The Beachcomber (38 page)

“A woman.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I told her where to find you.” She was enjoying herself. “‘Go to Barden House across the way,’ I said. ‘I saw young Kathy go out earlier, but I dare say she’ll be back any minute.’”

Kathy was racking her brains as to who it might be. “And she’s there now?”

“Well, she headed off in that direction. I watched her through the window. Whether she’s still there or not, I can’t say.”

“You said it was a woman?” Kathy was hesitant to go and see, because the thought that it might be her mother had just flashed across her mind. “What was she like?”

The old shopkeeper gave it a bit of thought. “She was youngish … bold as brass.”

Thrilled, Kathy gave a whoop: it had to be Maggie. “Was she small and dark, with a way of making you smile almost before she spoke?”

The older woman shook her head. “Nothing like that. As a matter of fact, if you don’t mind me saying, she was a sour-looking creature, who forgot to say thank you. What’s more, she took a newspaper without paying.”

Kathy was shocked. “Did she say who she was?”

“No. She didn’t say anything much, except that she was looking for a Miss Kathy Wilson, and would I point her in the right direction.”

“All right, thank you. I suppose I’d best go and see.” First though, there was a debt to settle. “How much was the newspaper?”

“Threepence, but it isn’t your responsibility. I’ve no doubt, from the size of the suitcase she was carrying, she intends staying a while. I can ask her for the money next time she comes in.” Though kind-hearted and amiable, Amy was particular about good manners. “I shall give her a piece of my mind into the bargain an’ all!”

Kathy laid the threepence on the counter. “Please let me pay,” she said. “If only to save any bad feeling.”

“Well, if you’re sure …” Taking the threepence, she gave Kathy a receipt. “I was surprised to hear her ask for you, my dear. She’s not the kind I would associate with a well-mannered young thing like yourself.”

Curious, though a little apprehensive, Kathy walked toward her house at a quickening pace.

At first Kathy didn’t recognize the figure sitting on the wall, but then, as she drew level, she realized who it was. “My God … SAMANTHA!”

The woman turned, confirming Kathy’s suspicion. “Hello, Kathy.” Getting off the wall, Samantha came to kiss her on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re back.” She sounded sorry for herself, Kathy thought. “I’ve been waiting for ages. My backside’s numb, and I’m starving hungry.” She was not altogether pleased to see how lean and pretty Kathy was, nor how her face glowed with health. Her hair, which was longer now, shone with a deep gloss, and her light-brown eyes had a definite sparkle. “Hmh!” She looked her up and down. “Looks like the sea air suits you.”

Kathy hardly noticed what Samantha was saying. Instead she was open-mouthed at seeing her sister here in West Bay. “What are you doing here?”

Samantha laughed. “I’ve come to see you. Why? Can’t a sister visit without being quizzed as to her intentions? Anybody would think I was after something!” Though she said it teasingly, there was a hardness underlying the words that warned Kathy to exercise caution.

“Why didn’t you write and tell me you were coming?” Forgetting all her manners, Kathy was concerned as to what might have brought Samantha to her doorstep. “Roughing it” at the seaside had never been her idea of fun. “Is it Mother? Is she ill?”

Samantha greeted her question with gales of laughter. “Mother … ill? I don’t think so. She’s positively bursting with health; though she might not be as rich or content as she was.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Samantha refused to reply until she was inside. “Are we going to stand out here all night, or am I being invited in?”

Kathy felt ashamed. “Sorry. You’d best come in. I’ll get you something to eat.”

“I’m gasping for a drink.” That was Samantha’s first thought. “I wouldn’t mind a gin and tonic.” Collecting her suitcase, she followed Kathy up the path.

“If you want a gin and tonic you’ll have to go to the pub.” Kathy stepped aside to let her in. “You know I’m not a gin and tonic person.” She hated herself for it, but she couldn’t help the jibe. “I never got the taste for it. I’ve never moved in the same exclusive circles as you and Mother.”

“Hmh! I should have thought you’d keep some by for your guests, though of course I don’t suppose you get many of those, out here in the back of beyond.”

