Maddie silently padded up the carpeted stairs in her stockinged feet and went straight to her room. She hung Greg’s coat on a hook on the bathroom door to dry, then started to run a hot shower, but just as she turned back to the bedroom, she noticed an envelope on the dressing table with ‘Maddie’ on the front.
Another letter from Olive.
My darling girl,
I hope that you are reading this and smiling and laughing! And I hope you are about to have a lovely evening… no morbid readings! My parting gift to you. (Do you like the room? Stan and I used to stay here from time to time.) Enjoy life, Maddie. I hope the key to Maris Cottage is also the key to finding some of your heart’s desires.
Love,
Olive x
Afterwards, as she sat at the small dressing table to dry her hair and put on some make-up, Maddie felt a renewed vigour, a new sense of purpose. What was the key to her heart? Well, maybe now was her chance to find out, starting with a new adventure at Maris Cottage.
*
‘Maddie, my darling, are you feeling better? You look…’ Pearl stood slightly back, taking in Maddie’s dress and silver shawl. ‘Lovely. Anyway, my goodness, I just couldn’t believe it when I heard you’d fallen right out of the boat!’ Pearl was holding on to Maddie’s forearm with one hand and clutching a glass of Prosecco with the other. Maddie could see, amplified through Pearl’s glasses, the lines by her eyes, the way her eyeshadow had been applied a little too thick, the clumps of mascara. Pearl smiled at Maddie. ‘But then you rose from the sea, Martin said, like a mermaid and onto that chap’s windsurfer! Bloody good job he was there!’
‘Not quite a mermaid, Pearl, I think more like a drowned funeral guest!’ Maddie laughed with the older woman and took a sip of her drink. ‘No, wait—’
‘It’s not a funeral, it’s a celebration of life,’ they both chorused.
The brandy warmed her throat. Martin, the captain, was at the bar when she went up, and had insisted he buy her one after her shock. He’d said he felt responsible for the accident and kept coming up to her every few minutes to see if she was all right, patting her on the arm and handing her another brandy.
Olive had arranged for the reception to be in one of the private rooms of the hotel. It had a small bar at one end with oak beams and low lights, and a tartan carpet and open fire made it warm and welcoming, the smell of wood smoke and slightly stale alcohol in the air, like any old bar. It was packed with the noise and chatter of about forty people. Maddie didn’t know many of them, though she recognised Clare from the care home, Julian the hairdresser, and a few others.
Next to the bar a buffet had been set up. There were small crust-less sandwiches on silver plates, sausage rolls, sausages on sticks and a cheese board. Maddie could almost hear Olive as she cast her eye over the spread of food. Nothing fussy, nothing worse than chatting whilst your teeth are fighting with a beef sandwich. Keep it simple, that’s what I want!
She wasn’t used to brandy, but it felt good as she took another sip. She could feel the power of it as it as it reached her empty stomach, like a warm blanket radiating heat. She wandered over to the window seat and sank down onto the soft cushions in the bay window and looked out to the coastline, flicking her hair off her shoulders. Her dress was a flimsy chiffon and she pulled the shawl around her, aware that her underwear was rather more on show than normal as the dress wasn’t really her size.
The rain had stopped and a weak, wintry sun had emerged, brightening up the sky. Maddie looked out to the still-choppy waters as her heart did a little somersault. Thank God Greg had been there. She didn’t really want to think about what might have happened otherwise. A rainbow started to shimmer in the distance where the bay swept round the headland. She leant back into the soft cushions and finished her drink, feeling the heat rise up her cheeks.
*
Pearl was giving a speech. Maddie was standing with her back to the fire and had lost count of how many drinks she’d had. She listened to Pearl recalling Olive’s life, mentions