Chapters (50)
- Cover
- About the Book
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Also by Sandie Docker
- Book Club Questions
- Welcome to the Kookaburra Creek Café
- Prologue
- One
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Thank goodness for Mandy, who bent down and cleaned up the mess, as Nicole was unable to move.
‘I wasn’t expecting … I didn’t know … his son?’ She took a deep breath. ‘I don’t even know where to begin.’
‘Yeah. I shouldn’t have just turned up unannounced like this.’ He ran his hand through greying hair. ‘But as soon as I found out, I had to come. All these years I never knew he was alive.’
‘No, that’s fine,’ Nicole said. ‘I guess we need to have a long chat.’
‘I can come back when it’s more convenient.’
‘No. Stay. Please. Have something to eat. Once this is done we can sit down properly.’ She looked into his eyes – the same grey eyes as Charlie’s.
Danny came over and placed an arm around Nicole’s shoulder briefly. ‘Come and I’ll fetch you something off the barbie,’ he said.
‘Thanks. Oh …’ James turned back to Nicole. ‘Is Ivy here?’
‘Ivy?’
‘Ivy Wilson.’
Nicole and Mandy shared a glance.
‘Ivy was the woman who owned the cottage originally. But she’s been dead more than forty years.’
‘Oh.’ James looked surprised. ‘But you’ve been living here?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then I guess this is for you.’ He handed her an envelope. ‘Mr Dixon couriered this to me yesterday. It came with instructions for me to deliver it personally.’
Nicole looked down at the envelope.
Ivy Wilson
The Carved Shell Box
Wilson’s Rd
Rosella Cove
She looked up at him with wide eyes.
‘This is the only house on the road and I didn’t see a shell box out front.’ James shrugged. ‘So I came through the gate.’
‘No. The box is … We’ll talk about that too.’ She smiled.
James turned and followed Danny, refusing the beer on offer but taking a squash instead, and Mandy steered Nicole inside.
My sweet Ivy,
I hope this letter finds its way back to you. If it does, then it means the wrongs of the past have started their long journey towards redemption.
I’ve done what you asked of me. I’ve tried to make right. I’d let the whole thing go to pot after you passed – the cottage, the boatshed, myself. You’d have been pretty damn disappointed. But I never did touch the drink again. Not a drop. That’s one promise that didn’t take four decades to fulfil. I’ve done nothing to be proud of in my life, but I hope you’ll be proud of my final few breaths.