Secrets Between Sisters: The perfect heart-warming holiday read of 2018. Kate Thompson

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СКАЧАТЬ hope she’s not. I told her if she set foot on the beach that she was not to go beyond the slipway. Izzy? Isabella!’ The woman’s eyes scanned the shoreline, and then her hands flew to her neck and clasped at the pearls that encircled it. ‘Ohmigod. There are her sandals.’

      ‘Where?’

      ‘There, on the slipway. See? But where is Isabella?.’

      The tableau the three of them struck looked so much like something out of a Greek tragedy that Río felt like a deus ex machina as she stepped forward to the edge of the cliff.

      ‘It’s OK,’ she told them. ‘I know where she is.’ Raising a hand to her mouth and forming an ‘O’ with the tips of her thumb and middle finger, she blew robustly. Her second whistle drew a corresponding one from beyond the western headland, and within moments Finn was silhouetted against the skyline.

      ‘Finn!’ shouted Río. ‘Bring the girl back here. Her mammy wants her.’

      ‘Coming!’

      Twisting her hair into a knot, Río bent down to scoop up her espadrilles and her backpack, then proceeded down the cliff path towards where the gobsmacked trio of adults was standing. When she drew abreast with them, she slid off her sunglasses and gave them the benefit of her steely, green-grey gaze.

      ‘Hi,’ she said. ‘Your girl went off to have a look at the donkeys.’

      ‘Well, goodness!’ said a clearly discomfited Felicity. ‘She really shouldn’t have done that without asking me first! I emphatically told her not to go beyond the slipway’

      ‘Hey, Ma!’

      Turning, Río smiled at Finn as he approached the slipway. The sure-footed stride, the intelligent face, the lean-limbed grace – all these traits evoked the Celtic chieftain after whom he was named. And the liquorice smeared around his mouth only served to emphasise the lopsided beauty of his grin.

      Isabella was loping along beside him, gloriously dishevelled. Her blonde curls were tousled, her face was flushed, and her hot-pink pedal-pushers were covered in grass stains. Her mouth, like Finn’s, bore telltale traces of liquorice, and her smile was radiant.

      ‘Mummy!’ she cried, dancing over to where Felicity stood, still clasping her pearls as if they were rosary beads. ‘You should have seen the baby donkey! She was sooooooooo cute! And guess what we’ve called her? Pinkie!’

      ‘Hello? You called her that,’ said Finn.

      Felicity stepped onto the slipway, and looked pointedly at Isabella’s abandoned sandals. ‘Put your shoes back on, Isabella,’ she said. Then she turned to Río. The smile that she stapled onto her face made her look as if she were sucking on a lemon. ‘How do you do?’ she said. ‘I’m Felicity Bolger. This is my husband, Adair, and this is our architect, James McDermot.’

      ‘I’m Río,’ said Río. ‘And this is my son, Finn.’

      Felicity Bolger looked at Finn with ill-concealed distaste, then turned back to Isabella.

      ‘Can we get a donkey, Mummy?’ breezed Isabella, fastening her sandals. ‘We could keep it down here and Finn could look after it for me when we’re in town. Finn says donkey races are great craic. He says he could organise them and we could charge people money to come and watch and take bets on which donkey’s going to win. I had a go on Dorcas, and even though I fell off, Finn says I have quite a good seat and—’

      ‘Oh, do stop your chattering, Isabella, and concentrate on what you’re doing,’ snapped Felicity. ‘We’re going to be late for this reception.’

      Isabella gave her mother a mutinous look. ‘I don’t want to go to a stupid reception,’ she said. ‘I’d rather stay here and ride Dorcas.’

      There was an ominous silence. Then James cleared his throat, Adair whistled a bar of some random tune, and Felicity drew in a small, shuddery sigh.

      ‘All right, then!’ she said in a tremulous voice. ‘Stay here and ride Dorcas, if that’s what you want. I can’t bring you to the reception, anyway, looking the way you do. You can travel back with Daddy in James’s Jeep. I’m going on by myself. Give me the keys to the Merc, please, Adair.’

      ‘Felicity—’

      ‘Give me the keys.’

      Reaching into the pocket of his Barbour, Adair drew out a set of car keys and handed them over.

      Then, with a barely audible: ‘Thank you. Have fun …’ Felicity flicked back her frosted hair and fled without another word.

      Another silence fell, and then Adair Bolger said, ‘Go after her, darling.’

      ‘But, Daddy—’

      ‘Go on. I’ll join you in an hour.’

      ‘But—’

      ‘Please, sweet-cheeks. This reception means a lot to Mummy. It’ll be her first big social event in Coolnamara.’

      Isabella gazed after her mother, who was stumbling along the shore, looking wretched and unloved. Then she looked back at Finn, who had resumed his scrutiny of the rock pool.

      ‘Oh, all right,’ she said. She quickly finished fastening her sandals, then jumped off the slipway. ‘Mummy, Mummy!’ she called. ‘Hang on! I’m coming!’

      Felicity paused, drooped, then made a helpless gesture with her hands. ‘But your clothes…’

      ‘She can change in the hotel,’ replied Adair, quickly. ‘Run, Isabella.’

      Isabella ran. Halfway up the beach, she turned, and waved at Finn. ‘Next time I see her, she could be ready for racing!’ she called, before continuing on after her mother. ‘Mummy – wait up! Finn’s going to allow me to ride Pinkie when she’s old enough. Maybe I could get jodhpurs and proper riding boots? And a hard hat.’

      ‘Don’t be stupid, Isabella. You’re talking about riding a donkey, not a thoroughbred pony’

      ‘But it could be fun! Remember that film where…’

      Isabella’s voice grew reedier and reedier, and then mother and daughter disappeared along the path that led to Coral Cottage.

      ‘I think you said your name was Río?’ enquired lames, turning to Río with a polite smile. ‘Río… um …?’

      Río knew the architect was fishing for her surname, but she was damned if she’d volunteer it. ‘It’s short for Ríonach,’ she told him.

      ‘That’s an unusual name.’

      ‘It’s Irish; it means “queenly”.’

      ‘How fascinating. Well, nice to meet you, Río,’ said James.

      ‘Likewise,’ said Adair. Now that Río saw him up close, he didn’t look like a male model at all, she realised. There was something about him that was a bit rough around the edges, despite the country gent casuals. ‘Do you live locally?’ he asked her СКАЧАТЬ