The Daughters Of Red Hill Hall (24 page)

‘But that’s not true?’

‘No! I loved him. Still love him. I was devastated when he broke it off. And now Anna says
he’s
devastated. I don’t know what to do, or what to make of it.’

Don was grinning at her. ‘Sounds like this Nat has been stirring up trouble. Some friend. Well, to me, this sounds easy to fix. Do you have your phone?’

‘Yes.’

‘And Ben’s number is on it? You didn’t delete it when you broke up?’

‘No. I couldn’t delete it. That seemed too final.’

‘So – ring him!’

‘Now?’

‘Of course!’

‘What do I say?’ Her mind was working overtime.

‘Say you bumped into Anna. Tell him what she told you. Tell him how you feel. In other words, tell him the truth.’

‘What if he doesn’t answer? What if he doesn’t want to talk to me? What if…’

‘What if it resolves the whole situation and gets you two back together again?’ Don smiled, and covered her hand with his. ‘It’s worth taking the chance, isn’t it? I know you’ve been hurt, but it sounds as though the whole thing was a terrible misunderstanding, stirred up by Nat. You and he just need to talk it through properly. Something you should have done ages ago, frankly.’

‘I know, but I was so hurt, I couldn’t bring myself to ring him or see him. Then when I thought he’d got together with Nat I just didn’t want to know.’

‘That’s understandable. But for some reason she wanted you to think she and Ben were together, when clearly they’re not. I don’t know why someone who is supposed to be your best friend would do that, and I think you should talk to her about it, but that’s a job for another day. For now, I would just concentrate on Ben, and repairing your relationship with him. If that’s what you want, of course?’

‘God, yes. I’ve missed him so much.’ Her heart was pounding. Could there be a chance for them again?

‘So, phone him. Now. I’ll be in my office, if you need me later on. The door’s always open.’ He picked up the remains of his Irish coffee and, with an encouraging smile, left her alone.

Gemma sipped her coffee, enjoying the feeling of fortification the spirit in it gave her. Don was right. She needed to talk to Ben, right now. She pulled out her phone and with shaking fingers, called him.

He answered quickly, his voice sounding as shaky as hers. ‘Gemma?’

‘Hey, Ben. So, erm, I…’ She broke off, suddenly at a loss as to how to get the conversation started. What was it Don had advised? ‘…I, erm, bumped into Anna today. She said you were, kind of, at home, and with nothing to do, and…’

‘Yeah, she’s right. I guess I am a bit bored. How are you, Gemma?’

‘I’m good, thanks. You?’

‘Yeah. Good.’ He fell silent and after a moment Gemma realised she had not yet said why she was phoning. She realised she’d have to just come straight out with it.

‘The thing is, Ben, I thought you were away on holiday this week.’

‘Me? No. Haven’t been anywhere. Couldn’t work out what your text was all about. I was going to answer it but, well, I hadn’t worked out how to, yet. Wasn’t ignoring it, though.’

‘My text? Oh, yes, that.’ She found herself blushing as she remembered the text she’d sent Ben that morning when she’d thought he was on holiday with Nat. ‘Yeah, someone said you were away. With Nat.’

‘What? You thought I’d gone on holiday with Nat?’

‘S’what I was told.’

‘Jeez. No, Gemma. I wouldn’t do that. I mean, we were mates, I suppose, when I was with you. She’s your best mate so of course she and I became mates, of a sort. But not so close I’d go on holiday with her.’

‘Of a sort?’

‘Yeah. I mean, I saw a lot of her when the three of us went out, but she’s not someone I’d pick as a friend. Sorry and all, I know she’s your bestie.’

‘She’s not, any more.’ Gemma tried and failed to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

‘Oh, God, sorry. What on earth happened? Shit, was this anything to do with…’

‘…with you snogging her at your sister’s wedding? I did see that, Ben, and it hurt. We’d only just split up, and there you were with your tongue down my best mate’s throat.’

‘Gem, it wasn’t like that. I was drunk, and she came on to me, and, well I suppose it’s her word against mine but it only lasted a few seconds and then I thought, what the hell am I doing, and pushed her away. She said she thought you’d seen us. Shit. I was going to ring you the next day. But…’

‘You didn’t. Ben, you broke off our engagement and then never contacted me again.’

