The Catalyst (17 page)

Putting her book down, she smoothed the tangle of black curls back from his forehead and asked him what was wrong. Looking up at the grave, beautiful face above him he wanted so much to tell her about Jenny, to be honest with her and ask for her help.

Even as the thoughts formed he knew he could never tell her about Jenny, he knew he would lose her if he did. She would leave him. She would give him up in some sort of misguided sense of honour, sisterhood and all that bollocks. She might even turn from him in revulsion at his dishonesty, at his betrayal of Jenny, the wronged woman. Which she was, he had the grace to admit now with a squirm of discomfort.

He also knew he could not let Sunny leave him. Somehow he had to find Jenny and get rid of her without Sunny being involved, and preferably without either woman knowing about the other.

Inconveniently, and probably for the first time ever, he found himself unable to lie to a woman so he did not reply to Sunny’s question, choosing to distract her instead. Scrambling energetically up onto his knees, he grabbed her face and kissed it all over with a fierce playfulness until she was breathless with laughter, keeping his eyes closed so she could not see the tears in them whilst in his mind Jenny had become a remorseless, ticking bomb.

Chapter 16

The sea was fidgety. The slate-grey fingers of the incoming tide slapped at the rocky edges of the bay like a petulant schoolgirl. The breeze too was restless, freshening and seeming undecided as to which way to blow but high above the bay the clouds had more purpose and trundled relentlessly inland.

Onshore the locals were well aware this late blessing of an Indian summer was rapidly coming to an end and, as if some unseen semaphore had translated their thoughts out to sea, boats began to materialise on the horizon, all of them heading for harbour. Moored out in the bay the Coastguard’s sturdy tug turned its bow resolutely to face the oncoming squall as the small boats of crabbers and hand-liners raced unequally against the beam trawlers to get back to the safety of harbour.

Matty Tregoning, alerted to the approaching bad weather by the wild rocking of the floats on his lobster pots in the increasing swell, turned the Maid of Zennor round knowing he had to get back to Tregorran harbour quickly.

The first of the big trawlers was just slowing to a crawl to negotiate the harbour entrance as he slipped through ahead of it and made for his berth. Hurriedly stacking his boxes of fish in the market ready for the next auction, he was just taking the quayside steps two at a time as the squall struck. The boat would need cleaning but that would have to wait until after the rain. There would be plenty of time for maintenance work later now the weather had broken.

He had been expecting this change in the weather for some time and now it had come there was almost a feeling of relief. He didn’t like anything out of the ordinary and extended summers were no exception. It was a perverse point of view he knew and he tried not to be ungrateful.

Like all the other fishermen he had had a good steady run of fishing so far this autumn thanks to the late spell of settled weather and it had provided a little more cash to help him through the lean winter months if he lived frugally. Now, as he strode along the quay ignoring the rain beating down on his uncovered head he decided he would go to the Seaman’s Mission for a hot meal before going back home to Porthcarn to dry out and doze in front of the fire.

It was as he called in at Peter’s newsagents for the local paper to read over his meal that he noticed the woman and while it was true that Matty Tregoning always noticed women, and usually did a lightning assessment of their attributes or lack of them, this time no assessment was needed. He knew this woman by sight.

It was Jenny Lawrence and she was sitting in a large, silver Mercedes parked outside the newsagents. He found he was relieved to see her so obviously well and in one piece. Her apparent disappearance from Jimmy’s farmstead above Pendew Point had troubled him and he had been wondering if he should somehow investigate, wondering how to check that Jimmy Fisher hadn’t done something to her.

Whilst it would have been regrettable of course if Jimmy had done something to her, Matty would have loved to have had some excuse to see Jimmy locked away, and not just to protect Sunny. None of that mattered now as here was Jenny, looking just the same, maybe even a little more relaxed than usual, sitting in the sort of car he could only dream about.

He supposed she must finally have got fed up of Jimmy and his games with other women and left him, and for someone who was obviously a better bet, he thought enviously as Jasper hurried from the newsagents and leapt into the car clutching a bundle of magazines and newspapers. So, mystery solved, Jenny was not only alive but appeared to be doing very well for herself. He was unaware he shrugged slightly at his thoughts, as if he had been discussing them out loud with someone else.

