Autumn Dreams at Mermaids Point, page 1
Autumn Dreams at Mermaids Point
Sarah Bennett
Contents
Autumn Dreams at Mermaids Point Character List
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Acknowledgments
More from Sarah Bennett
About the Author
About Boldwood Books
Autumn Dreams at Mermaids Point Character List
Alex Nelson. Tom’s half-brother, Emily and Max’s uncle, son of Archie and Philippa Nelson.
Amber. A classmate of Emily Nelson.
Andrew Morgan. Married to Sylvia, Laurie and Nick’s father. Owner of The Mermaids Cave, a large gift shop on the seafront.
Andy Sullivan. Owns and runs the local fish and chip shop.
Anna Nelson. Tom’s late wife and mother to Emily and Max.
Archie Nelson. Tom and Alex’s father. Married to Philippa, grandfather of Emily and Max. Known in the family as ‘Pop’.
Aurora Storm. Pop star who staged a number of mermaid sightings around the Point as part of a viral campaign for her comeback album.
Barbara Mitchell. Part of the local knitting circle.
Becca. A school friend of Emily Nelson.
Belinda Nelson. Tom’s mother, Archie’s first wife. Happily living in Portugal with her partner, Eduardo.
Ben. A new school friend of Max’s.
Bev. Part of the local knitting circle, known to have a sharp tongue.
Bryan Bannerman. A property developer.
Carlotta. Barbara Mitchell’s cat.
Claire. A family friend of Tom and Anna Nelson.
Dan. Molly’s husband, Samuel’s father.
Darren. Friend of Nick Morgan.
Dennis Rouse. Head of DR Talent Agency. Aurora Storm’s agent.
Donald Turner. Patient at the surgery.
Dr May. Provides GP Locum service for Doc Gadd.
Eduardo. An artist and Belinda Nelson’s partner.
Emily Nelson. Tom and Anna’s 15 year-old daughter.
Fraser. A GP who replaces Tom at his London surgery.
Freddie. Ben’s father, married to Miranda.
Gareth Beckett. Nerissa’s late fiancé. Died in a road accident whilst on a military deployment twenty-five years before the books are set.
Isobel Kennett. Nerissa’s predecessor at the surgery.
Ivy Fisher. Laurie’s one-time best friend.
Jake Smith. Investigative journalist and new arrival in the Point. Hero of Summer Kisses at Mermaids Point.
Jo Nelson. Alex’s ex-wife.
Katie. Helps out in the café sometimes.
Keith. Works on a fishing trawler.
Kitty Duke. Part of the local knitting circle.
Linda Smith. Jake’s mother. Recently widowed wife of Nigel Smith.
Lorelai ‘Laurie’ Morgan. Runs a café next door to her parent’s gift shop. Heroine of Summer Kisses at Mermaids Point.
Luca. Owns and runs the local delicatessen.
Malcolm Gadd. Mermaids Point resident doctor, known to everyone as ‘Doc’. He lives in and runs his surgery from an imposing white building situated at the end of the seafront.
Margot Beckett. Gareth’s mother.
Max Nelson. Tom and Anna’s 12 year-old son.
Merrow Morgan. Andrew and Nerissa’s mother (deceased).
Michael Gadd. Doc Gadd’s great-nephew.
Michelle. Bev’s daughter-in-law.
Miranda. Ben’s mother, married to Freddie.
Moira Henderson. Head teacher of Emily and Max Nelson’s secondary school in London.
Molly. Patient at the surgery. Mother of baby Samuel.
Nerissa Morgan. Andrew’s younger sister, paternal aunt of Laurie and Nick. Nerissa is the live-in receptionist and housekeeper of the Point’s aging doctor, Malcolm Gadd. Heroine of Autumn Dreams at Mermaids Point.
Nick Morgan. Runs a tourist boat business from the Point’s commercial harbour with his and Laurie’s uncle, Tony.
Nigel Smith. Linda’s late husband and Jake’s father (deceased).
Paul. Married to Victoria. Keen open water swimmer.
Pete Bray. Landlord of The Sailor’s Rest, a popular pub on the seafront. Owns the Penny Arcade a few doors down from the pub.
Philippa Nelson. Archie’s wife, Alex’s mother and Tom’s stepmother. Step-grandmother to Emily and Max. Known in the family as ‘Mimi’.
Samuel. Baby son of Molly and Dan.
Sebastian ‘Bas’ Donovan. Works part-time at the surgery as the cleaner, lives with his mother and younger sister.
Shelly. Resident.
Sylvia Morgan. Married to Andrew, Laurie and Nick’s mother. Runs The Mermaids Cave with her husband as well as working part-time at the village school as classroom assistant.
Thea. A classmate of Emily Nelson.
Toby. Doc Gadd’s golden retriever.
Tom Nelson. Widower of Anna, and father to Emily and Max. A doctor who decides to relocate his family to Mermaids Point. Hero of Autumn Dreams at Mermaids Point.
