Page 42 of The Widow’s Irish Secret (Magnolia Manor #4)

All was quiet outside Orla O’Malley’s house when Tricia arrived in her car just before lunchtime the following day.

The campervan was parked just outside the front garden, looking equally deserted, except for a bike leaning against the side.

Tricia saw a curtain move in the little side window.

He had to be there. Her heart beating, she got out of the car and went to the side door and knocked.

There was a moment’s silence before the door slowly opened and Cillian peered out. ‘It’s you,’ he said.

‘Yes.’ Tricia looked at him for a moment, trying to gauge his mood.

But the hooded hazel eyes were bland and his mouth unsmiling, which unnerved her.

She knew she would have a hard job convincing him that she meant what she said and that from now on, she would take a step back from her family in his favour.

‘I went to see Sylvia last Sunday,’ she started. ‘And she gave me a roasting.’

‘About what?’

‘Can I come in?’ Tricia said. ‘I can’t tell you standing here outside your campervan.’

He opened the door wider and stepped aside. ‘Yes, of course. Please come in. I was making a cup of coffee. Would you like some?’

‘Yes, please.’ Tricia shivered slightly as she brushed past him into the van. Inside, there was a lovely smell of coffee and newly baked cinnamon buns that sat on a plate on the table by the window. There were also bits of paper and what looked like a chart on the table.

‘Please sit down and I’ll make more coffee,’ Cillian said. ‘I have this fancy espresso maker I bought just last week. I love a good cup of coffee as you know.’

‘I do.’ Tricia shot him a nervous smile, feeling somehow she was on trial. What she said next would decide their future – if they had one.

There was suddenly a noise from the back of the campervan.

Tricia gave a start as Ilse appeared through the bathroom door.

‘Hi, Tricia,’ Ilse said, looking as if she was just as surprised as Tricia but not in a pleasant way.

‘What are you doing here? We’re working, as you can see by what’s on the table. Winding up the project.’

‘Oh,’ Tricia said, still hovering by the door. ‘I didn’t know you were still working on it. I thought Cillian was here on his own. Do you want me to leave? I wouldn’t want to disturb you.’

Cillian shot Ilse a glance. ‘We had nearly finished. And Ilse was just about to leave, weren’t you?’

‘Not really, but…’ Ilse stopped. ‘I have feeling something is going on, so I’ll leave now.’

‘Tricia and I have to talk about something important,’ Cillian said. ‘But first we should ask how Sylvia is.’

‘Yes, of course,’ Ilse said, looking only slightly guilty. ‘How is she?’

‘She’s fully recovered and back home safe and sound,’ Tricia replied. ‘And you know what? She doesn’t give a hoot about Violet’s wedding dress. She said she never really did. Don’t know why you brought it up.’

‘I didn’t really,’ Ilse protested. ‘It just came up in conversation.’

‘Well, it wasn’t really the best thing to bring up, was it?’ Cillian remarked with a touch of irony.

‘I suppose not.’ Ilse looked a little sheepish. ‘Silly of me to mention it.’

‘I’m sure you didn’t mean any harm,’ Tricia soothed, feeling sorry for Ilse. ‘Sometimes we say things without thinking.’

‘Yes, that’s true,’ Ilse said. ‘It was an accident.’

‘Could happen to a bishop, as my mother used to say,’ Cillian quipped.

Ilse laughed, looking relieved. She picked up a bicycle helmet from one of the seats. ‘I’ll be off now. Give me a call if you need to discuss anything further, Cillian.’

Cillian nodded. ‘Grand. See you, Ilse. I’ll be in touch before you go back to Germany.’

‘Okay. Bye,’ Ilse said and left closing the door behind her.

‘She was annoyed,’ Tricia said. ‘I’m sorry if I interrupted your work.’

‘You didn’t. We had finished. After the trouble she caused with Sylvia, I don’t feel I want to spend much time with her.’

‘She didn’t mean any harm,’ Tricia said.

‘I know. In any case, our job is finished now and then the other team will take over.’

‘The other team?’ Tricia asked.

‘I’ll tell you the whole story. You deserve to know. Sit down.’ Cillian cleared a space on the seat by the table. ‘Wait, I’ll get the coffee. Do you want a bun?’

‘Weren’t they for you and Ilse?’ Tricia sat down.

‘Well, she isn’t here now, so go ahead. They’re from that amazing bakery in Dingle.’