“Sorry” – the biting comment rolled off Kathy’s back – “no gin and tonic.” Closing the door behind her, she led Samantha into the sitting room. “I’ve got half a bottle of whiskey, which I keep for an old friend. You’re welcome to a tot of that or I’ve tea or soft drinks …”

Dropping her case on the carpet, Samantha ignored her offer. She made a face. “You don’t seem too pleased to see me!”

“I’m not!” Kathy saw no point in beating about the bush. “I’ve not heard a word from you or Mother since I left, and this is the last place on earth you would want to visit.” She took note of Samantha’s meticulously groomed long, dark hair, the brown high-heeled shoes and that shockingly expensive suit that clung to her like a second skin. “So, tell me … why are you really here?”

Samantha’s green eyes narrowed in a sly little smile. “I could be missing you, have you thought of that?”

“Oh, please. Credit me with some sense! You haven’t just turned up here because you’re ‘missing’ me,” Kathy pointed out with brutal honesty. “There’s something going on. What are you up to?”

“My! My!” Dropping into the armchair, Samantha lolled back, looking for all the world as if she was here to stay. “What a suspicious mind you’ve got.”

Kathy’s back was up now. She knew her sister too well, and she knew something was not right. “I’ve had reason too many times to be suspicious,” she replied curtly. “Or have you forgotten how deceitful and mean you and Mother have been … or how you shut me out of your lives whenever you felt like it?”

“Ah, well, that was Mother’s fault. Not mine.”

“Really?”

Realizing she had better not be too arrogant, or her plan wouldn’t work, Samantha smiled sweetly. “I don’t want to put you to any trouble, but my stomach’s rumbling hungry.”

“I’ll see what I can rustle up.” Kathy went into the kitchen and peered into the cupboard. “I’ve got ham and tomatoes, or beans on toast.”

“What!” Samantha came running in, her face wreathed in disgust. “Is that
all
you’ve got?”

“I wasn’t expecting visitors.” Kathy paused. “I think you’d better settle for fish and chips,” she said finally.

“Hmh!” Samantha gave a shiver of disapproval. “If you ask me, the place is uncivilized!”

Kathy laughed. “Not your usual scene, is it?”

“I dare say I’ll get used to it.” Samantha was determined to get what she came for, however grim it was here. “If you’ll just show me my room, I’ll unpack while you go for the fish and chips … a large cod for me, and just a small portion of chips.” She patted her thighs. “I don’t want to lose my figure.”

“They’re not open until six.”

Kathy wished her sister could be the genuine article. It would have been so nice to have someone she could sit and talk with. And she did so want it all to be pleasant. “Look, Samantha, get your case and I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping. Then we’ll have a cup of tea and a proper chat. If you’re that hungry, I can make you some toast if you like, while we’re waiting for the chip shop to open.”

Throwing out her arms in frustration, Samantha refused the offer. “I don’t fancy any of your bloody toast.” She had seen the primitive kitchen, and wasn’t even sure it was hygienic. “Don’t bother. A cup of tea will keep me going until the fish shop opens.”

Leading the way into the sitting room, she left Kathy shaking her head and muttering, “Keep on like that, and you’ll be leaving sooner than you think!”

In the sitting room, Samantha took closer note of the furnishings: the newly made curtains and the plain, well-worn furniture, which she wouldn’t have accepted if it was given to her. As Kathy came back in, Samantha gave a grunt of disapproval. “Don’t tell me this is the same furniture
he
had?”

“The very same.” Kathy’s back was beginning to bristle. “Why?”

Again, that haughty look of disapproval. “Well, look at it! It’s absolutely disgusting … I’d have thrown it out by now and got myself something decent.”

“Well, I like it. But then, I’m not you, am I?”

“But it belonged to
them!
”

“If you mean Father and the woman he loved – yes, it did. Father left it to me, and that makes it mine now. So, it really doesn’t matter whether you like it or not.”

“Hmh!” Samantha was amazed at Kathy’s new-found self-confidence. There was a time, not so long back, when she could intimidate her sister and get away with it. “There’s no need to get on your high horse.”

