Twilight hangs over the estuary. A pewter stillness, the water so smooth it reminds me of ice. Alaska is a dream I lost. I let it go willingly. Daveth still phones every week. He mentions someone occasionally, hesitantly. He will tell me more, I feel, in the months to come. And I’ll be happy for him.
The heron stands motionless at the water’s edge. Nothing disturbs its concentration, neither the traffic pounding across the motorway bridge, nor the shrill voices of the canoeists as they pull their canoes over the pebbled waterline. Is it the same one I drove past on the night I fled from Jake, trying to banish the image of her as I drove recklessly along this pitted road?
I’m stiff when I rise from the jetty. My feet are still weak. I’ll need a walking frame for some time yet. But this evening I ventured out without it. Each week I grow stronger in body. I defy medical predictions, thumb my nose at weighty opinions that decreed my mind would be a broken thing. Hart says all my memories will return if I’m patient and respect the energy of my chakras. He touches the base of my spine and travels upwards, pausing at each chakra until he reaches the crown of my head. Can I feel the energy of his belief, he asks and I nod. Positive energy pulling me away from the negative. I visualise my memories as a patchwork quilt, ragged edges that I must carefully sew back into place.
Sea Aster is for sale. The new owner will be unafraid of ghosts. Where will we live? A mews or a country cottage? A town house or an apartment overlooking the sea? A shipping container? We’ll decide in time. The only decision that matters has already been made.
Jake comes towards me, anxious in case I slip on the uneven surface. He holds me steady when I stumble. I recover my balance and my step is steady as we make our way back to the old house. We close the door behind us. Brian was right. A perfect divorce is an illusion. So, too, is a perfect marriage. It’s love that makes it worth the struggle.
Letter from Laura Elliot
Dear Reader
Thank you so much for reading The Betrayal. I hope you enjoyed the story. Writing The Betrayal was an all-consuming experience. It took longer than I anticipated and, as I worked on the plot, built up my characters, teased out their personalities and issues, it seemed, at times, as if I would never bring all the strands to a conclusion. It’s a work of fiction but some of the locations exist. Like the Broadmeadow Estuary, for instance, although Mallard Cove and Sea Aster are figments of my imagination.
I live close to the Broadmeadow Estuary and love walking along its shoreline. I paced it over many hours as I contemplated the lives and loves of my characters and always came home refreshed, ready to sit down at the computer to begin working again.
I have a passion for writing. This passion overcomes the necessity of working in isolation, of turning my back on a sunny day when I have a deadline to meet, of tearing out the heart of a story when it’s not working and beginning again.
Writing the words ‘The End’ and letting a book go on to its next stage is an exhilarating yet difficult experience. Once that happens the book belongs to the reading public. It can be liked or disliked, praised or criticised, discussed or ignored – that is part of its journey - and when some of that reader reaction comes back to me it is always valued. I know then that someone has read my work and I appreciate that they have taken the time to contact me.
I’d love to hear your opinion of The Betrayal and hope you will read my other books: Fragile Lies, Stolen Child and The Prodigal Sister. You can contact me at the links below and if you’d like to keep up-to-date with all my latest releases, just sign up here:
Laura Elliot new releases email
Thank you so much for your support – until next time.
Laura
www.lauraelliotauthor.com
Also by Laura Elliot
Fragile Lies
Stolen Child
The Prodigal Sister
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Laura Elliot new releases email
THE PRODIGAL SISTER
'A page-turner…has all the ingredients of a bestseller.' RTE
When 15-year-old Cathy Lambert runs away from her Dublin home, she is scared and pregnant. Settled in New Zealand with her new son Conor she believes the secret she carries will never be revealed…
Rebecca Lambert was eighteen when her parents died and she took responsibility for her younger sisters. Years later, she is haunted by fears she hoped she'd conquered.
Freed from family duties, mother of three Julie Chambers is determined to recapture the dreams of her youth.
Married to a possessive older man, Lauren Moran embarks on a frantic love affair that threatens to destabilise her fragile world.
Anxious to make peace with her three sisters, Cathy invites them to her wedding.
But as the women journey together through New Zealand towards their reunion, they are forced to confront the past as the secret shared histories of the Lambert sisters are revealed.
THE PRODIGAL SISTER is out now
‘A gripping, multi-stranded novel… An unusual combination of fine writing, strong plotting and a huge cast of well-formed characters.’ Irish Examiner
'A well-crafted and compelling story traces the deceits which begin unnoticed but end in the destruction of friendships and lives.' Irish Times
THE STOLEN CHILD
If you loved DAUGHTER by Jane Shemilt you will love this.
It's every mother's worst nightmare. Carla Kelly wakes to find her two-day-old baby daughter's cot empty. Isobel has been taken.
Susanne Dowling has kept a terrible secret following her fifth agonising miscarriage. When at last she welcomes her new baby daughter into her life she realises they will both be safe as long as Susanne keeps her daughter close, and confesses her lie to no one. Ever.
Carla, a top model, launches a fierce national campaign to find her baby – but the trail is cold. She receives threats and recriminations from strangers – she flaunted her pregnancy in the media, she cashed in on it, she deserves everything she gets – and, pressured by well-meaning loved ones to move on, she begins to fall apart.
But one letter Carla receives stands out from the rest, offering support from a surprising quarter. It sparks a chain of events that opens wounds and exposes shocking secrets from Carla’s past that suggest what happened to her daughter was revenge a long time planned .
And it will bring Carla unknowingly close to the stolen daughter she has sworn she will do anything to get back …
THE STOLEN CHILD is out now
‘A bittersweet tale of love and heartache.’ Evening Echo