Precious Time (53 page)

She had come to a stop and given him one of her stern but sassy looks. ‘Don’t worry, it’s the last thing you’ll get from me.’

Clara’s first impression of Church Cottage was that she liked it. She could see why Jonah had bought it: it was him down to the ground, from the cosy proportions of the rooms to the eclectic taste in decor and furniture. She had plenty of time to poke and pry, as the moment he had opened the door to her the telephone had rung. ‘Don’t worry about me,’ she had told him. ‘I’ll make myself at home while you see to that.’

Standing in the sitting room, which looked out on to the street where she had parked Winnie, she studied the small, simply framed pictures that had been squeezed in where there was space between overfilled bookcases. In front of the window, there was a mahogany desk and two piles of exercise books along with a collection of wooden puzzles - she pictured Jonah patiently piecing them together.

Either side of the fireplace, where there was a wood-burning stove, there were two sagging armchairs and, set out neatly on the mantelpiece, a collection of old clockwork toys: a performing seal with a ball attached to its nose, a marching soldier beating a drum, a laughing policeman and a strutting sausage dog with a bone in its mouth. She wandered over to the largest bookcase and ran her eyes over his taste in reading matter. It was mostly historical, with biographies coming a close second, and the complete works of P. G.

Wodehouse, Oscar Wilde and Evelyn Waugh bringing up the rear.

An interesting mix, she decided. Scholarly with a dash of whimsy.

And no slacker when it came to matters of the heart, she thought, remembering their embrace on the moors. Their second kiss had been just as intense as the first, but in a completely different way. Slow and gentle, but sublimely erotic, it had held her firmly in a dizzy state of longing. Him too, if she wasn’t mistaken.

Through the open door she could hear him winding down the call.

Seconds later he was back with her. ‘Sorry about that,’ he said. ‘A neighbour wanting me to keep an eye on their house while they’re away.’

‘Does everyone rely on you?’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Meaning?’

‘Hey, no criticism. I just get the feeling people see you as rock steady, someone they can turn to in their hour of need.’

‘A bit like you, then?’

She smiled. ‘Touche. First point of the evening to you.’

He smiled too. ‘Well, that’s the pleasantries dispensed with. I thought we could eat outside, if it’s warm enough for you. Come through to the kitchen and I’ll pour you a drink.’

The kitchen smelt heavenly, and she said so.

‘Thai fish cakes. Wine?’ He held up a bottle of white for her approval.

‘That’s fine. Anything I can do?’

He passed her a glass. ‘No, it’s all done. I’m quite organised for a mere man, don’t you think?’

‘Young Master Liberty, you wouldn’t be casting your net in search of a compliment, would you?’

‘Credit me with more sense than to do that.’ He chinked his glass against hers. ‘Cheers.’

They ate on the small terraced area just off the kitchen. It was still light and just above a pretty lilac tree, a cloud of gnats danced in the warm evening air. The view from where they were sitting was stunning. ‘This is lovely,’ she said. ‘You’ve created yourself a proper home here, haven’t you?’

He leaned back in the chair. ‘It’s going to take something very special to make me want to leave. Caspar thinks it’s a hovel, but it suits me perfectly.’

‘And what kind of house does Caspar live in?’

‘A clinical wasteland. An airy loft apartment in Manchester. Very grand, and very expensive. What about you? What’s chez Costello like?’

‘Oh, executively smart - four beds, two baths, double garage. Not very imaginative, I’m afraid.’

He smiled. ‘But eminently practical, like it’s owner?’

‘Eminently practical. With the demands of my job I had to buy something that would fend for itself and leave me free to enjoy my weekends with Ned. Patching up leaking gutters was the last thing I needed. Though I suppose you’re the opposite. I bet after a tough week at school you like nothing more than to get stuck into some house-restoration therapy.’

‘Something like that. Between you and me, my next-door neighbours keep dropping hints that they might be putting their house on the market. If so, I’m hoping I might get first refusal. Knocking the two together would make a great conversion. I’d love to get my teeth into a project like that.’

‘Here’s to knocking through, then.’ She raised her glass. ‘You’re a man of many talents, Jonah.’

‘If you say so.’

