Aunt Bessie's Holiday Read Free

you’re warm enough?”
    “I’m fine,” Grace told him, smiling
brightly.   “Although I’d probably be
better with your arm around me.”
    Hugh grinned and slid his arm around
Grace.   Bessie smiled at the pair.
    “I’m going to miss you two,” she said.
    “It’s only a week away,” Hugh said.   “You’ll barely have time to miss
anyone.”
    “I hope we’ll be too busy to miss anyone,”
Doona said.   Bessie hadn’t noticed
her friend’s approach, but now she turned and smiled.
    “I feel like a small child,” Bessie
confessed.   “It’s silly how excited
I am about our holiday.”
    “I know what you mean,” Doona agreed.   “I haven’t been away since my last
honeymoon and that doesn’t exactly bring back warm memories.”
    “I can’t remember my last proper holiday,”
Bessie said thoughtfully.   “Although
as I’ve never worked and I live on the beach, I suppose my entire life has been
a holiday.”
    Everyone laughed and then Bessie headed back
inside to spend some time with her other guests.   Quite a few of her friends from Manx
National Heritage and the Manx Museum had come to wish her well and she didn’t
want any of them to feel neglected.
    Two hours later, the last of the guests were
leaving.   Bessie hugged everyone as
they left, grateful that they’d taken time out of their busy lives to celebrate
her upcoming trip.  
    “Well, that was fun,” she said to Doona as
she shut the door behind Hugh and Grace.   “And tiring.”
    Doona nodded.   “It was at that,” she agreed.   “It’s a good thing we’re going on
holiday tomorrow.   We can get some
extra rest.”
    “I thought you had us booked in for all
sorts of activities,” Bessie countered.   “Don’t tell me we’re just going to sit around all week.”
    Doona laughed.   “I’ve signed us up for just about
everything that is only for adults,” she told Bessie.   “But we should still have plenty of time
to rest, relax and recover from tonight.”
    “We should have had the party at my house,”
John said from his spot at the sink as he finished the last of the washing
up.   “I did offer.”
    “But you’re trying to get packed up to
move,” Bessie replied.   “Besides,
it’s easier to park down here and this way guests could take walks on the beach
if they wanted to.”
    “The only guests I saw walking on the beach
were Hugh and Grace,” Doona said.
    John laughed.   “Ah, young love,” he said.   “I hope those two make it.   They seem perfect for each other.”
    Doona and Bessie were quick to agree with
the man.   Everyone liked Grace and
thought she and Hugh were well suited.
    “It would have been nice if Mary could have
come to the party,” Bessie said almost to herself.   Her friend, Mary Quayle, was still
across while Mary’s husband, George, was being investigated
by the police .   Bessie missed
the quiet and shy woman who had become a good friend.  
    “I think the investigation should be
finished some time next month,” John told her.   “But that’s all I’m prepared to say on
the subject.”
    Bessie smiled at him.   “I’m glad it’s finally wrapping up,” she
said.   “Remember that I still have
that painting in my spare room.   I’d
love to know what I should do with it.”
    John nodded.   “I haven’t forgotten,” he assured her.
    Bessie had been given a painting of Laxey
Beach by a man who was currently on the run from the police.   She’d been uncomfortable accepting it at
the time and now she felt strange about keeping it.   Once the police investigation into the
man’s business affairs was complete, she was hoping someone would advise her on
what she should do with the painting that she loved, but didn’t feel she should
keep.
    Now the women joined in the clearing up and
they soon had Bessie’s cottage back to its normal spotless state.
    “I hope you both have a wonderful time,”
John said as he stood on Bessie’s doorstep, ready