Lost Innocence (44 page)

Verity’s father was already hefting a large suitcase and a flower-power holdall down to them, while Verity struggled to burst past for a final hug.

Minutes later the doors were slammed shut, and as the train started to chug out of the station Alicia and Darcie stood, arm in arm, waving Verity and her family goodbye.

‘No tears?’ Alicia asked, glancing down at Darcie.

‘No, I’m cool. We did all that last night.’

Alicia smiled, and feeling profoundly thankful that the monstrosity of a suitcase had four wheels of its own so that they didn’t have to try to carry it up the stairs and over the footbridge, she began steering it along the platform towards the exit. ‘So you had a good time?’ she said, as Darcie gamely shouldered the holdall.

‘Fantastic. I mean, there were the odd blips, you know, when I felt homesick, or Verity got on my nerves, but on the whole it was the best.’ She turned her pretty face up to her mother. ‘I really missed you, if that’s what you want to know, so I hope you missed me too.’

‘Oh, I think I managed to once in a while,’ Alicia teased.

Darcie laughed and nudged her. Then her face fell as Alicia stopped next to the old Renault. ‘I’d forgotten we had that now,’ she said dismally. ‘Don’t you feel embarrassed being seen in it?’

‘No, and if you do, you can always walk,’ Alicia told her, not liking her snobbery.

Darcie slanted her a look, and as her smile made a mischievous return she grabbed her mother in a bruising embrace. ‘I am so glad you’re my mum,’ she said, as Alicia opened the boot, ‘you should hear the way Verity’s goes on and on. If you were like that I’d leave home.’

‘If I was like that I probably would too,’ Alicia quipped.

Laughing delightedly, Darcie dumped her holdall, helped crane the suitcase in after it, then skipped round to the driver’s side. ‘Oops, got to get used to being back,’ she chuckled, realising her mistake. ‘Actually, this car’s not so bad really, is it? It’ll probably be great for when you take your stuff to the foundry. Have you done any work since
you’ve been here? How’s the studio coming on? Is the shop open yet? You have to tell me everything. I’m so out of touch.’

Waiting for her to buckle up on the passenger side, Alicia started the engine and at the end of the parking area turned right towards home. ‘Rachel’s invited us over this evening,’ she said. ‘Una’s dying to see you.’

‘Oh, fab, because I’m dying to see her too, and little Todd, he’s so cute, but I’m still really ticked about Nat. Fancy him not being here for my homecoming. He said he would, and I haven’t even spoken to him since Monday. Why did he have to go up to Bristol?’

‘He’s helping Jolyon prepare some cases. It’s good experience and I think the change of scenery is doing him good.’

‘But he’s hardly been here three weeks. Is it really that bad?’

Rolling her eyes, Alicia said, ‘It’s not bad at all. You’ll like it once you get used to it.’ How easily the words were tripping off her tongue, while the dread of reality was lurking in the background, ready to swoop like an avenging ghoul.

‘I don’t suppose I’ve got any choice, have I. Still, at least I’ll have all my own stuff around me. Is my computer set up yet?’

‘Nat did it last week. And your TV, and the DVD.’

‘He’s the best. I’m really glad he didn’t go to Italy with Summer. We should all be together now, shouldn’t we?’

Smiling at how conveniently she’d glossed over her month in France, Alicia said, ‘We should, and there’s still plenty to do around the house and in the shop if we’re all going to pull together.’

‘No problem. I’m definitely up for that. It’s never going to be the same without Dad,’ she said, suddenly glum, ‘but I still want him to be proud of us, you know, just in case he’s looking down, and I really think he is, don’t you?’

‘I’m sure of it,’ Alicia said, partly because it was what Darcie wanted to hear, and partly because she wanted to believe it too. ‘I need to call into the village shop on the way through to pick up some milk and a card for Todd’s birthday tomorrow. Would you like to choose it?’

‘Sure, why not? Have you got him a present?’

‘Yes, it’s all wrapped ready to take with us tonight.’

Twenty minutes later, still listening to Darcie chattering on about her French adventure, Alicia pulled up outside Mrs Neeve’s shop and kept her fingers crossed, as she always did in the high street now, that she wouldn’t run into Sabrina – or any of the neighbours whose loyalty had been bought, at least to her mind, by one of Sabrina’s charitable acts.

‘Hello,’ she said, walking in to find Mrs Neeve behind the counter, as usual, and another neighbour, Sally Hopkins, leaning against the customer side. As both women looked round Alicia felt her smile starting to fade. Neither one of them was attempting to say hello back.

