Soul Love (20 page)

I checked to see if Cleo was around. She’d probably have something sneery to say. But Gabe was alone.

‘I missed you,’ he said and kissed the top of my head. He puckered up his face. ‘Yuck. You’re sweaty and taste funny.’

I laughed. ‘It must be the incense from the fire.’

He put his arm around me and said, ‘Come on. I’ve been preparing a surprise for you.’

I stood still and pretended to pout. ‘But I might not want to leave the healing circle.’

‘Is that what it is? Well, I think you can leave now – you look healed enough. I thought we’d spend some time alone together before things get really crazy.’

As I was leaving the field, Cassie ran up to me, pressed something into my hand and hugged me, saying, ‘Be strong, Jenna.’

I put the stone in my jacket pocket and smiled at her.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

W
e left the field where the festival was and made our way back towards the hall. Gabe covered my eyes with his
hands and led me down a path. My feet slipped on a patch of wet grass, but Gabe steadied me.

‘Surprise!’ he said.

It was amazing. The grotto was bathed in pink-and-green spotlights. Water poured from Neptune’s mouth.

‘One of the perks of being a lord’s son is that you get to play in the grounds,’ he said.

I was still standing there, open-mouthed, as Gabe went on. ‘For my next trick . . .’ he spread his arms wide like a cheesy magician and ran towards the Greek temple. A few seconds
later it was all lit up with fairy lights.

‘Christmas has come early,’ I said, laughing as I joined Gabe on a tartan rug piled up with cushions. Beside him were a battered old wicker basket and his telescope.

‘I wanted to grab some time alone with you. Can you stay for a while?’ he said.

‘This is truly amazing. There’s no need to worry about being late. I’m supposed to be staying in the tent with the rest of the band tonight,’ I said.

‘I’d better switch off the lights now.’ Gabe began to light several candles. ‘Otherwise, Dad will give me a hard time about wasting electricity.’

I grinned as Gabe opened the basket and took out a bottle. ‘Another one of the perks of being the son of a lord.’

‘Champagne?’ I said.

‘Non-alcoholic peach fizz – it was all I could find, but we can pretend.’ Gabe popped the cork and tipped the drink into two old-fashioned glasses.

‘We don’t have champagne in the house. Dad is the poorest person I know. Money’s always a big issue in our house. The upkeep of Netherby Hall costs a fortune, plus he gives
most of the profits from the festival away to charity.’

‘Same in ours. Mum had to buy an expensive house so that I could go to a good school and mix with motivated and well-adjusted children who would get me excluded. Which reminds me . .
.’

I went on to tell him all about Mia’s little shoplifting spree. ‘I wonder what’s happening to them now.’

Gabe stretched out on the rug. ‘That’s easy. They’re at the house. Rebecca was boohooing like a baby. Mia was acting the innocent. The stallholder was glad to get his stuff
back and wanted to get back to his stall. The police were dealing with another incident. So Dad phoned their parents and put on his best Lord Netherby voice and asked them to come and collect their
children at once. They are going to spend the night in the guest room.’

I sighed bitterly. ‘So no police means Mia’s got away with it again. She can twist her parents around her little finger.’

‘I’m not so sure. People like her do get caught out in the end.’

‘No, they don’t. When is Kai going to get what’s coming to him? It’s not fair . . .’ I said and frowned. ‘And don’t tell me life is not fair.’

‘Would you like to swap places with Kai or Mia for one second?’ Gabe looked quite serious. ‘Could you bear to be as morally empty as them?’

‘It might be fun for a while. I’m sure I could write some better poetry and I’d be nicer to Sarah than the real Kai is. It’d be fun rifling through Mia’s wardrobe.
But, hang on – they’d be in my body at the same time. No way. I couldn’t bear Mia being me even for a second.’

‘Being strong in yourself is the best defence against people like that,’ Gabe said.

‘That’s what the old hippy lady told me. She said to be strong. I wish I hadn’t given in to Mia so many times just for a quiet life. But Sarah really, really loves
Kai.’

‘He doesn’t pay her back with love, does he?’ Gabe said.

‘Maybe she just needs him,’ I added as a picture of Cleo jumped unwelcome into my mind. I knew that Cleo desperately needed Gabe’s friendship.

‘He despises her, but he needs her at the same time. That’s not love.’

