A Winter’s Tale (47 page)

I sincerely hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but she was right—it did give me a valuable asset. But it also might prove a visitor attraction.

‘Seth not come back with you?’ she asked. ‘And where’s that nice friend of yours got to?’

‘Anya’s gone to Mike’s house for tea. He’s coming for Christmas dinner. I left Seth at the lodge because he had a…visitor.’

‘Not Mel? Don’t tell me she sobered up
that
quickly,’ Ottie said in amazement.

‘Perhaps she’s come to persuade him to go to Barbados with her after all.’

‘Well, he won’t,’ Ottie said confidently. ‘Even if he’d wanted to, which I’m sure he doesn’t, he wouldn’t leave his beloved knots for that long, would he?’

‘Probably not,’ I conceded.

‘What about you, though? Doesn’t the idea of joining the jet set in the sun appeal?’

‘No, not in the least. I’d much rather be here, getting Winter’s End ready to open.’

‘You know, you and Seth have
so
much in common,’ she mused.

‘Unfortunately, we have even more
not
in common,’ I assured her.

I’d left my bag containing my bunch of keys and notebook upstairs in my room that morning, though tucked out of sight at the back of the wardrobe. They were still there, but so too was a familiar, lingering trace of Amouage Gold.

I flew downstairs to the parlour, which was empty apart from more aromatic evidence that Jack had been there. Could he
really
have been so unscrupulous as to take my keys and look for the household book in my absence, or did I have a nasty, suspicious mind? I hated the thought that he might have even touched Alys’s coffer…though if he had opened it, he would have been disappointed to find only a Victorian book of bible stories inside.

While I was still standing there, undecided, the man himself startled me by sticking his head round the door. ‘There you are, darling! I’ve been looking for you. I hoped you would come back alone.’

‘Have you already been in here today?’ I asked him sharply.

‘Yes, of course—upstairs, downstairs and in my lady’s chamber,’ he said, smiling innocently.

‘Oh,’ I said lamely, wondering if I’d misjudged him. ‘Why were you looking for me, Jack?’

‘To apologise for putting brandy in the punch—but honestly, it was only a smidgen out of my hip flask to liven it up, not much at all. I’ve already apologised to Aunt Hebe and she’s forgiven me,’ he said virtuously. ‘We’ve kissed and
made up, and I think you and I should kiss and make up too, Sophy, after all those horrid scenes.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said, which was no more than the truth.

‘Yes, it does. Mel is such a bitch! She’ll say—or do—anything when she’s in one of her jealous rages. But just because we had a quick fling years ago, it doesn’t mean I can’t fall for someone else now, does it? She just can’t bear to let any man go.’

‘True, I think she’s mending her bridges with Seth right now,’ I agreed. ‘But, Jack—’

‘Come and sit here on the sofa with me, Sophy, I want to talk to you,’ he said, looking very serious.

I did, but as far away from him as possible, poised for a fast flight if he started to get smoochy. Alys’s warning presence was so evident that I was surprised he wasn’t aware of the sudden chill in the atmosphere.

‘We’ve got to know each other very well, haven’t we? I knew practically from the first minute I saw you that you were the one for me, and I could tell that you felt the same. Maybe I rushed you a bit too much, but—’

‘Jack,’ I interrupted, ‘please don’t!’

He shuffled along sideways like a parrot up a perch and took my hand. ‘I know I got things wrong at the start, maybe let pride stand in my way, but now—well, now I see things more clearly. I love you, Sophy!’

To my horror he got down on one knee and presented me with a ring, a huge, flashing diamond. ‘Marry me, Sophy. You can open the house if you must, do exactly what you like—just say you will marry me. We’ll have a long engagement and—’

‘No, Jack,’ I began, trying to snatch my hand away as he pushed the ring onto my finger. ‘I’ve been telling you for weeks that I don’t feel that way about you.’