‘Uh, I’ll help myself to some milk,’ Alicia said, pointing to the fridge. ‘Darcie’s looking for a birthday card. She’s just come back from France, haven’t you darling?’

‘There’s no more milk,’ Mrs Neeve said as Alicia started to open the fridge.

‘But it’s right …’ Realising what was happening, Alicia let go of the door, and putting an arm round Darcie she steered her back on to the street.

‘What was all that about?’ Darcie said in a loud whisper. ‘There was loads of milk, you could see it.’

‘I know.’

‘So why didn’t you say something?’

Not sure whether she was more offended by the two women inside, or relieved to have had it pointed out so soon that Darcie needed to be told what was happening before hearing it from someone else, Alicia said, ‘Come on, get in the car, I’ll take you home.’

She waited until Darcie had been upstairs to inspect her room, and check her email, then sitting her down at the kitchen table with a glass of juice and some biscuits she said, ‘There’s something I have to tell you, darling, which isn’t …’ As Darcie’s face drained she broke off quickly, realising her mistake. She’d sounded too gloomy, making Darcie think the worst.

‘It’s Nat, isn’t it?’ Darcie said, rising to her feet. ‘Oh my God…’

‘Ssh, no, I promise, Nat’s fine,’ Alicia insisted. ‘We can speak to him on the phone if you like and he’ll tell you himself.’

‘So what is it?’ Darcie said, looking horribly anxious and close to tears.

‘Sit down again,’ Alicia said, pulling out a chair for herself. ‘It does concern Nat, but not in the way you’re thinking.’

With wide eyes fixed on her mother, Darcie sank back down again.

‘Something happened at the rave last Saturday,’ Alicia continued, feeling slightly stunned that it was only a week ago, when it felt like a lifetime. ‘I’m not sure what exactly, but I do know that things got out of hand and Annabelle ended up accusing Nat … Well, she’s accused him of raping her.’

Darcie’s jaw dropped.

‘Of course it isn’t true,’ Alicia went on hurriedly, ‘but the police have become involved and now they’re intending to prosecute Nat for something he didn’t do.’

Darcie began shaking her head vehemently. ‘No, they can’t,’ she declared hotly. ‘He’d never do anything like that. They’ve got it wrong. You have to stop them, Mum. If Dad was here, he would…’

‘Oliver and Jolyon are taking care of it,’ Alicia told her, grabbing her hands. ‘It’s partly why Nat’s with Jolyon now…’

‘But she’s
lying
,’ Darcie cried. ‘Why are they listening to her? Can’t Uncle Robert make her stop?’

‘I’m sure he’s trying, but…’

‘I’m going round there,’ Darcie said, shooting to her feet. ‘I’m going to…’

‘No, darling,’ Alicia said, pulling her into her arms. ‘You can’t go over there, none of us can.’

‘But you have to do something,’ Darcie insisted. ‘You can’t just let her get away with it.’

‘For the moment there’s nothing we can do,’ Alicia explained, ‘apart from put our trust in Oliver and Jolyon. If we go near Annabelle, or her mother, we’ll make it worse for Nat, and that’s not what we want, is it?’

‘No, but …’ Her eyes suddenly widened. ‘Oh my God,
that’s what was going on in the shop, isn’t it? Mrs Neeve wouldn’t let you have any milk because she thinks Nat did it. You have to tell her she’s wrong, Mum. Nat would never hurt anyone and she’s got no right to make judgements like that. The law says he’s innocent till proved guilty, so she should mind her own business.’

‘Maybe, but people always have opinions, we can’t stop that, and…Oh darling, don’t cry. It’ll be all right,’ Alicia soothed, holding her close.

‘We didn’t want to come here in the first place,’ Darcie wept, ‘and now they’re doing this to Nat… It’s not fair, Mum.’ She turned her face up to Alicia’s. ‘Can’t we go back to London? Please. They won’t be able to get to him there.’

‘Ssh,’ Alicia murmured, pressing a kiss to her forehead, and stroking her hair.

‘Annabelle is such a cow,’ Darcie said fiercely. ‘She won’t get away with it. She won’t. And shall I tell you why? Because
I
won’t let her.’

As Annabelle wandered into the kitchen, wearing a sleeveless blouse over a long, pale blue pareo, her eyes were bloodshot and tired and her face was blotched with uneven patches of red. ‘Where’s Mum going?’ she asked Robert, as Sabrina’s car left the drive.