‘I’m a fool. Gem, we should talk.’

‘Isn’t that what we’re doing now?’

‘I mean, face to face. Where are you? Are you free?’

He was right. They did need to talk face to face and for a long time. She had so many questions for him. It was time to get things straight. The research could wait. ‘I’m actually at Red Hill Hall hotel. That’s where I bumped into Anna. I’ve been doing some work on the archives here.’

‘I’m coming straight over. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Meet you in the bar?’

She hardly had chance to say yes before he rang off.

In a strange mixture of dazedness and elation, she realised there’d be no chance of doing any research while she waited for him to arrive. Once more the mystery of the nineteenth-century shooting would have to wait. She drank the rest of the now-lukewarm Irish coffee, and went out to the bar to wait. Anna and Jake had left, but Don saw her enter and came to join her.

‘Everything OK?’ he asked, for the second time that afternoon.

‘I don’t know yet. I rang Ben. He’s coming over here so we can talk properly.’

Don smiled. ‘That’s great news. So, I’ll leave you alone, but if there’s anything you need, just say. You’re welcome to stay here tonight if you want. We’ve some spare rooms. I won’t charge you anything. Call it part payment for the research.’ He winked at her and left before she could answer him.

Gemma was alone with her thoughts for the next quarter of an hour. Every time someone came through to the bar from reception she looked up to see if it was Ben. Mentally she rehearsed how she would greet him a thousand times. Would she stand up, kiss him on the cheek, hug him, stay seated, shake his hand, simply say ‘hi’, or what?

She was halfway through a fantasy in which he entered the bar bearing a huge bouquet of roses, fell on one knee and begged her to marry him again, when the doors of the bar burst open and a figure came flying through, skidded on the polished floor and landed in a heap at her table. She just managed to catch hold of her drink before it was knocked flying.

‘Ben! Well, I must say, that was some entrance!’

‘Ahem. Move along. Nothing to see here,’ he said, as he picked himself up, straightened his clothing and brushed himself down.

She couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Are you sure you’re all right?’

He rolled his eyes. ‘Just bruised my dignity, is all. Erm, hi, Gemma. Can I get you a drink? If I can make it to the bar without slipping over, that is. Darned new shoes have no grip and this floor is a tad shiny. I should have worn my trainers.’

‘A sparkling water, with ice and lemon, would be lovely, thanks.’

‘Sure.’ He tiptoed across the floor, clearly terrified of slipping over again.

Gemma felt her heart race and her insides churn as she watched him. Dear old Ben. Everything about him was so familiar and she felt so warm and comfortable with him already, despite the fact they had not spoken for months. She had forgotten just how comfortable she felt when she was with him.

He returned with the drinks, and sat on a stool opposite her. She was sitting on a small upholstered sofa by the fireplace, her favourite spot in the bar. He smiled as he passed her drink to her, and she could not help but smile back. This was the man who’d broken her heart by ending their engagement, but even so, it was Ben, and Ben was lovely, and she had a good feeling about the way this meeting was going to progress.

‘So. Here we are,’ he said.

‘Yes.’

‘We need to talk, don’t we? I need to explain why I called off our engagement. Oh God, what a fool I was. I look back and wonder what on earth I was doing.’

‘So, why
did
you break it off?’ Gemma’s memory of the night he’d finished things was blurry, despite the number of times she had run through it in her head. The problem was, nothing he’d said had made any sense. And now it seemed it made no sense to him either.

He twisted his glass – a pint of bitter – in his hands and took a sip before answering. ‘Can I be totally honest?’

‘Of course. We need to be honest with each other or there’s no hope for us.’

‘You might not like it.’

Her insides twisted. She’d thought this meeting would bring them back together, back to how they were, but perhaps not. Was there something else? Some other reason why he’d broken things off that he had not wanted or been able to tell her before? Well, whatever it was, she had to know. She steeled herself against whatever she was about to hear. ‘Go on.’

‘OK. It was Nat.’

‘I knew it!’

‘No, no. Not in the way you think. What I mean was, Nat was the one who encouraged me to break things off. No, more than that, she
told
me to end it.’

‘And you just did what she said like an obedient puppy? Why?’

