Page 25 of The Last Love Song
‘No, thank you. I only have a few minutes,’ Sorcha replied brusquely.
‘I’ll be in the kitchen if you change your mind.’
As Helen reached the bottom step, Betty turned and walked down the hall. Sorcha watched her, waiting for the click of the kitchen door. Helen saw she was pale, but perfectly composed.
‘Hello, Helen. I came to say goodbye.’
‘Oh, I—’
‘I came to thank you for telling my father where I was yesterday.’
‘I...I was worried. The storm, I...’
‘Don’t waste your breath on lies, Helen. You knew where my father would find me. You wanted him to.’
‘No. I—’
‘Con and I are leaving for England today.’ Helen said nothing. ‘I just wanted to ask you why, that’s all. You gave your word you wouldn’t tell.’ Helen found she could not speak. Eventually, Sorcha gave a small smile. ‘You expected my father to find me in the hut, then take me home and ban me from ever seeing Con Daly. And like a good little girl, I’d settle down again in Ballymore, Con would disappear and I’d have lost my chance of escape, and Con too. That’s what you planned, isn’t it now?’
Helen stared guiltily past Sorcha at the man stood behind her.
‘And what you have succeeded in doing is the opposite. My father refuses to let me ever set foot in his house again. So I say thank you. What you did has made it impossible for me to stay. Con and Ihaveto leave.’
Helen had nothing to say.
‘Maybe it’s good there’ll be a sea between us, Helen. I knew you were jealous, but I didn’t know you hated me so much. I shall try and forgive you, because you deserve pity. You may have lots of money but you don’t have a single friend. I hope I never lay eyes on you for as long as I live.’
‘I...’ Helen tried to retort but nothing came out. A large tear plopped onto her cheek.
Con moved closer to the open doorway.
‘Sorcha, we must go,’ he said softly.
‘Yes, I’ve said what I came to say.’ Sorcha turned and walked towards Con, then she turned back to Helen. ‘Well, you’ve succeeded in one thing. Now I have no family either, just like you. But I do have Con, and he loves me. I doubt you’ll ever know how that feels. Goodbye, Helen.’ Sorcha turned on herheel, and began to storm away from the McCarthy manor. When Con did not immediately follow, she whipped around to observe the pair sharing a protracted, lingering look. Helen was staring at Con with intensity, and Sorcha noted her shifting uncomfortably from side to side. ‘Con! It’s no good intimidating her. Let’s go.’
Helen shut the door, then immediately turned and ran upstairs to her bedroom. She threw herself on the bed and sobbed.
‘It’s so unfair, it’s so unfair,’ she repeated over and over. Eventually she stood up and dried her eyes, the sting of Sorcha’s words still burning in her mind. Why did she feel like the villain? Sorcha and her friends had been just as cruel to her over the years.
She opened the top drawer of her bedside cabinet and took out the freshly opened bank account book. Sitting down on her bed, she studied the amount that had been deposited only yesterday. She brushed her hand across the figure written in ink.
This was the only legacy from her parents. Her life had to change. And if no one would help her change it, she would have to find the courage and the strength to change it by herself.
Twenty-four hours later, Sorcha was standing looking over the railing at the fast-disappearing coastline of her native land. Con’s arms were wrapped around her, sheltering her from the strong sea breeze. He turned her in towards him.
‘Well, Sorcha-porcha, we’ve gone and done it. Scared?’
She looked up at him, his face dim in the approaching dusk. ‘A little.’
‘Me too.’ He pulled her close. ‘But we have each other, whatever we have to face. And that’s all that matters.’
‘Yes.’
Con looked over her head and whispered a silent goodbye.
‘I promise you one thing. The next time I return home, the whole country will know I’m coming.’
Two months later, another figure stood in almost exactly the same spot on the deck of the boat. Up for a breath of fresh air from her stuffy cabin, Helen refused to let herself shed a tear.
