Unexpected Blessings (22 page)
‘I did say that, yes, but what I meant was that this flat was only temporary until I find a place I really like, which I will then buy.’
‘That’s a good idea,’ Marietta said. ‘It will be a good investment.’
Her father threw her mother a reproachful look, then said in a quiet, rather subdued voice, ‘Do you mean you’re planning to live in London indefinitely, Evan?’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘But when you came here in January it was my understanding it was only for a year, a sort of sabbatical, like the one I took myself years ago.’
‘Perhaps that’s what I meant
then,
Dad, but I do love working at the store. In fact, I love the store. It’s great, probably the greatest department store in the world, thanks to Emma Harte and her heirs, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.’
‘I hope they’re not working you too hard there. You look to me as if you’ve lost weight. You’re very thin, Evan.’
Something inside Evan rose up like bile, a bad-tasting bile, and several sharp retorts sprang to her lips. But she knew it was wiser not to respond, even though she resented her father’s comments enormously. But the anxiety suddenly clouding her mother’s face was another reason she held her tongue, at least as far as sarcastic remarks were concerned. Instead, she said, ‘No, they’re not working me too hard, Dad. In fact, they all work much harder than me and every other employee. And they’re wonderful people, the Hartes. I can’t understand why you have this hatred for them.’ There, it was out. She hadn’t meant to say it, at least not yet, but she had and she wasn’t going to retract it.
‘I don’t hate the Hartes!’ he cried, his voice rising slightly. He looked at her askance. ‘I don’t even know them. Why would you say a thing like that? You’re being silly, over-imaginative.’
‘No I’m not, Dad. You have continually made remarks about them for the past eight months, ever since I started working at the store, and you continue to make strange comments about Gideon, a man you don’t even know.’
‘Is that what this is all about? Your boyfriend?’ he asked, his voice suddenly chilly.
‘No, it isn’t. You started it by implying my bosses made me work too hard, that I looked too thin, that I’ve lost weight. Maybe I have, because I want to be thin and elegant, wear the nice clothes I have with a degree of self-confidence. Anyway, I’ve always been pretty slender. As far as Gideon’s concerned, he’s a very nice young man. And he’s been kind to me every day since I arrived, which is when I first met him.’
Marietta, sensing a row brewing, injected herself into the conversation, saying, ‘I think it’s nice that you have a boyfriend, Evan, a man who is kind and understanding, and obviously devoted to you. I hope we’re going to meet him while we’re here in London.’
Evan gave her mother a grateful smile, thankful that she was present, had so diplomatically poured oil on troubled waters. ‘Of course you are. I
want
you and Dad to meet Gideon. In fact, he would like to take you out to lunch on Sunday–’
‘Oh, I don’t think we can do that,’ her father cut in a little peremptorily. ‘I promised George and Arlette we would join them for lunch on Sunday. At the hotel. You know how much they care about you, Evan.’
‘I suppose it’ll be all right,’ Evan murmured, disappointed but glad the tricky situation had been defused by her mother. ‘I’ll tell Gideon about the change in plans. I think he’d enjoy seeing George and Arlette again. He likes them.’
‘Oh, but I don’t believe George was including your friend,’ her father said. ‘He meant just the three of us.’
Evan was furious and sat back, gaping at her father. She was about to remind him that they had come to London to see
her,
not the friend of his youth, when her mother put a hand on her arm soothingly, cleared her throat, said quietly, ‘Don’t be upset, Evan dear.’
Leaning forward in her chair, Marietta focused all of her attention on her husband. ‘No, Owen, I’m afraid we won’t be accepting George’s invitation for lunch on Sunday. At a later date perhaps, while we’re here, but not this Sunday. Oh no, we are going to go out to lunch with our daughter and her boyfriend. We don’t need other people along, not if we’re going to properly get to know Gideon Harte.’
‘I don’t wish to offend George,’ Owen began, glaring at his wife, but before he could finish his sentence, Marietta was speaking once again.
In an extremely firm voice, she said, ‘Oh, it won’t offend him. He’ll understand, I’m sure. Anyway, I can always go alone with Evan to meet Gideon, you know. And you, Owen, can have lunch with your old pal George, and Arlette, if you prefer.’