He took a deep breath. ‘She told me you’d only agreed to marry me because you felt sorry for me. Because we’d been together a long time and it was expected we’d marry, but that actually you felt trapped and pressurised. That you were bored of me and would have ended the relationship long before but that you were just too nice a person to risk hurting me. She said you’d confided in her many times, but that you would never tell me how you really felt, and that you’d made her promise not to say either, but that she couldn’t stand by and let us make the biggest mistake of our lives. It was her duty to tell me, she said, to give me a chance to end things and release you, before we got too far along with the wedding plans. Imagine, she said, if you’d left me standing at the altar. Or if we’d married and then divorced within a year or two. Better to break things off sooner rather than later. So I did.’ He took another gulp of his beer. ‘I am guessing, from the look on your face, that everything she said was bollocks.’

‘Absolute bloody bollocks,’ Gemma replied. How could Nat have done this? She’d known Gemma had been genuinely over the moon about finally being engaged.

‘Not even a tiny bit of truth in any of that?’ Ben asked, his brown eyes doing that puppy-dog look that always made her melt.

‘Not a shred.’

He reached across the table and took her hand. She felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. ‘Gemma, I am so, so sorry. Will you take me back?’

‘Of course I will, you muppet,’ she said, wiping away a stray tear. ‘On the condition you never listen to a word Nat says, ever again.’

‘I won’t.’

‘And you’re not allowed to snog her again, either.’

‘I promise I won’t.’ He gave a Scouts’ salute, with the wrong number of fingers.

‘Come here, you,’ she said, patting the space on the sofa beside her. He moved over and put his arms around her. She nuzzled against his neck, feeling as though she’d come home at last.

‘God, I love you, Gem,’ he said, into her hair.

She smiled as tears ran down her face. Happy tears.

He pushed her away a little and looked at her, frowning. ‘What I don’t understand is why Nat would have sabotaged our relationship like that. You and she were always so close. What on earth happened?’

She shook her head and wiped away her tears. ‘I have no idea. But it’s not the only thing she’s done.’ She told him about the credit card purchases, and the letter to her parents.

‘Bloody hell. Gem, you should go to the police. That’s fraud.’

‘Dad said I should, too. But I can’t do that to her. I don’t understand why she did it all but I need to talk to her about it first, and give her a chance to explain. I don’t think we can ever be as close again, no matter what she says, but I have to give her a chance. We’ve got so much history together. I don’t want to get her into trouble. I mean, there’s no real harm done, is there? You and I are back together, the credit card company is investigating and Dad’s put a stop on the cheque Mum sent her. I need to talk to her. I tried to find her this morning but she wasn’t at work. Jasmine at the salon said she no longer works there. She also said Nat was on holiday. With you.’

‘Ah, hence the text.’

‘Yes. Nat must have lied to Jasmine.’

‘She’s lost it, clearly. I wonder why she’s doing all this. It’s as though she’s holding some kind of massive grudge against you. Any idea why?’

She shook her head. ‘None at all. That’s why I need to see her, rather than rush off to the police or anything like that. Maybe there’s been a big misunderstanding. I owe it to her to give her the chance to explain herself.’

‘Like the misunderstanding between us,’ Ben said, taking her hand.

‘Exactly.’ She smiled at him.

‘If she could explain things, would you accept it, and have her back as a friend? Like you’ve taken me back?’

Gemma considered this. Could she forgive Nat, for undermining her relationships with Ben and her parents? It was a tough call. ‘I don’t know. Possibly. Probably.’

‘You’re a wonderful, forgiving woman, Gemma Rowling. And I love you for it. What would she have to do, I wonder, to tip you over the edge? Attempted murder?’

Gemma gave a hollow laugh. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. She wouldn’t do that. Anyway. Enough of Nat. If we’re back together, we ought to be celebrating. Off you go and buy me a bottle of champagne. I deserve it, after all you’ve put me through.’

He grinned. ‘Whatever the lady wants, the lady shall have. But I’m driving, so can’t drink much of it.’

‘We can stay here tonight, if you like. Don, the manager, said there’s a spare room I could use…if you’d like to share it with me?’ She fluttered her eyelashes at him and smiled as he blushed profusely.

‘Christ, erm, I mean, yes, of course! Wow. What a great day this has turned out to be! Right. Champagne it is, then!’ He sashayed, whistling, over to the bar, slipping again but this time managing to grab hold of the bar to steady himself.