They continued eating in contemplative silence, until the church bells struck the half-hour and Jonah said, ‘Clara, it’s none of my business, but have you decided what you’re going to do about Ned’s father?’

She put down her knife and fork. She had been wondering at what stage in the evening to bring up the subject that had occupied her mind for most of that day. And the decision she had reached after speaking to Louise on the phone again. ‘Yes. I’m going home to see him before he returns to America.’

‘When will you leave?’

‘In a couple of days.’

‘Have you told Dad?’

She shook her head. ‘Not yet. I only decided this afternoon.’

‘He’s going to miss you when you’ve gone.’

‘It works both ways. I’ll miss him.’ She wanted to add, ‘and I’ll miss you,’ but her nerve failed her: her come-hither skills were too rusty to dish out romantic one-liners. Instead, she said, ‘And goodness knows how Ned will take it. He loves being here. Mermaid House has become a second home for him.’

Another silence grew between them. Finally, Jonah said, ‘Is there any chance you’ll come back? You’ve still got a few months before Ned starts school in the autumn. You know you’ll always be welcome.’

She knew what he was really asking and she knew she had to be straight with him. ‘Each day as it comes, Jonah. I need to keep the plans to a minimum. That’s what I’ve learned from this trip. Nothing works out quite the way one thinks or hopes it will.’

‘Would it be pushing things to ask you to keep in touch? Just as friends, perhaps?’

She stretched out her hand across the table and made contact with his. ‘I think I’d like it to be more than that. But first I need to settle things with Todd.’

‘I understand,’ he said. Turning her hand over so that her palm faced upwards, Jonah laid his on top. Dispirited, he had the feeling that maybe this was the end between them, and not the beginning as he had hoped. He could tell from the way she spoke about this Todd character that he’d meant a lot to her. He was the father of her son, after all. And now, after more than four years of not seeing him, who knew what the outcome might be of their meeting up again?

The shrill ringing of the telephone made them both jump. ‘That’s probably Dad checking up on me, making sure I’m behaving myself and not besmirching your good name.’

She laughed. ‘Tell him we’re being very respectable, and that although we’re making mad passionate love in full view of the neighbours, I’ve still got one foot on the floor.’

He answered the phone in the kitchen, but the smile was wiped off his face when he heard Caspar’s distraught voice and what he had to say.

‘How can this be? It’s against nature for a parent to outlive his children.’

Gabriel’s voice was thick with tiredness and bewildered grief.

‘Three women. All gone! Tell me why. Just tell me why.’ He thumped his fist on the table, sent an empty coffee mug flying and hung his head. While Clara picked up the shattered pieces from the floor, Jonah went to his father.

It had been a long night with only a few hours of sleep for any of them. After he had received the call from his brother, he and Clara had driven straight over to Mermaid House to break the news.

Gabriel had been sitting alone in the library, enjoying a glass of whisky and reading. ‘What’s this, Miss Costello?’ he’d joked, closing the book and putting it aside. ‘I didn’t expect to see you back so early. Jonah’s cooking frightened you off?’ But he must have seen from their faces that something was wrong.

Once the words were out, he had looked at Jonah as if he hadn’t understood. Within seconds, though, his eyes had filled and his hands had started to shake. He had tried to stand up, but his body had failed him, and he had remained slumped in his chair. Clara had made them all tea, and while she was in the kitchen, Jonah had pulled up a footstool beside his father, taken his trembling hands and held them firmly. Gabriel had suddenly looked old and confused.

Now, at six o’clock in the morning, as Ned slept peacefully upstairs, Jonah and his father were setting out on the journey to Northumberland. Neither knew quite what to expect when they arrived. Caspar had sounded a broken man on the phone, but if his grief had turned to rage, it was anyone’s guess what kind of reception awaited them.

Before going to bed last night - Jonah had spent the night at Mermaid House - he had made two telephone calls. One was to a colleague from school to say he wouldn’t be in for the next couple of days, and the second was to get more information from Rosewood Manor about his sister’s death. He spoke to a helpful man called Roland Hall, who had stressed that he would do all he could to take care of Caspar. He had explained about Damson’s illness and how Caspar had been with their sister in the last week of her life. He had also given Jonah directions on how to find Rosewood Manor.

