The Tides of Time - Book 2, The Porth Kerensa Series

Chapter Eighteen

Annie sat in class and looked out at the playground. The sun was shining and the day looked warm but there was crispness in the breeze that meant coats at playtime. An October sharpness Ruth called it sometimes Annie thought with a secret smile. Max would be home from hospital in a month, Ruth had told them at breakfast that morning and the children cheered, for all of them missed their grandfather and his accident had heralded a particularly odd month in their lives.

   Annie hoped that things would calm down now Rory was dead.

   It was his funeral that morning but Annie had gone to school as if it was a normal day. She had not really known Rory Powell and she didn’t see the point in going to his funeral; Ruth had agreed. They had sat on Annie’s bed while Annie got ready for school and Ruth told her that none of them were going because they wanted too, but because they had to. Annie knew what she meant by that and she had not asked for an explanation. Sometimes things didn’t need to be said.

   For now Vanessa and the children were living in the big house and the bungalow was for sale but Nessa was planning to stay in the village and she talked in a livelier voice than Annie had ever heard from her, about her plans for the future and she had hugged Annie and promised she would be the first overnight guest when they bought a new house.

   They were burying Rory today like Annie had buried Selina. They were doing the right thing. And then they would get on with life because that’s what you do.

Jace and Jessie walked down the cliff path behind Vanessa and Ruth on their way to Rory’s funeral. Vanessa walked steadily and with her head held high and Jace had to admire her for that. Jessie held his hand tightly and he smiled down at her and kissed her hand tenderly. He didn’t want to go to the funeral of the man who had hurt Jessie, but she needed to go and she needed him with her. Jace would go with her and watch the curtain draw on the final act and then he would take her back to the pub and make a new life with her and Kia together.

   He had a family now and he was the happiest man in the world. He was in the village he loved with the woman he had adored all of his life and their beautiful daughter, doing what he loved doing. He needed nothing more in his life now.

   He was complete.

Tom Powell stood at the front of the church with his wife, daughter-in-law and his grandchildren. The expensive coffin Edith had insisted on seemed much smaller than he thought it should have been and it was all he could think about as he studied it. Surely Rory had been a bigger man than that Tom thought puzzled but then he hadn’t known anything about the man his son had grown into.

   He glanced down at Stuart who stood holding his hand and he smiled up at his granddad. Stuart had stayed with Tom and Edith a lot in the week since Rory’s’ death and Tom was pleased for it was what Edith needed. He admired how unselfish of Vanessa it was to share the children with them when Rory had wronged them so badly. She could have kept the children away but she hadn’t and she had phoned them every day since the awful news of their son had broken.

   Tom had put the surgery up for sale and he would leave it six weeks after the new practise doctors took over. The patients had been nothing but supportive and Tom had had nothing but good wishes from them but he was tired now. He was fifty-eight, he was weary and there was no heart in the place now his son had gone. He would sell up and he and Edith would love their three grandchildren and live peacefully beside the ocean that had taken their son.

Ruth’s mind was not on Rory even though her eyes were fixed on his coffin. Lee had phoned her from Australia that morning and told her that he and Colette were moving in together and preparing for the baby that would be born in June 2001. His voice was happy but there was flatness in it that Ruth could not describe. She hoped that he would heal in the sun and be happy with Colette and his child. He had saved Jessie and now it was time for him to move on. Ruth hoped he was making the right move.