Page 98 of The Missing Sister

‘What?!I can’t believe you were racing the Fastnet! That’s like, well, the ultimate sailing challenge, and means that you’re at the top of your game. Where I live in the Gibbston Valley, the lakes are where it’s at, so I took some lessons and loved it. Then during my gap year, I joined a crew and took sailing trips around the NZ coast. It was nothing like proper racing, of course – just for pleasure – but there’s just something about being out on the ocean, isn’t there?’

‘There is, yes. I’m impressed, Jack. There aren’t many people who even know what the Fastnet Race is! Sadly, that’s when I lost my fiancé. He was captaining our boat. We ran into stormy weather, and... well, he died trying to save the life of one of our crew.’

‘Christ, I’m so sorry, Ally. Actually, I think I may have read about the accident in a newspaper. They always say, don’t they, that what the sea gives, it takes away. And you sure lost a lot.’

‘Yes, I did, but at least...’ Ally was about to tell Jack about Bear, but something stopped her. ‘I’m recovering now.’

‘So, how long are you staying here?’

‘I don’t know yet,’ she hedged.

‘Well, if you’re around for a while, maybe we could head to Marseille and rent a boat for a day. I’ll be second mate and you can show me how it’s really done.’

‘That sounds appealing, although I doubt I’ll have time. I love the Med – it’s a breeze compared to the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic.’

‘So who’s at home in Geneva? Your mum, your sisters?’ he asked.

‘Ma’s still at home, but my sisters have flown the nest.’ Again, Ally purposely turned the conversation back to Jack. ‘Excuse me if I’m sounding nosy, but why do you think your parents adopted your sister ten years after you? I mean... had they always planned to adopt, or was it some other reason?’

‘I’m not sure, to be honest. Y’know what parents are like with their kids – they don’t go into detail. I was only ten and didn’t ask. The way I remember it is, one day I came home from school and there was Mary-Kate in my mum’s arms, with my dad looking on. He was completely besotted with her actually. In those early years it used to tick me off, t’be honest.’

‘Being an only child for a long time and then suddenly being presented with a new baby sister must have been tough.’

‘Yeah, too right,’ Jack grinned. ‘Suddenly I wasn’t the centre of attention anymore. But once I turned eighteen, I went off to uni and got over myself. In retrospect, it was a good thing. I was probably a spoilt brat when I was growing up, and gave my sis a bit of a hard time, y’know? Teasing her and stuff. Mary-Kate’s great these days and we get on really well, and Dad’s death has defo brought us closer.’

Coffee arrived, which Ally drank, along with a large glass of water from the stoneware jug on the table.

‘Try a little Beaumes-de-Venise? It’s local nectar in a glass, literally,’ Jack asked as he lifted up his own.

‘No thanks. I’ve already drunk far more than I normally do.’

‘I’ve drunk far more than I normally do every night since I arrived!’ He laughed. ‘Wine here is simply part of the daily menu. They even make my dad look sober, and he drank a bottle of wine a day. Just out of interest, how have you ended up in Norway?’

‘As a matter of fact, I was adopted too. I traced my birth family to Norway, which is why I moved there. My birth mum is dead, but I live with my twin brother Thom. My biological dad, Felix – who would think all this alcohol was paradise – lives just up the hill from us in Bergen.’

‘D’you think it’s a good idea? I mean, to pursue your birth family? My sis told me over the phone recently that she’d had a couple of girls turn up on her doorstep, saying there might be some connection to their family. I don’t know the details, but I just wonder what you think?’

Ally swallowed and wished shehadtaken a glass of the dessert wine. Having thought she’d have to prise information out of this man, it all seemed to be coming up more or less naturally in the conversation.

‘To be honest, I don’t think I ever considered it until Pa died,’ said Ally. ‘He was... well, he was just enough, if you know what I mean. For me, anyway. In answer to your question, finding my birth family was fantastic, but then again, I’d lost the two loves of my life within a few months of each other, so to find I had a brother and a biological father – no matter how much of a soak he is – was wonderful.’

‘Well, maybe now Dad’s gone and Mary-Kate seems to have been contacted by these girls, she’ll look into her birth family too. I hope she’s as lucky as you.’

‘So she doesn’t know who her birth parents were?’

‘No,’ Jack shrugged. ‘As I can’t remember Mum and Dad going far to get her or anything, it must have been a local adoption.’ He took a swig of his dessert wine. ‘Wow, this is some conversation we’re having, Ally. I hope I haven’t said anything to upset you.’

‘Not at all. Sometimes it’s easier to talk with strangers about these things than it is to talk to the people you love, isn’t it?’

‘True, though I hope you won’t be a stranger over the next couple of days. It’s been good to talk to someone in English for a change,’ he grinned. ‘So, are you off house-hunting tomorrow?’

‘I’ve written down the names of someimmobiliersthat are very good,’ Ginette piped up in French as she poured them both more coffee. ‘I’ll go to the kitchen and get them.’

‘Actually, I’m tired from my drive today, so I think I’ll be heading for my bed now anyway.’ Ally stood up, feeling her breasts heavy with milk, ready for Bear’s night-time feed. ‘Goodnight, Jack, it’s been a pleasure to meet you.’

‘And you, Ally. Hopefully I’ll see you around in the next couple o’days,’ he said as Ally followed Ginette into the kitchen.

‘À bientôt,’ she replied with a smile.