‘Perhaps you still can’t quite believe that I love you, but
by the time we get back from the Caribbean you’ll be as mad about me as I am about you,’ he said confidently. ‘I’ve even sent the notice of our engagement to
The Times
already—
that’s
how serious I am.’

I was tugging at the ring, trying to get it off, and starting to feel angry. ‘For goodness’ sake, Jack! I really don’t feel like that about you in the least and I don’t want to marry you!’

He attempted to take me in his arms just as Charlie, alarmed by my raised voice, sank his teeth into his ankle.

‘Bloody hell!’ Jack roared, and letting go of me, kicked him away.

Charlie yelped, and I swept him up into my arms and kissed the top of his silky, indignant head. ‘Darling, are you all right?’

Lucy burst in. ‘What on earth is happening? It sounded like a massacre in here! Is Charlie hurt?’

Then she noticed the blinding flash of the ring still on my finger. It would be a bit hard to miss—vulgar simply wasn’t in it. ‘
Mum!
’

‘It’s not how it looks,’ I said hastily. ‘I just can’t get it off. I think it will take soap.’

‘Oh, come on, Sophy, we can tell her—we’re engaged,’ he announced to Lucy.

‘No we’re not! I keep telling you, Jack, I’m not marrying you. I’m not even going to Barbados with you. Not, not,
not
.’

‘She doesn’t love you that way,’ Lucy explained to him kindly. ‘
I
could have told you that.’

‘And you’d better take that announcement out of the paper again,’ I said. ‘Honestly, to think you could do that without asking me first!’

‘I did ask you, and you said you just needed a bit more time to get to know me,’ he protested.

‘No, that’s what
you
said.’

He’d thought he could sweep me off my feet, but I could see it was finally and belatedly dawning on him that it wasn’t going to work.

‘Could you leave us alone?’ he asked Lucy and she looked at me doubtfully.

I nodded at her.

‘OK—but I’m just next door if you want me. Come on, Charlie.’

When she’d gone, he said discontentedly, ‘I can’t believe you really mean it.’

‘I do. Sorry, Jack, I’m not in love with you and I never will be.’

‘Is it Seth? Mel thought you were getting too close. But she’s determined to have him—and what Mel wants, she gets.’

‘No, of course it’s not Seth—it isn’t anyone. I simply don’t want to marry again, and I don’t need to. Winter’s End will always be your home, too, but you must stop all this.’

‘You can’t blame me for thinking you were in love with me. You led me on,’ he said crossly.

‘I know I did at first, and I’m sorry,’ I said contritely. ‘I soon realised I didn’t feel that way about you, though I am very fond of you, Jack.’

‘That’s not good enough! Winter’s End should be mine. That’s what William really wanted—for us to get together. That’s why I borrowed money on my expectations—and now I’m overstretched and it’s all your fault. If you won’t marry me, the least you can do is help me out.’

I looked at him, puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Increase the loan against Winter’s End to bail me out, until my company’s back in profit again,’ he said sulkily.

‘Absolutely not!’

‘Look, it’s just a temporary fix I’m in—but it’s your fault that I need the money. It’s not fair!’

‘I’m sorry,’ I said finally and, looking furious, he slammed out of the room.

Lucy came back in, carrying Charlie. ‘Seth is so much nicer than Jack. I don’t know what you ever saw in him.’

‘Nice Seth is at this moment shacked up in the lodge with Nasty Mel and, for all I know, will be jetting off to Barbados with her after Christmas.’

‘I’m sure he won’t. Anyway, we need him, there’s lots to do.’

‘Tell me about it!’ I snapped, sinking down onto the sofa.

‘There’s no need to be ratty with
me
, just because you made a mess of things,’ she said, hurt.

‘Sorry, darling, it’s just been a bit of a day, to say the least.’

‘Hebe told me what Ottie said about your father being one of the Pharamonds,’ she said, plumping down next to me on the sofa.