‘He’s got Emma and the baby coming,’ I said.

Gabe shook his head. ‘Wonder how his character will stand up to that test?’

I finished off my drink and stretched my arms. ‘My, aren’t you and I so mature and wise? If only people would listen to us.’

Gabe laughed. ‘Let’s look at something really old and wise.’ He reached for his telescope and positioned it north.

I hugged my knees close to my chest and looked up. I took a deep breath, filled my lungs with the sweet air and became absorbed in the landscape of the sky. I rested one hand in the small of
Gabe’s back as I continued looking upwards.

I felt something that I’d never felt before. It was a feeling beyond happiness and very close to sadness. A feeling so powerful it would have to fade soon or I’d burst. I felt this
way because I was with Gabe.

This wasn’t a fairy tale. It was more precious than that. Gabe had given me the option to walk away and even though it was scary I had chosen not to. I was trusting my own feelings and I
felt proud of myself. Because it was a hard choice and we had faced up to it we had earned this perfect moment and every other perfect moment that came afterwards.

We understood and liked each other. I knew we could support each other. I was looking forward to finding out more things about him. I was looking forward to sharing more experiences with him.
Gabe took his eye away from the telescope.

‘A perfect night sky. You can even see Cassiopeia.’

I felt a tingle down my spine as I recalled my meeting with Cassie and how she’d told me to be strong.

I squinted into the telescope and followed Gabe’s instructions.

‘Can you see it yet? It’s a very distinctive group. There are five main stars. The ones like a letter W.’

‘I’ve got it!’

‘And I’ve got you, Jenna. You don’t know what that means to me.’

Gabe grabbed hold of my hand. I squeezed it back and said, ‘You big softie.’

We lay together for a long while holding each other and not speaking. I took in Gabe’s wonderful smell and rested my head on his chest, feeling his heart beating. My throat felt dry. Every
sense and feeling in my body was heightened. I slipped my hand underneath his T-shirt and felt his skin. It felt warm and soft.

Then I was overcome by the biggest fit of giggles.

‘What is it?’ Gabe looked puzzled.

‘I was just remembering the first time I saw you. You were sitting in a deck chair at Charlie’s place and you were stroking your chest like I am now. I couldn’t take my eyes
off you. It seems funny that so much has happened since then.’

‘You’re crazy, Jenna. But I love you anyway.’

Gabe spoke those words so quietly that I half thought I’d imagined it. The weight of Gabe’s feelings behind those three clichéd words hung in the air for us both to feel.
He’d told me he’d loved me before in his letter, but this was the first time he’d said it out loud. I considered saying them back to him, but stopped myself. There was no rush.
There would be plenty of time for me to tell him how I felt. We were going to go to school together.

For the moment it was enough to be together falling asleep in a Greek temple, looking at the stars.

Chapter Forty

A
large crow screeching overhead woke me up the next morning. There was no sign of Gabe, only a note saying he had
gone to get us coffee. I don’t think I’d ever been awake so early. Not since I was a baby. I pulled my fleece on and stood up to get warm. My whole body felt charged with
electricity.

It was a new day and a new beginning for me. Something inside me had shifted. It was like I was seeing things clearly for the first time in ages. I knew where I stood with Mia and Jackson and I
knew where I wanted to be – with Gabe. As I put my hands in my fleece to keep warm I felt the stone from Cassie. When I looked at it in the daylight I saw it was a piece of amber with a tiny
insect trapped inside. I stroked the stone and put it back in my pocket.

Gabe came back with a battered thermos and two chipped mugs.

‘It’s pandemonium back at the ranch,’ Gabe said. ‘Mia and Rebecca stayed in the guest room. Rebecca’s parents have arrived and they’re none too
pleased.’

I shrugged my shoulders. ‘You mistake me for someone who cares.’

Gabe poured the coffee into the mugs.

‘Not even if your name was mentioned?’ he added.

‘They can’t pin this one on me,’ I said, shaking my head.

‘Rebecca told her mum about the ring being slipped into her bag. She said, “This is what must have happened to poor Jenna”.’

‘There’s nothing poor about me!’ I snapped back. ‘If Rebecca says that’s what happened, then she’ll be believed. Her mum is the chair of the school governors,
after all. She was the one who recommended that I make a “fresh start” somewhere else.’

