The Secrets Women Keep (47 page)

‘I’ll never forget you, Dan,’ she said, too quietly for Eve to hear. ‘You still mean the world to me and always will. Simon’s helped me to understand.’ The
tears ran down her face unchecked. As she remembered her husband, she experienced a sense of profound peace that lulled her towards an even greater acceptance of what had happened to them.

After a minute or two, she felt a hand on her shoulder. ‘Here,’ said Eve and thrust a tissue into her hand. ‘I had a feeling we might need these.’ She blew her nose as
she stepped back, leaving Rose alone with her thoughts. But Rose wasn’t thinking. She was with Daniel again, feeling his strength and support. That was all she needed.

Eventually she rocked back so the soles of her feet took her weight. Once she was standing, the two women hugged, alone together on the track as if nothing could separate them. But eventually
they stepped apart, laughing at themselves. Rose rubbed at the indents on her knees from the stones. ‘They say that what hurts you makes you stronger. You know what? I think I am a stronger
person now. Dan wouldn’t want me to put up with this nonsense from Jess. When we get home, I’m going to talk to her.’

Eve looked sceptical but said nothing.

‘OK, but I’m going to try. And I’m so, so glad I’ve come here at last. Thank you. I couldn’t have done it with anyone else.’

‘I wish I could say it was a pleasure.’ Eve looked away, back to where Dan had lain, her eyes brimming with tears again. ‘But you know what I mean.’

‘I do.’ Rose gave her a weak smile and squeezed her arm. ‘Let’s go back. Now I know I can come here with the girls, and I can even bring Simon here too.’

‘Do you really want to do that? Isn’t it too private?’

‘No. Not any more. I want him to see. I want him to understand by being here what Dan and I had together. I want him to respect that, and I think he does. At the same time, he’s told
me so much about Dan that I didn’t know. He was a much more complicated and conflicted man than I realised. I wish we could have talked about what he was feeling, and especially about what he
felt about Simon, but he was ashamed, frightened of what might happen.’

‘Perhaps you wouldn’t have understood anyway.’ The suggestion sounded tentative.

‘You’re right, of course.’ Rose couldn’t keep the regret out of her voice. ‘I probably wouldn’t. It’s taken me months to begin processing all
that’s happened. Poor Dan.’ She gave a long, heartfelt sigh.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, arm in arm. Rose thought about her husband, wondering not for the first time what he’d make of her friendship with Simon. He might be shocked,
horrified that she had found out the truth about him, but then perhaps he’d be relieved and glad it was in the open at last. She believed he would be pleased that the two of them had found
such a strong connection, bound together by their love of him.

As they neared the garden, they could hear Dylan shouting excitedly somewhere in the direction of the pool. Up at the house, the sounds of Dani’s shrieks travelled towards them, until one
of her parents obviously caved in to her bedtime demands and she quietened down.

‘Between the devil and the deep blue sea,’ laughed Rose, jogged out of her introspection by her demanding grandchildren. ‘Which way to turn?’

They stood, uncertain which direction to go in. Then Eve took the initiative. ‘I think we deserve a small drink. It’s almost six thirty. Prosecco?’

‘Under the walnut tree?’

Eve nodded.

‘Let’s do it. The kids will be asleep soon. Then we can think about supper.’

As they turned towards the house, there was a loud splash as someone dived into the pool. A blissful moment of silence followed: the peace that Rose had spent the past few days enjoying with
Simon. Then, a second splash. Suddenly a woman’s scream shattered the balmy summer afternoon.

‘Jess!’ Rose wheeled round and ran towards the pool with Eve in hot pursuit, everything else forgotten. As they breasted the slope, they could see the drama being resolved at the
pool’s edge. Anna was in the water, passing up a drenched Dylan to Rick, who was crouching on the edge. Beside them a frightened-looking Jess stood waiting to wrest her son from their arms.
On the ground beside her were his blue armbands and her phone.

Rose ran up to them, relieved to find them all in one piece. ‘Whatever’s happened?’

No one spoke as Jess hugged Dylan to her, so tightly he began to fight against her hold. Anna was the one who replied, at her most casual. ‘Oh, Dylan just fell in the pool.’

‘I was swimmin’,’ the little boy said, his dark eyes big in his face, his hair plastered to his head, water running down his body. ‘Again! Again!’ He wriggled to be
let down.

‘I think not,’ said Anna, bending over and twisting her hair to wring the water out of it.

