The Winter Folly (43 page)

Vanna spoke in a friendly enough way, and smiled and behaved perfectly pleasantly, but Delilah was ill at ease.

That’s not surprising
, she told herself.
How many people would be fine with their husband’s first wife dropping in like this out of the blue? There can’t be
many.

But besides that she felt on the back foot. Vanna looked so polished and glamorous and she wafted through the rooms of the fort pointing out things she remembered and exclaiming over how things
had either altered in some minute way, or stayed the same. Delilah knew she looked travel-stained and tired. She’d been looking forward to a bath and washing her hair and getting some fresh
clothes on, but now she was forced to play the hostess aware she looked a total mess. She could just hear Vanna now, at some charity function, telling all her highly groomed friends about what it
had been like to see her husband’s new wife.

‘My dear, she was a perfect fright. So English in that dowdy way. You’d think she’d never heard of a hairbrush and was a total stranger to the manicurist. Her clothes were
things I’d consider only fit for the incinerator!’

Delilah’s temper crumbled under the pressure and she could feel a black mood descending, although she tried to smile through it. It was a relief when Vanna said she was leaving as she was
expected back at her friends’ house for dinner. She kissed John goodbye on the front step, hugging him tightly and murmuring, ‘Don’t forget what I said,’ in a low voice
meant just for him before assuming a loud tone for her farewell to Delilah. ‘Such a pleasure to meet you! Look after him for me, won’t you? He’s still precious to me, even after
all this time.’

Then she skipped lightly down the steps, climbed into her gleaming car and drove away.

‘That was a surprise,’ Delilah said, turning to John, forcing out a smile that she was sure looked only halfhearted. ‘Did you know she was coming?’

‘I didn’t. She only called this morning.’

‘Quite an odd coincidence,’ Delilah remarked, ‘that she should come by at the one time I happened to be away.’ She could hear the note of accusation in her voice and
wished she could suppress it but her irritation and tiredness were taking control, making her look for some kind of release and resolution to the pangs of suspicious jealousy that had been burning
inside her ever since she’d seen Vanna.

‘What do you mean?’ John said in a cool voice as they went inside.

‘I don’t know. Just odd. How is she doing? What’s she up to? Why didn’t she bring her husband?’

‘She’s just got divorced again, as it happens.’

Delilah pounced on this, letting it feed her fear and jealousy. ‘Oh, really? That’s another odd coincidence! She’s divorced and she just happens to drop by when your wife is
away?’

John stopped walking then turned and looked at her. ‘Are you saying,’ he said in a dangerously quiet voice, ‘that I arranged for her to come here while you were
away?’

‘I don’t know!’ she said recklessly. ‘It just looks pretty strange to me. What does she mean by hugging you and kissing you all cosily like that – and telling you
to remember what she said? What
did
she say?’

He said nothing but stared at her, his eyes glittering in the shadow of the hall.

‘So?’ she persisted. ‘What did she say?’

‘She said I should take care of myself, that I don’t look well. But while we’re on the subject of clandestine hugs and kisses and cosy chats, why don’t we have a little
talk about you and dear cousin Ben?’

She felt the colour drain from her face and she stammered, ‘W-w-what do you mean?’

He smiled a horrible knowing smile. ‘You think I’ve been blind to it, don’t you? How he’s been following you around with his tongue out? I’ve seen you two, cosying
up for glasses of wine together, meeting at every opportunity. I’d be a fool not to notice. I’ve been waiting for you to tell me about it but you’ve kept it very quiet,
haven’t you?’

‘John,’ she said desperately, thinking as fast she could, trying to work out what he might have seen that would incriminate her, ‘you’ve got it all wrong.’

‘Have I?’ His expression turned sour. ‘You’ve got a cheek walking in here without so much as a phone call telling me when to expect you, and then treating my guest in the
unfriendly way you did. In fact, you were downright rude. For Christ’s sake, she’s done nothing to you! And then to have the gall to accuse me of arranging her visit behind your back.
For one thing, I was only here by chance myself, after our fishing got cut short. For another, I had no idea you’d gone off on your little jaunt.’

Her anger and irritation at Vanna’s visit drained away at once and she realised how petty and stupid she’d been to let jealousy get the better of her common sense. Of course he
hadn’t planned it. How could he have? He was right – he hadn’t even known she’d be away.

