The Beach Wedding by Dorothy Koomson

Author:Dorothy Koomson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2018-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

9

Now

On the other side of the set of buildings that makes up Bussu Bay Resort and Water Sports Centre, a little further along the beach, there is an area where the greenery and palm trees start to encroach on the sand. That’s because, behind it, there is a series of caves that you can only get to by a very rocky path. Some of the rocks on the path are so large that you have to step up on top of them to get over them.

When I was little we would come here from England to stay with my grandparents for the six-week summer holiday. My parents would bring me to play on this area of the beach, while they were making their plans to build Bussu Bay. Work started when I was ten, and finished when I was about seventeen. A year after that, my parents left England to come here, to open their resort and change the lives of everyone in the community.

Sometimes my cousins would be here too, but mostly I was on my own. I’d go off exploring, and would spend hours in these caves, drawing pictures on the sand floors, running my fingers along the cool, damp walls. I would bring toys and hold tea parties with bits and pieces I found on the beach. The older I got, the more time I would spend in the caves just reading.

I walk down to the caves now, hoping I can disappear for hours like I used to when I was a child. Hoping that I will be able to run my hands along the clammy walls and conjure up a time in my life before Drew, before the death that was not a death.

I have walked around this cave, one of my favourites, for a while now and feel calmer for it. I need to decide how to tell Nia and Marvin.

It took me a while to pull myself together after the panic attack outside the kitchen. By the time I was able to go back inside, Marvin told me his mum had gone to unpack and then have a nap, and Nia and Marvin were going to help make lunch before they went to the beach. Drew was nowhere to be seen, and Marvin had explained his dad had gone to explore the area.

I’d stared at Nia and Marvin, knowing I should tell them they were brother and sister, but the words would not come out of my mouth. This is why I have come to the caves – to gather strength and get my head together.

As I stand here, I know that with every hour that passes, the more I am colluding in what is going on with my daughter. I have to summon up my courage to tell her and Marvin. I close my eyes and stand very still. I don’t want to do this.

‘I thought I might find you here.’ Drew’s voice echoes on the stone around us. ‘I guessed this would still be your most favourite place in the whole of Ghana.

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