Tony Evans. Sylvia’s brother, maternal uncle of Laurie and Nick. Owner of Mermaid Boat Tours, a pleasure boat business which takes tourists on trips around the area and out to the Seven Sisters, a group of nearby islands.
Victoria. Married to Paul. Keen open water swimmer.
Will Mitchell. Barbara’s late husband.
For the wonderful readers and writers who make up The Friendly Book Community x
1
July
‘Ah, Gareth, you should see the way he makes her smile. It’s like a light comes on inside her.’
Nerissa closed her eyes for a moment, picturing her niece, Laurie, as she’d seen her in the pub the previous evening, head tilted as she listened to whatever Jake was whispering in her ear. It had been a rare night out for the whole family, a chance to welcome Jake’s mother to Mermaids Point and introduce her around. Nerissa still wasn’t sure what to make of Linda – she wasn’t at all convinced it was a good thing for Jake to have her back in his life, especially when his relationship with Laurie was still finding its feet, but she’d held her peace until now.
Shifting to ease the ache in her hip from sitting cross-legged on the ground too long, Nerissa confessed her doubts to the one person she was always able to speak her heart to. ‘Honestly, Gar, she’s such a mousy thing, it’s a struggle to make even the most basic conversation. I don’t think Linda’s had an opinion of her own all her life.’ She sighed, knowing she was being unfair given the little her sister-in-law, Sylvia, had told her about what both Jake and his mother had been through over the years. ‘At least she’s free of that awful man now. Given time, she might come out of her shell a bit more. If anyone can help her, it’ll be Sylvia.’
Nerissa loved her sister-in-law with all her heart, but she knew from personal experience what Sylvia was like once she found a pet project.
Glancing down at the bunch of sunny yellow daffodils in her hand, Nerissa gave a small laugh. ‘With any luck, she’ll be so busy with Linda she won’t have time to try to fix me up with anyone for a bit. I don’t know why she’s still bothering after all these years.’
She rearranged the bouquet to release one of the golden trumpet flowers which had twisted at an odd angle. Other women might prefer roses or extravagant lilies, but daffodils had been Nerissa’s favourite since the first time Gareth had turned up on her doorstep. Tanned and fit after weeks of basic training, he’d presented her with a bunch of daffodils, a nervous smile tugging at his gorgeous full lips. He’d kissed her for the first time that day, down by the caves on the beach where he’d taken her for a walk. He’d told her he loved her that day, too, that he was tired of waiting for her to notice him, that she was his girl now. Forever.
She raised her free hand and pressed it to the echo of the warm glow that had heated her cheeks when he’d said those words. She’d been noticing her brother’s best friend from the moment he’d picked her up and brushed gravel off her knees when she’d tripped over by the swings in the park. He’d been eleven to her seven, and had interrupted a noisy kick-about with her brother and the rest of their pals to set her back on her feet and wipe away her tears with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. Her heart had been his from that moment on, though, of course, she’d been too young to understand or articulate anything beyond the feelings of security and happiness she felt whenever he was near.
Those fledging feelings had developed into a full-blown crush once her hormones caught up with her heart. Her early teens had been an excruciating torture of unspoken adoration and blushes whenever he popped over to the Morgan family home – which had been practically every day, especially during the holidays. When he’d announced at twenty-one that a life on the fishing boats wasn’t for him and he was off to join the army, the scandal of it had rushed around the village like wildfire. Nerissa had lain on her bed and wept silent tears into her pillow, thin king him lost to her forever. And then he’d come home on leave to reveal those messy, wonderful things she’d been feeling for him weren’t unrequited after all.
Swallowing around the tight ball in her throat, Nerissa laid the daffodils on the square of neatly clipped grass in front of the plain white headstone. ‘I love you, Gareth,’ she whispered, touching her fingers to her lips before pressing them to the engraved letters of his name. ‘Happy birthday, sweetheart.’
Rising to her feet, Nerissa turned away before the first tear dripped down her cheek. Gareth had always hated to see her cry, and though it’d been over twenty years since he’d last been able to brush them from her cheeks, she still didn’t like to do it here in the little graveyard behind the parish church where he’d been laid to rest after a road accident during a peacekeeping mission in the Balkans. Such a waste of a life, of the promise of their life, their future together.
She clutched the diamond and sapphire ring dangling from a chain around her neck, squeezing it until the imprint of the stones hurt. She’d taken it off when the band had grown too tight but hadn’t been able to let it go. To let Gareth go.
With the ghosts of memories they’d never share swirling around in her mind, Nerissa ducked her head and hurried along the path to the lychgate guarding the entrance to the churchyard. So fixated was she on the past, she didn’t notice the woman coming the other way until they were practically on top of one another.
‘Nerissa.’ The lack of inflection in the word sent a chill rippling down Nerissa’s spine.
‘Hello, Margot. How are you?’ She winced the moment the stupid, automatic words left her lips.
