Into Temptation (Spoils of Time 03) (13 page)

‘Thank you so much. It’s extremely kind of you. And it means I’ll be able to work late tonight as well. A treat.’

Poor man. Was it any wonder his business wasn’t exactly booming?

Barty wasn’t too sure if she liked Cathy. She was very sweet and beautifully mannered, but she had a slightly secretive nature; she had taught Jenna to whisper. Barty didn’t approve of that, she preferred Jenna’s openness, however noisy and disruptive. The first time she caught them whispering at the supper table, she was very firm.

‘Girls, don’t whisper. It’s a very rude thing to do in front of other people. If you have anything to say, say it. Otherwise wait until you can discuss it together.’

Cathy turned her immense blue eyes on her.

‘Sorry, Mrs Elliott. We were only talking about – about the weekend.’

‘Oh yes? What aspect of the weekend? I can’t think why that should be anything to whisper about.’

‘I want her to come to South Lodge,’ said Jenna, ‘and see everything there. She’d love it. Can she, Mother, please?’

‘Well, I should think so,’ said Barty, wishing she could think of a reason why not, rather disliking the thought of Cathy’s presence in that very special and private place. But then several of Jenna’s other friends had been to stay there, and she had enjoyed having them; she was just being mean. ‘Yes, of course she can, as long as her father doesn’t need her in the city and won’t be too lonely.’

‘He could come too,’ said Jenna. She smiled sweetly at her mother.

‘No, I don’t think that’s at all a good idea,’ said Barty.

‘Oh all right.’ They both looked rather disconsolate, obviously disappointed at the failure of their match-making.

‘This is so very kind of you, Mrs Elliott—’

‘Please call me Barty.’

‘All right. If you will call me Charlie. It sounds a wonderful place you have out there.’

‘Yes, it is,’ said Barty, ‘we love it. It’s a very long drive, especially for a weekend, but it always seems worth it once we’re there. My husband had it built to his own design, and it has always been one of my favourite places in the world. We try to spend all the time we can there, especially in the summer.’

She was silent, thinking of the lovely house on the shore at Southampton, built high above the dunes, which Laurence had declared so especially hers, where he seemed closer to her, easier to remember.

‘Well – of course Cathy would love to come. Is there anything I can send with her?’

‘Oh, just a lot of old clothes. Jenna spends most of her time there up trees or playing on the shore. She likes to ride, so if Cathy has some old blue jeans and would like to have a lesson, I can arrange that. She’ll be perfectly safe, you don’t have to worry,’ she added quickly, thinking that in his position, she would be envisaging Jenna haring down the shore on a runaway horse, or drowning in the breakers after an unsupervised walk.

‘I wouldn’t worry for a moment, if she was with you. It will be such a wonderful opportunity for her. I’m really grateful to you. And so glad they’re such friends.’

‘Yes, it’s nice,’ said Barty carefully.

They left for the Hamptons on the Friday afternoon, as soon as the girls had finished school. As they left Manhattan in the early spring evening, looking up at the pink-blue light dancing off the almost unearthly beauty of the Chrysler building, setting her car on its familiar route through Queens and towards the Long Island Expressway, Barty felt her heart lift as it always did.

Jenna felt it too; South Lodge was hers and she loved it in exactly the same way and nothing would have made Laurence happier than to know that. It was a thought which at once saddened and comforted Barty.

It was dark when they arrived; when they were alone Jenna usually dozed off, but the girls were making each other increasingly excited. They drove through the town of Southampton, dark and sleepy as it never was later in the year, down South Main Street and turned left along Gin Lane, with its tall dense privet and beech hedges which kept the perversely named cottages – with their myriad bedrooms, their vast living areas, their swimming pools, their staff and guest quarters – quiet and private.

‘Oh my God,’ said Cathy, her already huge eyes visibly enlarging as she gazed up at South Lodge from the bottom of the drive. ‘Oh, it’s beautiful.’

‘Isn’t it?’ said Jenna, ‘Hi Mrs Mills, Mr Mills, nice to see you. This is my friend Cathy, she’s come to stay.’