“And there’s no need for you to be so insulting.”

Kathy was taken aback when Samantha put a very personal question. “You’ve found yourself a man-friend, haven’t you?”

“What makes you think that?” Kathy didn’t know whether to be pleased or wary.

“Well, just look at you!” Samantha had never seen her sister so attractive. “You’re positively blooming. Your eyes have that secret little sparkle and you appear to have lost weight. There must be a man involved!”

“Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t.” Still cautious, Kathy gave nothing away.

“Well, if there
is
, you want to be careful.”

“What d’you mean?”

“Well, for a start … have you been stupid enough to tell him that you own this house lock, stock and barrel? Is he after you for your charms? Or is he after moving in here? Perhaps he doesn’t think anything of you at all. Perhaps he’s just looking for a cushy number?”

“I doubt if he’s after this house.” Tom had told her all about his work, and the fact that while he had more money than he knew what to do with, he would give it all away in exchange for peace of mind. “I think I can safely say that Tom and I have something very special. And, in spite of what you might think, he isn’t looking for a ‘cushy’ number, as you so colorfully put it, because he’s already a wealthy man.”

At that, Samantha’s eyebrows went up and her mouth fell open. “Well, I never! My little sister’s hooked herself a big fish, eh? Good for you.”

Kathy’s anger was evident as she retaliated. “It’s not like that! I love Tom, and he loves me. I know you might find it hard to believe, but money doesn’t even come into it!”

Smiling maliciously, Samantha tutted. “Really? But you’re right. I
do
find it hard to believe.”

Kathy needed no reminding of her sister’s opinion of her. “Whether you believe it or not, I haven’t had an easy ride these past few years. But I’ve got my life together now, and I’m more content than I’ve been in ages. I won’t let you spoil that, Samantha,” she told her quietly. “So, if you intend staying with me for a few days, you had better get used to the idea that this is not the Ritz or the Savoy.
This is my home
.”

Stunned into silence by her sister’s quiet self-confidence, Samantha wondered if her task was going to be as easy as she had first thought. She realized she was dealing with a woman who had thrown a protective barrier around herself and what was hers, and it was a sobering thing to see. On the face of it, she could not envisage how she might get Kathy to sell this house and give her half the proceeds.

The solicitor was right after all. It would not be easy, she could see that now. But it didn’t put her off, not for one minute. In fact, if a fight was what Kathy wanted, then a fight she would get!

For what seemed like an age, the two sisters stood facing each other: one with hatred in her heart; the other with a deep-down need for the company of family, and peace of mind.

For the moment, though, the atmosphere in that room was electrifying. In the background the clock ticked, and somewhere outside a dog could be heard barking.

A sudden knock on the door broke the brooding silence. “Seems you’ve got another visitor.” Samantha soon recovered her arrogance. “You’d better go and see who it is.”

It was Tom.

“I just thought, if you weren’t doing anything, that we could go into Weymouth. Maybe have a meal on the sea-front; sit and watch the sun go down. What do you say?”

Before Kathy could answer, Samantha appeared. “It sounds good to me,” she told Tom, astonishing him with her boldness. “I haven’t strolled on the sea-front in ages.”

When Tom looked questioningly at Kathy, she introduced one to the other. “This is my sister, Samantha.” Kathy felt a surge of anger that she was in this position. “And this is Tom Marcus.”

She felt no obligation to explain Tom’s very special role in her life. Instead she was quietly seething. How dare Samantha interfere like that? But then, she reminded herself, it was Samantha’s way. Unfortunately, she knew no other.

Tom held out his hand in greeting. “What a lovely surprise. Glad to meet you, Samantha.”

Samantha positively glowed. “Glad to meet you too,” she purred. “I don’t suppose Kathy even told you about me?”

Sensing Samantha was out for trouble, Kathy intervened. “Look, Tom. Samantha’s only just arrived, so if it’s all right with you I think I’ll have to forget about Weymouth.” More’s the pity, she thought angrily. “But we’re having fish and chips later.” Her face brightened. “Why don’t you join us?”