‘Yes, I’ve just been to see her and it’s true. It’s nice to know for sure, but I’m not going to approach the family. They know nothing about it, so there’s no point in raking it all up.’

‘It doesn’t matter to me,’ Lucy said. ‘Mum,’ she added, having gone into a trance for quite five minutes, ‘Guy has to go back to work on Tuesday, so I thought I would go back over there with him for a couple of days, if you don’t mind. We have a lot of catching up to do.’ She sighed. ‘I hadn’t realised how much he’d changed…’

‘No, that’s fine,’ I said, though feeling a bit hurt that she was leaving me so soon.

‘He’ll probably come back here with me at the weekend, if that’s all right?’

‘He’s always welcome here. We’ll keep the old nursery bedroom ready just for him, if you like, then he can come and go as he pleases.’

‘Thanks, Mum!’ she said, giving me a hug.

‘Where is Guy at the moment?’

‘In the stillroom with Aunt Hebe. When she found out he was a biochemist, she said she had one or two things he could help her with.’

‘Oh?’ I wasn’t sure if that sounded ominous or not. ‘Anya’s off to Scotland for the New Year, but she’ll be back well before Valentine’s Day, though she says she won’t stay in the house, she’ll live in her van somewhere on the estate.’

‘She seems to have got on well with that policeman—Mike, is it?’ Lucy said, interested. ‘He’s nice—maybe she will stay with
him
!’

‘Maybe. You can never predict what Anya will do, so we’ll have to wait and see.’ I made up my mind, since the day had been one of confessions and revelations, to add one more.

‘Lucy, there’s something I have to talk to you about,’ I said, and told her about her father making contact. ‘I didn’t want anything to do with him, but perhaps I should have asked you how you felt before telling him to get lost?’

‘I don’t want anything to do with him, either. We’ve managed fine without him up until now, haven’t we? And I don’t believe all that stuff about not finding us was true, do you, Mum?’

‘No, to be honest. I think he must be hard up and when he spotted the article in the paper thought I’d come into money. I don’t suppose we’ll hear from him again.’

‘Good,’ Lucy said. She got up. ‘I’ll go and make some tea and bring it through. You look as if you need it!’

Jack had slammed his way right out of the house and didn’t reappear for dinner, though Mel’s mother, Chloe, phoned later to say that he was dining there.

That was another surprise—I thought Seth would be too preoccupied with Mel to turn up, but no, he suddenly
appeared in the kitchen while I was trying to get that damned ring off. Mrs Lark had suggested immersing my hand in icy water for ten minutes and then applying soft soap, and I had just succeeded in finally wrenching it over my knuckles when he came into the kitchen. In fact, the ring shot off and landed at his feet, shining with soapy iridescence.

‘There, that’s off,’ Mrs Lark said with satisfaction. ‘Jack gave it to her, Seth, only it was too small and her finger was swelling up.’

Seth, expressionless, picked it up and handed it back. ‘Should I congratulate you?’

‘No,’ I said shortly, but felt in no mood for explanations. He wasn’t looking in the best of tempers himself, so things mustn’t have gone well between him and Mel. But then, it was his own stupid fault for having an affair with her in the first place.

Aunt Hebe was upset that Jack was not at dinner, presuming, correctly, that he and I had had an argument. But apart from that the meal went quite well. Lucy and Guy were in good spirits, Anya was cheery, and even I was reviving with the relief of actually having got it through Jack’s thick skull at last that I wasn’t going to marry him.

Ottie was in an expansive mood, due to having finished the sculpture, and then downed a bottle or so of champagne. In fact, she insisted on sending Jonah down to the cellars to fetch a couple of bottles up, and got the Larks in to have a glass while toasting many Happy Christmases to come.

Only Seth remained quiet and gloomy.

Chapter Thirty-three: Dodgy Dealings

Joan has brought my household book as I requested, so that I might add some words to it, directed to my precious child. I must be guarded in what I say: she will take it with this, my journal and lock them away.