‘Dylan, you must never do that again. Never. Do you hear me?’ Jess ignored the rest of them, fear and guilt making her shout at her son, who stared at her, stunned, not understanding
why he deserved her fury. ‘You must never go near the edge without your armbands. We’ve told you over and over again.’

The little boy’s chin quivered, his brow furrowed and his mouth opened wide to let out a great wail of distress. He stretched his arms out to Rose as she reached for him. After all, it was
hardly his fault that his mother’s eye had left the ball. ‘Shhh. Shhh. Let’s put them on so it doesn’t happen again. Then you can go for a swim. Look, what’s
this?’ Rose pointed at a green octopus on the plastic armband as she squatted down to pick up the first one and shunt it on to his arm.

‘Octopoo.’ He began to giggle, stabbing it with his finger.

Beside them Jess was enveloping Anna in a bear hug as the words tumbled from her mouth in her rush to make amends. ‘I know it was all my fault. If I hadn’t been on the phone . . . He
could have drowned. Thank God you were here. I’ll never be able to thank you enough. Not ever.’

‘Forget it,’ said Anna, sheepish despite her usual love of the limelight. ‘I’m glad I was here too.’ She extricated herself from her sister’s embrace and went
back to her lounger, where she stretched herself out beside Rick.

‘Bloody phone. Bloody Trevarrick,’ said Jess, kneeling down by Rose. ‘I’m sorry, Dylan. Mummy just got a nasty fright.’ She kissed his forehead and let him climb on
to her lap for a cuddle. ‘Chef’s just resigned,’ she explained to Rose over her son’s head. ‘I was about to put on his armbands when Mark called to tell me. I looked
away for one second. Literally just one. I didn’t even realise he’d fallen in. I thought the splash was one of the others. I’ve told him so many times not to go near the edge.
Anna saved his life.’

‘Thank God you were so quick off the mark, darling.’ Rose looked over at Anna. But her daughter wasn’t listening. She had moved on to Rick’s lounger and was squished up
beside him, his arm round her, his hand tucked into the back of her bikini bottom while she kissed him.

‘Gawd. Young love. Get a room, you two,’ called Eve, dispersing the tension immediately as the others laughed, relieved that someone had the balls to say what they were all thinking.
Eve was sitting on the edge of the pool, her shoes off, her legs dangling in the water. Her kicks sent ripples across the still surface towards the shadow at the other side. ‘Think I might
have a swim.’ She undid her buttons to reveal her swimsuit, tossed the dress away from the edge and lowered herself in. ‘Come on, Dylan. Let’s see what you can do.’

Rose released the boy, who ran over, the armbands making his arms stick out from his side like a mini Michelin man, and jumped in beside her.

‘Sorree.’ Anna extricated herself from Rick’s embrace and came over to her sister. Rick sat up, grinning amiably as he watched the four of them, then raised himself from the
lounger and dived in to swim towards Eve. ‘Come on, Dylan. Swim between us. Kick those legs. Let’s see if you can do it.’

With her son safely distracted, Jess sat down with a thump. ‘Oh God, I’m a hopeless mother.’ She hung her head, then picked up her phone and put it in the shade under her
lounger.

Rose was about to contradict her, but Anna was there first, squatting down beside her. ‘No you’re not. That’s the last thing you are.’ She stretched upwards to kiss her
sister’s cheek. ‘You’ve got two gorgeous children and you’re the best mother in the world to them. Anyone could make a mistake like that. Anyone.’

Had Rose died and gone to heaven? Anna was thinking about someone other than herself at last.

‘I’m glad I was here to save my little old nephew.’ Anna looked over at Dylan’s splashy but determined efforts to bridge the gap between Rick and Eve, and smiled.
‘I expect you’ll return the favour one day. Now, if anyone’s going to be a hopeless mother, it’ll be me.’

Jess raised her head, quick as a whippet. ‘You’re not saying . . .’

Anna threw her head back and laughed. ‘God, no. You must be joking. No need to start gathering the hand-me-downs yet. But you never know. One day . . .’

Rose’s first thought was for that flowered tattoo, stretching out of shape as Anna’s stomach swelled. Slightly ashamed of her reaction, she yanked herself back to the here and now.
The girls were smiling and chattering together. They didn’t need her. With peace restored, she decided to go inside and make a start on supper.

I
t was way past Dylan’s bedtime, so it wasn’t long after the swimming lesson was over that Jess headed back to the house. Eve was right
behind her, the idea of a glass of chilled Prosecco having reasserted itself in the forefront of her brain. With her dress over her arm, she carried some of the detritus that had been left by the
pool. She followed Jess into the kitchen and loaded a couple of mugs and three glasses into the dishwasher. Rose was washing a lettuce in the sink.

