“I must have done. It’s just hard to keep track with me having so many boys.”
“You have five sons, right?”
“Yes. Jago lives in New York. Then Lowen’s over on Bryher. You’ve met the others; they all live on St Mary’s. Well, Trystan lives in London, really, but he’s here a lot.”
“Does Lowen come over to St Mary’s much?” Beth asked.
“Not if he can help it,” Mirren said on a sigh. “Just for special occasions these days.” After pulling her cardigan on, she picked up her handbag and the flapjack. “You two have a lovely day. If any of the guests from the cottages come up for anything, tell them to call me or point them towards Trystan or Noah. I won’t be late, but don’t wait for me for dinner if I’m not back. Just sort yourselves out.”
“We will. Have a nice time.”
She waved at Ellie as she backed out of the door.
“What are we going to do today, Mummy?”
“What would you like to do?”
“Go on the train.”
She shook her head as she chuckled. “We can’t go on the train every day.”
“Kit said I’m very important, remember? And he said I can go on the train with him whenever I want.”
“Not every day though. It’s not fair on the other people who want to ride. I think we’ll go to the beach today.”
“Can we ask Trystan to build sandcastles with us again?”
“He has to work today, but I’m sure he’ll build one with you another day.”
After spending a couple of hours at the beach, they walked into Hugh Town for lunch in a cafe.
They hadn’t been back at the house for long when Beth’s mobile rang, vibrating around the patio table. If it was another unknown number she was ignoring it. Her heart rate increased when she saw it was a call from her dad’s care home.
“Is everything all right?” she asked after the manager greeted her.
“Yes,” Maureen said brightly. “Geoff’s very well. I just wanted to check in with you as you’ve not been to visit for a while.”
“I sent an email,” she said, with the vague feeling that she’d done something wrong. “About extending my holiday. I got a reply to say it was fine …”
“We got the email. Of course it’s fine. Are you still away?”
“Yes.” Beth’s chest felt suddenly tight. When she’d decided to stay away for longer, she hadn’t given her dad much thought. She tended to visit him once a week, sometimes every two weeks. Since he never had any clue who she was or why she was sitting there chatting to him, she didn’t really think it made any difference whether she visited or not. Her mum had always let her off the hook, telling her she needn’t bother.
“We might be away until school starts again. I’m not quite sure of our plans yet.”
“Oh,” Maureen said flatly.
“We’re just on the Isles of Scilly,” Beth told her, feeling suddenly guilty. “If there was anything urgent I could get back quickly.”
“Right. That’s good to know. I’m sure everything will be fine until you’re home again. Did you get the invitation to the family day? Our little summer fete?”
“No.” Presumably they sent it to the house, which reminded Beth that she needed to ask Dee to go around and check through the post.
“It’s a week on Sunday. If you did end up being home by then, it would be great if you and your daughter could make it. The residents get such a boost from being around family.”
Beth pursed her lips, not sure if that was entirely true since her dad wasn’t even aware shewasfamily. “Ellie doesn’t like to visit,” she said. It was a strange atmosphere and Beth could understand why she didn’t like it.
“There’ll be games and face painting for the kids. It’ll be a lovely, joyful event.”