John had folded his arms and was staring at her furiously. ‘Don’t you think you’d better enlighten me a little about what’s going on between you and Ben?’

Oh God. She wasn’t ready for this. She hadn’t yet worked out in her own mind what she felt about Ben. She tried to calm the fear washing around inside her, took a deep breath and
said, ‘Nothing’s happened between us. We’re just friends.’

He nodded at her with a bitter, knowing look. ‘Okay. So – where have you been for the last few days?’

She was startled at the change in direction of his questioning and then her heart plummeted again. Oh God, what trap had she fallen into? This was the wrong time to tell him about Greece. She
wanted to make sure he was in the right mood and this antagonism between them could surely lead to a disastrous outcome.

‘Well?’ His tone was low and almost menacing. ‘I’m waiting.’

She began to stammer. ‘Well, I . . . I—’

‘Because Janey told me you’d gone to spend a couple of days with your friend Helen in Italy. Sounds nice, I thought. Why don’t I go and join you out there? Maybe a break away
from this place is what we need to improve things between us.’

Delilah’s palms were suddenly damp and a nasty tingle prickled her fingertips, but she could only listen as he went on, all the time staring at her like she was a criminal.

He continued: ‘So I called Helen to see if it would be okay. She hadn’t a clue where you were. You certainly weren’t staying with her, though once she realised that was what I
thought, she tried to cover for you. You two really should have got your stories straight.’ He looked suddenly very sad. ‘I can see by your face that you’ve been caught out. I
suppose you thought I’d never bother to check up on you, or you’d be back before me. But you reckoned without me coming home early. It was a pretty nasty bloody shock to find out you
were not here – or where you told Janey you were going. And then there’s the real kicker.’ He smiled again but in the twisted way that showed it was anything but good humoured.
‘Ben isn’t here either. He’s not at his cottage. No one at Home Farm knows where he is. Perhaps you’d like to explain that.’

‘I have no idea where Ben might be,’ she said, her voice coming out in a strangled tone. ‘I honestly don’t. He didn’t even know I was going away. Besides, nothing
has happened between us, I promise.’ It was true – up to a point.

‘Really?’ John said in a strange sing-song way. ‘After all, he’s a good-looking boy. Strong, outdoors type. Your honest farmer sort. I wouldn’t be surprised if you
were tempted, considering how things are for us at the moment. Did you two decide to slip away together while I wasn’t here? A nice little romantic getaway with lots of fiery sex?’

She felt tears of anger and frustration sting her eyes but was determined not to give in to them. ‘No! For God’s sake, John, stop it! I haven’t been with Ben and I don’t
know where he is! Ask him if you don’t believe me. Ring him.’ She looked at him miserably and said in a sad voice, ‘I want us to be happy, like we were when we got married. Before
we came to live here and it all began to go wrong.’

His gaze held the same agonised confusion. ‘Then tell me where you were over the last couple of days.’

‘I . . . I can’t!’

‘You
can’t
?’ He sounded incredulous. ‘What do you mean by that?’

She thought of the letter tucked into her luggage. Should she just produce that now? Throw it at him and say,
Here’s the proof I wasn’t with Ben. I was with your mother
.
‘I will tell you. But not now.’

‘I want to know right now.’

‘No.’

‘Come on – tell me where you were.’ He suddenly sounded broken. He put his hands to his head. ‘For Christ’s sake, Delilah, can’t you see this is destroying
me? Why are you lying to me?’

‘I’m not lying to you,’ she said wretchedly, wondering how they’d arrived at this sorry situation and all the tangled misunderstandings.

‘Then tell me.’

‘All right.’ Her head drooped and she stared at the ancient carpet, wondering for the hundredth time why it hadn’t been replaced years ago. ‘All right. I’ll tell
you. But it’s a long story. I’m going to take a shower first. We’ll meet at dinner and I’ll tell you everything.’

They sat opposite each other in the round dining room where the table had been laid for a formal dinner. Outside the French doors the lawn stretched away, its vibrant green
yellowed a little from the long dry spell. There was a hint of coming rain in the fuzziness of the blue sky and the bank of cloud approaching in the distance. Delilah wondered if Janey noticed the
awkward atmosphere as she put the plates of roast lamb in front of them.