Evan was once more surprised, and delighted as well. Her father had opened his mouth to say something and then promptly closed it. He looked mortified, but she didn’t care. She was silently applauding her mother. God knows what’s happened to her, but she’s a different woman. And quite wonderful, Evan thought, smiling to herself.
Suddenly her mother was continuing in that lovely newly-confident voice. ‘Now, Evan, you said yesterday that you’d booked a table at a special place for dinner tonight. So…where
are
we going, honey?’
‘To Rules, Mom. It was Glynnis’s favourite restaurant, and she and Grandfather used to take me there when I came to London with them. And you and Dad came with us once to Rules. I thought it would be lovely to go back to a place of shared memories.’
‘Y
ou two Stormy Petrels have lived up to your name this week, and then some,’ Gideon said, looking from Linnet to India, his two favourite cousins.
Linnet frowned, repeated,
‘Stormy Petrels?
Now where did that come from?’ and stared at Gideon, then looked across at India quizzically.
India said, ‘Don’t look at me, I don’t know what he means. But actually I do happen to know what a stormy petrel is…it’s a rather beautiful bird that spends most of its life on the sea, and it follows ships quite a lot.’
Julian Kallinski began to laugh, shaking his head. ‘What short memories you two have. And, Linnet, you also seem to have forgotten what your mother told us…the legend of the stormy petrel, that the name
petrel
is supposedly a diminutive of Peter. You see, when it’s feeding the bird appears to flit and hover around, just above the water, and its feet look as if they’re pattering on the surface of the sea. One gets a sense that it’s actually
walking
on water,
in the way that St Peter did in the Bible story, hence its name Petrel, for Peter.’
‘Oh gosh, Jules, I think I do remember that now,’ Linnet murmured. ‘My mother
did
tell us about the stormy petrel. We were all very small, and we were staying at Heron’s Nest in Scarborough for the summer, and there were stormy petrels flying around. And, very vaguely, I do remember you saying, Gideon, that the Harte girls were Stormy Petrels…but it’s such a long time ago.’
‘Yes, you’re very ancient,’ Julian remarked, chuckling as he spoke.
‘We’re
not ancient. It’s Tessa who’s the Ancient One, at least that’s what Lorne has always called her,’ India reminded them.
Gideon smiled at India and remarked, ‘Tessa’s a stormy petrel too, and I’m paying you all a compliment…you see, I thought you were beautiful birds who could walk on water even when you were little girls. And I still think that.’
‘Thank you, Gid,’ India answered, smiling back at him. He had always been one of her favourites as a child, and he still was. He was there for her whenever she needed him, and devoted. ‘It’s a charming way of describing us,’ she went on. ‘From now on we’ll call ourselves the stormy petrels, and remind the world we can indeed walk on water.’
‘Tessa came through her ordeal very well, and Linnet, you were superb. What a good idea you had when you brought Jack in to help with the abduction. As for you, India, I think you’re quite remarkable the way you handled the situation with Dusty.’ Gideon sat back, reached for his glass of wine and took a long swallow.
The four of them, best friends since childhood, were enjoying a drink before going out to dinner. It was something of a ritual, this weekly dinner, although sometimes there was one or other of them missing, because of business commitments or travels. But they endeavoured to get together even if they were not a full complement, because they cherished their lifelong relationships with each other.
Linnet began to fan herself with one hand, and remarked, ‘It’s terribly hot in here, Jules, are you certain the air conditioning is working?’
‘I know it is, but, well, I’ll check it, darling,’ he murmured, and jumped up, went across to the unit, bent over and examined it and then straightened. ‘It’s okay,’ he told her, looking across at her, his dark blue gaze full of love. ‘Talking of Heron’s Nest, I wouldn’t mind being by the seaside in Scarborough right now. Oh, for a weekend on the beach, and the pleasure of a few salty sea breezes.’
India, who had been looking off into the distance somewhat pensively, exclaimed, ‘Heron’s Nest! Gosh, that’s a good idea for Dusty, the perfect place for him to recuperate. What do you think? Would it be all right if I took him there?’
‘I’m sure it’s fine, but how will you manage?’ Linnet asked, then reminded her, ‘There’s no real help there these days, India. Only Mrs Hodges keeping an eye on it and keeping it dust-free.’
‘I’m a stormy petrel,’ India shot back. ‘I can walk on water, remember? So I’ll certainly be able to manage a house and a man who’s recuperative, wouldn’t you say?’
