Authors: Rosie Rushton

Echoes of Love (16 page)

Since Anna hadn’t a clue what he’d just said, she hesitated for a second. The thought of spending time with Cassandra wasn’t something that filled her with unmitigated joy, but
if Felix said it was important . . .

‘Or is that going to be a bridge too far? I mean don’t bother if your dad . . .’ Felix began.

‘No, no – of course, it’ll be great. Can’t wait. Fill me in on the details later, OK? Got to dash. Love you loads.’

She blew a kiss down the phone and then pulled a face at Shannon and Mia, who were rolling their eyes and pretending to swoon.

‘I take it,’ Shannon smiled as Anna switched her phone to silent and stuffed it into her bag, ‘that the love life is progressing nicely?’

‘Dreamily!’ sighed Anna. ‘It doesn’t get any better than this. I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven.’

As with most highs, the low came a few hours later. As her father blustered and bluffed his way around the college displays, chest puffed out when someone recognised him and
cheeks suffused with colour when the odd person dared to question him about the headlines that were clearly still in people’s minds, the question loomed large in Anna’s mind. Just how
was she going to approach the subject of staying away a week with Felix? She had avoided all mention of his name, just as her dad had done; it was as if there was an unwritten rule in the house
that what Marina called ‘that nasty business’ was never to be spoken of again.

‘I don’t know how to tell him without him being furious,’ Anna explained to Shannon later that afternoon on the way to the traditional end of term raid on the cake shop.

‘By not mentioning Felix, silly,’ Shannon replied. ‘What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.’

‘So – just say I’m going on holiday with Zac and Phoebe, you mean?’

‘Why not? It’s not like you’re lying – just being selective with the truth.’

‘I guess you’re right – and if he does find out that Felix is there too, well – Zac’s free to invite who he likes, right?’

‘Precisely!’ Shannon said. ‘At last you appear to be getting the hang of dealing with parents. About time too, if you don’t mind me saying so!’

Anna, adamant about not telling the full story about the forthcoming holiday, had also decided not to mention Felix’s homecoming to any of her family; they hadn’t
realised that he would have leave from training in the summer and she was very happy to keep it that way. Luckily for Anna, her father was so preoccupied with his own affairs that, when she
finally mentioned to him that she was going to the Isle of Wight with Phoebe and a crowd of her mates (mentioning Zac would have only brought Felix to mind), he merely grunted and said he
couldn’t see the attraction of the place unless you could go in Cowes Week, which she wasn’t.

‘Anyway, you go and have a good time – I shall be rushed off my feet all week,’ he went on. ‘Araminta’s lined up a whole raft of meetings for me – she’s
sure she can land me the sort of slot that my talents deserve, and then, of course, I’ve the magazine interviews to do.’ (Walter had been in demand with several celebrity glossies that
ran features with headlines such as:
My Fight to Clear My Name
and
Walter’s Wednesday’s Full of Woe
. Far from avoiding drawing attention to the issue, he revelled in
playing the role of misunderstood victim.)

‘The Isle of Wight? What do you want to go there for? It’s so nineteen-fifties,’ sneered Gabriella, who had arrived back from college high on the news that her new
boyfriend’s parents had asked her to join them for two weeks at their timeshare in Tenerife. ‘Me, I know how to have a good time – after Tenerife, Sophie and I are going to Paris
for Shelby’s hen weekend and then meeting up with a whole crowd at this house in Burgundy.’

‘That’ll cost a bomb,’ Anna ventured. ‘I don’t think Dad can afford to keep subbing us.’

‘It’s peanuts on Eurostar,’ Gaby replied. ‘And I have a way of getting other people to pay for me.’ She made it sound like a gifted accomplishment, but Anna was too
glad that she wasn’t going to be hanging around to bother arguing.

‘So Gaby’ll be away, you’ll be on the Isle of Wight, and I’ll be stuck here all on my own, with just Marina hanging about – it’s not fair,’ moaned
Mallory.

‘Don’t be silly,’ Anna protested. ‘Henrietta and Lou will be around. You can hang out with them.’

‘They’re going all funny with me,’ Mallory grumbled. ‘The other day they were teasing me like anything – even Charlie told them to lay off me. He’s really
nice to me – he’s invited me to the Young Farmers’ Ball.’

‘Charlie invited you?’ The summer ball was another must-do in the Eliot–Musgrove social calendar and this would be the first time that Mallory had gone with a partner.

‘Well, don’t sound so surprised,’ Mallory retorted. ‘Just because you’ll be there without a guy, that’s not my problem. Oh, and can I borrow your gold
sandals?’

Anna lay awake for hours the night before Felix was due home, just dreaming about how it would be when she saw him. They had arranged to meet on the Friday evening at the same
spot in Kellynch Woods where they had said goodbye back in April, and she pictured herself, wearing her new black and white mini dress and scarlet pumps, running lightly down the path and into
his arms. There was then a slow motion sequence, during which their lips met and they sank to their knees in ecstatic embrace.

In the event, she saw him before he saw her, rushed down the path and fell over a tree root, sending her bag flying and gashing her knee on a broken branch. The dreamed-of moments of tender
embrace and lingering kisses were spent dusting twigs out of her hair and mopping her bleeding knee with the sleeve of his shirt. The romance was further killed by the fact that he couldn’t
stop laughing.

‘I’m sorry,’ he gasped. ‘But you looked so funny – and adorable!’

‘Just focus on the adorable, will you?’ she pleaded, clenching her teeth against the throbbing of her knee. For a moment, she felt almost shy with him – he seemed somehow to
have changed. He stood taller, and had a new air of confidence about him.

