Where the Heart Belongs (11 page)

Shona took a quick look at the orchids before breakfast next day to check that all was in order and then joined Mags in the kitchen.

The
rich scent of roasting meat made her nose twitch. ‘What is it today, Mags?' she asked, slipping into a seat at the breakfast table.

Mags, peeling potatoes at the sink smiled broadly. ‘Roast pork,' she said. ‘Jack'll want lunch early, I expect. He always does when he comes home on a Sunday morning. Scrambled eggs and mushrooms on toast do you?'

‘My favourite,' said Shona.

She began to eat, her mind filled with the imminent confrontation with Ingrid. Yesterday her anger had made it seem easy, but in the light of day she was dreading it.

The hall door slammed. Ingrid? Putting down her knife and fork, Shona leapt up. Now for it! Heart thudding, she walked out of the kitchen, her head held high.

*   *   *

Jack Cullen backed his car into his usual parking space, got out and stretched. Being back at Ferniehope Castle felt as good as always and he took a deep breath of air that seemed to have the elixir of life in it. A few months ago leaving his clients would have been unthought-of, but now with Shona in attendance he had no worries. A great girl, Shona. Harley de Los had thought the world of her abilities. His luck was in when Harley left for the States and Shona needed other
employment.

He smiled as he clicked the car doors shut, anticipating Mags' huge smile of welcome when she saw he was home safe and sound. He'd had a good trip away at the orchid fair even though he'd spent more than he intended. But how could he help that when there was so much on offer?

Leaving his kit in the car to be unloaded later, he crossed the gravel to the back door and entered the kitchen on a breath of breezy air.

‘Hi there, Mags, how's it going?' He sniffed in appreciation. ‘Something smells good.'

She turned away from the sink and looked him up and down, smiling broadly. ‘No need to ask how you got on at that flower place. You look blooming.'

He laughed at the unintended pun. ‘It was great. A lot of exotic beauties new to me and I'm afraid I couldn't resist. I'm expecting a delivery in the next day or two.'

Mags tut-tutted her disapproval. ‘Wasting good money when you've got so many of them already. What's the sense in that?'

‘I've got no sense obviously, Mags.'

‘You'll regret it one of these days.'

He laughed again. ‘I'd better go and inspect my lovelies before I do anything else.'

‘Shall I make coffee?' Mags dried her hands and reached for the kettle.

‘Why not? Bring it into the conservatory,
will
you? Shona and I have some catching up to do.'

As he went into the hall he heard raised voices. He didn't at first register that they were coming from his office. Then he paused in surprise, and before opening the door in time to see Shona, red-faced, staring at Ingrid whose words seemed to tumble over each other in her hurry to get them out of a mouth contorted with fury.

*   *   *

When Shona had reached the open office door five minutes earlier, Ingrid was hanging her dark jacket over the back of her computer chair. Was it imagination or did her shoulders have a triumphant look about them?

‘One moment, Ingrid,' Shona said, her heart thudding.

Ingrid swung round, smiling. ‘You want me? Has something happened?'

‘Such as what?' Shona said, her voice rising at Ingrid's look of expectancy. ‘Orchids dying because of wrong treatment and me to blame? What sort of mean trick is that?'

Ingrid opened her eyes wide. ‘I can't think what you're talking about.'

‘Believe me, you can.' With a flourish Shona opened the folder she had brought in with her and extracted the sheet of false instructions that Ingrid had typed out for her. ‘How do you
explain
this?'

The expression in Ingrid's eyes was triumphant. ‘Tried it out, did you?'

Shona felt herself flush. ‘Luckily, I'm not that stupid. You transposed the information for each orchid down one line.'

‘Don't you dare to accuse me of anything?'

‘There's no way you could have done this by mistake. This was a deliberate nasty trick to get me into trouble.'

‘Says who?' Ingrid's laugh was harsh as she snatched the paper and tore it into shreds. ‘So where's your proof now?' She dropped the pieces into the waste paper basket and then opened the lid of the laptop.

‘It's no good wiping off the evidence now,' cried Shona. ‘I've got more copies. And what's more it's all saved on memory stick.'

Ingrid glared at her. ‘You have, have you?'

‘I've got proof, Ingrid. Remember that, and if you think it's a threat, you're absolutely right.'

‘Tell anyone and you're dead,' Ingrid hissed.

‘So you admit it?'

‘No way,' she cried as she lunged forward. ‘Now get out.'

Alarmed, Shona took a step back.

The office door opened.

*   *   *

‘Drink this,' Jack said, handing Shona a mug of
steaming
coffee. He had taken one look at the two furious girls, caught hold of Shona and propelled her towards the conservatory. She had shown no resistance as he half-pushed her on to a low stool in the shade. ‘Stay there,' he ordered, not even glancing at his orchids.

Ingrid had seen fit to disappear, for a cooling off session he hoped.

Shona looked stunned, he thought as he returned with the tray, as well she might after that fracas.