‘Thank you, Janey,’ Delilah said, managing a smile.

‘You’re welcome. Well, I’m off for the evening now. I hope you enjoy it and see you tomorrow.’

When Janey had gone, the sense of heavy expectation grew. Delilah stared at her plate, and the rich aroma of roasted meat with the strong scent of rosemary and garlic turned her stomach. She
didn’t think she’d be able to eat anything. The anxiety of how she would tell John the truth had been knotting her insides more and more tightly as the moment grew closer and now she
felt sick with it.

John did not seem to be having any problem. He heaped vegetables onto his plate with a kind of determination not to let all this spoil his dinner. When he had had a good load, well anointed with
gravy, he sat back in his chair, fixed Delilah with a direct gaze and said, ‘I’m ready. Off you go.’

‘All right. But I’ll need to tell you how it started. Please don’t be impatient – it’s important.’

She began haltingly, explaining about the clothes she had found in the attic and how she had realised they belonged to his mother, then she described how her curiosity was piqued by the things
she stumbled across in the house – photographs and references to the mother who remained wreathed in mystery: where was her grave? How had she died? If she had thrown herself from the folly,
why wasn’t it known about?

‘So you decided to find out more,’ John said grimly. He’d been stony-faced and silent until now.

She nodded. ‘You seemed to be so unhappy because of it. Ever since I’ve met you, you’ve told me that this house is a place that oppresses you, and that the past is all around
you here, torturing you. I thought at first you didn’t really mean it, that it was a way of dealing with the privilege you were born to. Then I became sure it was the trauma of losing your
mother so young that caused your depression and the nightmares. I didn’t realise that there was even more than I suspected, until I heard Elaine’s name.’

John flinched very slightly, and continued eating as he waited for her to carry on.

‘I couldn’t think who this Elaine was. It was only because I’d looked for your mother’s grave that I found out she was your dead sister. You see . . .’ She looked
at him pleadingly, pushing away her plate of cooling food. ‘I felt that if I knew the truth, I could help you. Then things happened that propelled me along the path. I found the
doll—’

‘The doll?’ he asked, frowning.

‘A Sindy, tucked in the back of the cupboard. Who did it belong to? You told me there hadn’t been any daughters in your family. And then . . .’ She stopped and stared down at
the way the light gleamed along the handles of her silver cutlery. ‘The letter came.’

John stopped eating and looked at her as if aware that this was the beginning of the real explanation. Everything so far had been groundwork, designed to help understand her state of mind, to
show him that she hadn’t planned to be deceitful; she wanted him to know that her motives were pure, but events had begun to push her towards concealment.

‘A letter came addressed to Lady Northmoor. You’d already left to go fishing so I couldn’t show it to you. I was curious – nosy, perhaps – and . . . I opened
it.’ She glanced at him quickly. What would it mean to him when she mentioned that letter and his dead mother? Wasn’t it ghoulish that it should arrive forty years after her death?

He seemed whiter than before and sat stiller in his chair, lifting his eyes to hers with a kind of blank, numbed expression, but otherwise he seemed to take the revelation calmly. He said,
‘You opened it.’

‘It was on impulse,’ she said quickly. ‘It occurred to me that maybe it was meant for me – I know that sounds stupid but it seemed a reasonable thought at the time. I
opened it before I had time to think. It was from a solicitors’ firm, and it was telling this person, Lady Northmoor, that she was getting an increase in her living allowance. The letter had
a different address to the envelope. One in Greece.’

John’s expression changed to one of complete realisation. He threw back his head for a moment, staring at the ceiling, his arms out wide on the table, then he said loudly, ‘And you
thought, I know! I’ve got a wizard idea! I’ll just pop over to Greece and see who this Lady Northmoor person is!’ He faced her again, his eyes full of accusation.
‘That’s what you did, didn’t you?’

She nodded.

‘You went over there and decided to mess with a situation you knew nothing about! Without breathing a word to me!’

‘I didn’t want to hurt you even more by raking it all up again for no reason. You’d told me your mother was dead and that’s obviously what you believed so why would I
risk causing you unnecessary pain?’ She stared at him pleadingly. Then as she gazed at him, a sudden certainty possessed her, a revelation that as soon as she thought it, she knew was true.
She took a deep breath. ‘But you already knew, didn’t you? You already knew she was alive.’