The Girl on the Cliff Read Online Free PDF Page B

hurting, but I don’t know how to reach her.’
    ‘You must be hurting too, honey. It was your baby as well as hers,’ Elaine commented, hating the sight of her precious son in pain and suffering alone.
    ‘Yeah, it doesn’t feel too good just now. We were gonna be a family. It was, like, my dream … shit! Sorry, Mom.’ Matt did his best to try and stem the tears. ‘I love her so much, and that little one, who didn’t make it, who was part of us … I …’
    ‘Oh, honey.’ Elaine stood and reached up to take herson in her arms. ‘I’m so, so sorry. If there’s anything I can do to help …’
    Matt wished his mother hadn’t caught him at such a low moment. He dug deep to find the strength to pull himself back together. ‘I’m a big boy now, Mom. I’ll be OK, really. I only wish I knew what it is that’s made Grania run away. I just don’t understand it.’
    ‘How about you coming to stay with us for a while? I don’t like to think of you all alone here.’
    ‘Thanks, Mom, but I’ve got a heap of work on. I just gotta believe that Grania will come back in her own time, once she’s licked her wounds. She’s always been a law unto herself. I guess that’s why I love her the way I do.’
    ‘She’s certainly unusual,’ agreed Elaine. ‘And doesn’t seem to care for the rules most of us abide by.’
    ‘That’s maybe because she wasn’t brought up with them,’ countered Matt, not in the mood for any snide parental comments or ‘I told you so’s’ about his choice of love.
    ‘Oh no, Matt, you got me wrong,’ Elaine said hastily. ‘I really admire Grania, and the two of you, for stepping outside the box and being together simply because you love each other. Maybe more of us should follow our heart, rather than our upbringing.’ Elaine sighed. ‘I got to be getting back. Your father has his golfing buddies coming round for their annual winter dinner.’
    Matt duly collected then held out Elaine’s fur coat for her to put on. ‘Thanks for coming, Mom. I appreciate it.’
    ‘It was good to see you, Matt.’ She kissed him on the cheek. ‘You know I’m proud of you, don’t you? And any time you want to talk, I’m there for you, honey, really. Iunderstand … how you must feel.’ A hint of sadness appeared in her eyes, then disappeared as quickly as it had come. ‘Bye, Matty.’
    Matt closed the door behind her, sensing that she really did empathise with him. And, loving her for it, he realised for the first time how little he knew of the woman beneath the shiny veneer of perfect Connecticut wife and mother.

4
    Once Kathleen had left for Clonakilty to do the weekly shop the following morning, Grania walked to the barn where the old newspapers were stored and collected a pile of them. She rooted through her father’s chaotic workshop and came out triumphantly with a mildewed box of wallpaper paste. Putting them in a carrier bag, Grania set off down the lane and headed up towards the cliffs. If Aurora didn’t appear – and as no specific time had been set yesterday for them to meet, it was unlikely – she would simply come back home.
    As she walked, Grania pondered on the numbness inside her. It felt as if her life was happening to somebody else, as if she was walking through treacle and couldn’t reach her own feelings. She simply couldn’t cry or bring herself to confront Matt, or work out whether her reaction had been rational. That would mean contending with the pain, and the safest and best solution was to shut down. What was done, was done, and couldn’t be erased.
    Grania sat down on the rock overlooking the sea at the top of the cliffs and sighed. She’d really believed, as the two of them had watched their friends’ relationships fall by the wayside, that they were different. Grania blushed in embarrassment for all the smug conversations the two of them had shared. The ‘it’ll never happen to us’ and the ‘aren’t we lucky, poor old them’ comments burned