‘How far along is she?’
‘A little over five months. The baby’s due on 9 July.’
‘Does she know what she’s having?’
‘She does, but she’s keeping it quiet – wants her parents to hear it first.’
I was conscious I’d been gone for longer than five minutes and, even though we rarely had a rush at this time of day, it wasn’t fair to leave all the cleaning to the small team after the hectic day we’d had.
‘I’ve got to get back to work,’ I said, rising once more. ‘I do believe you but I’m sure you’ll forgive me for struggling to believe anything that comes out of Leanne’s mouth.’
Krystal stood up too. ‘You’ve got my number if you have any questions or if you want to speak to Leanne directly. Oh! I probably should have said that this isn’t about money. Leanne just wants to reconnect with her parents and hopefully get them back in her life so they can have a relationship with their grandchild.’
‘Leave it with me. Like I said before, I’m not promising anything.’
‘I appreciate you hearing me out.’ She nodded towards the sea. ‘Beautiful place you’ve settled. I especially love the lighthouse. I always think there’s something magical about lighthouses, guiding the lost to safety. Godwas my lighthouse, guiding me towards Suffolk and Benedict. Whatever yours was, I’m glad it guided you here. I see a contentment in you I never saw in London. Take care, Tamara.’
With a smile, she headed towards the zigzag down to the seafront, leaving me blinking back tears and swallowing the lump in my throat. She couldn’t have known about the relevance of lighthouses to me because I’d never shared it with Leanne.
I took her contact details out of my pocket and looked at them again. They were staying near Claybridge – a market town about half an hour’s drive away – so at least I wasn’t in danger of bumping into Leanne every time I ventured out. But even two hours away would have been too close for comfort for me. I would let Mum and Dad know what I’d learned but I’d make it clear that Leanne’s pregnancy made no difference to me. I still wanted nothing to do with her. Ever.
34
TARA
Jed and I went to Pilates as usual on Tuesday evening and he came back to The Chocolate Pot afterwards where I told him all about my visit from Krystal.
‘Do you think your mum and dad will want to see Leanne now?’ he asked.
‘It’ll be the excuse Mum’s been looking for and I don’t think Dad’ll be able to resist the lure of a grandchild. Lure. Listen to me! I just don’t believe her, Jed. Or maybe it’s her intentions I don’t believe. Not about money? With Leanne, it’salwaysabout money and what better way to turn the money tap back on than to produce a baby?’
‘You think she got pregnant deliberately?’
‘I wouldn’t put it past her.’
‘When will you tell them?’
‘I’m going to see if they can come tomorrow before The Friendship Pod starts.’
I wanted to give them the news in person and I’d have skipped Pilates tonight but they’d been invited to the opening night of a new restaurant in Whitby and hadbeen so looking forward to it. It was probably a blessing as it gave me time to take the emotion out of the news and prepare myself to respond calmly when they decided to meet her, which they absolutely would want to do.
It wasn’t ideal timing for me having that conversation tomorrow, but Jed and Carly would both be at The Friendship Pod and we’d also enlisted Skye from Bay Trade because we’d reverted to the original plan of Jed leading an art class. Jed’s dad had enjoyed taking Aaron to swimming club last Wednesday, helped by bumping into an old friend whose granddaughter attended. They’d sat together in the viewing gallery having a good old chat so he’d offered to do every Wednesday to see Aaron’s progress and catch up with his friend.
After Jed left for the evening, I went online and did some more digging into Krystal. I found a website devoted to her story – a more detailed version of what she’d shared with me earlier. She was now a yoga instructor who worked in various projects supporting adults with addiction issues by getting them to embrace a healthier lifestyle and the great outdoors. An area of land on her smallholding included allotments where they could grow their own food and learn about living off the land. She organised beach cleans and walks for various levels of fitness, ran yoga classes and generally lived a wholesome, healthy lifestyle. Her website made it clear that, while God guided her, she never pushed her beliefs onto others. If someone was curious, she was open to questions and conversations, but conversion was not why she did what she did – it was because she wanted to help others through offering understanding, empathy and support from a place of personal experience.
The more I read, the more I liked Krystal and, if things had been different, we might even be friends. I still didn’t trust Leanne. If Krystal had stayed in touch with her for all these years –or even if they’d reconnected several years back – I might feel differently, but her coming back into Krystal’s life recently felt a little too convenient and my gut told me it was another con. I hoped for my parents’ sake that I was wrong but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t.
‘I can’t believe they’re not here yet,’ I said to Carly as she helped me in the kitchen while Jed and Skye set up the drawing materials upstairs. I’d asked them to come for six o’clock and it was now gone half past.
‘I’d suggest stuck in traffic but not at this time. Car trouble perhaps?’
‘At this rate I’m going to have to dump them upstairs, drop the bombshell and come straight down.’
I hadn’t given them any indication of what I wanted to talk to them about, but they had known the timings were tight. Five minutes later, they finally arrived full of apologies. As they had to pass through Little Sandby en route to the café, they’d decided to leave a little earlier and stop by Whispering Winds to drink in the views. Once there, they’d got carried away with renovation plans and completely lost track of time.
I led them upstairs and straight into the lounge.
‘You look stressed,’ Mum said. ‘I know we’re late and that’s really bad of us when you have something on tonight. We don’t mind relaxing up here while you run your event and we can talk afterwards.’