‘Welcome, Miss Cathy.’ Mills took her small overnight bag. ‘Come into the house, it’s all ready for you.’

The Millses had worked for Laurence Elliott from the day he had first moved into South Lodge; twenty years on, in late middle age, they were only a little less effective and Barty made sure they had all the help with heavy work in both the garden and the house that they needed. She loved them both; she was determined that they would stay at South Lodge for the rest of their days.

‘It’s your home as much as mine,’ she had said gently to Mrs Mills when she burst into tears on hearing that Barty was moving back to the house and wanted them both to stay. ‘And I want you here in it with me. As Mr Elliott would have done, I know.’

‘Come on Cathy, come on,’ Jenna was running through the door, leading the way into the hall and up the stairs, along the corridor, into a room with bunk beds built in the style of a castle, with both the American and English flags waving from the corner. ‘This is my room, the bunks are so I can always have a friend and not be lonely. Now look, out here is a balcony, come out, come out and you can see, wait a minute – there, there is the ocean. Do you hear it, and that other noise, that rustling sound, that’s the wind in the grasses on the dunes. Isn’t it lovely? We’ll go down there in a minute, it’s great on the shore in the dark.’

‘You will not go down anywhere in a minute, Jenna,’ said Barty firmly. ‘It’s much too late.’

‘But it’s so beautiful, and I want Cathy to experience that. I don’t want her to miss anything.’

‘No,’ said Barty. ‘No no no.’

God, she was like Laurence.

‘Oh, you’re so mean. Well – tomorrow night, then. Do you like it all, Cathy? Say you do, please say you do.’

‘I love it,’ said Cathy, and was quite silent over the supper Mrs Mills had prepared for the three of them in the kitchen. Indeed she was subdued until the following morning, when she appeared to come to herself again and followed Jenna about on the treasure trail of pleasures that Southampton could offer.

‘I’m afraid she’s rather tired,’ said Barty apologetically to Charlie Patterson when he collected her late on Sunday evening from Number Seven. ‘Jenna doesn’t know the meaning of the word and she was absolutely determined that Cathy should experience every possible delight open to her. They have walked and ridden their bicycles, and Cathy has had a riding lesson—’

‘You must let me know what I owe you for that,’ said Charlie Patterson quickly.

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake. A few dollars, really, it was nothing.’

‘I’d still like to settle with you,’ he said, his dark eyes watchful, and she felt suddenly shocked at herself, she who had had to spend so much of her life being grateful.

‘Of course,’ she said quickly, ‘well, three dollars, with the hat hire.’

‘Fine.’

‘Their house is just gorgeous,’ said Cathy, her great eyes shining. ‘Quite big, with a verandah running around it, and a big lawn that goes right the way to the beach. And we went to a wonderful place in Southampton for lunch on Saturday, it was called Sip ’n’ Soda and it was just so great. It’s such a pretty town, you’d love it, Daddy. Lots of grand buildings, and lovely shops too. There’s even a Saks Fifth Avenue there, can you imagine? And we took a little boat out on a lake, just me and Jenna—’

‘Only on a pond,’ said Barty quickly. ‘It’s called Wickapogue Pond, and Jenna has a small tub she rows about there. They both had life-jackets on and Mr Mills was on hand to haul them in—’

‘As I said,’ said Charlie Patterson, ‘I really wasn’t worried about her for a moment. I knew she was in good hands.’

His dark eyes smiled at her through his spectacles; again she had the same sensation of being drawn to him and yet not quite at her ease. Silly, probably; she was just out of practice at feeling anything at all for a man . . .

‘And this morning we walked for miles along the shore, with Barty—’

‘Cathy, I told you, Mrs Elliott—’

‘No, I told her to call me Barty. It’s silly not to.’

‘Stop interrupting. Miles along the shore. And we jumped where the ocean came in and then ran away from the surf. And Jenna got knocked down and soaked—’

‘I always do,’ said Jenna.

‘And then we went back and had lunch in the kitchen, and soon after that we had to get ready and it was just
horrible
.’ The word was very drawn out.

