A Light Between Oceans Episode 17


Two characters from A Light Between Oceans.

Sandy and Hattie couldn’t stop Lucas buying the lighthouse and cottage, but if he planned to turn it into something ghastly, they might be able to drum up some protest.

She stiffened, adopting a more business-like demeanour. It wouldn’t hurt to let him buy her toast and coffee.

“What were you about to say?” he asked.

“Nothing, but thank you. It’s kind of you to suggest it.”

“A great pleasure,” Lucas replied. “But believe me, you don’t know what you’ve been missing if you’ve never had a Bismarck.

“They found their way to the States via Canada. Imagine the most exquisite doughnut,” he intoned, gesturing into the air.

“Fresh, light and fragrant, with a hint of sweetness.

“Billows of luscious pastry cream inside, and topped off with a layer of satiny chocolate,” he finished.

Sandy couldn’t help laughing.

“I’m speechless.”

“Well, fortunately for you, so am I. Ah – I smell bacon.”

They were shown to a table in the Belmouth Buttery and ordered.

Sandy tried to regain the sense of resolve she’d felt in the wee hours that morning, but it seemed that Lucas had a way of startling her.

“Were you about to go into Derwent Alexander’s?” he asked nonchalantly.

“I was, too, but then I remembered they don’t open until nine-thirty.

“I haven’t actually met them yet,” Lucas continued. “Only corresponded. What do you think of them?”

Sandy felt a wave of panic. Should she let on that she hadn’t known who was handling the sale?

“Well, it’s interesting that there isn’t a photo in the window,” she remarked.

“They’re advertising in other ways first, I suppose. There are a number of people bidding on it.”

Lucas’s bacon and eggs and Sandy’s toast arrived, with two cups of coffee.

As delicious as it looked, she wished that their meeting wasn’t mixed up with such a treat.

“I wonder what they have in mind for it,” she said in as airy a tone as she could muster.

“The bidders I know have different plans for it,” Lucas replied quietly.

“One wants to build a small housing development, another a shopping complex, and somebody wants to build a theatre with a restaurant.”

The toast was crisp and buttery, but now it turned to dust in Sandy’s mouth.

With immense effort, she swallowed it down.

“Is the lighthouse going to be torn down?” Her voice emerged small and a little hoarse.

“The lighthouse isn’t listed, so anyone can do just about anything, I suppose.”

Now a lump rose up into Sandy’s throat and she felt her mouth quiver.

All at once she knew that she’d be unable to hold back the tears that had infuriatingly filled her eyes.

“Oh, Sandy. That was insensitive of me. I’m sorry.”

With horror, she felt tears trickle down her face and turned away, scrambling in her handbag for a tissue as he continued to apologise.

“It was your home,” Lucas said miserably, shaking his head. “How could I have been so thoughtless.”

Sandy couldn’t speak, but she wiped her eyes and pushed back her chair, gathering up her jacket.

“Sandy, can we talk about this?” Lucas asked.

“There’s nothing to say.”

Sandy’s mind flooded with the sickening image of a wrecking ball smashing the lighthouse to smithereens and crushing the cottage into a heap of white pulp.

Slowly he reached across the table and touched her arm gently.

“The truth is,” he said quietly, “I haven’t any idea what I want to do with the lighthouse or the cottage, but one thing is certain. I’d never tear them down. You have my word.”

She looked up in some disbelief as he went on.

“They’re beautiful, and timeless. They represent something beyond what they are.”

“Why do you want to buy them?” Sandy asked.

He hesitated.

“All I can tell you is that it’s very complicated, and it involves a mystery that lies at the centre of my life.

“It sounds very dramatic, but it’s the truth,” he went on.

“In order to get to the heart of it, I need to find out everything I can about Belmouth, especially during the war years.”

“You did say you were interested in that.”

“I know. And you advised me to pay a call on Hattie Crocker, which I did.”

“And?”

“And she told me next to nothing. I decided to poke around and see what I could find out.

“I spent the evening at the Anchor and Angel, and talked to some people who’ve lived in Belmouth for a long time.” Lucas looked down, as if trying to make a decision.

“I’m not sure how much she’s told you,” he said. “I can’t help feeling worried.”

Sandy saw concern in his face, and began to feel perilously close to opening up and telling him her own worries.

A warning voice whispered in her head, reminding her of the first time they’d talked in the coffee bar of the Imperial.

He’d come across as someone she wasn’t sure she could trust.

“What are you trying to tell me, Lucas?” she asked.

Lucas hesitated, then leaned forward.

“I wish I didn’t have to tell you this, but I feel it’s only right that I do.”

He cleared his throat.

“Hattie Crocker knows things that she doesn’t want anyone to know about the war years in Belmouth.

“I had a feeling she was hiding something, and now I’m certain of it.”

To be continued…