‘Mum!’
‘Please, darling! Let me have a little time with my daughter. Alone.’
They stared at one another. Orla could feel her heart hammering at the intensity of the moment. Part of her was furious with her mother for what she’d done to Luke, but the expression on her face was more than she could bear.
‘Let me text him at least,’ Orla said.
Her mother shook her head and, with one slow, purposeful move, she took the phone from Orla’s hand.
‘Not yet.’
Orla was instantly transported back to when she was in recovery, when she was at her weakest, her most helpless, and when her mother had done everything for her. She’d trusted her. She’d had to trust her. And she did so again now, letting her take her phone from her.
‘Okay,’ she said in a small voice.
‘Good,’ her mother said. ‘Now, I’m going to make you breakfast.’
August trumpeted its arrival with a heatwave. Emerald lawns crisped to brown, field fires broke out and the ice cream aisles in the supermarkets were wiped out. Slowly, Orla was getting back to her old routine. Or rather her new old routine – the one she’d happily fallen into since Luke had encouraged her to get out more. Not only did she walk to the beach these days, but she walked across fields and little pockets of woods that surrounded Lorford which she’d never walked to before. She walked right through the market square, passing all the red-brick cottages with their pretty gardens. She sat by the quay, watching the tourist boats coming and going and the play of light across the estuary. She even ventured into the village shop, filling a basket with local produce. Orla Kendrick was now a familiar figure in the village.
Curiously, her mother, who had now been at the castle for a whole two weeks, didn’t look happy with this new Orla.
‘Where are you going?’ Bernadette would ask her every time Orla made for the door.
‘Just out.’
‘Where out?’
‘For a walk. To the beach, probably, but maybe across the fields. Would you like to come?’
Her mother never did. ‘I’ll just tidy up around here.’
‘It’s a really lovely day,’ Orla would say. But her mother never joined her. It was a strange business and Orla was thinking about it as she arrived back from a walk around the village with One Ear. Like her, the dog was making lots of new friends and Orla couldn’t imagine not being a part of the village. She knew so many people and had found that the dog-walking community was particularly friendly.
‘Ah, there you are,’ Bernadette said as Orla entered the kitchen to give One Ear his breakfast. ‘I’ve been worrying about you.’
‘I told you where I was going,’ Orla said. ‘You knew I wouldn’t be long.’
‘Where did you go?’
‘Just down to the quay. You should have come with us. It looked so beautiful today.’
Her mother approached her. ‘You’re wearing sunscreen, aren’t you?’
‘Of course.’
‘You must look after your skin.’
‘I know.’
‘Let me look at you.’
‘Mum, my skin is fine.’
‘Are you still using all the special creams?’
‘Yes, of course.’
Her mother sighed. ‘I don’t like you going out.’
‘You could have come with us. I only went through the village. Everyone’s so friendly. Luke helped me to realise that.’
Orla saw her mother flinch at the mention of his name.
‘You shouldn’t take any more risks than you have to.’
‘I know, and I don’t. Why do you think I didn’t go anywhere other than the beach for two years?’ Orla sighed. How could her mother not understand that she was doing her very best to recover and lead a normal life, even after the recent upset with Brandon?
‘I don’t understand why you bought this great fortress of a home if you were going to leave it.’
Orla stared at her mother in disbelief. ‘But I’m not leaving it. I’m only walking around the village.’
Bernadette didn’t look happy. It was as if she wanted Orla to lock herself away from the world for ever like some fairy-tale princess.
‘It’s not been easy for me, going out,’ Orla confessed. ‘It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, especially since . . .’ She paused, finding it hard to even speak his name. ‘Since he came here.’
‘Luke!’ Her mother spat the name out.
‘No!’ Orla said in horror. ‘Brandon! Luke helped me! I don’t know what you’ve got against Luke. He’s been nothing but kind and good to me.’
‘He put you in danger.’
‘I’m always going to be in danger. We all are! Anyone who is around other people is in danger. If there’s one lesson I’ve learned from all this, it’s that we can’t control anything in this world. But we can control our response to it.’
Bernadette was shaking her head again, her lips pursed so tightly they’d almost disappeared completely.
‘I don’t want you going out again, Orla. I don’t want you taking unnecessary risks.’
Orla took a moment to process this, not quite believing what her mother had said.
‘What?’
‘You heard me. You’re not to go out again.’
‘Are you being serious?’
‘I’ve never been more serious. And you should start by getting rid of that ridiculous dog. Fancy getting lumbered with a beast like that! Heaven only knows what he costs to feed. If you didn’t have him, you wouldn’t need to go out at all. And I could come and stay more often. Take care of you, like I did after the attack.’
Orla’s mouth dropped open. She was finding it hard to breathe as realisation dawned.
‘You actually like me when I’m helpless, don’t you?’ she said. ‘Trapped in a hospital bed or locked away in my room when I’m terrified. You like knowing where I am every second of the day.’
‘Well, of course I do! I nearly lost you, didn’t I? Did you know what that was like for me – to see you in that state? My own flesh and blood. Only you were more blood than flesh, Orla! Oh, God! I can hardly bear to
