Page 23 of Wishes & Waves at the Cornish Bakery
Standing up, Liz reached across the counter, picked up a pair of glasses from the top of a pile of paperwork and went to hand them to her husband.
‘Thanks.’ Slipping the glasses on his nose, Mo held up the photo and studied it while Liz leaned her hand on his shoulder and peered at it too.
‘Do you remember, Mo?’
Glancing up from the photo, Mo pointed towards Tilly. ‘You look like her, don’t you?’
Tilly nodded. ‘That’s what people say.’
‘And she can’t tell you his name?’ Mo looked over his glasses at her.
‘She lost her mum too.’ Isaac spoke quietly as he found Tilly’s hand beneath the table and squeezed.
Shifting in her chair, Tilly squeezed his hand back, grateful he’d answered for her.
‘Ah, now that’s bad luck.’ Mo turned back to the photo and blinked. ‘Yes, I do recognise him. The other lads used to call him Lockie on account of the mop of hair on his head. I couldn’t tell you his real name, though, I’m afraid.’
‘Lockie?’ Tilly smiled. It might not be his real name, but it was the most she’d ever known about him.
‘That’s right. Lockie, short for Goldilocks.’ Liz grinned. ‘I remember that now. Like I said, lovely lad. Always smiling and joking around.’
‘Can you tell us anything else about him?’ Isaac asked.
‘He lived up in the bay. Up the hill, didn’t he, Mo?’ Liz rubbed her husband’s shoulder.
‘That’s right. He was a couple of years ahead of our boy, Johnathon. Don’t think they really knew each other, though. Not sure if he lived in the bay permanently. Don’t think he did. It was in all the papers when he passed away, it was. It shook the bay.’ Mo ran his hand over his face.
When Tilly spoke, she could hear that her voice was thick with emotion. ‘He lived up the hill? Does his family still live here?’
‘I don’t know, love. I’m sorry. That’s all we have. It was a long time ago, and like I said, we have people coming and going all the time, taking farmhand jobs in the summer. Some return, most go off to uni or the big city, or elsewhere to find jobs. I’m sorry.’ Mo passed Isaac the photo. ‘I really am. Wish I could tell you more.’
‘Me too, love. We’ll ask around, though, won’t we, Mo? We can call our boy, and some of the older farmworkers. You never know. Leave us your phone number and we’ll see what we can do.’ After patting Mo’s shoulder, Liz picked up his plate and carried it to the sink before looking over her shoulder. ‘Ask around in the bay, too, love. As Mo said, the accident was tragic and shook the village. Someone will know how you can get in contact with his family.’
‘Thank you.’ Pushing her chair back, Tilly went to pick up her plate before realising her hand was shaking.
‘I’ll take that.’ Isaac nodded towards her plate and handed her the photo before stacking his and hers and carrying them to Liz. ‘Thank you for your help and for the breakfast.’
‘Yes, thank you.’ Tilly slipped the photo away and tucked her chair under the table. ‘I really appreciate it.’
‘No problem. We’ll ask around and let you know if we hear anything back.’ Liz smiled sadly.
‘Thanks.’ Pulling open the door, Tilly stepped out into the farmyard, the hens clucking around her ankles as soon as her trainers touched the ground. She didn’t know what to think. Her mind was whirring. They hadn’t been able to tell her much, but what they had was beginning to paint a picture in her mind of the sort of man her father had been.
Chapter Sixteen
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Pulling the farmhouse door to, Isaac then jogged to catch her up. ‘What are you thinking?’
Tilly shrugged as she took his hand. ‘I don’t know, to be honest. It was lovely to hear what they had to say about him. I feel as though I’ve never been closer to knowing him. Which is great, obviously, but...’
‘But?’
‘I still want to find out more. I want to know his real name, know if he, I, have family around here.’ Lifting their hands together, she wiped her hair from her face. She’d never dared to think she might find her dad’s family. She’d always assumed he’d come to Penworth Bay to visit, to work on the farm during a gap year or something, but Mo and Liz had suggested he may have been a local lad, not that they’d been sure but they had mentioned the house at the top of the hill. ‘I might have family around here. I might have family I didn’t know about.’
‘You might.’ Isaac nodded. ‘With any luck, we’ll be able to make contact with someone from his family.’
‘Yes.’ Tilly halted just before the gate out of the farmyard. Did she want that? She’d spent her whole life - well, all she could remember of it at least - with it just being her and her aunt. What if she did have family here? ‘I never even dreamed about meeting any family. Of course, as a child, I’d let myself daydream and pretend my parents had left me with my aunt to pursue dream careers abroad or something and one day they’d come back for me, but that was just me being a kid, you know?To actually think I might really have living relatives...’ She let her voice trail off.
