Page 250 of The Missing Sister

‘Where is Merry now?’

‘Jack said she was staying in Ireland to spend some time with her family.’

‘So she is still down in West Cork?’

‘No, I’m pretty sure she travelled back to Dublin with Jack and Mary-Kate, but we can ask them. She has a godfather there apparently, called Ambrose.’

‘Right, then I must sort this out before it’s too late. Excuse me, Ally.’ Ally watched as Georg marched out of the salon.

‘More wine? Or maybe an Irish coffee to finish? I bet it’s a long time since you had one of those,’ Peter said to me across the table.

‘It was, at least up until a few days ago when I treated myself and the kids to one down in West Cork. Anyway, the answer is sadly no; I’ve drunk far more than is good for me, especially at lunchtime. I’ll end up sleeping the afternoon away.’

‘Well, it’s not every day you meet a long-lost love again after thirty-seven years, is it?’

‘No,’ I smiled.

‘It’s been so wonderful to see you again, Merry, even though I was dreading it.’

‘That makes two of us, but yes, it’s been wonderful. Now I really must go, Peter. It’s half past three already and I have to get myself back to Dublin.’

‘You can’t stay on another night?’

‘No, I promised Ambrose I’d be back, and given that he’s paranoid I may suddenly disappear again, I must. I wasn’t even intending on staying this long.’

‘He knows where you’ve been?’

‘Of course. It was him I asked to try and help trace you after I could find no records of you in Ireland, England or Canada. He suggested he contact an old student of his who works in the records office at Trinity, to see if you still had a subscription forTrinity Today, the university alumni magazine. He took a look at the records of subscribers and there you were, with an address in Belfast!’

‘Full marks to Ambrose for excellent sleuthing,’ said Peter as he signalled for the bill. ‘It’s a real shame you can’t stay longer, as I’d love to have shown you around more of the city. Everything you remember from your TV screen in the seventies and eighties is not how it is now. It’s beginning to thrive, and once the Titanic Quarter is completed, Belfast really will be a destination city.’

‘I’m so happy it will be, and that old wounds are beginning to be mended,’ I replied, as I took out my wallet and offered Peter a credit card. ‘Let’s go dutch?’

‘Don’t be silly, Merry. I’ve waited a very, very long time to take you out for lunch – besides, you put the whiskeys and my coffee and croissant on your hotel bill this morning.’

I agreed, and ten minutes later, we left the restaurant and wandered past the great mass of St Anne’s Cathedral.

‘It’s very impressive,’ I commented. ‘What is that long steel pipe coming out of the top?’

‘That was installed only last year, and it’s called the Spire of Hope. It’s illuminated at night, and actually, I love it, and what it stands for. Merry?’

‘Yes?’

‘I... I mean, obviously it’s up to you, but I’d love to see you again before you go back to New Zealand. Today has just been, well, fantastic. It was so good to laugh like we used to.’

‘It was, yes. As I said, I have no real fixed plans yet and I’m still getting over the loss of Jock, so...’

‘I understand,’ he said as we entered the hotel. ‘But this time, we’ll take out our mobiles, swap numbers and emails and addresses, then double-check we both have them written in correctly, deal?’

‘Deal,’ I smiled as I walked over to the porter’s desk and handed in my left luggage tag.

While we waited for them to retrieve my holdall, we did exactly as he’d suggested.

‘Do you need a taxi, madam?’ asked the porter.

‘I do, yes please.’

Peter and I followed the porter back down the steps outside, and watched as he whistled to attract a cab’s attention.