Olivia's Enchanted Summer (12 page)

She could hear Lydia on the phone talking urgently to someone who she guessed was Alicia. She tramped across the field using her torch to pick a path through the devastation, and occasionally stopping to pick up an item of lost clothing. She discovered somebody's drenched iPod and Georgia's favourite green skirt that her dad had bought for her in a vintage shop on a day trip to Brighton.

Olivia shivered. Her feet were wet because her wellies had blown away and she was wearing flip flops. At least it had at last stopped raining, although the trees were still dripping furiously. She tried calling Jack. There was still no response. She hoped that he and Pablo were safe. She found the wreckage of Emmy and Eel's tent, pulled it apart and quickly found Eel's missing tap shoes. She turned back towards the toilet block and as she did so she discovered a
small wooden box half hidden under the side of a nearby collapsed tent. She picked up the box and some of its contents spilled out. On the lid were engraved the initials E. P. – Evie Purcarete!

Olivia picked up the computer print-outs and newspaper clippings that had fallen out of the box. She carefully unfolded one of the newspaper clippings. It was a bit damp and fragile but perfectly readable.

Jewel Thief Strikes Again,
read the headline above a report about the series of rooftop raids on Edinburgh hotels that had been puzzling the police all summer. Olivia shuffled through the clippings. They all referred to the robberies. Why on earth would Evie be keeping these news reports unless she was involved in some way? Maybe her own uncle wasn't the only person she'd stolen from? Evie certainly had the skills to clamber across Edinburgh's roofs in the dead of night. Maybe that's what she was doing at this very moment. Maybe she was robbing the Imperial Hotel!

Olivia glanced at one of the computer print-outs. It took her a second to realise that it was an advertisement for a house available for rent in Edinburgh during the Festival. The very
same non-existent house that Jack had paid for! Olivia's heart skipped a beat. Finally she had evidence directly linking Evie to the scam.

She rifled through the papers, which turned out to be all of the e-mails between Jack and Mitch. Only someone who had access to Mitch's e-mail address could have these. Olivia felt sick. What was Evie up to? What did she want? Was it another swindle? Whatever it was, she wasn't going to let Evie Purcarete get away with it.

Chapter Eighteen

Olivia sat in the back of the minibus, holding her sister's hand, as they drove towards Edinburgh. She was trying to comfort Eel and Emmy. Eel was upset that nobody knew where Jack was, and Emmy, clutching a sodden Mr Bossyboots, was missing her mum and wanted to go home. They'd had to hire two minibuses and a taxi to get into town, and now they were driving through the dark deserted streets in the dead of night. Everyone was unnaturally quiet. It was as if they were all suffering from delayed shock at what had happened and the realisation that they had had a very lucky escape.

Nobody said anything but many were wondering if their Edinburgh summer was over for good. The minibus driver had the local radio
station on low and they could hear ongoing reports of the freak storm. Every time there was a gust of wind Emmy squealed, and Eel had decided that the reason they couldn't get through to Jack was because a tree had fallen on the bus, trapping her dad and Pablo inside.

As soon as Alicia had turned up in a taxi at the campsite, she had taken control. She gathered everyone together and that's when they realised that Evie and Tati were missing. Lydia had put her hand to her mouth in horror and said, “I completely forgot about them. I was just counting Swans. Goodness, what can have happened to them? You don't think they could be with Jack and Pablo, do you? Maybe we should call the police.”

Several of the children began to cry, but Olivia said, “Evie and Tati know how to look after themselves. I saw them leave the campsite in a taxi around midnight.”

Alicia looked relieved, before observing grimly that half the circus were running around in the middle of the night. “I'll be having stern words with Evie and Tati when we find them,” she said. She looked hard at the Swans. “You do realise that if any of you slipped away like that,
you'd be straight on the train back to London and your parents, and facing a very uncertain future at the Swan.” Everyone nodded with serious faces and chattering teeth.

“Right,” said Alicia, “we need to get you all somewhere warm and dry, and since Jack isn't here to make any decisions, he'll have to live with mine.” Olivia and Eel knew from the set of Alicia's mouth that Jack was in big trouble.

