Inherit the Skies (77 page)

Sarah poured herself a glass of Chablis and sipped it but even the fine wine tasted bitter in her mouth.

The telephone began to shrill, jangling on Sarah's nerves. Who could it be – one of her sons, perhaps, who had got wind of what was going on and wanted to discuss it with her? Or Kirsty maybe, still concerned about her grandmother and wanting to check that she was all right? The thought warmed her a little. Kirsty was a darling. If she lost everything else, there was still Kirsty. She got up and crossed the room to the telephone, limping a little on her stiff knee.

‘Sarah Bailey.'

‘Sarah.' It was Alicia's voice – she recognised it at once and her hand tensed on the receiver. The two of them had not spoken since that day at Rules and though she knew Alicia was in Bristol she had not seen anything of her. But in spite of her need for Alicia as an ally she was unable to restrain the feelings of antagonism that autocratic voice always excited in her.

‘Alicia.'

‘Yes, it's me. Please don't hang up, Sarah. I should begin by apologising for having left you so abruptly at our last meeting.'

Alicia – apologising? Unheard of! But then of course for all her faults Alicia was well-bred. The least she could do was reciprocate …

‘I quite understand, Alicia. What can I do for you?'

A slight pause. Then Alicia said smoothly: ‘I understand there is to be a very important meeting on Wednesday afternoon. I am not sure if I shall be able to be there myself but I would like to take the opportunity of talking to you before it takes place. I am staying at the Grand Spa Hotel in Clifton. Could you possibly come to see me tomorrow evening?'

She doesn't change! Sarah thought. She still issues her invitations as if they were commands. Aloud she said: ‘At your hotel, you mean?'

‘Yes. It would be easiest, I think. I have no transport.' Alicia hesitated, then continued smoothly: ‘I should warn you it will be something of a gathering. I have also asked Guy and David to come along.'

Sarah lifted a hand to pat her cap of silver hair into place with a movement that those who knew her well would have recognised as defensive. What is she up to now? she was wondering.

‘Very well, Alicia,' she said, then added: ‘ Perhaps you would have no objection to my bringing Kirsty along with me? If she can make it, that is. She does have college commitments to consider.'

‘Of course I have no objection,' Alicia said and instantly Sarah felt a little foolish. She must be getting old, to feel in need of some moral support!

‘What time will you expect us, Alicia?' she asked.

‘Oh – seven perhaps? I'll have some sandwiches sent up, or we may indeed be finished in time to dine in the restaurant. Though I feel sure it would do Guy no harm at all to go without his dinner for once. All the business lunches he consumes have done no good at all for his waistline.'

And all the bottles of spirits he puts away, not to mention the fine wines, Sarah thought.

‘Very well, Alicia,' she said. ‘Until tomorrow.'

‘Until tomorrow.'

It was perhaps the friendliest farewell the two women had shared in a lifetime of antagonism and it was only when she had replaced the receiver and found herself trembling slightly that Sarah thought: why is she gathering us together like a spider in her web? Just what has she decided?

And knew that, trying as it would be, she would have to wait until the next day to find out.

Alicia's suite was perhaps the finest the Grand Spa had to offer, overlooking as it did the magnificent sweep of the Avon Gorge and the countryside beyond so that it was impossible almost to realise that it stood in the heart of a bustling city.

Sarah arrived at seven on the dot and Kirsty was with her.

‘Of course I'll come with you, Granny,' she had said when Sarah had telephoned her.

‘Are you sure it's not imposing dreadfully on your time?' Sarah had asked, feeling guilty, and Kirsty, bless her, had insisted it was not. Now, grateful for her presence, Sarah took her arm as they walked along the carpeted corridor from the lift and was grateful for the youth and strength that seemed to flow into her.

‘What can she have decided, Kirsty?' she wondered and the girl turned to smile at her with the sparkling blue eyes that were so like her own had been before time had faded them a little.

‘We'll soon know, Granny.'

‘Yes, we will, won't we?'

As she raised her hand to knock Sarah heard voices coming from the other side of the door. Clearly Guy and David were here before them.

