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‘Yes,’ said River quietly. He’d taken a back seat, letting Clara take the lead, but now he leaned forward. ‘My father saw you walking into the water.’
‘Geoffrey saw me?’ gasped Audrey. ‘That can’t be right.’
‘He was in the library, looking out of the window.’
‘No, no, no.’ Audrey was shaking her head. ‘That definitely couldn’t have happened. I timed my escape so that Geoffrey was in the dining room, having his evening meal with his father. Edwin insisted on it every night.’
‘That night my father wasn’t feeling well so he was excused to sit quietly and read a book. That’s when he saw you wading into the sea.’
‘I’m sorry. That was never the plan.’ Audrey’s face crumpled. ‘Poor Geoffrey.’
‘He’s all right,’ River assured her, but Clara knew that wasn’t really the truth. His father was an unemotional, lonely and unhappy man – but how much of that was due to seeing the stepmother he loved apparently drown herself would never be known.
Audrey sat quietly for a moment, composing herself. Then she said: ‘The sea was so cold that night, I thought I might drown. But I managed to swim to the headland, to where your grandfather was waiting for me in his boat, Clara. My rescue was a Netherway family affair and I will always be grateful to your family for saving my life.’
‘Where did you go?’ Clara asked, curious about what the last almost seven decades had been like for a woman with a new life and no past.
‘Here and there. I spent much of my life in rural parts of Ireland. I had no close family, so I was able to disappear.’
‘Did you marry again or have children?’
Pain flickered across Audrey’s face. ‘No. I was still married to Edwin, even if he didn’t know it.’
‘You survived,’ River interrupted, ‘but you left my father alone with an abusive man.’
There was no accusation in his voice but Clara had once known him so well she recognised anger in the tightening of his jaw.
Audrey turned to face him. ‘Edwin was abusive to me but I knew he’d never lay a finger on his son. He was proud of his boy and he loved him. If I’d taken Geoffrey with me, Edwin would never have stopped looking for us. And I couldn’t expect a young boy to walk into the sea with me that night when I didn’t know if I would live or die. I was right to leave him behind.’ She glanced up at River, fear in her eyes. ‘Wasn’t I? Edwin never harmed Geoffrey, did he?’
River shook his head. ‘As far as I’m aware, he never hurt Geoffrey physically.’
Emotionally, it was probably a different matter. But Clara was grateful that River didn’t elaborate because Audrey sighed with relief. ‘Does Geoffrey know that I’ve been found?’
‘No. We thought it best not to say anything, until we’d spoken to you.’
‘Then, I’d ask that you don’t tell him. It was all a long time ago and he has moved on. He doesn’t need me back in his life, stirring up the past.’
‘He might want to know,’ said River, but Audrey waved away his words.
‘I doubt it. You must care a great deal about your father because you’ve come to find me. But sometimes the best thing we can do for the ones we love is to protect them from the truth. Please promise me that you won’t say a word,’ she pleaded. ‘My life hasn’t been easy but I think I can finally put Audrey Brellasham to rest now I’ve told you what happened. I’m Violet Winter, who wants to live out her final days in peace.’
River looked at Clara, who nodded because they owed Audrey that at least. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘We won’t tell my father. You might be right that he’s better off not knowing.’
Audrey’s shoulders slumped and she folded her fingers around the diary in her lap. ‘Thank you.’
Her eyelids were fluttering as if she could hardly keep them open. The poor woman was exhausted after reliving so many painful memories, and Clara’s heart ached for her.
‘We’ll let you get some rest,’ she said, getting to her feet. Lunch was done in the next room and a couple of diners had just pushed open the door. ‘Thank you so much for seeing us and for sharing with us what happened. That can’t have been easy.’
‘Not easy, but necessary.’ Audrey gave a small smile. ‘Now you know that I didn’t perish in September 1957. I survived then and I’m surviving still, if that’s what sitting in front of a painted beach amounts to.’
‘Will you be all right? Would you like me to send someone in to be with you?’
‘No, thank you. I’ll just sit here quietly for a while.’
River and Clara had started walking away when Clara had a sudden thought and looked back. ‘Audrey…I’m so sorry. I have one more question. What happened to the diamond necklace that my grandmother was accused of stealing?’
Audrey didn’t look round. ‘I was wearing the necklace when I left but it was dragged from my neck by the current and the diamonds are now at the bottom of the ocean. Just as well, really.’
