‘So,’ says Theo, lifting his glass. Tom is standing at the barbecue in the corner, a pair of tongs in his hand, which he raises instead of a glass. ‘To justice.’
‘To justice,’ they all echo.
‘And to the future,’ says Lorna, and Jen strokes her bump, reaching for Theo’s hand.
Yesterday they found out that Victor’s trial, which had gone on for weeks, had finally come to an end. Victor refused to plead guilty to murder; his plea of manslaughter was turned down. So a trial went ahead and he was found guilty of the murder of Caroline Carmichael, as well as sexual offences against the women in his folder. Twenty different women. He’ll be sentenced next month. Lorna knows Theo has never gone to visit him and she won’t either. She has no interest in getting to know her so-called father.
There was never enough evidence to charge Victor with Rose’s murder. Lorna’s heart feels heavy when she thinks of Daphne, lying in her care-home bed, admitting to what she had done. It was the first time she really felt the woman she had always thought of as her mother was telling the truth. Neither she nor Saffy told the police about Daphne’s confession. Maybe they would have if Victor had ever been charged.
She died a few days later. Pneumonia. Saffy took her death a lot harder than Lorna did. Saffy had found it in her giant heart to forgive Daphne but Lorna is unsure if she ever can. Daphne robbed Lorna of her real mother, a mother she can barely remember, and that breaks her heart.
It’s still a blank – what she must have gone through after the real Rose suddenly disappeared. She hopes Felicity will be able to unlock some of the memories, however painful. When did she start calling Daphne ‘Mum’？ She must have cried for her real mother. She must have felt abandoned and confused, and she can never forgive Daphne for that. Even if Daphne did dedicate her life to looking after her. The betrayal is something she’ll never get over.
She downs her Pimm’s and goes into the kitchen to get some water. She can’t drink too much: she’s driving home after this. She wanders across the kitchen – it’s been transformed: beautiful Shaker-style units in a pale grey with white stone worktops. She knows Saffy feels guilty – she often says that this house is truly Lorna’s. But Lorna is happy for Saffy to have it. She’s content in her apartment overlooking the sea. She’s found work as a manager of a local boutique hotel in Bristol and has made some new friends. When Daphne died Lorna inherited the rest of her money – there was more than she’d thought. Money she’d obviously taken from Rose by pretending to be her. It had been enough for her to buy the apartment outright.
After Victor’s arrest Lorna did wonder if Saffy wanted to stay at Skelton Place. But her daughter said she felt close to Rose, living there. And to honour her she planted a rose bush at the end of their garden. It’s started to grow nicely – the top has reached the stone wall.
‘Are you okay, Mum?’ Saffy appears beside her, Freya on her hip sucking the ear of a plastic giraffe. When she sees Lorna she reaches out her chubby little arms and Lorna gladly takes her, enjoying the warmth of her granddaughter’s little body against hers. ‘You seem a bit … wistful today.’
Lorna pulls funny faces at Freya, then turns back to her daughter. ‘I’m just thinking about everything, that’s all.’
Saffy walks over to the big American-style fridge to fill Lorna’s glass with water. ‘Why don’t you stay tonight? You can have Freya’s room and she can sleep with us. Theo and Jen are staying.’
‘I know, but … I’m going to read the letter tonight. I think it’s time, don’t you? I’ve been putting it off for long enough.’
Saffy smiles sympathetically and nods. ‘There’s something I need to tell you about that,’ she says, looking sheepish.
The letter. She’d kept it in a drawer, unable to face reading it. She knows it will be upsetting, but now she feels ready.