‘Come here,’ he murmured. He wrapped his arms around her and she breathed in the distinctive smell of him, her eyes filling with tears.

‘Does it hurt that badly?’ he asked.

‘It’s not that,’ she whispered. ‘It’s just that I’ve missed you so much and Dad’s lost his job and he’s drinking like crazy.’

‘But you’re here, and that’s what matters,’ Felix said. ‘Mum’s been really decent about it all, actually – considering what your dad said and
everything.’

Anna opened her mouth to protest that her father’s only admission was the fact that maybe he had been a bit forceful on camera.

‘Shhh,’ Felix said. ‘Enough talking.’

And he kissed her. And it was so good that she decided it wasn’t really worth making an issue about parents after all.

Later, sitting outside the Anchor Inn, sipping lime sodas, Felix told her everything about the holiday home, the travel plans and all the things he thought she might like to
do there.

‘But right now, we need to sort tomorrow out,’ he said. ‘You are still up for it?’

‘Up for what?’ Anna frowned.

‘I told you on the phone – the big lunch thing with Mum,’ he said. ‘You know, maybe I’ve been a bit hard on her. Despite everything, she’s really keen for you
to be at this lunch.’

‘Lunch?’ Anna queried. ‘Oh, I thought . . .’

‘I told you,’ Felix replied, a touch impatiently. ‘It’s the Memory Munch Lunch – in aid of Alzheimer’s. They do them all over the country and Mum’s on
the organising committee for this one – and she wants us there. Well, helping with the serving to start with but we get to eat as well!’

‘You’re sure she’s up for me going? I mean, we didn’t exactly get off to a good start.’

‘That’s the whole point,’ Felix said. ‘She said she didn’t want all this business between her and your dad to mess up our relationship.’

He took a long swig of his drink and reached for her hand. ‘And you know what? I think Mum and I are getting on better – we’ve had some massive rows over the past few weeks,
and exchanged some pretty heated emails but I think I get where she’s coming from now. She’ll always say exactly what she thinks and she’s never going to approve of my career
– but she’s agreed to drop that subject once and for all. And at least she’s doing more stuff for Dad and not prancing about shoving herself into the limelight.’

It did occur to Anna that since Parliament was on summer recess, there wasn’t much opportunity for Cassandra to show off, but she refrained from saying so. She was just relieved that
everything was back on solid ground once more.

All she had to do now was enjoy spending time with Felix.

‘I’m so glad you could come!’ Cassandra, elegant in white linen trousers and a lime-green silk shirt, kissed Anna on both cheeks. ‘And before you say a
word, can we wipe the slate clean and start afresh? It’s not your fault your father is a racist idiot and —’

‘Mum!’ Felix shot her a warning glance.

‘The thing that matters is that you matter to Felix and he matters to me. Friends?’ She looked at Anna pleadingly.

‘Absolutely,’ Anna smiled.

‘Wonderful!’ Cassandra said, clapping her hands. ‘And now if you two could just hand round the trays of canapés, while I do the meet-and-greet bit, that would be
splendid.’

Anna, to her surprise, enjoyed every minute of the event. It wasn’t the stuffy occasion full of well-heeled county types that she had expected; there were lots of young families milling
around the gardens, enjoying face painting, kite making and a Punch and Judy show; there was croquet on the lawn, plant stalls in the orchard and a tombola on the verandah. Lunch was buffet style
served on trestle tables covered with gingham cloths, to the accompaniment of a string quartet which, Anna noted with a degree of satisfaction, was not nearly as good as Wild Chicks even though the
members were more than twice their age.

‘People are spending money like it grows on trees,’ Cassandra whispered in Anna’s ear at the end of lunch, ‘and you know what? Felix is doing a wonderful job – he
even spoke to the reporter from
South Today
about his dad and what it feels like to see someone you love slowly disintegrating – oh my dear! I’m sorry, how tactless of me! Felix
told me about your mother . . .’

‘It’s OK,’ Anna assured her, astonished at the change in a woman she had made up her mind to hate. ‘I’m glad he’s talking about it. And if it gets on the
local news, that would be awesome.’

‘I know, but I guess they’ll edit it right down and just show a ten-second clip,’ Cassandra laughed. ‘Right, now for the big finale – the balloon race!

Everyone, Anna included, had bought a biodegradable balloon for five pounds, and the one that flew the furthest would win.

‘Over here, everyone!’ Cassandra shouted through a megaphone as one of her committee staggered up with huge bunches of multi-coloured balloons. ‘Thank you all so
much.’

‘Let’s hope she doesn’t go on too much,’ Felix whispered, sidling up to Anna and putting his arm around her shoulder. ‘She’s kept a remarkably low profile for
her so far.’

‘And now perhaps the children would like to gather round while I invite Anna Eliot and my son, Felix, to cut the cords that will release the balloons.’

She turned to Anna and proferred a giant pair of bright red scissors as clusters of small kids ran up to her.

‘Me? But . . .’

‘Go on,’ Felix urged, shoving her forward. ‘Just let’s do it – then we can leave and be on our own.’

Anna and Felix squatted down to the level of the children and sliced through the cords on every bunch. The children cheered and Anna, shielding her eyes from the glare of the afternoon sun,
couldn’t help laughing out loud as she watched the balloons soar upwards. As she clambered to her feet, Cassandra gave her a hug and kissed her on both cheeks.

‘Thank you so much for being here,’ she said yet again. ‘It’s meant more to me than I can say.’

‘Me too,’ Anna smiled. And she meant it.

CHAPTER 11