David answered the door and once again Sarah was struck forcibly by how like Gilbert he had become – the likeness was almost uncanny, taking her across the years as if she had been caught in a time warp. Except, of course, that this young Gilbert wore a casual open necked shirt and a sweater in a bright red, a colour that a man Gilbert's generation would have considered totally unsuitable for anyone of the male gender.

‘Come in. It's good to see you.' His voice was easy, less formal and clipped than Gilbert's had been but with the same underlying firmness. I like him, Sarah thought, and noticed in spite of her anxiety the flash of communication that passed between him and Kirsty. And Kirsty likes him too, she thought, pleased.

Alicia and Guy were standing together by the window with the wonderful view of the Gorge. They had obviously been deep in conversation and Guy turned to nod curtly at Sarah and Kirsty, as if annoyed by their interruption. But Alicia was the perfect hostess. She swept across to greet them, her lack of natural warmth completely hidden by her impeccable manners.

‘Sarah – Kirsty – thank you so much for coming. And at such short notice too.' She spread her arms and for a startled moment Sarah thought she might be going to kiss them in greeting but at that Alicia drew the line.

She looked magnificent as ever, Sarah thought with grudging admiration, tall and straight as she had ever been in her simply cut dress of coral wool with a black shawl arranged elegantly around her shoulders. But she did look paler than she had done at their last meeting, her skin almost blue-tinged ivory, drawn tightly over her cheek bones, and the merest hint of dark circles beneath her eyes.

‘Isn't there anything to drink in this place, Mother?' Guy asked rather rudely from his place by the window. ‘I asked for brandy to be sent up but it hasn't arrived.'

‘And I cancelled the order, Guy,' Alicia said smoothly. ‘You drink far more than is good for you and I would like you to be stone cold sober whilst you hear what I have to say.'

Guy tutted but did not argue. In some respects he was still slightly in awe of his autocratic mother.

‘Well, let's get on with it,' he said impatiently. ‘You have got us all here – and I for one am anxious to know why.'

Sarah heard the undertone in his voice and thought: Guy is worried. Perhaps this is a good sign. But she was afraid to hope too much. Even now Alicia was a total enigma.

‘Very well. Why don't we all sit down?' It was not so much an invitation as an order. They did as she bid, Kirsty taking her place on the small sofa at Sarah's side, David coiling his long frame into the matching chair, Guy plumping for a straight-backed upright. Only Alicia remained standing. When he saw this David half rose, offering her his seat, but she shook her head.

‘Thank you, David, but I would prefer to stand. I find it easier to talk – and I have a good deal to say. I suppose it would be naive of me to imagine you don't know, any of you, why I asked you here – it concerns, of course, this proposed ‘‘merger'', I think you called it, Guy, with de Vere Motors.'

‘I realise that, Mother, but I don't know why you are continuing to worry your head about it,' Guy said, raising his voice slightly. ‘You have allowed me to manage your affairs for a long time now and I don't see why this should be any different.'

‘Kindly do not interrupt me, Guy. Yes, you have managed my affairs – and very satisfactorily as far as I am aware, for many years. This is different.'

‘Different how?'

‘Different because it strikes at the very basis of the firm my father founded.' She glanced at Sarah, a faint flicker in her violet eyes. ‘
Our
father,' she amended.

‘But I still don't see … Mother, I have given the matter a great deal of thought and it is my considered opinion …'

‘I know your opinion, Guy. Now I have asked you here so that I can acquaint you with mine. As you so rightly say you have had my proxy vote for a very long time now. I have called you all here tonight to tell you that this time I intend to come to the meeting tomorrow afternoon and vote for myself.'

There was complete silence in the room. Then Guy leapt to his feet.

‘You intend to humiliate me, Mother, is that it?'

‘No, Guy, I don't want to do that. For that reason and that alone I called you here this evening so that I can tell you privately what I intend to do.'

‘Privacy?' Guy gesticulated angrily at the others. ‘This is hardly privacy.'