Armed with these and an AA road atlas, he was now helping his father into the front seat of his car. For the first time ever, he regretted the state of his old Escort and just hoped that it would get them up to Northumberland in one piece.

Gabriel was too dazed to say goodbye to Clara, but Jonah stood with her for a moment. Nothing had been said between them, but Jonah knew that she and Ned wouldn’t be at Mermaid House when he returned. ‘I’m not sure when we’ll be back,’ he said, ‘but when are you going?’

‘Tomorrow morning. It feels the right thing to do. If you’re bringing Caspar back here, my presence won’t help him. We didn’t exactly hit it off.’

‘I know the feeling. But I have a hunch that Caspar is going to need what’s left of his family.’

‘You’ll take care, won’t you?’ she said, opening her arms and hugging him.

He squeezed her hard, then pulled away. ‘You take care as well. If you want to ring, or drop me a line, you know where I am.’

‘I will. And please, explain everything to your father for me. I feel bad that I won’t be here to help, but—’

He silenced her with a feather-light kiss, held her gently, pressed his cheek against hers, then walked away.

Clara took Ned to the Mermaid cafe for breakfast. Shirley greeted them as if they were old friends and gave them a table in the window.

There was a lot Clara had to tell Ned: why Gabriel had gone away with Jonah so unexpectedly, but more importantly why they were leaving. She hated lying to Ned, but she could hardly tell him the truth: that they were going home so she could arrange to meet his father.

Instead, she told Ned that she was feeling homesick and wanted to see her friends.

He listened to what she told him while he munched on a piece of fried bread, holding a corner of it delicately between his thumb and forefinger - he was such a tidy eater. ‘Does this mean we’re going home for ever?’ he said finally. ‘No more Winnie?’

She sipped her tea. ‘Not at all. We still have two and a half months left before we have to part with Winnie.’

He dipped the fried bread into the yolk of his egg. Stirred it round a little. ‘Then I start school?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Will I like it this time?’

‘You’ll love it. Think of all the tales you’ll have to tell the other children. They’ll be so envious of what you’ve been up to.’

He frowned and wrinkled his nose, and Clara knew that if she looked under the table his legs would be swinging. ‘I didn’t really like St Chad’s,’ he confided.

‘Maybe we’ll find a different school. But don’t forget, you’re older now and it will feel better. Also you were missing Nanna and Granda.’

His face cheered up at the mention of Nanna and Granda. ‘Will they be home from Australia now?’

‘No. They’re not back until after Christmas.’

Another frown.

‘But don’t worry. When I’ve seen Louise and the Gang, we’ll be off on another adventure.’

‘Back here?’ The change of expression on his face was so rapid, so telling, that Clara didn’t know what to say. There was a danger that if they came back to Deaconsbridge, they might never leave. There was so much about the place she had grown to love, from the beautiful countryside, to the busy market square, so pretty in its summer finery, to the friendly people who lived here. Unwittingly, she and Ned had become a part of it, and it had become a part of them. It had also caused her to consider abandoning her old life and creating a new one here, where the pace was slower, the people more genuine.

Deaconsbridge aside, there was also the small matter of their involvement with the Liberty family. She would never forget the protective love Gabriel had showered on her and Ned.

And there was Jonah.

With his benign social conscience, his understated charm and thoughtful kindness, he had achieved the impossible: he had tempted her to wonder what it might be like to be in a relationship with him.

But where could it lead them? When she and Ned were back in their old routine, what use would a long-distance relationship be? How soon before it fizzled out?

She felt sure, however, that even if it did run out of steam, they would remain friends. And friends, as she had come to know, were what counted.

‘You look lost in thought. Where were you? Lying on a tropical beach having coconut oil rubbed in somewhere pleasant?’

Clara smiled and passed her empty plate to Shirley, who had arrived to clear their table. ‘Not even close.’

‘Oh, well, how about a teacake?’

‘Ned? Can you manage anything else?’

Kneeling up on his chair and wobbling from side to side with his bottom balanced on his heels, Ned puffed out his cheeks. ‘No, thank you. I’m very full.’ He patted his tummy.