A Light Between Oceans Episode 40
“All that time, the paintings had been hidden behind the dresser,” Hattie explained to Lucas and Sandy.
“I assumed he had burned them all that night, but he gave one of them to your father, Lucas.
“It’s possible he gave him more than one.”
Hattie stared into her lap for a moment. Was this the time to tell Sandy about the little painting that she’d kept?
Somehow she wanted to wait.
“So,” Lucas began, “my father took the boat, and presumably was picked up somewhere, with his equipment and his gun and the painting.
“Then he thanked your father, Sandy, by selling the painting for cash.”
Lucas spat out the words and Sandy looked at him hopelessly.
“He must have had a reason, Lucas.”
“Oh, sure. And on top of that, it sounds like he was definitely a secret agent – but for which side?”
“It’s all very confusing,” Sandy said to Hattie. “What was Lucas’s father doing in Belmouth? How did the Townsends fit into all this?”
Hattie sighed.
“I admit we’ll never know for certain which side your father was on, Lucas, but we do know one thing.
“A few days later I was visited by the police and someone from British Intelligence.
“They told me that
Mr Townsend had been arrested.
“They didn’t say why, but they were looking for his wife, and they asked me a lot of questions.
“I assumed your father had been investigating the two of them.”
“Didn’t they ask you about him, too?” Lucas asked.
“No, and I didn’t say a word about anything,” Hattie confessed.
“I was terrified that Donald’s unauthorised signals would get reported, but I suppose no-one ever noticed.
“Sandy, you fell asleep in your father’s arms that night, and we put you to bed in your room in the lighthouse cottage.
“I sat up for the rest of the night with him, and by morning he seemed to have come to his senses.
“I went home, and that was the end of it. Donald and I never spoke of it, and you didn’t remember anything,” Hattie went on. “Except –”
“My nightmare!” Sandy interrupted.
Hattie nodded.
“I’ve felt so guilty about that.
“To think that after all these years you still have them. I’m so terribly sorry.”
“But in the nightmare it always feels like I’m in the boat,” Sandy pointed out.
“I know. We were near the water, near where your dad kept the boat, and you were soaked through.
“It makes sense, in so far as nightmares ever do.”
They sat for a moment and then the phone jangled.
“I’d better get that.” Hattie rose and went out.
“Lucas, surely it must help you to know that your father was a good man,” Sandy said quietly.
“It seems clear that he was an agent for the Allies.”
“Does it?” Lucas retorted. “I don’t think anything is clear. And he did a terrible thing, stealing your father’s painting,”
“But Dad gave it to
him –”
“To pass off as his own?” Lucas interrupted.
Then Hattie returned, looking mildly annoyed.
“It’s Libby. Shall I tell her you’ll call her back?”
“No. I’d better speak to her now.” Sandy got to her feet and left the room.
Hattie resumed her place on the sofa and surveyed Lucas’s angry face.
“Lucas, I know it will take a long time for you to find a way to accept all of this,” Hattie began.
“But I need to ask you one thing, before Sandy comes back.
“Are you going to let your feelings about your father, whatever they may be, ruin the chance for happiness?
“You are in love with Sandy. I can see it a mile away – even now, through your pain and anger.
“Are you really going to allow those demons of pride working away inside you to convince you that you don’t love her?
“Listen to your heart . . .”