Page 44 - The Letter By Ann Newhouse

Penny and I were frantic trying to keep a group of rather rowdy lads well stocked with their beverages, they had just won a cricket match against the local team and were celebrating as if they’d won the world cup, or whatever the cricket equivalent was, when a tall dark stranger carrying a large backpack appeared in the front doorway. He moved towards me and inquired if I could be a young Penny Hill.
Shouting, a little undignified I noted, to Penny who was in the back signing in two new B&B guests that she was needed. His smile made my heart miss a beat and then he introduced himself as Rex. I missed his surname as, typically that was the moment the rowdy group decided to cheer extra loud.
Penny came out to meet Rex and quietly ushered him to the back room, so she could explain to him about his great grandparents in relative privacy.
When they reemerged, he was clearly upset, and he asked to be excused. Penny showed him to his room in the attic. When she returned she brought me into the back room, so we could talk.
Rex had explained to Penny that his mother had been ill for some time and passed about a couple of years ago. His father had always kept in touch with them both, although Rex himself had never met him face to face they spoke on the phone constantly, right up until his mother became very ill and then his grandparents made sure the phone calls stopped. They began to take control of his mother’s life, she was too ill to object. But she had insisted he go to college, so he could have a decent life. His grandparents were very good to them, giving them a home and providing for their everyday needs and they never wanted for anything. But looking back now he realized they had been prisoners of sorts. They hated his father, they couldn’t shake him, and he had told Rex’s mother that he loved her and always would. She lived for the little contact she could get with him, up till the day she died. Rex had promised her he