Susannah wasn’t in the front room, nor was she up the stairs in her own bedroom. Emer heard footsteps on the floorboards. Susannah was above her, up in the eaves of the house, in Emer’s bedroom.
‘I’m so sorry about that,’ Emer apologised, rushing up into the bedroom.
Susannah was standing at the window, staring out at the golden trees.
‘No need to apologise for your visitor,’ she said stiffly. ‘I just wanted to look at the view from up here again.’ She turned and looked at Emer coolly. ‘This was our bedroom, mine and Kate’s.’
Emer took a breath. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Orla,’ she said, her voice trembling.
Susannah frowned at her. ‘Yes, why did you do that?’
‘It’s just it’s so raw for me,’ Emer said, fighting back the tears. ‘She only just died last month. It’s very hard to accept.’
‘I understand,’ Susannah said, her gaze softening as she put a chill hand on her arm. Emer could feel the bones in her thin fingers. ‘Really, I do.’
Emer felt overwhelmed by the older woman’s kindness. She hadn’t been expecting it. ‘I need to show you something I found,’ she said, going towards the bed and picking up the quilt.
Susannah frowned at her, looking puzzled.
‘Let me show you,’ Emer said, finding the hole and pushing her hand inside the quilt until she grabbed hold of the letters. She began to pull them out, one by one.
Susannah gasped as she recognised her own handwriting. ‘She must have been hiding them from him,’ she whispered to herself. ‘He wanted to read everything I sent her.’
Emer couldn’t imagine how awful it would be to have to hide your sister’s letters from your husband.
‘Oh, Katie.’ Susannah’s voice broke as she took the letters from Emer.
‘Would you like me to read them to you?’ Emer offered.
‘Have you read them already?’ The older woman looked at her, and Emer felt herself colouring.
‘Yes, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, but I just couldn’t help it.’
Susannah clutched the letters to her chest, and gave Emer a piercing look. ‘Then I guess all our secrets are out tonight,’ she said.
24
Susannah
May 1960
It took Susannah a moment to figure out where she was. The bed was harder than normal, the sheets stiff, and there it was – the familiar scent of soap and salt. She was home again. Back on Vinalhaven, in her mother’s house. They’d only arrived last night and already she ached to run away. She rolled over in her bed and looked at Ava, asleep in her sister’s bed beneath the pink and blue quilt. Kate was sharing their mother’s bed until tonight, when she and Matthew would be moving into the front room downstairs. While Ava had been upstairs last night, freshening up in the bathroom soon after they’d arrived, Kate had shown Susannah the newly decorated room.
‘We’ve got new drapes, do you like them? I think the yellow is so sunny, and the room gets the morning light. And Matthew’s father gave us the bed.’
Susannah sat down on the iron bedstead. She really didn’t like the thought of Matthew living in her old house with her mother and her sister, but what could she do about it? She had left, with no intention of returning.
‘I think it’s so great of him to move in with Mom,’ Kate said cheerfully. ‘It means I don’t have to worry about her on her own, all the way out here.’
If Ava had been nervous about meeting Susannah’s family, it hadn’t shown. She and Kate had got on from the first instant they had been introduced. Especially when Ava had shown such great interest in Kate’s wedding dress. Their mother had been a little more reserved, clearly not having expected Ava to be American Indian.
‘And where are you from, Ava?’ her mother had asked as they sat down to dinner.
‘The northwest,’ Ava said. ‘Place called Puget Sound.’
‘What’s it like?’ Kate asked her.
‘Not so different from here. Little islands and the sea. Though the skies feel bigger.’
‘And what are you studying at Harvard?’ Kate continued to gush. ‘Are you majoring in history, like Susie?’
‘No, I’m majoring in law,’ Ava said.
‘Oh boy,’ Kate enthused. ‘You must be even cleverer than Susie!’
‘And what does your father do?’ Susannah’s mother continued the interrogation.
‘He works in construction,’ Ava said, keeping her voice light, though Susannah sensed she wasn’t keen to talk about her parents. ‘This peach cobbler sure is the best one I ever ate,’ she said, changing the subject.
‘Well, thank you,’ Susannah’s mother said, looking pleased.
‘What kind of food are you having at the wedding?’ Susannah asked, continuing the food line of conversation and steering it away from Ava.
‘We’re doing a cold buffet. Matthew’s mom is coming over in the morning to help us make it. Can you and Ava help too?’
‘No problem,’ Ava said. ‘What do you need making?’
‘Chicken salad and dessert, so it’s simple enough,’ Kate said. ‘Mom has already made the cake.’
‘We just need to put it together,’ Susannah’s mother added.
‘I can’t believe it’s the eve of my wedding,’ Kate said, clasping her hands in excitement. ‘You are happy for me, aren’t you, Susie?’
Susannah felt Ava squeeze her hand in reassurance under cover of the dinner table. There was no point trying to stop Kate now. Her sister was besotted. The best Susannah could hope for was that she could somehow get along with Matthew, and that he would prove to be a good, kind husband to her sister.
‘Ava is so great,’ Kate enthused later that night as Susannah helped her set her hair for the next day. ‘I’m so glad you have a good friend now I’m getting married.’
‘You’re still my sister, Katie. Nothing changes with us.’
Kate gave her a serious look. ‘I’ll have to put my family first.’ She sighed, and looked at Susannah in the mirror. ‘When are you ever going to meet a nice boy? I
