Page 134 of A Secret Cornish Wish
‘So, Eddie now owns all of his restaurant instead of paying rent on it,’ Mandy says. ‘You own the building your gallery is in, Frankie, and you, Mack, own the pub.’
Mack nods. ‘Rob gave me a great deal on the place. As always, he was very generous.’
‘Well, me and Suzy should be feeling left out,’ Mandy says, grinning. ‘We didn’t get anything! Nah, I’m kidding, of course. Rob made a very large donation to my favourite charity. He knew I didn’t need any of his money. And he said some very sweet things to me in his letter. I was quite touched by it.’
‘Actually,’ Suzy says, ‘Rob did help me out. David and I were offered money for our IVF from a benefactor who wanted to remain anonymous. I talked a lot at the time on various TV shows about my battles with infertility, so it wasn’t a secret by any means. But Rob told me in his letter – the mysterious benefactor was him. I have Rob to thank for my darling boys up there.’ Suzy looks up to the restaurant and waves to her family.
‘I think we should make a toast!’ Mack says, standing up. ‘To Rob.’
We all stand up with him.
‘To Rob,’ he says. ‘Our very famous, but alsoverygenerous, friend.’
‘To Rob,’ we all repeat, lifting our glasses, and we are silent for a few moments as we each remember him in our own way.
We all sit down again and I seize the opportunity to attempt to confirm some things that have been bothering me for the last few weeks.
‘Do you remember the first time we were all here like this?’ I ask. ‘The night we threw the barrel back in the waves and made our wishes.’
Everyone nods.
‘I’ve been wondering lately if what you actually wished for came true. I know some of you have mentioned it over the years. But maybe now is the time to say what we actually wished for that night?’
‘Oh, fun!’ Suzy says first. ‘All right, yes. I’ve sort of mentioned this a bit before, but my wish was to be more confident and make a change. I certainly did that after I sang that night with that girl, Marnie Morrissey. You remember, she was only in our school for one night, but she certainly changed my life. First I had my singing career – which definitely helped me to gain confidence in myself. But as a result of that I found another voice – my political voice, and I’ve definitely brought about change during my political career. So, yes, my wish really did come true.’ She looks across at Mandy. ‘Mandy, do you want to go next?’
‘All right, why not?’ Mandy says. ‘You all know mine already. I thought I’d wished not to have a sister. But at the time of throwing the barrel, not only did I wish I could live my life as my true self, which I’ve told you about before, but I also wished I could be rich and successful in life. And guess what – I’m both those things! I am definitely successful,’ she says without any embarrassment. ‘But, more importantly, I’m also very rich . . . in love.’ She lifts her glass up towards the restaurant and Jules. ‘So, like Suzy, it seems my wish, if you can call it that, did come true. More coincidence and a lot of hard work if you ask me, but I’ll go along with it, since it’s you lot.’ She winks.
‘But you said it was Rob’s first agent who set you on the path to becoming your true self, didn’t you?’ I ask. ‘What was her name again? Jenna?’
‘Yes,’ Mandy says, remembering. ‘Jenna Morgan. She was my first; I’d almost forgotten . . . ’
I tick the name off mentally in my mind.
Just as I thought, for Suzy, it was Marnie Morrissey who changed her life, and for Mandy it was Jenna Morgan. So far, so good – my theory is working out.
‘Claire?’ I ask. ‘You next?’
‘My wish as you all know was to get married, have a family and make people happy. I definitely, if disastrously, did the first one.’ She grimaces. ‘The second . . . well, I actually have two families now – my children and now Frankie and her family too.’ She smiles at me. ‘And the last . . . I think I do that with my therapy and counselling groups – people usually leave much happier than when they first arrive. But to make others happy, I didn’t realise I had to be happy myself. And I would never have achieved that if I hadn’t met Mandy’s aunt, Marilyn. Her help was invaluable in giving me the confidence to leave Jonathan and step out on my own. She really was my saviour.’
Mandy smiles. ‘It’s funny, I mentioned that to Marilyn once at a family event, and she didn’t recall meeting you the night of the funeral at all. She only remembers you turning up at her counselling group.’
Makes sense, I think to myself. Even though this was still so hard for me to believe, the evidence was all there and like a detective, as I piece each clue together, they are all fitting together perfectly – all except one.
‘I wonder if Marilyn remembers me?’ Eddie says. ‘She was the one who came to me that night and suggested I go to the estate agent the next morning. Not only did I decide to rent our little café that day, but I met Dexter there too.’
‘And was that your wish?’ Claire asks. I can see the others becoming more and more intrigued by this conversation as we go along.
‘Yes, exactly. I wished I could do lots of different things in my life – which I did. I wanted to have my own business.’ He gestures up towards the café. ‘And I wanted to be in love and – the big one – I wanted to get married. Remember, when I made that wish it was still impossible and illegal for gay couples to marry. I never thought it would actually come true, that’s why I wished it – to test the system, so to speak.’
‘It sounds like you were testing the mermaid, or maybe the myth?’ Mack says, smiling. ‘I’m glad it came true for you, Eddie.’
Eddie nods at Mack.
So that’s another, I think, piecing this together in my mind –Marilyn.
‘What is your aunt’s surname, Mandy?’ I ask. Forgetting that no one else knows why I need to know this.
‘Why?’ Mandy asks.
