Page 25 of One Day and Forever
‘I actually think it might have been the other way round. Were you Mum’s only friend called Alice?’
She flicked back through the Rolodex of her memory. ‘Yes, as far as I know.’
Something in his mannerisms told her he’d just made a decision, and he placed a pretty notelet down in front of her, the kind she and Morag used back in those days to write letters. He turned it around, and in an almost synchronised movement, both she and Val got their specs out, slipped them on and then leaned forward and began to read.
Dear Alice,
I’ve been trying to write this note to you for the longest time, but I never seem to manage it. I don’t know where tostart, so I’ll just begin by saying I’m so, so sorry. When I explain what happened, I’ll understand if you never forgive me. I didn’t mean?—
She read it again, stunned, before sitting back in her chair. ‘It just finishes there? Without any explanation? What was she sorry for?’
‘I was hoping that you could tell me,’ he said earnestly. ‘And there’s another puzzle too.’ He glanced around the room again, before reaching back into his inside pocket and pulling out a strip of photo booth images. ‘I wondered if you could help me understand something else.’
13
ZAC
Zac couldn’t believe he was sharing these photos and asking these questions of a woman who, just a few hours ago, was a complete stranger. However, the lawyer in him knew that none of this was adding up, and that he might not have another chance to get information from someone who knew his mum back then. Of course, he could ask his dad, but there was a serious niggle that if this was all something completely irrelevant and just a weird mistake, then all he would be doing was upsetting his dad for absolutely no reason.
Besides, he believed this woman when she said she’d been his mum’s best friend, and that was backed up by the obvious evidence that Morag had been agonising over making an apology for some unknown wrongdoing.
‘My cousin, Jill, found a box of Mum’s old letters and mementoes – that’s where I found the note I showed you – and these photos were inside too. It’s pics of my mum and dad and I know it was on their first date.’
He placed them on the table, turned them around, and then watched as the two women leaned in a second time to study what he was showing them. They’d struck out on the letter. He wasn’tsure if he wanted them to be more successful this time. Maybe he should just let mysteries from the past stay back where they belonged.
The lady, Alice, stared down at them and to his surprise a single tear dropped onto the table, barely missing the old black and white prints. Her friend, Val, pulled a hanky out from up her sleeve and handed it over, something he remembered his mum doing so many times when he was a kid.
Alice blew her nose, and a couple of people at nearby tables glanced over, then went back to their conversations. People were starting to drift out now, and the rest of his family were sitting at the furthest table in the other corner of the restaurant, with some women he recognised as Aunt Audrey’s closest friends. They were all far too engrossed in their own conversations to notice where he was, and if they did, they would just assume he was being sociable and making sure that someone from the family spoke to everyone who was kind enough to give up their time to be here.
‘I’m sorry,’ Alice said, dabbing her tears away with the hanky. ‘It’s just so emotional because that’s exactly how I remember Morag. You can see how happy she was there – just pure sunshine. I loved her very much and I’m so sad that we missed so many milestones that we could have shared. I’m guessing you’re around the same age as my son…’
‘I was twenty-nine in October,’ he replied.
‘Rory is the same age. I was actually already pregnant with him when your mum left, but I didn’t know. When we were growing up, Morag and I would talk about how we would have children at the same time, bring them up together, go through life as friends until we were old and grey.’ She patted her hair, to make her point, before saying softly. ‘Well, I’m grey now. I just wish we’d managed to do that.’
Her reaction made Zac pause to wonder if he should say anything else. Right now, there was no harm done, no big mystery about his parents revealed. He could walk away now and let all this lie. But… What if he never saw this woman again? Then his chance to get to the bottom of this without risking upsetting his dad would be gone. He put one foot out over the edge of the cliff.
‘How long, exactly, had they been together before they left?’ he asked.
Alice thought about that for a moment.
‘I’m not sure. Your mum’s birthday was early January, and I remember that year we went to London with some friends. Your dad wasn’t with us, so they must have got together sometime after that, and then they left in the spring. Or maybe it was summer. I’m sure your dad will know for sure. They hit it off from the moment they met and were absolutely besotted with each other. I suppose that showed in the fact that Morag left her job after no time at all and went off to Ireland with him.’
‘You’re not wrong. My whole life they’ve been devoted to each other. I was lucky.’
Alice reached over and put her hand on his. ‘You definitely were. She was a good woman.’
A voice in his head was saying,Stop there. Just stop. Leave this alone. He was considering that when he heard himself say as casually as he could manage, ‘Was she seeing anyone else before she met Dad?’
If Alice thought that was a strange question, she didn’t show it as she pondered for a few seconds.
‘No. Not for a long time. She had a huge crush on one of the partners in our office, and she said no one else matched up, and she was going to hold out for him. But then she met your dad and well… He obviously blew the other chap out of the water.’
‘Son, I think the answer to the question you asked earlier is right here.’ The interruption came from Val. He’d been so busy concentrating on his questions and Alice’s answers that he hadn’t noticed she had picked the photo strip up. Now she’d turned it over, and was reading the scribble on the back.
9 March 1995 – Our first date!
‘Yes, I just…’ How could he say this in a way that didn’t imply that he was questioning something he’d thought to be true his whole life. He took a breath. ‘I just wasn’t sure if that was a mistake, and I thought you might know?’