‘I’ll be back to help in a minute,’ Eve volunteered. But before anything else, a shower beckoned.

‘No rush.’ Rose shook the leaves and put them into the salad spinner. ‘Simon’s offered to cook tonight. I don’t think anything’s going to happen for an hour
or so. I’m going up to change when I’ve done this.’

‘But Mum, I was going to make that fruit tart thing Dad liked so much.’ Jess was holding Dylan tightly to her. He was wrapped in one of the coloured beach towels so only his face was
visible.

‘Couldn’t you make it tomorrow instead? I’ve a feeling Simon’s got everything organised.’ She wound the handle of the spinner until its whirring filled the
room.

Eve could hear the effort it cost Rose to keep her voice light and reasonable while fighting her exasperation with her daughter’s resistance to Simon’s presence. Jess had clearly
decided to award herself the role of Daniel’s flame-keeper, as if the rest of them had forgotten him. As if. She remembered the single white rose marking the spot.

‘Fine,’ came the tight little response. ‘I’ll take Dylan to bed.’

‘Why don’t you ask him?’ added Rose. But Jess had left the room, leaving her mother speaking to an empty space. Rose flung her hands in the air. ‘This holiday
is
going to work. I haven’t a clue how, but it will.’ She took the leaves from the spinner, bagged them in plastic and put them in the fridge. ‘There. Shower and then a drink. Think
we might need it.’

Eve wasn’t going to argue.

In their room, Terry was hunched over his laptop. He’d already turned the small table by the window into an office. Pieces of paper covered in numerical scribbles lay spread out by the
computer. He’d emptied the rest of the contents of his briefcase on to the bed: pens, paperclips, a calculator, his phone and a pack of chewing gum. Eve cleared a space for herself and
lounged there, checking her emails. The only addition to her backlog was one lengthy email from May updating her on everything that had been going on at the agency that day. As a result of her
assistant’s efficiency, there was nothing imperative to attend to. Most publishers and clients had learned how reliable and knowledgeable May was, and knew to direct their queries to her
unless they could only be dealt with by Eve. Instead she powered up her iPad and opened the word game she was playing with one of her five regular but unknown cyber opponents. Terry took absolutely
no notice.

‘You haven’t been here all afternoon?’ she asked after a couple of minutes. She dragged the word EPHAS into place. She had no idea what it meant, but the app accepted it and
awarded her a gratifying fifty-three points. Good enough.

He tutted at the interruption, but twisted round in his chair to reply. ‘What was left of it. Yes, I’ve been trying to sort out these e-book royalties with May. Flying Mango have
sent us two cheques, which as far as I can see are for completely the wrong amount. Their contracts people must be monkeys, and getting hold of them has been almost impossible, never mind getting
them to see sense.’ Distracted, he ran his hand through his hair.

Eve registered the few silvery strands above his ears for the first time. So even he was beginning to show signs of getting on at last. ‘Can’t it wait till we get home? We’re
only here for a week.’ She wasn’t at all sure that she liked being on holiday with someone so bound up in their office work – even if it was her office. She preferred Terry
sprawled in the hammock, enjoying what rural Tuscany had to offer. The part of the workaholic was hers, not his, although she couldn’t deny how pleased and relieved she was that he took his
role at the Rutherford Agency so seriously.

‘No, it can’t.’ He closed the laptop and picked up a pencil. ‘If I don’t sort it out now, no one else will until I get back home, and then I’ll have to rush
it. In my old office, there were other people who could cover for me while I was away. Not any more. But once this is sorted, that should be it.’ He bent back to his task.

How many company accountants could be found at work in baggy shorts and a T-shirt with a slogan reading
Grumpy Old Git
? In fact, now that he’d ditched his previous work uniform of
suit and tie, his growing collection of sloganned T-shirts definitely needed culling. She might do that when they got home and his attention was elsewhere. And perhaps she might lose those heavy
leather walking sandals with Velcro fastenings at the same time. She dragged her eyes from his feet and hopped off the bed to go into the bathroom. When she’d first suggested that Terry help
out at the agency, she’d felt bound to double-check the accounts regularly. She was ashamed of harbouring suspicions when he promised her faithfully that he’d done with gambling. His
marriage to her meant everything. But she had to be certain. Not a penny had been misplaced. He’d been true to his word. Her own gamble of giving him the job had paid off, and given him back
his self-respect.