Page 60 of The Women at Ocean's End

‘Oh, dear, I must have fallen asleep, you should have woken me. Are you here long?’ Constance said, stirring in her seat, and for a moment Ros wondered if perhaps she should have brought out an extra blanket to tuck around her and stave off any rogue breezes or chills.

‘Not long,’ Ros lied. She had found it strangely comforting, just sitting here next to Constance as she slept. ‘They say an afternoon nap is good for you.’

‘In that case, perhaps they’ve got it wrong and I’ll live to a hundred at this rate,’ Constance cackled.

‘Let’s hope so,’ Ros said softly. Now that she was awake, Constance seemed so much brighter today. Ros knew that had to do with Heather, who had decided to stay on the island. She was full of plans to buy a cottage and help out with the Maggie Macken estate for now. Of course, Ros suspected that her only plan was to help out with Constance. She would need help, near the end. The thought of her being here alone was unbearable. Heather wouldn’t be getting paid, but that didn’t seem to bother her too much. Well for some, although Ros couldn’t feel envious. She liked Heather too much to feel anything other than happy that life seemed to be panning out well for her. It was good news for Constance too. Heather would keep a good eye on her. With that thought, Heather arrived out and plopped down next to them.

Ros told them about the email confirming Shane McPherson’s arrival on the island the following week.

‘The hunk?’ Heather giggled.

‘I think I’ve gone off him a bit now,’ Ros said and she was surprised to find that was true.

‘Well, he’ll have his work cut out for him to do half the job you have over the last few months.’

‘Ah, thanks, Constance.’ She was so sweet, but Shane knew the job inside out, he’d probably wipe her eye ten times over in his first week.

‘Finbar says he knows someone with a flat over in Ballycove. They might let it out to you for the winter months, just to get you started. It’s over the bakery, at the very top, but you’d have fresh coffee and scones every morning. He says he’ll ask if you’d like him to, but it probably won’t come up for about a month, not until the holiday season is over anyway.’ Heather was trying to make things easy.

‘But you’re not going to stay there with that auld yoke in the cottage for a full month, are you?’ Constance asked.

‘I’d rather not, actually I was thinking that if you didn’t mind…’ Ros said a little sheepishly. She’d miss having a place to call her own, but she adored Constance; living at Ocean’s End would be like sharing with a favourite grandmother. It’d also be a chance to make the most of the time left to Constance and, perhaps, she could be of some help about the place. ‘I could take the back room, give it a good airing and…’

‘What about the cottage, in the kitchen garden, Constance?’ Heather tilted her head to the side. ‘I mean, I know we’d have to do a bit of cleaning up on it, but it’s in good nick, even if it’s a bit dated. There’s water piped in from the house and I’m sure we could run electricity into it until we get an electrician in to look at the old wiring.’ She stalled for a moment, perhaps fearing she’d overstepped the mark. ‘I mean, if that was something that you both thought could work?’

‘Oh, that’s such a lovely offer,’ Ros gasped. ‘I mean, I couldn’t possibly, it’s much too generous.’ It was the answer to her prayers, but then she realised she couldn’t just say yes, what about Heather? ‘Surely you’d like to stay there yourself, Heather, after all, you have the history with it?’ Ros said, although she’d love it. The cottage was such a quaint place and she could really imagine it being very homely. There was everything she’d need, a main room that was kitchen and sitting room combined with a stove at its centre, a bathroom, two tiny bedrooms and gorgeous cast-iron beds, which looked as if they could be as comfortable as anything if they were given a good airing.

‘Ah no, I’m very happy where I am and I’m settled in, you know, hat on a hook and all that…’ Heather said softly, but Ros saw how she looked at Constance and it confirmed for her that Heather just wanted to be on hand to help out if she could.

‘I’d love to have you. Imposition my eye, sure, this place is crying out for people. Heather’s right, I can’t quite believe it, butthe cottage is in great shape, well, apart from needing a bit of a scrubbing and a good freshening up.’

‘Come on, Ros, you know you want to,’ Heather cajoled.

‘Well, that’s true, I really do want to. I’d love it, but still, it’s too much, too kind…’

‘Stop it, it’s a tiny house and you’d be doing me a favour,’ Constance said, folding her arms.

‘How’s that exactly?’ Ros felt her heart fill with even more love for Constance in that moment.

‘Well, at the moment, because no-one has lived in it, it might be considered derelict.’

‘It’s far from derelict and you know it,’ Ros said.

‘Maybe, but the fact that no-one has lived there in ages… well, you’d put a bit of life into it, wouldn’t you? If you did half as much to pull the place together as you have on the gardens around the house, I suspect I might be the one coming out with the better end of the bargain.’

‘She’s right,’ Heather said.

‘And you’d have a base, here on the island, you know, a reason to come back on your days off, I know you’d love that…’ Constance smiled at her and reached out and took her hand. ‘Say you will, it’d be good for everyone if you did.’

‘Oh, you had me at running water – of course I’d love to move into it.’ Ros reached across and threw her arms around Constance. She wanted to cry with happiness, but instead, she just hugged her so close that it felt as if they might never let each other go.

‘Right, well, I don’t know about you pair, but I think there’s a cottage in the garden that needs to be cleaned out and aired,’ Heather said eventually and handed a basin filled with washing-up liquid and bleach to Ros. ‘It won’t take as long as you think,’ she said to Constance, who looked fit to burst with happiness.

40

1981

Dotty

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