A Liverpool Legacy Read Online Free

for it. Where are we?’
    Millie gave the lifeline one last turn round the cleat before collapsing on the seat beside her daughter to take a look. The rain and mist were clearing but it was almost dark. Yes, she could see a light and perhaps another one further over. They were fast approaching the coast of Anglesey, but she didn’t recognise this part. Her stomach lurched and seemed to turn over. She knew just how treacherous this coast was for shipping. There were outcrops of rock all along here, some just beneath the water.
    ‘Change places with me, Sylvie,’ she said urgently. ‘Keep pulling Dad’s lifeline in. It’s easier now.’
    She took over the tiller, scared stiff by this new emergency. Where were they? Pete would have planned their course carefully but clearly they hadn’t kept to it. If she continued on like this she’d drive them straight up on to the long stretch of beach she could now see ahead. But there was no sign of life there and she’d need immediate help for Pete. The beaches were always deserted except in the holiday season. They could be miles from anywhere.
    In another flash of panic she realised that if she went aground on the beach, she’d never get the boat off again; heaven knows what it would do to the keel and the engine.
    She had to make up her mind quickly whether to turn north or south and she couldn’t think. Where were they? Pete never travelled without charts but there was no time to get them out. The currents and the tide would have carried them but where? Her mind stayed blank.
    If she went north she could sail off into the Irish Sea and keep going until the engine ran out of petrol. South was her best guess. The population was greater to the south. Beside her, Sylvie grunted with effort.
    ‘How are you doing?’ she asked.
    ‘I can’t . . . It’s not easy but Dad’s closer,’ Sylvie gasped. ‘He gives no sign . . . But his face is sometimes free of the water, do you think he can breathe?’
    ‘Oh God!’ Millie felt sick. ‘Yes, perhaps.’
    ‘Do you know where we are?’
    ‘Not really . . . But . . . that wouldn’t be the lighthouse at Point Lynas, would it?’ She felt a first spark of joy. Of course it was! Why hadn’t she thought to look for it sooner?
    ‘It is,’ Sylvie said. ‘It is. It must be. Thank goodness this murk is lifting. It’s stopped raining over there so we can see it.’
    ‘Going about,’ Millie said to warn her as she turned south. The boom swung slowly across, dragging the sail. Pete insisted they kept all the tackle shipshape and ready for use and she certainly hadn’t today. She looked back at the Point Lynas light. How far away from it were they? Could that long stretch of sand be Dulas Beach? If so, they might not be all that far away from home. She kept her eyes peeled as they chugged along the coast, hoping to recognise her whereabouts.
    Fifteen minutes later she heard Sylvie’s shout above the roar of the gale. ‘That’s Hafod.’ Her voice was full of heartfelt relief. ‘Mum, we’re home, you’ve done it.’
    Millie slowed the engine. Sylvie was leaping about and waving madly. The lights gleamed out of Hafod. Never had any sight been more welcome. In the gathering dusk she could make out two figures wearing yellow sou’westers running down to the jetty to meet them. The storm must have made Valerie and Helen anxious. Help was at hand.
    Millie took a deep breath, she felt completely drained of energy but she slowed the engine right down as she brought the yacht in closer, and cut it at just the right moment so they slid alongside the jetty.

Chapter Three
    Millie could hear the rain splattering against the window as she woke up in the double bed. Her head was swimming and she felt drugged to the eyeballs. The first thing she always did was to reach across for Pete. To feel only cold empty space shocked her. He wasn’t there. It brought the events of the day before slamming back to her mind.
    She