Jasper meanwhile had hardly noticed the young man, his golden hair plastered wetly around his face, who had stood aside to let him out of the newsagent’s door. Head down against the rain he had hurried to his car, thrown his papers onto the back seat and started the engine.

‘I expect the farm will feel cold and damp, Jen ... we’ll have to get some form of permanent heating installed when we can,’ he said cheerfully, ‘but it is good to be back, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, it is.’ She smiled back at him. ‘The kitchen will soon warm up once the fire’s lit and there are enough electric heaters to put one in all the rooms ... the ones we use anyway.’

Now she was back in ‘Jimmy country’ as she thought of it, she felt more generous of mood, more capable of responding with warmth and amiability but Jasper had no illusions about the effect this trip to London had had on Jenny. He knew she had been there on sufferance but he refused to feel guilty about that, he knew his intentions had been good.

Despite longing to be back at the farm he had even invented as much business as he could to make the stay in London longer, trying to give Jenny as much time as possible to see that she really could live without Jimmy Fisher. Only now did he wonder ruefully if it had all been in vain.

He was so glad to be home again, in London he had longed to taste the sea on the air again. If only Jenny’s mood had not lifted in such an obvious way as they got closer to Jimmy. He struggled not to let that feel like a slap in the face.

The trip had been more successful in other ways. Amanda knew he would no longer be in her life and their separation had been smoothed by a financial generosity he could probably ill afford now he needed to relocate his business. But he felt it had been worth the payoff to be rid of her with no great bitterness on her part although he had the distinct feeling she was relieved when he suggested they go their separate ways. Perhaps she had suspected for some time that the relationship wasn’t going to work?

Telling Thierry about his plans to move the firm had been rather more of a problem as he had raised many valid objections that Jasper had patiently explained away, pointing out the advantages of berthing their salvage vessels in one of the larger harbours near to Jasper’s new location.

Finally, even Thierry had had to concede such a move would mean they were more conveniently placed to beat their rivals to many of the more lucrative jobs. They decided Thierry would stay in London and run the main office from there and Jasper would sort out the ships and crews from close quarters. After all, there were many jobs to be had off shore in the waters just around the peninsula, ships were always falling foul of this coastline.

All Jasper had to do was ensure they were the first salvors called in and this was where his contacts with the local coastguards would come in useful. Having his vessels moored here would mean that if they needed to be out in the Atlantic or the Irish Sea they would have a head start.

Besides, Jasper also had new plans for his ships other than acting as marine vultures, seeing them refitted for marine exploration and conservation work, although prudently he had not shared this particular development with his partner. Like a supertanker Thierry was slow to change direction and Jasper had thought it best not to overload him with too many new ideas at one time. All he had to do now was to show him it could be done and he was eager to get started.

Then over all this there was still his concern for Jenny. He now admitted to himself he had always known she would return to Jimmy. There had never been an ‘if’, there had only ever been a ‘when’ and he knew she would go as soon as her loyalty to him allowed. He could no longer think of anything to say to her to make her change her mind and stay with him, not even to save herself.

He had a bad feeling about the whole situation but he couldn’t say who he feared for most. It should have been Jenny but something told him it could be himself. Himself, or Jimmy, who might suffer most, although he could not think why he should regard Jimmy as being vulnerable.

As Jasper suspected Jenny was indeed thinking of Jimmy. She had thought of little else whilst they had been away and she had so longed to be back with him it had been difficult to hide her growing annoyance at being so far away. The poison that was Jimmy Fisher was still racing through her veins, making her blame Jasper for taking her so far away from him, making her struggle to stay civil whilst they were in London.

She had resolutely pushed away any thoughts of indebtedness and had even refused to allow herself to recognise his kindness to her. It was just time to go home and see Jimmy now, time to start again. There was no doubt she loved Jasper in a way, he was a part of her and probably always would be but it was not the way she loved Jimmy and, although Jasper was not aware of it, the trip to London had been counterproductive.

