The Secret by the Lake (37 page)

One thing still troubled me and would always play on my mind. I wondered if the doctor had tried to save Caroline’s life after her collapse on the dam, or if he had allowed her to bleed quietly to death. While she was alive, she would always pose a potential threat to the committee. Caroline was not the kind of person to go down without a fight, and if Robert knew she was in the asylum, he would have done everything in his power to have her released.

I would never know. The doctor was not entirely without conscience, as his defence lawyer had explained to the jury. It was he who had persuaded the committee to give money to Julia’s parents so they could afford to fund her way through ballet school. He called it ‘compensation’. It didn’t stop the judge from sending him to prison for eight years. The bastard.

The Church of England had taken responsibility for the punishment and rehabilitation of Reverend Pettigrew. We did not know what had become of him. Julia, whose old cynicism had returned, was certain that he had merely been dispatched to some small, faraway parish where the local church was not attached to a school. There was nothing we could do. He was gone and we had turned our faces from the darkness of the past towards what we were certain would be a brighter future.

The sun beat down on my face. The grass was warm. Bess yawned and stretched herself out beside me. I tried to put the past from my mind. I didn’t want thoughts of it to spoil this wonderful day.

There was lemonade in the fridge, a cake in the pantry. There would be sandwiches and sausage rolls and ice cream for tea. That afternoon, we would have a little party to welcome our new children. We would do the right thing by them.

The sun shone down on me, and down on the lake. White birds dipped and dived above the water, catching the little eddies and breezes that danced over its surface. Cloud shadows followed one another over the hills and fields, they swept over the lake and the wind disturbed the leaves in the trees and the wildflowers shook their pretty heads. The fish were feeding on the swarms of midges at the edges of the water, the waders stood amongst the reeds and iris, the ducks and moorhens swam in and out of the weeds, followed by their broods.

I heard the engine approaching and then I heard my darling call my name and I stood up and smoothed my skirt. I took a deep breath. This was it, the start of the new beginning.

‘I’m coming,’ I called.

I walked across the lawn towards the car that had pulled up on the drive. Daniel caught my eye as I approached. I could not keep the smile from my face, or the happiness from my heart. He reached out his hand and took hold of mine.

Three small, distrustful faces looked out at us from the back window of the car.

There was a great deal of work ahead; we would need patience and gentleness and courage. We would need to tread carefully with the children, to gain their trust and to convince them that we were worthy of it. We would need to be kind, always, no matter how they tried to test us, because that was what they would do; they would push us to the limit to make sure our promises were real and that we meant it when we said we would never reject them and always treasure them. And we would need to be vigilant, to make sure no harm came to them and that nobody ever hurt them.

We would need time, but no matter how long it took, that’s what we would do.

We would do it for Caroline.

The biggest thank you goes to Bella Bosworth who has worked so patiently on this book in its several iterations and has been the most amazing editor. Thank you also to Harriet Bourton, Viv Thompson, Joan Deitch and everyone else at Transworld. I am so privileged to be part of such a great team.

Thank you and love to my agency family, Marianne Gunn O’Connor, Pat Lynch, Vicki Satlow and Sophie Wilson.

I am hugely grateful to the support of the online book community who make life and literature such fun: Kim Nash, Anne Cater and my other friends; you know who you are and that I enjoy every moment of your company.

The authors I know in real life and online are without exception talented, funny and hugely generous people and I still can’t believe that I’m part of this amazing club! Special thanks and love to Tammy Cohen, Amanda Jennings, Rachel Brimble and Alison Knight.

To my family and friends, I love you with all my heart.

And a special mention to lovely Estelle Taylor, and gorgeous Katie Andrews.

Blackwater and all its residents are entirely fictitious, but they inhabit the exact area in North Somerset where Blagdon exists in the real world, and Blackwater reservoir is similar, although not identical, to Blagdon lake. Most of the other locations mentioned in the book, including the Mendip Hills and Blackdown, are real places and I’ve tried to describe them honestly. I walk the hills with our dogs Lil and Lola whenever I can, and Blackdown is where this story was conceived.

Finally, hello to my good-looking and clever friends at Airbus including Malin, Carolynne, Caroline and Maxine.

Louise Douglas
is a copywriter. She has three sons and lives in north Somerset with her partner.
The Secret by the Lake
is her sixth novel. Her first novel,
The Love of My Life
, was longlisted for both the Romantic Novel of the Year Award and the Waverton Good Read Award, and her third,
The Secrets Between Us
, was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick.

Talk to her on Twitter
@LouiseDouglas3
and visit her website at
www.louisedouglas.co.uk

The Secrets Between Us

In Her Shadow

Your Beautiful Lies

For more information on Louise Douglas and her books, see her website at
www.louisedouglas.co.uk

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First published in Great Britain by Black Swan
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Louise Douglas 2015

Louise Douglas has asserted her right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologize for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781448167180
ISBN 9780552779272

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