‘I don’t mind having one, then.’ Tricia picked up a bun and nibbled at it while Cillian busied himself with the coffee machine.

‘So,’ he said as he placed a steaming cup in front of Tricia. ‘First about the project, then whatever you have come to say. Okay?’

Tricia nodded. ‘That’s fine.’

He sat down on the seat opposite her. ‘I’m sure you know all about it by now,’ Cillian began.

‘Of course,’ Tricia said. ‘I saw the whole thing on TV. But when was the shipwreck discovered?’

‘It was found by divers way back in April. They have been diving in the bay just outside the Magnolia beach since then. First trying to establish what kind of ship it was and then when we did, trying to salvage as much as we could from it. At first we thought it was a ship that had sunk about a hundred and fifty years ago. That’s why that little drawing you found shocked me so.

I thought we were barking up the wrong tree and the find would turn out to be something a lot less exciting.

But then once we had examined the samples, we realised it’s much older than that. ’

‘Amazing,’ Tricia cut in. ‘I can’t imagine how it would have felt to find a ship from the Spanish Armada.’

‘We were over the moon,’ Cillian said. ‘Sorry I had to tell you that lie.’

‘I thought you might have found a Viking grave or something. Full of treasures.’

‘We found treasure all right,’ Cillian said.

‘But under the sea, not in any grave. There were a lot of gold coins and other things there that have now been salvaged and sent to Spain where it all belongs. The canons and other things will be taken up slowly by the next crew. It’s a very important find.

’ Cillian drew breath and drank some coffee.

Tricia stared at him, forgetting her anger. ‘So that was what the diving was all about? Did you dive yourself?’

‘No, I don’t have those kinds of skills. Ilse and a guy who works for her company are both marine archaeologists. I just examine whatever they bring up and catalogue it.’

‘Amazing. But why all the secrecy? Was it because you thought other divers would go down and steal the treasures?’

‘Exactly. That happens a lot. There are people who plunder shipwrecks for profit. It’s dangerous and illegal but there is no way to stop them, other than to keep quiet about finds like this as much as possible.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you, Trish.

I just didn’t want you to be blamed if you told anyone by accident. ’

‘I see.’ Tricia broke off a piece of bun and ate it without really tasting it.

She knew the time had come for her to tell Cillian how she felt.

She didn’t know how he would react or if he would believe that she wanted them to resolve their differences and maybe get close again.

‘That’s some story,’ she said, looking at him.

‘I had to tell you a fib to get you off the scent.’

Tricia nodded as she tried to swallow the piece of bun. ‘I do understand, though,’ she said when she had managed to get it down. She drank a little coffee to help ease her dry throat.

‘I’m glad you do,’ Cillian said. ‘But enough about that. You had something to say, didn’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Tricia said. ‘I came here to tell you something. But I’m not sure you’ll want to listen after what happened between us. I’m not sure where to begin.’

‘Ah go on, Tricia.’ He took her hand and held it in a tight grip. ‘I do want to hear it.’

The touch of his hand gave her the courage to go on.

‘First of all, I need to tell you what happened in Donegal when my late husband was so ill. I did something that wasn’t quite right.

’ She stopped for a moment and then started again, a strange force driving her to reveal the whole story.

‘I needed to pay his medical bills, and he and I sorted some paperwork out just before he died. It allowed me to help him, but it also created some legal issues. I was accused of trying to act illegally, to take his money. Which I’ve never really been interested in.

Though, I am entitled to most of his estate, as his widow.

’ She went on to tell Cillian the whole story, not leaving out a single detail.

‘That’s what that text message was all about,’ she ended.

‘Terence, Sean’s nephew, had found out about that document and he thought he could blackmail me into signing over the farm to him. ’

‘But I thought you had sold it,’ Cillian said.

‘It’s on the market but it hasn’t been sold yet,’ Tricia replied. ‘But that’s not the issue here.’

‘No. It’s about you doing something dishonest,’ Cillian said, looking serious.

‘Yes.’ Tricia sat there waiting for him to say something, but he stared out the window and seemed deep in thought, still holding her hand.

‘I came here wanting a solution to my problem. To find the funds to just become independent and tell Terence he could keep the farm. I thought I could sell the cottage once I’d renovated it.

But I didn’t realise it was in such bad condition.

Then I thought I could sell Kieran O’Grady’s works… ’

He turned and looked at her. ‘It must have been tough, with Sean.’