Page 80 of A Summer Scandal

‘And they’re still there after all this time?’

‘No,’ Vi said. ‘I have them now.’

‘Oh,’ he whispered, his hands gripping the railings.

Violet reached inside her bag and eased the black canister out carefully. ‘They’re here,’ she said. ‘I’d like to scatter them tonight, Barty. Will you do it with me?’

‘Child,’ he breathed, staring at the ashes as if they were pure gold. ‘Wouldn’t your mother wish to be here?’

Vi shook her head. ‘She loved her mum, but out of respect for my Grandpa Henry she just can’t bring herself to come here. She doesn’t think her mum would want to leave Swallow Beach.’

Henry nodded, his usually playful eyes sombre. ‘May I hold her?’

Violet’s heart broke a little for him as she passed him the simple canister. He clasped it to him in both hands, and then closed his eyes and pulled in a deep, shuddering breath.

‘My Monica,’ he said, stepping back to lean against the birdcage for support. ‘My darling girl, I’m so sorry.’

Vi gave him some privacy, taking a couple of steps away along the railings, staring out over the starlit sea. It really was the most magical spot, like standing at the end of an ocean liner out on the ocean.

After a few minutes Barty moved alongside her again.

‘Tell me something about her,’ she said quietly.

Barty looked at her. ‘I stood here with her, many times, on almost exactly this very spot.’ Vi could understand why; it was like the edge of the world, away from prying eyes. ‘You look so like her tonight, you took my breath away. She would have been so terribly proud of you, darling. I am, too.’

‘Thank you,’ Vi said.

‘But you’re different too, Violet,’ he said. ‘You’re stronger, and I think that you’re wiser than she was, or than I was,’ he said. ‘Love makes you do irrational things sometimes.’

Violet couldn’t argue there.

‘She was wilful, and as spirited as a child who knew no better.’ He laughed softly. ‘I’ve seen her turn cartwheels along the length of this walkway.’

Barty nodded as Vi looked along the walkway. It was barely three feet wide and about forty foot long.

‘All the way from one end to the other, laughing as she went, her dark hair tumbling around her face.’

It was such a vivid picture that it brought tears to Violet’s eyes.

‘We weren’t allowed to be in love,’ he said, his eyes on the sea. ‘But I loved her all the same, and I like to think she loved me too.’

Vi laid a hand over Barty’s on the railings. ‘I know she did,’ she said. ‘I’ve read her diary, Barty. I wanted to get to know her better, so I read it, and the one thing that I can say for certain is that she loved you.’

Barty pulled his handkerchief out and dabbed his eyes. ‘Did she hate me in the end?

Oh God, this was so hideously difficult. Violet was torn between respecting her grandfather, honouring her grandmother, and not breaking Barty’s already battered heart.

‘No, I don’t think she hated you for even a second. She … she was drinking before she came here alone that night.’ Barty’s hand stole into hers on the rails. ‘I don’t think she intended to take her life at all, Barty. I think it was a horrible, tragic accident.’

Barty slumped heavily, using the rails to stay on his feet.

‘I always thought it was my fault,’ he said. ‘My punishment.’

She put her arm around him, and after a few moments, he straightened, drying his face again.

‘Thank you, Violet,’ he said. ‘Thank you.’

She held the canister in her hands. ‘Shall we?’

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