Page 93 of Hidden Daughters

But when Grace emerged from the fitting room, Lottie found she did not need to fake her reaction. Boyd’s sister looked radiant in an off-white calf-length dress of satin. One shoulder was bare and the other had a diamanté strap. The waist wassimilarly adorned, though the sparkling belt was wider. The skirt rippled around her body like a stream in a breeze. She had let her hair down, and with her pale skin, she looked like a Greek goddess.

‘Wow!’ Lottie gasped. ‘My word, it’s beautiful.Youare beautiful.’

‘Really? You like it?’ Grace did a twirl, and Lottie grinned. She had never seen the young woman this happy. Then Grace’s face dropped. ‘You don’t really like it. I think you’re being insincere.’

‘God, Grace, no. I love it. Honestly. It’s fab on you.’ She turned to Ann. ‘It’s amazing. You are so talented.’

Ann blushed. ‘Ah, thank you. I love my work. I delight in transforming a bolt of material into a magical piece. And I agree. It looks fantastic on you, Grace. You bring the dress to life.’

‘Thank you. Now I’ll take it off and pay you what I owe. Then I need to go home to make the dinner.’

When the curtain dropped back and they were alone again, Lottie took Ann by the elbow and led her to the other end of the room.

‘What did you mean earlier? About Bryan?’

‘Oh, nothing. Don’t mind me. It was just gossip anyhow.’

‘I’d like to know. I don’t want Grace getting hurt.’

‘Grace is a beautiful, innocent human being. But we all get hurt. It’s called living life.’

She heard a touch of bitterness in Ann’s cadence. ‘Please tell me what you know.’

Ann leaned against a shelf holding bolts of material. ‘It’s nothing really. Just that he wasn’t nice as a youngster. That’s what I heard. He was even sent to Knockraw for a time.’

‘A lot of young men were sent to industrial schools through no fault of their own.’ Lottie felt like she was trotting out a well-worn phrase, she’d used it so often in the last few days.

‘From what I heard, it was his own fault.’

‘What did he do?’

Ann glanced towards the dressing room. ‘It’s only hearsay.’

‘Hearsay from whom?’

‘My husband.’

‘Is he the councillor?’

‘Yes, Denis Wilson.’

‘And he knows Bryan O’Shaughnessy?’

‘Everyone around here knows Bryan.’

‘So what did Bryan do?’

‘I’m not saying. You can find out from someone else. But it’s enough to know that what happened to his family was not nice. And now he has the farm and all that land.’

‘Sounds like sour grapes to me.’ Lottie said the words out loud without meaning to.

Ann pushed away from the shelving unit. It wobbled, but nothing fell from it. ‘I’ve said enough.’

‘I apologise. I was out of order. I’d like to know more.’

The fitting room curtain twitched. ‘I can’t talk now.’

‘I have your card. I’ll give you a call later.’

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