‘And can she come again soon, please?’ asked Jenna.

‘Please,’ said Cathy.

‘We’ll see,’ said Barty and Charlie in absolute unison.

Finals were over; Elspeth and Keir and their fellow undergraduates – ‘Only maybe we’re graduates now,’ said Elspeth wonderingly – spilled into the streets of town exhaustedly elated, filling the pubs, determined to celebrate with as much fervour as they had been working. By mid-afternoon they were drunk; by nightfall they were very drunk.

‘Come on,’ said Keir, taking Elspeth’s hand. ‘Let’s go and have a little rest.’

‘Where?’

‘In my rooms.’

‘But Keir, we might—’

‘Might what? For God’s sake, woman, we’ve finished here. And do you think they’d bother where we were and what we were doing there today of all days? Even the dons have more compassion than that.’

‘Well – all right.’

She felt very odd; she never drank much. Not because she disapproved, but because she didn’t like it, didn’t like losing control. It was another thing she shared with her grandmother.

She lay down on Keir’s bed, smiled at him rather confusedly, and shut her eyes. The room proceeded to spin, slowly at first, then faster and faster; she told him about it, articulating with some difficulty.

‘Put one foot on the floor,’ he said, taking her hand, kissing the fingers, one by one. ‘It helps.’

It didn’t help; after thirty minutes, while Keir tried repeatedly to kiss her, Elspeth rushed to the bathroom and was sick.

‘Poor lass.’ His voice was unusually sympathetic.

‘Never mind. I feel better now.’

‘Is that your first time?’

‘First time for what?’

‘Drinking till you were sick.’

‘Yes. Yes, I think so. Amy’s always doing it, and the boys used to, when they were younger, of course, but I never have—’

‘I think you should let your little sister give you a lesson or two,’ he said, holding out his arms. ‘Here, come and have a cuddle.’

‘Yes, all right. Oh, dear, maybe not . . .’

It was a couple of hours before she felt all right. ‘Ready for the next bout,’ as he said, cheerfully. ‘Come on, we’re all meeting at the Vicky Arms.’

‘Oh Keir, I couldn’t.’

‘Of course you could. And it would spoil my celebration if you didn’t.’

‘You go.’

‘Not without you.’

‘That’s absurd.’

‘No it’s not. I don’t want to.’

‘Do you really mean that?’ she asked curiously. Keir’s hard-drinking bouts with his fellows were famous.

‘I really mean that. I don’t want to go without you.’

‘But why not?’

‘Because I love you,’ he said.

‘Oh,’ she said, and it was like a physical blow, she was so shocked.

She sat up, staring at him.

‘Well, don’t look so surprised. You must have known. Why else would I have put up with it all?’

‘All what?’ she said indignantly.

‘You keeping your legs together. Those weekends with your family—’

‘Keir! You like my family. And they’re always very nice to you.’

‘I know. But it’s not exactly relaxing, is it? Wondering which of us is going to say something unfortunate first. Me asking where the toilet is, your sister’s boyfriend talking gibberish to me about being in – what was it, oh yes, Pop at Eton, your brother being terribly charming about how marvellous the grammar schools are—’

‘You’re so terribly touchy,’ said Elspeth, lying down again. ‘Nobody means you any harm, everyone likes you—’

‘Oh I know. But they’re still a bit – surprised at the fact that they do, wouldn’t you say? I can just hear your mother saying to your father how charming I am, just that little bit surprised.’

‘You’re being ridiculous. You’ve never heard any such thing.’

‘No, I know. But I’d bet you a tenner to a sixpence they’ve had that conversation.’

‘Well, it’s a pretty safe bet,’ said Elspeth irritably. ‘I mean, we’re not going to find out, are we?’

‘Maybe not. But I bet you’d be paying up if we did. The one I like best is your gran, at least she’s open about it. She actually said to that husband of hers in front of me, “Bunny, Mr Brown’s parents keep a shop, isn’t that too fascinating?” She doesn’t pretend it’s something she and all her friends might do, she’s genuinely interested.’