‘A great deal more private than a board meeting surely?' Alicia said. She had circled the chair and now held tightly to its upright back with her be-ringed hands. ‘Sarah I asked because in spite of all our differences I believe she has a right to know what I intend to do. We are the original Morse Bailey, all that is left of it, Sarah and I.' She smiled faintly in Sarah's direction. ‘Kirsty is here because Sarah wished her to be and I saw no reason to deny her request. David … David is here for a different reason, which I will come to in a moment. You, Guy … you are here because I wish to tell you that I believe you have betrayed my trust.'

‘Mother!' Guy was white.

‘You know, Guy, of the enmity there is between myself and Leo de Vere. You must have known I would never agree to him gaining control of Morse Bailey. When Sarah first told me of it I must tell you quite frankly I could not believe such a thing would enter your head. I told her so. But I was wrong, wasn't I?'

‘You have got it all wrong, Mother. I thought I explained to you – this merger would eventually give
David
control of de Vere Motors.'

‘You coloured things, Guy, for your own ends. You attempted to pull the wool over my eyes. It's not that at all, is it? I have been doing a little investigation myself and find that in fact you are indebted personally to Leo de Vere to the tune of a great deal of money. How you got yourself into this mess I don't know, but the result is that you were quite prepared to sell out to de Vere in order to save your own skin. Deny it if you can!'

‘Mother …'

‘I have discovered a great many things in this past week, Guy, which I would have preferred never to know. But now I do know I must warn you I do not intend to stand by and see you sacrifice Morse Bailey to the one man who has spent his lifetime – a very wicked lifetime, I might add – with the sole purpose of getting us where he wanted us. That is why I shall vote myself tomorrow – and why I shall vote with Sarah.'

Guy was almost purple now.

‘Don't you realise what you are doing, Mother?' he raged. ‘Don't you realise that to pull back now could ruin us?'

Alicia shook her head. She was trembling now, her face deathly pale, her hands clamped to the back of the chair as if her life depended on it.

‘No, Guy, I don't think so. If it costs me every penny I have I won't see that happen and neither I believe will Sarah. If we personally lose everything we own we won't let it happen.' She turned to Sarah, extending one hand in a gesture that was curiously theatrical. ‘Sarah? Will you stand with me?'

In the hush that followed Sarah got to her feet. Her eyes were very bright. Kirsty stretched out a hand either to help or restrain her, Sarah was unsure which, but she ignored it. This was something she had to do – and she had to do it alone. Slowly, a little stiffly, she crossed to Alicia and took her outstretched hand. For a moment they looked at one another, two women who had spent their lives in rivalry, united at this moment by the one thing they both cared about more deeply than any past quarrels or wrongs.

‘I am with you, Alicia,' Sarah said.

‘Good.' Alicia smiled faintly and her voice was lower. ‘I knew you would be. As you can see, Guy, you may as well withdraw from this plan of yours as gracefully as you are able. In the knowledge that you have disappointed me. I hoped you would be strong, like me. You are not. Ah well,
c'est la vie
.' She laughed bitterly but there was an odd strangled note in the sound. Lost in their own thoughts they failed to notice it. Alicia drew a deep shuddering breath. Her free hand went to her throat, loosening the shawl, and Sarah saw a look of pure glazed fear and pain come into her violet eyes.

‘Alicia!' she cried. ‘Are you all right?'

Alicia did not reply. She groaned, a small throaty gargle, and swayed on her feet.

‘Grandmother!' David leaped up, rushing to her side, and caught her as she fell, still holding tightly to Sarah's hand and dragging her down with her. ‘ Grandmother! For goodness' sake – she's ill!'

He scooped her up, carrying her to the sofa. Kirsty relinquished her place, drawing to one side, frightened by the sudden turn of events, and he laid Alicia down on the sofa, loosening the collar of her dress.

‘Get some water!'

Kirsty ran to obey, Guy, still shaken, stood helplessly by like a bull elephant who does not know which way to turn.

‘Why didn't they bring the damned brandy?' he muttered. ‘She could do with the damned brandy!'

David was in control now.

‘Telephone for an ambulance, Dad – quickly!'

Alicia's eyelids flickered. They looked heavy and bluish but when she saw Sarah bending anxiously over, her lips curved in a faint smile.

‘Friends, Sarah?' she murmured, her voice choking away. ‘Friends at last?'