Their grandmother stepped outside and was soon talking quietly and urgently on her mobile. Shortly afterwards, the minibuses turned up and they all piled in, clutching what remained of their possessions.

Alicia asked the drivers to put their heaters on full blast, and soon the Swans grew so warm and toasty that several of them dozed off. Not Olivia. Her mind was racing. Where were her dad and Pablo? Were they in trouble, and what would they think if they turned up at the campsite and found the smashed tents and the Swans gone? She wanted to ask Alicia where they were going so that she could text Jack and let him know where to find them, but there was something about the grim line of Alicia's mouth that made her reluctant to speak to her
grandmother. In any case, Alicia seemed to be doing a great deal of texting herself in her rather laborious fashion that made Olivia want to snatch the phone out of her gran's hands and do it for her. Alicia found texting particularly difficult because of her arthritis, so Olivia guessed that if that was what she was doing, it was because she didn't want her conversation overheard. She sent another text asking Jack to call her urgently.

The little convoy of vehicles rumbled over the New Town cobbles. Olivia thought she glimpsed the street where Kasha's aunt had her flat and wondered if that was where they were all heading, but she wasn't surprised when they kept on going – she'd paid the boys a visit with Georgia and Aeysha, and the flat was tiny, smaller even than the B&B where Alicia was staying. Maybe they were going to a hotel, although she wasn't sure what kind of hotel would welcome the Swans in the middle of the night looking like drowned rats.

The minibus turned into a street full of cafés and delis, continued a short way through an area with a village feel, turned down another street and stopped outside a large house with black
railings, wide steps and a big front door with a large lion's head knocker. Everyone climbed out of the buses and taxis, and stood sleepy and subdued in the street while Alicia paid off the taxi-drivers from a wad of cash, walked up the steps and knocked gently on the door.

The door opened immediately, as though someone had been waiting for them. They walked into an entrance hall so large that it easily contained a sofa, several chairs and a large bookcase. A staircase curved elegantly into the hall from above, and Olivia could see it spiralling up at least three floors to a domed atrium. It was the grandest house she'd ever been inside.

“Through there are flasks of hot chocolate, coffee and sandwiches, and blankets all ready for you,” said the man who'd opened the door, indicating a room off the hall, where a fire could be seen crackling in a huge fireplace. The Swans, shooed along by Lydia, sleepwalked into the room, but Olivia hung back in the hall, holding Eel's hand. She saw Alicia and the man kiss each other on the cheek and murmur something to each other, and then the man moved away from behind the door, which he hadn't quite closed
properly, and for the first time she could see him quite clearly. He was in his mid-thirties and very good-looking in a dark, brooding way. He looked so familiar she wondered if he was an actor she'd seen on TV or on the stage.

“So,” he said with a smile, turning his attention to the girls, “you must be Olivia and Eel. Alicia has told me so much about you both. I'm Michael.” He was about to speak again when there was the clatter of feet on the stairs and a small figure appeared, then stopped abruptly halfway down. Olivia and the boy-magician stared at each other in amazement.

“You! The high-wire girl!” said the boy, his eyes round with astonishment. “What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”

“Alfie!” breathed Olivia, but it came out as a froggy croak. So she had been right all along! If Alicia had brought them to this house, then she must know that Jack was Alfie's dad! It all fitted together like the pieces of a jigsaw. Michael and Alicia looked surprised.

“You two know each other?” asked Michael uncertainly. Alfie nodded.

Olivia felt a little hot coal of fury and misery flare into life in her stomach. “Oh yes,” she said
sarcastically, “we know each other. Although I don't think anybody has ever bothered to introduce us.” The anger was running like molten lava through her whole body, making her both rude and recklessly brave. Her face was burning with fury. She stuck out her hand very formally towards Alfie as he walked down the stairs, a puzzled expression on his face. He looked at her hand warily.

