‘Did you really have to hide from them? It seems . . . a bit unnecessary.’
She looked at him sadly. ‘It’s not. Craig is absolutely ruthless when he wants something. He’s already stopped me selling my house. Worst of all, he took away my self-confidence and came between me and my children for years. If he finds out where I am, he’ll probably hire some people to set fire to the caravan. He’s absolutely determined to force me to sell that house to him.’
‘High-flyers in business don’t usually take risks by breaking the law like that.’
‘He’ll find a way. He boasts that he never lets people get the better of him without paying them back, and he thinks I got the better of him in the divorce settlement.’
‘Won’t his new wife stop him?’
‘Who knows? She seems just like him. Mrs Perfect. Slender, not a hair out of place, dresses like a model. All gloss, and you wonder if there’s anything behind it.’
She looked down at herself. ‘You can’t go wrong with jeans and a top, but you should have seen how awful I looked at the wedding. I don’t have much dress sense, I’m afraid.’
After a short silence, he smiled wryly. ‘I noticed.’
She could feel herself blushing. ‘Is my appearance that bad?’
‘No. It’s just . . . you don’t make the most of yourself. Your office clothes are—’
She finished for him. ‘Dowdy. And even when Craig got me good clothes, I didn’t wear them with style.’
‘We’ll get Avril on to it. She’ll know what to do.’
Molly looked at him doubtfully, not knowing what to say to that. He’d said ‘we’ again. He said it so easily. Was it charm, or was he simply acknowledging the growing connection between them?
‘Now what’s going through your head?’ he asked softly.
‘I feel uncertain – about everything.’
‘And that includes me. Let me tell you something: I was happily married to Karen. I know what makes a good relationship and I think it might be possible between us. There’s a certain sort of warmth, hard to put into words, as if things are . . . right. I really like you as a person and I fancy you as a woman, too.’ He grinned at her, then added, ‘Dowdy clothes and all. I’m willing to wait until you’ve regained enough confidence to let yourself relax with me, then we can both see what happens.’
‘You may get tired of waiting. I’m not very confident about anything.’
‘No, I won’t get tired. A treasure like you is worth waiting for. But I also won’t push you into anything. You must walk into a relationship with me freely and happily. Now, if you’ll help me finish this room, I’ll get up early in the morning and dive in again.’
‘
We
shall get up early.’
‘Thanks.’
They worked till ten o’clock, then Molly yawned and said, ‘I’ve had enough. I’m going home and you should go to bed as well. You can set the alarm for really early. You’ll work more efficiently if you get some sleep.’
‘All right. But I’ll walk you out to your car first, and you must check that there’s no one around before you get out of it at the caravan. Promise me?’
‘I promise.’
She drove home and was out of the car and standing at the caravan door before she realized she should have checked for people lurking. She looked round, feeling vulnerable, and fumbled with her key, dropping it on the ground. How stupid!
Her heart began to pound as she scrabbled under the edge of the caravan for it.
At last she got the door open and locked it quickly behind her, with a loud sigh of relief. After using the bathroom, she couldn’t resist lying on the bed for a moment or two, so tired all she wanted to do was close her eyes.
She woke once during the night feeling cold, so pulled the covers over herself and went back to sleep.
The dawn chorus of birdsong woke her – who said the countryside was quiet? Then she realized she hadn’t even got undressed and laughed at herself. That hadn’t prevented her from enjoying an excellent night’s sleep. And she’d promised to go early to help Euan.
It wasn’t till she was drying herself after a shower that she realized she’d been humming one of her favourite tunes as she got ready. Well, she had something to sing about now, a possible new relationship (she dared go no further than that) and a job.
She’d just wait and see what happened with Euan. Relationships weren’t as straightforward as he made them seem. At least she didn’t think they were. But perhaps they were with him?
She caught sight of her laptop. She didn’t have time to check her emails this morning. Anyway, there’d be nothing important. The important things in her life were happening here in Wiltshire. Everything else was on hold.
Ten
‘I can’t find the letter from your father’s cousin,’ Jamie said on Friday morning.