Her need for Jimmy had been increased by this protracted time away from him and putting an actual physical distance between them had made her acutely aware of it. It was true the time away had done what it was meant to do, which was to clarify her feelings for Jimmy, but it had worked against Jasper by strengthening Jenny's determination to return to him and make their relationship work.

Now all she felt she had to do was to hold onto him until he stopped his messing about with other women. The pain caused by his latest infidelity with Rosie had now faded and she felt she was strong enough to handle that aspect of their life together again. It all seemed so clear to her now that she could think about it calmly.

Now she knew he must feel something for her. After all, he had never asked her to leave, had he? He had never walked out on her, had never asked her for a separation. It was obvious that all these other women had meant nothing to him in the long term, so shouldn’t she just try to batten down any jealous feelings and live with it? After all, how much longer could he go on chasing other women?

She pictured him in her mind. He was a middle-aged man for Heaven’s sake and no oil painting. He had never been what you would call handsome in a traditional sense, although she did have to admit there was something, something definitely alluring, about him. Even as she thought about it, she couldn’t have told anyone what that something was.

Her decision to return to Jimmy had been further vindicated when, on their way back through Dehwelyans, she had called at the surf shop where she usually worked. She called in to tell them she was back and would be returning to work the coming week but she did not share with Jasper what they had told her when she got back in his car. Jimmy had been to the shop looking for her whilst she was away in London. He had come looking for her.

She had almost wept with relief at the news. Thank God, she thought, he’s come to his senses. I’ll go home and I’ll promise him I’ll never run out on him again. I know I can make it work. She hugged her thoughts to herself as she sat beside Jasper in his car, mechanically answering his remarks as her head was filled with rose-tinted pictures of a relationship not just renewed but strengthened.

Just at that moment Jimmy was alternating between extreme depression whenever he thought of Jenny reappearing and bliss whenever he was with Sunny. This is just bloody unhealthy, he thought putting his hand on his chest. He could feel his heart palpitating every time he thought of Jenny causing trouble between himself and Sunny. He knew her fiery temper well and worried she might do something crazy if she found out Sunny was virtually living with him. The thought made something in his chest clench.

When Sunny wasn’t there he tried to bury himself in work but still the worries intruded and vivid scenes of confrontation kept looming up in his mind’s eye. A confrontation, he was increasingly convinced, which Sunny would not be able to handle. He knew he had to both shield her from that and manage to keep her by his side.

He must remember to call in at the surf shop again to see if they knew when Jenny would be back at work. The thought that he needed to stop her from returning to the farm started to obsess him. The more the thought occurred to him, the more vital it seemed to him to stop her getting anywhere near Sunny.

Sunny was aware of Jimmy’s absences of mind when he was with her and was vaguely troubled by the fact that he always diverted her attention with some sort of foolery if she questioned him. Although she allowed herself to be distracted by his clowning she did wonder why he would not share his worry with her. She could only hope he was thinking of his work but the conviction there was something else going on would not leave her and she felt her uneasiness growing.

Suddenly she started to find herself wondering why he lived alone but felt she had no right to question him about this. He, after all, had never questioned her past. So she had presumed he lived alone through choice or perhaps he had been in a relationship once. Perhaps he was just impossible to live with? She didn’t allow herself to dwell on that thought too much.

Then, for no obvious reason, her thoughts strayed to the hand-worked cushions in the farmhouse parlour and she found herself wondering about them. There was something about them that puzzled her and she wondered if he had just inherited them from a previous occupant when he took over the farm? Or did they hold the clue to something in Jimmy’s past?

She had even inspected them closely, realising they did seem very new but had decided that could be because the parlour had been so little used. She put the knowledge to the back of her mind, desperately hoping the cushions were just a remnant from some old relationship and determined to enjoy the fact that it was just good to be with him.

And it was good, very good. Events had moved quickly since that first intense lovemaking in front of the farmhouse fire and Sunny was spending less and less time in her own cottage. A fact of which Edward Hervey was painfully aware.