‘To pick up Bethany Cottle,’ he answered, engrossed in the paperwork spread out on the table in front of him.

‘What for?’ Annabelle protested. ‘I don’t hang out with
her
, and anyway, I already said I’d rather be on my own tonight.’

Robert gestured towards the phone. ‘You can always call and tell her to come back,’ he said, turning over a page.

Ignoring the suggestion, Annabelle padded to the fridge and took out a large block of Cheddar cheese. After cutting a thick slice, she glanced at him sideways. ‘Fancy a toasted sandwich?’ she asked, her tone daring him to say yes.

‘No thanks,’ he replied, hiding his surprise, since she rarely waited on anyone but herself these days.

After finding a bap, she cut it in half, put the cheese in the middle, and jammed the whole thing into the toaster.

‘That’s not how to do it,’ Robert said mildly.

‘I know.’

He made a few notes on a page, then turned to another. ‘Like some help?’ he offered.

‘It’s OK, I can do it.’ A moment later she popped the sandwich out of the toaster and stuffed it into the panini grill.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked, glancing up from the study of her nails.

‘I’m one of the judges for a young scientist award,’ he answered, ‘so I’m having a look through some of the entries.’

‘Mm,’ she grunted. Then, ‘Are they any good?’

‘Some, yes.’

With a sigh, she wandered over to the window and stood staring out at the garden.

To Robert’s mind she seemed tense and angry, or perhaps she was nervous, he couldn’t quite tell. Then suddenly she said, ‘Why didn’t you leave her?’

Knowing exactly what she meant, but continuing to appear partially engrossed in his papers, he said, ‘It wasn’t as simple as that.’

Her back was still turned. ‘Why not? Oh, you mean this is your house, so you’d have had to throw her out. So why didn’t you? I know I would if I was in your shoes.’

‘It didn’t have anything to do with whose house it was,’ he answered, ‘it was about your mother and me, and the bond we share in spite of everything.’

After digesting that, Annabelle turned round and leaned against the counter top. ‘Didn’t it bother you that she was all cut up over another man?’ she asked testily.

‘Of course it did.’

‘So I don’t understand why you didn’t just tell her to go.’

Deciding to put his pen down now, he sat back in his chair and regarded her steadily. Though she was trying to make this all about her mother, he knew it was really about her, and how she’d dealt with the last two years. ‘What your mother felt for Craig,’ he said, wanting to be as open and honest with her as he could, in spite of how much it was hurting him, ‘was like an obsession. It consumed her, so she could hardly think about anything else. There isn’t really a way to explain how, or why, these things happen, they
just do. You can call it a grand passion, a great love, a whirlwind romance, whatever you like, but while it’s happening those who are involved can’t see anything else. It’s as though there
isn’t
anything else. When your mother’s affair with Craig ended it was more than she could bear. For a long time she really wasn’t in her right mind, so all the times she ignored you, or pushed you away, or said things to hurt you, none of it was meant. She couldn’t help the way she was, she was suffering a kind of illness that needed time to heal.’

‘I think she was just being selfish and seriously up herself and couldn’t care less about anyone else,’ Annabelle declared tartly.

‘Love is very selfish,’ he agreed, ‘which is partly why I didn’t ask her to leave. I was being selfish too, because I wouldn’t only have lost her, which I really didn’t want to happen, I’d have lost you too and for me that wasn’t an option. I know I’m not your real father, but I think of you as my daughter, and before…Well, before things started going wrong, I don’t know if you remember, but you used to call me Dad from time to time. I liked that. It made me feel very proud indeed to think of you as mine.’

Annabelle’s face tightened to hide the confusion she was feeling. ‘I still think you should have thrown her out,’ she said belligerently. ‘She doesn’t deserve someone like you.’

He smiled.

‘I mean it,’ she insisted. ‘She doesn’t care about anyone else. She’s only ever interested in herself.’

‘She cares a great deal about you.’

Her lip curled. ‘Yeah, it really shows,’ she sneered sarcastically. ‘It wouldn’t bother her if I walked out of that door right now and never came back.’

‘Actually, it would bother her a lot. It would bother me too, so I hope you’re not thinking about doing it.’

She turned her head impatiently to one side.

When she seemed to have no more to say, he said, very gently, ‘Can I give you a small piece of advice?’

She immediately stiffened.

‘The panini grill works better when you turn it on,’ he told her.

Her eyes darted to it, and determined not to laugh, she said sharply, ‘I’m not hungry now, anyway,’ and with a toss of her hair she flounced off back to her room.