The death of the man they’d both loved above all others could’ve brought them together in solace and mutual grief, if only Gareth’s mother had been willing. She’d never forgiven Nerissa for him joining the army, even though it’d been a decision he’d made on his own. Gareth had told his mum of his plans for a future with Nerissa before he’d said so much as a word to her. In Margot’s mind, it was therefore Nerissa’s fault he’d quit the boats and left the village in hopes of giving them both a better, brighter future. Two decades had hardened that initial irrational, if understandable, need to blame someone for the loss of Margot’s son, into a lasting bitterness.
Desperate for a way to cut through the frigid atmosphere between them, Nerissa nodded to the enormous bouquet of white lilies and roses Margot carried. ‘Those are nice.’
‘They’re the ones I always get. The same as for his funeral.’ Margot didn’t meet her eyes, every stiff inch of her posture radiating a fervent desire for Nerissa to go away. Not that she’d ever say as much, because Margot’s disdain was as polite as it was cold. Nerissa wished just once she’d let it all out, scream and rail and call curses down upon her head. Perhaps if Margot could give voice to all that resentment, she could finally let it go, instead of allowing it to consume her from the inside out.
Holding back a sigh, Nerissa took a step back and to the side, clearing a path for the other woman to pass through the lychgate. ‘I’ll leave you in peace, Margot. You know where I am if you ever need anything.’
The only response was the sharp click of Margot’s heels on the path as she strode away.
Shaking her head, Nerissa passed beneath the roof of the gate, trying not to think about that awful rainy day when the pall-bearers had paused beneath it with Gareth’s coffin on their shoulders as they marked the symbolic passage of his life from this world to the next. Margot was never going to change, and it was way past time for Nerissa to stop trying. As she paused at the kerb to check for passing cars, she knew it was a fruitless thought. It wasn’t in her nature to let someone hurt if she could help it.
With that in mind, she changed direction and headed the opposite way to her niece’s pretty seafront café which had been her intended destination. Both Laurie and Sylvia were waiting for her there with hugs that would ease the ache in her heart and a slice of her favourite Victoria sponge to lift her spirits. As much as she needed that right now, there was someone who needed it more.
After a couple of weeks holed up in Sylvia’s spare room, Linda had recently rented one of the small holiday cottages in the centre of the village while she tried to decide if she wanted to make a more permanent move to Mermaids Point. With a little coaxing, perhaps Nerissa could get her to join her for a walk on the beach and on to the café, where they would both find a warm welcome. Though her beloved Gareth had been nothing like the awful bully Linda had been tied to for years, she understood loss better than most. So she would extend the hand of friendship and offer what comfort she could to the recently widowed woman.
And just maybe they’d both feel a little better afterwards.
2
When she reached the old fisherman’s cottage, Nerissa lifted the heavy iron knocker and rapped hard a couple of times and waited. And waited.
Stepping back on the pavement, she raised a hand to shield her eyes and studied the windows. The upstairs curtains were pulled closed, which wasn’t all that surprising as they were catching the full force of the summer sun, but the downstairs curtains were also drawn shut behind the lacy nets which shielded the windows from nosy passers-by.
A movement at what Nerissa knew to be the lounge window caught her eye – was Linda in there or had the breeze stirred the curtains through the horizontal upper window which had been opened to its fullest extent?
Feeling a bit awkward, Nerissa checked around her to make sure no one was watching her snooping, then went to stand directly beneath the opening. The muffled sounds of a television show drifted out. Nerissa strained her ears, trying to pick up any indication of Linda moving around. The sound changed abruptly, the music switching from a romantic melody to a thumping beat.
Nerissa waited another minute and it switched again to the sound of two men arguing, followed by a rapid burst of gunfire which made her jump. Pressing a hand to her racing heart, Nerissa laughed to herself as she realised it was a rolling stream of programme previews. Linda must’ve gone out and left the television on. She might even be at the café already.
Nerissa was about to turn away when soft sobs reached her ears. Maybe it was coming from the television? Stretching on tiptoe to get closer to the window, she recognised a comedy series she’d recently binge-watched.
The sobbing came again, sounding totally out of place against the snappy dialogue.
‘Linda?’ Nerissa called, keeping her voice soft. ‘Are you there?’
The sobs cut off immediately as the television in the background rolled through to another preview.
Legs aching, Nerissa dropped down to her heels for a moment before stretching back up to the open window. ‘Linda? It’s Nerissa. Is everything all right?’
A long silence, then a strained terse reply. ‘Go away.’
‘Sorry, I just wondered if you fancied joining me down at the café…’
More silence.
‘Okay, well, hopefully we’ll catch up soon. Give me a call, anytime.’
Embarrassed at herself for prying, Nerissa abandoned her spot beneath the window and turned away, pulling out her phone as she started to walk back the way she’d come.
She fired off a quick WhatsApp message to Sylvia.
On my way. Just called to see if Linda wanted to join us and I think she’s crying. Can’t tell as she won’t answer the door, but she told me to go away. ☹
An instant later, the word typing appeared at the top of the screen, followed shortly by a reply.
Did you try the front door?
Nerissa stopped on the pavement to tap out a sharp response.
NO! I left the poor woman to it. I already feel bad for snooping around under the window.
