Secrets in Pelican Crossing (Pelican Crossing #2)

Twenty-one

Tilly was waiting at the gate to the marina, tall for her age with the same unruly dark hair as Liz and Julie, wearing a pair of knee-length dungarees and a grey tee-shirt. She was leaning against the gate, a sulky expression marring her pretty face.

Liz’s heart sank. She recognised that expression. It was one she’d often seen on Mandy’s face when she was in her teens and had been forced to do something against her will. Tilly didn’t want to be here.

‘Tilly, this is Liz, your…’

‘I know who she is.’ Tilly avoided looking at Liz.

‘Hello, Tilly,’ Liz said. ‘I’m so pleased to meet you. Your mum and I have had a nice chat and…’

But Tilly had turned away, deliberately ignoring both Liz and Julie. She stared out across the marina where the lines of yachts and motor cruisers gleamed in the sunlight, and kicked the ground with the toe of her black high-top sneakers.

Undaunted, Liz walked across to stand beside Tilly. ‘It’s a lovely marina, isn’t it?’ she said chattily, as if the girl hadn’t been rude. ‘I never get tired of looking at it and watching the boats come and go. It’s even prettier at night when some of them are lit up. I’d never lived by the ocean till we moved to Pelican Crossing when I wasn’t much older than you are. Now, I wouldn’t live anywhere else.’

Slowly Tilly turned to look at her, and Liz caught her breath. She could have been looking at herself at fifteen. How could fate have made Julie and Tilly in her likeness, with even the same green eyes, while Tara and Mandy bore only a fleeting resemblance ?

‘We have the same hair,’ Tilly said. ‘Are you really my grandmother?’

‘I am.’ Liz wanted to cry and hug her all at the same time. Here was the grandchild she’d hoped for, dreamt about. But instead of meeting her as a tiny baby in her mother’s arms, this granddaughter was a teenager with all the angst that entailed. She searched around for something to say, something that wouldn’t arouse conflict. ‘Are you hungry?’ she asked.

‘Everywhere’s closed,’ Tilly said, turning away again as if that ended the conversation.

‘Not everywhere,’ Liz said, glad her local knowledge could be of some use. She knew the pizzeria close to Books and Coffee was open every day, including public holidays. ‘Do you like pizza?’

‘I suppose.’

Julie threw Liz a grateful glance.

Twenty minutes later, they were sitting on benches at one of the tables by the beach, two pizza boxes open in front of them with takeaway coffees for Liz and Julie and a can of Coke for Tilly. The pizza and Coke seemed to have calmed Tilly who had lost her sulky expression.

‘Did you really have Mum when you were only fifteen?’ Tilly pushed away the last piece of pizza.

‘I did. I thought I was grown up, made some unwise decisions and didn’t consider the consequences of my actions. And I didn’t learn. I became pregnant with Tara at nineteen, but by then I was old enough to know the score. Tommy loved me and was in it for the long haul… or so I thought. But we were together for over twenty years. It’s more than many couples.’

‘Tara… she’s…?’

‘My oldest… sorry,’ Liz sent Julie an apologetic glance. ‘Tara is one of my other daughters. She’s thirty, and Mandy’s twenty-four.’

‘They’re my…?’ Tilly sounded as if she was trying to work out the relationships.

‘They’re your aunts.’

‘Wow! Do they know about Mum and me?’

‘Not yet.’

‘Do they live here too?’

‘Yes. They’re not here now. They’ve gone away for Easter. Tara’s married and Mandy is with her boyfriend. ’

Tilly didn’t speak for several minutes, then asked, ‘Why didn’t you look for us?’

Liz couldn’t answer. How could she describe the tears she’d shed, the nights she’d lain awake, the promises she’d made to God if only she could see her baby? Then, as she grew older reality set in. She’d come to realise her parents had allowed her to grow up, to make a life for herself. And she’d learned it was well-nigh impossible for a birth mother to find her adopted child. As soon as she could, she’d added her name to the contact register in the hope her daughter would contact her and now, all those years later, she had.

Julie understood. ‘Liz wouldn’t have been able to,’ she said. ‘She had to wait till I contacted her. It’s the way the law works.’

‘Then the law’s not fair!’

‘It’s designed to protect both parties,’ Liz said. ‘I agree it may not seem fair, but what if your mum hadn’t known she was adopted, and I had contacted her out of the blue? Can you imagine how she might have felt?’

‘And remember how long it’s taken me to decide to contact Liz,’ Julie said.

‘It might be nice to have a grandmother… and two aunts,’ Tilly said thoughtfully.

‘And a great-grandmother,’ Julie said. ‘Liz’s mother is still alive.’

Tilly stared at Liz. ‘She must be very old.’

Liz chuckled. ‘Don’t let her hear you say that. She’s a lively seventy-five and enjoys many of the activities in her retirement village.’

‘Can we meet her?’

Julie looked at Liz too.

Liz hedged. They couldn’t just turn up. ‘I’d have to check with Mum first,’ she said. ‘I was planning to visit her on Sunday, for Easter.’ How was she going to tell Joan that her illegitimate daughter was in town… with her daughter.

‘I think we’ve taken up enough of your time for today,’ Julie said, rising. ‘It’s been lovely meeting you, learning more about what happened all those years ago, about your family. Tilly and I need to…’

‘Of course. How long will you be in Pelican Crossing?’

‘We’ve booked the motel for two weeks, till Tilly has to go back to school. ’

At the mention of school, Tilly’s sullen expression re-emerged.

‘Why don’t you both come to lunch tomorrow, then maybe we can go to the beach?’ Liz said, her eyes moving from Julie to Tilly and back again.

‘Tilly?’ Julie asked.

‘Okay.’

‘Good. I’ll look forward to seeing you then.’ Unsure what to do, Liz went with her gut instinct and hugged them both, Julie returning her hug, while Tilly froze. It would take more than pizza and Coke to win over her granddaughter, but Liz enjoyed a challenge.