Linnet laughed good-naturedly, as always enjoying India and her pithy comments.
‘How
is
Dusty?’ Gideon asked, sitting up straighter, focusing on his cousin.
India sighed, bit her lip, and then her face suddenly clouded over. ‘It’s been worse than I expected, but he’s going to be all right. To be very honest it was a lot more serious than he or I realized at first. The wound I mean. The brachial artery is where the pectoral muscle goes up into the shoulder, and that artery was almost severed completely. It was really touch and go for a while during surgery. And there was an enormous loss of blood. He could easily have bled to death–’
‘It’s thanks to you that he didn’t!’ Linnet pointed out swiftly. ‘If you hadn’t acted immediately, and driven him to Harrogate District Hospital, he’d be dead by now.’
India nodded, but remained silent, hardly able to countenance the idea of Dusty being dead. She loved him far too much to even contemplate such a catastrophe.
Julian leaned forward and asked, ‘What’s your feeling about the stabbing, India? Any new thoughts on it?’
She shook her head. ‘Not really. But my common sense tells me that he must have known that woman at some time or other. A stranger is not going to find his studio, burst in unannounced, go berserk at the sight of me, stab a portrait of me and then run away. For me to think the woman was unknown to Dusty would be pretty ridiculous, don’t you think?’
‘Yes, it would,’ Gideon agreed. He knew a lot about Russell Rhodes now. He had had two of his crack investigative reporters on the story for the past week. Not that he intended to run anything in any of their newspapers, or tell India much of what he knew. But in order to properly protect her, and the family, he had needed to put top journalists to work at once.
Now he said, ‘Your practicality serves you well. Dusty did know her. I’m not going to lie to you, India, I did have to put reporters on the story, but I’m not running anything in any of our papers. Let’s hope the nationals don’t either.’
India was sitting bolt upright on the sofa, staring at Gideon, and she exclaimed, ‘Who is she? What did you find out?’
‘Not as much as we’d like to know, you and I. She
was
his girlfriend for a while. A model and an actress. From what I gather she’s had problems with drugs and has been hospitalized somewhere and for quite some time now. Trying to get de-toxed.’
‘I see,’ India murmured, looking suddenly morose, a little forlorn.
Picking up on her mood at once, Gideon added swiftly, ‘From what I’ve been told by my reporters, their relationship had been over for a very long time. But seemingly she’s been…well, a bit obsessed with him.’
‘What’s her name?’ India asked softly.
‘You don’t really want to know…oh well, I can see you do. It’s Melinda Caldwell.’
‘I can’t imagine why Dusty didn’t tell me about her!’
‘I think that’s understandable under the circumstances, darling,’ Julian interjected. ‘If she’s been bothersome to him he wouldn’t want you to know and become upset. Also, men tend not to talk about old lovers to new ones.’ Julian looked at Gideon for support, his eyes pleading. India was a favourite with them all.
Gideon said, ‘Julian’s right, there was no real reason for Dusty to talk about other women long gone. Now was there?’
‘I suppose not,’ she muttered, brushing her hair away from her face, which was suddenly much paler.
‘Have you discussed anything with Dusty?’ Julian asked. ‘I suppose he’s well enough by now to talk to you.’
‘Actually, he’s not been in top form,’ India explained. ‘So I haven’t probed. I didn’t want to upset him unduly, and so I decided to wait until he’s better. Out of hospital.’
‘I see. When is he going to be able to go home?’ Julian continued.
‘Next week. Either Monday or Tuesday. Hence my thought about Heron’s Nest. If the heat keeps up it might be nice by the sea. On the other hand, I think perhaps it’s wiser to take him back to Willows Hall, where there’s a staff, and also it’s only ten minutes away from the hospital. In case of any emergency.’
Linnet said, ‘I’m glad you made that decision. I think Heron’s Nest probably needs a thorough cleaning. None of us has been there for ages.’
‘We should go though,’ Gideon exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. ‘I think I’d like to take Evan there for a weekend. Actually, we might all go and spend a weekend there. It would be like old times.’
‘Why not. And I’m sorry Evan’s not with us this evening,’ Linnet murmured, standing up. ‘But I suppose she felt obliged to take her parents to dinner. After all she hasn’t seen them for eight months.’