“Hello, Alfie Marvell,” she said. “I'm Olivia Marvell. What nobody has bothered to tell you, and they certainly haven't bothered to tell me, is that we're related–”

There was a sudden hammering at the door. It burst open, almost knocking over Alicia. A wild-eyed Jack barged into the hall just as Olivia announced: “–and you and I, Alfie, we're half-brother and sister. Your dad is my dad…”

There was an appalled silence as the adults all looked at each other. Eel's mouth dropped open and she said indignantly: “Nobody told me I had a brother! Even half a one. What's going on?”

Alfie looked totally bemused. He kept shaking his head and looking questioningly
from the grown-ups to Olivia and back again.

“Liv…” said Jack urgently, reaching out for her. Olivia took a step away from him and backed into her grandmother's arms. Alicia held her protectively.

“Keep away,” Olivia snarled.

Jack looked as if she'd struck him. “Oh, Liv, chick, I'm so, so sorry. I've made a real mess of things,” said Jack. “Liv, please, it's not what you think, I promise…” He tried to give Olivia a hug, but she pushed him away very hard. He looked desperate. “Alfie isn't your brother, Liv, he's your cousin.”

Olivia looked at her father in bafflement. “Cousin? How can I have a cousin when I haven't got any uncles or aunts?” she demanded.

“Because you do have an uncle. Me.” Michael put out his hand to Olivia and said: “Jack's my wayward little brother. I'm very pleased to meet you, Olivia. I've always wondered what Jack and Toni's daughters would be like, and now I know.” He paused and a wistful look came into his eyes. “You look just like your mother, Olivia. She was a beautiful woman.”

Olivia noticed that Alicia's eyes were
shining with tears. “But I don't understand,” she spluttered. She turned indignantly to Jack. “You're always keeping secrets from us! Why didn't you tell us you had a brother, and that Eel and I had an uncle? And a cousin.”

Jack looked anguished. “Because Michael and I fell out a long time before you were born and we haven't spoken since. Not for years.”

“Why did you fall out?” asked Olivia, determined to get to the bottom of the secrets. “That day when the Swans arrived in Edinburgh. I heard you say to Gran that you'd done something that was a betrayal, something of which you were really ashamed.”

Jack closed his eyes for a second as if experiencing a sharp pain, then he looked at his brother. He turned to Olivia and said very gently, “You're right, Liv. I did do something very terrible, something that hurt Michael very much indeed.”

He glanced at Alicia, who appeared to be holding her breath. “It hurt other people, too.”

“What was it?” whispered Olivia. She'd thought she'd wanted to know the truth, but now she was about to get it, she wasn't so sure. The urge to put her hands over her ears was
huge, but Jack was already speaking in a low voice.

“Michael…my brother, the brother I loved very much and who I knew loved me because he had always looked out for me since we were boys, was going away for a few days. He asked me to look after the woman he loved, and who he intended to marry, while he was gone. When he got back, Toni and I had run away together. I'm ashamed to admit that I was too much of a coward to face him.”

Olivia stared at her uncle. Now she knew what Sebastian Shaw had meant.

“So you were in love with my mum?”

Michael nodded.

“You were going to marry her. You were engaged?”

He nodded again. “It was a very long time ago, Olivia. Soon after Jack and Toni eloped, I met Ginny, Alfie's mum, and I loved her very much, right up to the moment of her death.” He looked at his son. “If I'd never met Ginny, Alfie would never have been born, and he's the best thing in my life. Hearts do mend, Olivia, even badly broken ones like mine. I've long got over losing Toni, but I've never got over losing
my brother.” He gave Jack a long, serious look. “It's good to see you, Jack. I've missed you more than I can say.”

“I'm so sorry…” blurted out Jack, but Michael just stepped towards him and enveloped him in a hug.

When they broke apart, after a long time, Jack said, “I think what we all need is a family chat, and Michael and I will tell you everything. No more secrets. Secrets tear families apart.”

Eel considered Alfie with a beady bird-like gaze. “I've never wanted a brother, because really one sister, particularly one as moody as Livy, is quite enough,” she told him confidentially. “But I know I'm going to
love
having a cousin.”

“Good,” said Alfie solemnly, but with a twinkle in his eye. “I think I'm going to
love
having cousins, too.”