Gabe prodded me in the shoulder and said, ‘So you don’t want to hear about what happened when Mia’s mum arrived, then . . . ?’

My ears pricked up at that. I cupped the mug in my hands and said, ‘Tell me everything.’

Before he could say a word there was a loud rustling noise and Aurora burst through the bushes, saying, ‘You’ve missed a right bloody ding-dong.’

Gabe and I both chanted, ‘Language, Aurora!’

She squeezed herself between us and said excitedly, ‘After you sneaked off with the flask, it was like a courtroom drama. As soon as she saw them, she burst into floods and started saying
she was being victimised.’ Aurora’s eyes flashed as she recounted every part.

Gabe and I smiled at each other.

‘Rebecca’s mother said her daughter had never been in trouble before she linked up with Mia. Mia answered back, “They didn’t find a thing on me. Just like last time.
Nothing on me.”

‘Rebecca’s mum went very pale and said, “So this has nothing to do with truth and everything to do with what you can get away with.” Mia sniggered. So did her dad. That
was too much for our dad, Gabe.’

Aurora stood up and mimicked Lord Netherby. ‘Your attitude is despicable and goes some way to explaining your daughter’s lax morality. I had informed the police that I would be
dropping the charges, but I am tempted to change my mind. There is a witness to the theft. The man who runs the burger stall will, I’m sure, make a statement that he saw one girl slip the
ring into the other’s bag. May I also add, on another matter, that Jenna Hudson is a personal friend of this family and I have found her to be a decent person. I am also considering writing
to your school to reopen that case. I am not without influence. There is probably CCTV footage in the area of the shop.’

‘That was my idea!’ Gabe piped up. ‘Dad and Isobel had heard about your exclusion and I put them right – I hope you don’t mind.’

So Gabe had been planning ways to help me out. If it were Jackson, he would never have troubled himself to do that! Gabe was not the type to walk away from a situation.

Aurora waved her arms at us impatiently. ‘I haven’t finished! When they heard this, Mia began to cry and whimper, “I didn’t mean to do it. I couldn’t help myself.
No one stopped me. Jenna and Jackson egged me on.”

‘Mia’s dad offered to pay everybody off, but Dad said there was a principle at stake, and unless Mia formally admitted to the school that she had used the credit card then he would
press charges.’

Aurora cheered and Gabe grinned.

I surprised myself about how deflated I felt. Hadn’t I been waiting for weeks for this to happen?

As I was gathering together my stuff and helping Gabe tidy up Aurora said, ‘How is Marcus today? He wasn’t feeling very well yesterday.’

‘He’s probably just over excited,’ I said. Nothing was going to spoil my day.

Or so I thought.

Although it was still really early, lots of people were up and about queuing for the showers and toilets. Some people were still playing music. A helicopter flew overhead,
bringing in one of the bands.

And I was going to be part of it! In years to come I could say I performed at the Netherby Festival.

Sarah had said that I could drop in any time and use the small washroom in her caravan, so I went round to the side and tapped on the door. No answer. I tapped again and listened. I thought I
could hear a faint sob.

‘Sarah, are you all right?’ I said as I let myself in.

Someone was sitting next to her on the small seat. As I walked in I overheard him saying, ‘Kai is really sorry that he hurt his special sad-eyed lady.’ He was stroking Sarah’s
hair and she was letting him. They both turned to look at me.

‘I just came round for a wash, like you said I could.’

Sarah looked up at me. Through her tears, her eyes were shining.

‘Jenna! You can be the first one to hear our news.’

‘Sarah, are you sure?’ Kai looked a little shifty.

‘I want the world to know that we are back together again.’ Sarah flung her arms round his neck. ‘Life has been such a torment without you, Kai.’

Kai looked down at his feet and mumbled, ‘Sarah and I are back together. I’m coming back to the shop and to the cottage.’

‘What about Emma?’ the words tumbled out of my mouth before my common sense could put a stop to them.

Sarah’s eyes darkened. ‘We are not going to dwell on the mistakes of the past. This is a new beginning. There will be no blame.’

Kai hugged her. ‘That’s my beautiful lady! I was entranced by a siren who poisoned my body, but my heart was always true to you.’

It was too sickening to watch. As I turned to go, I said bitterly, ‘Is that baby just a mistake you are not going to dwell on?’