Gina spent the whole day worrying about the note that had blown away. There had to be something she could do to trace the person. It must be one of her relatives from England. Surely it was?
When she went to the hospital, Mel was sitting up in bed, pale and limp still, but looking better than she had for a while. Gina kissed her cheek and offered a novel by one of her daughter’s favourite authors.
Mel looked at it and gave a faint smile. ‘Thanks. But all I seem to do is sleep.’
‘Your body must need it. How’s the sickness?’
‘A little better, but that stuff they’re giving me clouds my brain so that I can’t think straight.’ Tears came into her eyes. ‘They said I shouldn’t go back to work, should just take things easy until the baby’s born. Nearly six more months! We’re going to lose the house.’
‘Most women would be more concerned about whether they were going to lose the baby.’
‘The doctor says the baby’s all right, developing normally. It’s me who’s malnourished.’
Gina hadn’t intended to start this discussion, but if Mel wanted her sympathy, she wasn’t going to get it. ‘Just be thankful for what you have got. If you have to move somewhere smaller, it’s not the end of the world.’
Tears rolled down Mel’s cheeks. ‘You don’t understand.’
‘No, I don’t. I’ve not got a husband any more. I certainly understand that. And I’ve had to put my whole life on hold to help you. I understand that, too.’
Mel gasped.
‘Sorry.’ Gina stopped and fought to control her irritation. ‘I didn’t mean to speak so sharply when you’re in this condition, only I’m not having you oozing self-pity all over me – or anyone else.’
‘You said something similar the night I collapsed, didn’t you? About me interrupting your life.’
‘Yes.’
Mel started fiddling with the edge of the sheet. ‘I’m sorry, Mum.’
‘You’re not being ill on purpose. These things happen. You know I’ll always help you when you’re in trouble, but you have to help yourself, too. No one can turn the clock back, so we have to make the most of what we’ve got.’
Mel lay back with a sigh and a nod. ‘Thanks for the book. And thanks for all you’ve done for me.’
‘You’re my daughter. I love you very much.’ Gina kissed her, received a big hug in response, then left her daughter to sleep. When she looked back from the doorway, Mel’s eyes were already closed.
It was as Gina was walking back to her car that she remembered Mrs Besham saying ‘young people’ about the two who’d tried to find her. If they were young, they might be staying in a backpackers’ hostel. That was the cheap way to travel. It was worth a try, surely?
Only how did you leave messages for people when you didn’t know their names?
When she got back to Mel’s house, Gina started ringing round the backpacker hostels, but as she’d expected, they said they couldn’t really to help her. They got lots of English people passing through.
Only when she pressed them did they agree to put up a notice to say she was looking for some young people believed to be relatives of Daniel Everett, but they doubted it’d do any good.
Frustrated, she waited until Emma came home from school, gave her a quick drink of fruit juice and bundled her into the car. Then she drove round to Mrs Besham’s to ask for a better description of the young woman who’d been looking for Gina’s father.
The old lady opened the door and stared at her in surprise. When Gina explained her reason for coming, Mrs Besham insisted they have a cup of tea while she tried to remember.
Her description of the young woman could have fitted a hundred other young women. ‘They all look alike these days, with that stripy hair and clothes that look too small for them,’ Mrs Besham muttered.
‘Oh, dear! How am I going to find them, then? Did you say she had a companion? What was the other person like?’
Mrs Besham’s face brightened. ‘He was dark. Nice-looking young man, not got crinkly hair or anything.’
Gina sat forward. ‘You mean he was black?’
‘I just said he was dark, didn’t I?’
Gina set down her cup, plonked a quick kiss on the old lady’s cheek and took her leave. She felt a great urgency because the young couple might be setting off any moment for their next destination.
When Emma began grumbling, she said sharply, ‘Be quiet, dear! This is very important.’
‘But I’m hungry, Gran.’
‘We’ll stop and get you a burger and fries.’
Emma brightened. ‘Mummy doesn’t let me have those.’
‘She won’t mind this once.’
Back at the house, she sat Emma down and went back to the phone, calling all the hostels again. If it was humanly possible, she intended to find this young woman.
Not without difficulty, Lou and Rick found their way to the office of the estate agents. The receptionist seemed completely impervious to their problem and kept saying sorry, she couldn’t give out clients’ phone numbers.
Frustrated, Lou leaned forward and said very loudly, ‘We’ve come all the way from England to trace my relatives and I’m not stirring from here until you ring up this woman and ask her if she’ll speak to us.’
A man came to join them. ‘Is there a problem?’
Once again, Lou explained.
‘Oh, I think we can ring up Marla’s client, don’t you?’ He smiled at the receptionist. ‘Have a go now.’
Muttering, she got out the file and casting a suspicious glance at them, opened it on top of a filing cabinet behind the counter so that they couldn’t see its contents. She rang a number and waited, foot tapping impatiently, but no one answered. When the answering service started she put the phone down.
‘Why didn’t you leave a message?’ Lou demanded.
‘It’s not my place to harass clients.’
‘Your client would want to see us! And she won’t think much of this firm if you refuse to help.’
The same man, who’d been listening from across the room, called, ‘Tell us where you’re staying and we’ll ring your relative again later. After that, you really must leave us to get on with our work.’
Lou wrote down the name and address of the hostel then went outside.
‘I bet they throw away the piece of paper.’
It was a very busy day at the real estate office, one of many during a frenzy of house buying that had sent prices skyrocketing. The receptionist tried the number once more then set it aside until later.
As one of the sales staff walked past, the piece of paper wafted off the desk and floated underneath the filing cabinet.
The receptionist got on with her normal work, keeping one eye on the clock. She had a hot date that evening and was counting the minutes till she could leave. She didn’t even think about making the phone call.