‘I threw it away when I was clearing up.’
Rachel hadn’t cleared anything else up, but he tried to be patient with her. ‘Do you have Sally’s address? I’ll reply to her.’
‘There’s no need and anyway I don’t have her address.’
He stood very still, looking at her, not saying a word. When he saw her wriggle and begin to fiddle with her mug of coffee, he knew she was lying and felt bitterly disappointed. ‘I’ll have to ask your father for it, then. She deserves a reply.’
‘No! You can’t go to him. Daddy will be furious when he finds out why you need her address.’
‘Why? Because what she said proves him a liar?’
‘He didn’t lie. He just . . . got it wrong.’
‘Then give me Sally’s address.’
Sulkily, looking like a twelve-year-old rather than a married woman of twenty-three, Rachel dumped her mug on the table, sending splashes of coffee everywhere, and went to switch on her computer. He followed her into the spare bedroom, where the computers were set up.
Muttering to herself, she found the address, scribbled it down and flung the piece of paper at him. ‘There! I hope you’re satisfied now.’
‘I’m not. I can’t believe you’re acting like this. Don’t you care at all about your mother?’
‘Not much.’
‘What about your brother?’
‘Brian’s OK. I’ve not got much in common with him, though.’
‘What
do
you care about?’
‘You.’ She burst into tears. ‘Us.’
For the first time, he didn’t take her in his arms and comfort her, because he didn’t feel at all sorry for her. ‘If you do care about us, then it’s about time you started acting responsibly. You’re a married woman now.’
She stopped crying instantly and glared at him. ‘Oh yes? And what about you? What about your loyalty to me? You care more about my mother than how I feel.’
‘I care about being fair to people. I always have done. Surely you realize that? It’s why I work in social welfare.’
‘Well, you certainly don’t work there for the money. Daddy says—’
‘I know what
darling Daddy
says about my job and I don’t want to hear it again.’
‘Why are you being so m-mean to me?’
‘
Mean?
What sort of word is that? It’s a child’s word.’ He bent to pick up the piece of paper she’d tossed at him and scanned the address. ‘You forgot the postcode.’
‘I have to get to work.’
‘You’ve time to find the postcode first. I’ll write to Sally in my lunch break.’
Rachel sat down at the computer, yelled out the postcode, then went to get ready. ‘I’m going for a drink after work with my friends. I don’t know what time I’ll be back.’
He watched her go sadly. She was dressed as if she was going out on the pull. She was the only one of her group of friends who was married, and the others always seemed to be looking for guys, though they never seemed to keep the same one for more than a few weeks. He’d asked her not to go drinking with them, but she’d tossed her head at that.
During the few months before the wedding, he’d kept telling himself it was wedding excitement which was making her behave so childishly. Well, he’d been excited about getting married, too. Once they were married, he’d expected her to settle down but was now beginning to worry that this wasn’t going to happen. Even on the honeymoon, he’d felt uneasy. She’d been utterly spoiled by her father, of course, but still . . .
What if Rachel never grew up, never started to act responsibly? They’d been married for a while now and already huge gaps were yawning between them. Only . . . she always cast him as the villain. Nothing was ever her fault. There was no give and take, only take.
They were going for Sunday lunch with his parents this weekend. At least he’d get a decent meal then. And Rachel had better behave herself.
They’d have to have a serious talk about that tonight after she got back. Maybe his mother could write down a few easy recipes for them on Sunday. He’d email her tonight and suggest it.
Feeling more than a little worried, he left for work.
Molly went to hold the fort at the sales office on Friday afternoon, while Euan coped with the removal.
Avril came down at just after two. ‘Oh, good, you’re on your own. I’ve brought your wage slip.’ She put an envelope on the table and sat down in the customers’ chair. ‘How are things going at Euan’s?’
‘Not so well. He’s had to hire extra storage space and dump stuff there to be sorted out later.’
