Free Echoes Of The Past (Fermosa Bay #1) by Iris Blobel

Niall?”
    The silence hung heavy in the air and when she didn’t reply, he asked, “Mother, what happened all those years ago? Jack told me you left more or less overnight.”
    “Oh, darling, that is such a long time ago. Let’s not—”
    “Quite the opposite. Let’s do. Mother. Did Jack ask you to leave?”
    He heard background noise and imagined her reaction of utter annoyance. “Connor. This is ridiculous. I don’t really feel comfortable talking about this over the phone.”
    The view didn’t do the trick, and anger rose within him. “For Pete’s sake, Mother. I’m on leave for twelve months. Did Jack ask you to leave?”
    There was a long moment of silence during which he was able to hear his mother’s breathing. She wasn’t happy with his question, but he needed to know. He gave her some more time to choose her words.
    “Yes, he did,” she finally whispered.
    “Tell me the truth, Mother. For once, tell me the truth.”
    “He didn’t have money, Connor,” she nearly screamed. “He was constantly on my back for spending too much money. Yes, I left. Are you happy now?”
    No, he wasn’t happy. In fact, he didn’t feel anything but emptiness. A big hole of nothing inside. Most of his life had been built on lies and again he wondered how his life would have turned out if she’d left him behind.
    “Why did you lie to me?” he asked, barely above a whisper, trying not to give in to the frustration and tiredness he felt inside.
    “I didn’t lie—”
    “Mother!”
    “I couldn’t just leave you behind.”
    Connor rubbed a hand over his face. “Apparently you did most of the time anyway.”
    “Connor!”
    He ignored her reprimand.
    “I wanted you to be better off than Jack. He was a nice man, but—” She sighed. “I wanted you to grow up without missing on anything. And I can proudly say, I’ve done well.”
    The last comment annoyed him to his very core. Yes, she could be proud. Proud of marrying a man who never really accepted him as his son, or sending him to boarding school, or never visited him while he studied in Oxford.
    “You lied to me all these years,” he said again, trying hard to hold back the tears.
    “Darling—”
    “Don’t, Mother. Don’t you darling me. Simply tell me why you lied.”
    “I’m having a headache, Connor. I need rest. I’ll call you—”
    “Don’t hang up on—”
    But she did. She had the audacity to just hang up. Letting out a scream of frustration, Connor stood, leaned against the window with his arms stretched out, trying to breathe in and out.
    And again he wondered how his life could’ve been. Listening to Ethan and Niall earlier that day, he’d reflected on his life in London. Could or would he seriously consider a life here?

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
    Connor carried the two camping chairs across the oval, following Jack’s direction.
    “She’s over there.” Jack struggled to talk above the noise of all the children. “There’s little Emmy.”
    Connor followed his gaze, but didn’t have to search long until he saw Emily as well. Her curly red hair, shining in the sunlight even more so than usual. She turned and met his gaze. The big smile appearing on her face did something to him, something unexpected, yet welcomed. It lit something up inside that left him feeling home.
    “Over there,” Jack said again.
    “Yeah, I see her, Dad.”
    The old man stopped and turned around. Then he stared at Connor. Long and intense before a lonely tear began to fall down Jack’s face. It was like they were on their own on the oval and time stood still giving him the strangest feeling he’d ever had before Jack mouthed a hardly noticeable thank you.
    Connor took a moment to figure out what happened until he realised he had called him Dad. And it had come naturally to him, but his father’s reaction, the faint light in the depth of Jack’s eyes, left Connor momentarily overwhelmed. A torrent of emotions rushed through