The Lost Sister by Kathleen McGurl (i can read book club .TXT) 📕

‘So they’ll be bilingual.’

‘They already are, more or less. Their French is a lot better than mine. And I’m fairly fluent now.’

Harriet was surprised – at school Davina had never paid much attention to languages. Perhaps she’d lived in France for some time. She sighed. There was so much about her daughter that she didn’t know.

‘Well, if you’re back to sighing at me I’ll say goodbye. I’ll ring again in three weeks. Hope Sally’s kid gets better. Cheers, then.’ And Davina hung up before Harriet had a chance to say goodbye herself.

She sat cradling the phone for a moment, remembering all that Davina had told her, wishing she’d kept her temper and not criticised Davina – maybe she would have stayed on the phone longer if Harriet had been calm. She let the tears fall down her cheeks but at the same time felt hopeful that with calls every three weeks perhaps Davina was softening a little. Possibly beginning to forgive them for trying to make her conform when she was a teenager. Growing up. Maybe this new chap – James – was a good influence. Part of her wanted to call Sally and tell her what she’d heard from Davina, but then she imagined Sally scoffing and complaining that Davina still hadn’t given Harriet a way of contacting her, even in an emergency, so she decided not to. When Sally next came round she’d tell her then.

She glanced at the photo of Gran and her two sisters. Had they had some sort of rift, like Sally and Davina? Harriet had always got on well with her own brother. They’d been great friends as children. Somehow, though, as adults they’d drifted apart. Now she struggled to remember the last time she’d actually seen him, though they sent each other Christmas and birthday greetings and occasional letters.

As well as rebuilding a relationship with Davina for herself, to regain her daughter and see her granddaughters, Harriet’s deepest wish was that her two daughters would eventually become close again. Sisters – siblings – were important. You shared so much with them when you were young. No other friend could ever replace them. But for that to happen, there’d be a lot of forgiveness needed first. On both sides.

Even now, so many years on, Harriet still found it hard to think about that day. She was ashamed at her part in it, however minor it had been. She never spoke about it with Sally – of course they had back then, when it happened, but never now.

It was about two months after Davina left with Hades Rising. Two months of sporadic phone calls and a couple of postcards. Two months of missing Davina so much that it hurt, but still expecting that she’d come back at the end of the tour. Letting her have her freedom, as John put it, allowing her to spread her wings and find her own way.

But Sally hadn’t seen it like that. Looking back, Harriet wondered if there’d been a touch of jealousy. Sally had never done anything so dramatic as run away with a rock band. Her life had always been planned in detail. She’d always known what her future held – school, university, get a job, marry and settle down, have kids. It was as though she had a mental tick-list that she was working through, whereas Davina had a set of dice that she rolled to make her life choices.

Sally was 20 at the time. She had a boyfriend she’d been with since sixth-form college days – a young man named Lucas who’d completed a couple of years as an apprentice plumber and now was setting up in business by himself. Harriet had never been quite sure how much she liked him. He was too brash for her liking. He was, she suspected, the kind of man who secretly would prefer women to be kept indoors, cooking meals and raising kids, rather than having careers of their own. He was good-looking and charming though, and this was, she assumed, what had attracted Sally. Nevertheless, she harboured hopes that the relationship would not last. Sally could surely do better, and find a man who would appreciate her abilities and allow – no, expect – her to be independent.

That day – that awful day – had begun when Sally received a phone call from Lucas. She was home from university for the summer, staying in her old childhood bedroom and seeing Lucas several times a week. Sally had taken the phone into the sitting room, away from Harriet who was still clearing up after breakfast. She’d returned flushed and excited.

‘Lucas has found out where Davina is. For tonight, anyway. Hades Rising’s tour has brought them to Weymouth – they’re playing some small venue in the town. We’re going to go – see the band, try to go backstage after and find Davina. At least talk to Jez and find out how she is.’

‘Oh my word!’ Harriet had clapped a hand to her mouth. ‘That’ll be lovely for you. There’s another month left on the tour, Davina said when she last called. It’ll be wonderful if you can see her today. Ask her if she’s coming home. And let me know if Hades Rising is any good!’

‘You could come with us, Mum. It’s not far to Weymouth. Lucas said he’ll drive, in his van. It fits three on the bench seat.’

‘Oh, I’d love to …’ Harriet considered. John was not at home – he’d gone to spend a few days with his elderly and ailing mother, in north London.

Sally grinned. ‘Right then. I’ll call Lucas back, and we’ll sort out the details.’

And so, later that day, the three of them set off in Lucas’s battered white Transit van, for Weymouth. They found a parking spot near the venue, and had a late lunch in a nearby pub. Sally seemed on edge – nervous, Harriet assumed, at how Davina would react to them just turning up like this.