‘He’s like that: poor on planning the everyday details, good at big picture stuff. He rang me to beg me to let the men in and tell them where to put his things. Not that there will be many things, only his office furniture and personal effects. He’s still tied up with clearing the house, apparently. Karen used to take care of that side of things. Rather as you did with your ex, I should think.’
Molly nodded, adding hastily, ‘Euan doesn’t seem like Craig in other ways, though. He’s kind and thoughtful about people, doesn’t use them.’ She broke off suddenly, forced a laugh and added, ‘Unless Euan’s a brilliant actor.’
‘He isn’t. He cares very much about the people who work for him and especially about his sons. He hasn’t made his money by trampling on other people or neglecting his family, I promise you. I’m glad he’s got you to help him now, though, or I’d not be able to call my life my own.’
‘You’re very fond of him, aren’t you?’
Avril smiled. ‘Oh, yes. And I’m fond of his sons, too. But that doesn’t mean I want to devote my whole life to looking after them all.’ She changed the subject firmly. ‘How do you like selling houses?’
‘I enjoy selling these houses because they’re lovely – well, the whole place is lovely. I don’t think I’d like selling something boring, though. Craig used to say it didn’t matter what you sold, it was just “product”, but it matters to me.’ She grimaced. ‘What you do with your life should be important to you, don’t you think? I loved being a housewife and mother when the children were small.’
‘I never got the chance to do that. My fiancé was killed a couple of months before we were to marry. I never found anyone else to match him.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Oh, it’s a long time ago now, and I’ve made a full life for myself, not to mention acting as unofficial aunt to the Santiago family.’
‘What are Euan’s sons like?’
‘Charming. Now Jason’s got the travel bug out of his system, I dare say he’ll settle down and make a success of his life. I’m beginning to wonder if he’s met someone important already, but you can’t keep an eye on them when they’re overseas. We’ll have to wait and see. As for Grant, he’s off somewhere travelling – Vietnam I think at the moment – and that’s worrying. But you have to let them experience life, don’t you?’
‘The only life my daughter’s experienced has been clubbing and preparing for the wedding.’ Molly could hear the bitterness in her voice and shut her mouth tightly against other words.
‘She may settle down now she’s married.’
‘Mmm.’
‘You sound worried about her.’
‘Yes. But I’m out of the loop now as far as Rachel’s concerned, so I try not to dwell on it. Heaven help Jamie when he finds out she can’t cook and hates housework. Unless she loves him enough to learn.’ She wasn’t sure Rachel cared about anyone except herself and her father. Her daughter had always seemed to treat Jamie like an accessory, rather than a life partner.
‘And your son?’
‘I don’t know. Brian’s more complex, more intelligent, too. He’s had quite a few shocks lately. I threw him out and Craig wouldn’t let him live with them. I don’t know how he’s coping.’
‘Tough love sometimes works.’
‘I hope so.’
Avril stood up. ‘Here it comes!’
They both went to the door to see a modest removal truck coming slowly down towards the leisure village.
Molly watched Avril wave to the driver and walk briskly along to the detached house that stood on its own to one side.
Tonight Molly would have a neighbour. She wondered if Euan would want to eat with her again. She had plenty of food. Or was that being pushy?
The phone rang and she hurried back into the office to answer it.
After that the phone rang so regularly that when it came to five o’clock, she was glad to shut up and go down to her caravan.
No sign of Euan yet, and she didn’t know whether he needed more help or not? Surely he’d have called if he did?
Oh, she should stop thinking about him and get on with her own life.
But he stayed in her thoughts as if he belonged there.
When Jamie got home from work that evening, there was no sign of Rachel.
The phone rang and it was her. In an airy voice, she said, ‘Oh, hi, Jamie. I’m going clubbing with the girls. See you later.’ She put the phone down before he could say a word.
He stared at the receiver furiously. Women he worked with complained about their husbands spending a fortune going drinking with the lads on Friday nights. In his marriage, it was Rachel who did that, spending money on booze that they were supposed to be saving to buy a house – fifty pounds she’d spent last week – and then had come home by taxi and he’d had to pay twenty pounds for that.