All we know is that she chose to get married and have the baby,’ Verity added tentatively.
Pete nodded and turned towards her. ‘You have the same laugh. That’s why you took me by surprise, that day up on the cliff, when you laughed about the mooing puffins.’
