‘Wow, you’re not wrong!’ William studied the collection of old sepia photos, taking in every detail and turning each one over to read the descriptions on the back. ‘It’s like another world! The splendour of the old colonial days, hey? It all looks so tropical and luxurious. Look at the gardens!’
‘I know, it’s amazing,’ Annabel agreed, picking up the Templeton family photo in front of the beautiful black and white villa. Even though the old photo lacked any colour, the lushness of the garden was clear to see.
William read the back of another photo, a picture of Dotty’s parents dressed in their evening finery, standing in front of a Christmas tree. ‘“Raffles Hotel, 1938”, it says. It’s crazy to think that war was just around the corner, but they look like they didn’t have a care in the world!’ He shook his head, marvelling at the pictures.
‘How blissfully unaware they were of what was to come.’ Annabel mused. ‘Everyone thought Singapore was undefeatable, but how wrong they were!’
William arched a quizzical eyebrow. ‘You’re going to have to remind me what happened, Dr Penrose. We mere mortalsdon’t have quite the same capacity for nerdy military trivia as you history buffs!’
She scoffed at her brother’s teasing, knowing he meant no harm by it.
‘Well, Churchill and co. knew that the Japanese had their eye on Singapore; its position made it too useful an opportunity to miss. But they were expecting a naval attack. They pointed their cannons out to sea and were surprised to find out that the Japanese were actually advancing down the Malayan Peninsula instead. It was rough terrain, but the enemy had been trained in jungle warfare so were ready for it. It was a swift, surprise attack and it completely overwhelmed the Allies. They outnumbered the invaders by about three to one, but in just a couple of months the Brits were forced to surrender.’
William nodded slowly. ‘But Dotty and her family must have moved back home again when the war started?’ he asked. ‘I remember her telling us about wartime London.’
‘Yes, I remember those stories, too,’ Annabel agreed.
‘Are these all the photos?’ William looked up and caught her eye.
‘Yes, the other envelopes just had letters in them.’ Annabel busied herself with putting the photos away again, feeling a pang of guilt at the white lie she had just told.
Safely tucked in her pocket was the one photograph that she wanted to keep secret for now, until she could figure out what it would mean to her family. It was Mrs Llewellyn on her wedding day. As an historian, Annabel knew all too well the importance of careful research and detailed fact-finding, and until she was sure of the story behind the photo, she was not going to share it with her family. She didn’t like keeping secrets fromher brother, but for the time being she felt an overwhelming need to keep the wedding photo and Ah Ling’s very first letter to herself.
The letter, hidden in her suitcase upstairs, was dated 1946 and seemed to be Ah Ling’s first contact since they had last seen each other several years earlier. How frustrating it was to only have one side of the conversation; she would have given anything to be able to read Dotty’s letters as well. Goodness only knew what her grandmother had written in her first letter, but Ah Ling’s reply referenced ‘the horrors of war’ and, several times, told Dotty how brave she had been. A spark of connection flickered here as Annabel remembered that somebody else had recently called Dotty brave. Who was it? She racked her tired brain but couldn’t remember.
‘Have you told Dad any of this?’ William’s question brought her back to the present.
‘No.’ Annabel shook her head. ‘Much as I would love to ask him about all this, he’s got enough to be getting on with, recovering from his operation, not to mention losing Dotty.’
William nodded. ‘Yes, that’s true. Probably best to see what else we can find out before telling him about it. Anyway, how are things with Luke? Has he been in touch?’
Annabel ran her hand through her hair. ‘Not really. He offered to come down if I needed him, but that was a couple of days ago and I haven’t spoken to him since. I’ve tried calling but seem to keep missing him. I’ve just had the occasional message.’ She sighed. ‘I really don’t know what’s going on or where we are. This time apart was meant to help us figure things out, to find out what we really wanted, but that’s all been pushed to one side, for me at least.’
Her phone buzzed.
‘Speak of the devil!’ She raised her eyebrows and picked up the phone, frowning as she read the text message aloud,
Heading up to Birmingham today for a new project, home at the weekend. Hope you’re OK. Lx
She sighed again. ‘See what I mean?’ Then she frowned. ‘And that’s weird, he said he was going to be busy on the Bristol project.’ She stood up and started to clear the table.
‘Hmm, yes,’ William replied, his own frown forming. ‘It’s pretty disappointing, to be honest. I’m sorry, sis. I thought better of Luke, that he’d be more of a support when you needed him.’
‘I’m tired of it, Will. It all just feels like an effort. Is this the beginning of the end?’ Her brother didn’t have an answer, but his warm hug made her feel a little better.
William stayed for the night and Annabel enjoyed having her brother all to herself. They laughed, they cried, they reminisced over happy memories and shared funny stories. Together, they made arrangements with the undertakers and discussed a provisional funeral date with Reverend Pascoe. And they paid their darling grandmother one final visit in the Chapel of Rest.
They also made a start on going through Dotty’s things; William focusing on categorising the contents of the garden sheds into ‘keep’, ‘recycle’ and ‘bin’, and Annabel going through boxes in the attic. She was itching to find further clues about Dotty’s time in Singapore; her secret life, as they now thought of it. But how secret had it actually been? Had their grandfather known about it? She went through the photo albums again, just in case Annabel had missed anything, and rifled through documents and papers in the study chest of drawers. But it was a fruitless search. The only evidence of Dotty Penrose’s life in Singaporehad been the letters and photographs in the locked drawer of the bureau.
It was a sad parting when it was time for William to leave. He enveloped his sister in his usual bear hug and promised he’d be back again soon. Annabel promised to do a bit more digging around Dotty’s letters and share her findings with her brother when she knew more.
The next day, she awoke feeling out of sorts with a gnawing sense of loss. She missed William and she missed Luke and, now that she was alone again, the absence of her grandmother felt even harder to bear. The grey, overcast sky matched her mood as she took Monty for an early-morning walk along the clifftop. The old dog seemed to sense her pain and stayed close to her, offering comfort as only a four-legged friend could.
Mid-morning, Annabel made a mug of coffee and took it through to the conservatory. She curled up in a comfortable armchair with her book, but after staring at the same page for several minutes, decided to call her father instead.
Noel answered after the third ring, but it took him a moment to realise that it was a video call and Annabel chuckled at the close-up view of his ear.
‘That’s better!’ She smiled, when his face finally appeared. Noel was propped up on a mountain of pillows on his bed at home in Portugal, resting his newly replaced hip. He looked tired, she thought, but that was hardly surprising having recently undergone major surgery. He felt so far away and she wished that she could give him a hug.
