Contents ( 71)
- THE
- DAUGHTER
- MICHELLE FRANCES
- PROLOGUE
- 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
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Five minutes later, they were walking back down the front steps.
‘So that’s that,’ said Iris. ‘At least we tried.’
Kate’s eyes gleamed. ‘It’s not over yet,’ she said.
‘What? But you heard him – he’s not allowed to say a sausage. Probably breaking the law.’
‘Yes, I heard him, but I also saw the way he was looking at you. You, Iris, are the key to this whole thing.’
‘What?’
‘I think you need to take him to dinner – I’ll pay – talk to him, get to know him a bit, see if you can—’
‘Are you pimping me out?’ exclaimed Iris indignantly.
Kate feigned shock. ‘What are you suggesting? I prefer, “using our persuasion tactics”.’
Iris held her gaze for a moment and then, head held high, began to walk back to the waiting taxi.
Smiling, Kate quickly followed then took Iris’s arm, gave it a squeeze. With Iris’s help, this might just work.
FIFTY-SIX
‘Now are you sure you’re happy with this?’ asked Kate. Iris was waiting outside the hotel for her taxi to take her to one of the island’s restaurants, where she had arranged to meet Errol for dinner after she’d called him that afternoon.
‘I’m a widow, he’s a widower, we’re both free to have dinner with whomever we want,’ said Iris.
‘You know I don’t mean that.’
‘I honestly don’t think that me buying him a plate of lobster is going to make him change his mind. He made it perfectly clear earlier he couldn’t say anything.’
‘Not lobster, Iris, you. It’s obvious he has a soft spot for you.’
‘Pah,’ said Iris, waving a hand dismissively.
‘Could you just try?’
‘I said I would, didn’t I?’
Magic drove up to the front of the hotel, jumped out and opened the back door of the cab. ‘Are you ready for your magical mystery tour?’
Iris climbed in and Magic shut the door. He looked at Kate in surprise.
‘You’re not coming?’
‘Not tonight, she’s not,’ said Iris.
Kate leaned down to the open window and kissed Iris on the cheek. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I’ll be waiting. Come and see me when you get back.’
Iris batted her away and Magic drove off. Kate watched the car go, and quietly crossed her fingers.
She had dinner alone in the hotel restaurant and then took a drink out to the pool area. Even at night, the temperature was in the high twenties, but the near-flat island meant there was always a cooling breeze.
Her phone beeped, and she looked to see if it was Iris, but it was Grace texting to say that there’d been a marked improvement in Arnie. Thank God, thought Kate, texting her back.
Afterwards, she sat there quiet and alone, listening to the waves end their journey on the beach. She wondered what Iris was doing right at that moment, what she was saying to Errol, what he was saying to her. She suddenly felt a desperate sense of panic, for although they’d casually asked Magic and one or two of the hotel staff what Errol was like, and they’d all glowed with respect when talking about him, she’d essentially sent Iris off alone with a strange man.