She put out a shaking hand to take the mug from him.

‘No,' he said sharply. ‘I'll do it. I need to know what's been going on.'

He placed her mug of coffee on the floor near where she was seated. ‘Don't kick it over.'

‘I . . . I'm sorry about all that,' she whispered.

He poured coffee for himself from the tray on the central bench. Holding both hands round the mug, he leaned against the door frame and looked at Shona closely. ‘So Ingrid's temper got the better of her again?' he said. ‘I should have warned you. She's good at her job and you have to learn to deal with it sooner rather than later.'

She gave a little gasp. ‘But Ingrid went too far . . .'

He frowned. ‘For your own good take on board what I've just said. I mean it, Shona. What's between the two of you must stay that
way.
I insist on it.'

He knew he was being harsh but there was no other way. Ingrid's bursts of temper were just that, sudden and soon over. He must give Shona credit for realising that now and standing well clear.

He sighed. ‘I didn't expect this sort of welcome home after a fabulous few days at the orchid fair.' His euphoria had vanished now and the sight of Shona drooping on her stool filled him with concern so deep he was at a loss as how to handle it.

‘Tell me about the last days of the rambling group,' he said. ‘You coped with them?'

She raised her head. ‘I needed help with that too,' she said. ‘I planned a day's walking in the forest park. There should have been no trouble, but they got lost. I phoned someone and he helped out. He was in the area. He found them.'

Jack gave a scornful laugh. ‘Their leader was totally inept. A black mark against his name in the book, please, for future reference. We won't have him here again. And the rest of their time?'

‘Felix helped me there too. He came here prepared to take them over. He did a great job.'

‘Felix Langholme!' Jack slammed his mug down so hard on the tray that coffee flew in all directions. ‘I don't have that man at Ferniehope Castle, d'you understand? Surely
I'd
made that clear already?'

Shona stared at him, white-faced. ‘I don't believe this,' she said. ‘There was a crisis. I care about those people. I liked arranging their day so they were happy. I couldn't just leave them there, worried probably about getting back. I had to do something.'

‘But not that.'

Jack picked up his cup and took a gulp of coffee.

Furious, Shona lashed out at him. ‘What was I supposed to do . . . alert the emergency services and make Ferniehope Castle a laughing stock when the media got hold of the story?'

‘You had no right to involve Felix Langholme.'

‘I had a choice about asking for his assistance and I made it,' said Shona. ‘He came at once when I asked.'

‘Isn't it enough that you went to meet him when you should have been deputising for me here? Oh yes, I know about that but decided to overlook it at the time. And now this.'

She raised her eyes to look at him and he knew that she dreaded what she should see in his face. ‘That wasn't my fault. I understood that you had given permission. And the decision I made to involve Felix was the right one in the circumstances. And what's more his daughter, Tamsin, helped me with the orchids.'

He
felt heat shoot into his face. ‘His daughter? I don't believe it.' His fury was hard to control, but he managed with an effort. Expecting the worst, he looked about him at his healthy plants. He felt their well-being as if they had spoken to him, but for the first time ever they had no power to calm him.

‘Tamsin was good,' said Shona, her voice defiant.

‘That precocious child!' He breathed deeply.

‘She's as helpful as her father and I was grateful.'

‘You let her loose in here, touching my orchids?'

‘I touched them. No one else.'

He stared at her for a long moment. Then he got up and strode from one orchid plant to the other, aware of Shona's gaze on his back that seemed to cut him with fire. He spun round. ‘She's trouble, you'd be well advised to avoid her in the future.'

*   *   *

Sunshine shone through the trees now, touching Shona's side of the conservatory with delicious warmth. She watched Jack examining the white frilly orchid with tenderness at the same time listening to him railing against Felix for coming to Femiehope Castle to help her out of a difficulty that would have rebounded
on
the place if he hadn't.

He was an arrogant, ungrateful bully.

She thought of Felix coming to her aid, delighted to be of use to their clients even though he despised the owner of the conference centre for the wrong he had done him in the past. How unselfish was that? She thought of Tamsin's amazing ability to save her from deep trouble. She hadn't been permitted to voice her point of view as to what had been happening and how unfair was that? Why hadn't he wanted to get to the bottom of the verbal fight between Ingrid and herself?

Jack had stopped his perambulations now but the angry mask on his face hadn't slipped. ‘Take the rest of the day off and keep out of Ingrid's way,' he ordered.

Shona got up, eager to escape to her room. With her back held straight she left him to it. He hadn't asked if all the arrangements were in place for the arrival of the new group arriving tomorrow.

She threw herself on her bed, wishing she had kept her cool in the face of Ingrid's provocation. That way she would have been more in command of the situation. But of course she had the upper hand anyway because she had the proof of Ingrid's felony. And Ingrid knew that.

Feeling slightly better, Shona sat up and grabbed Toby from her bedside table.

‘Are we going to take this lying down?' she
demanded.

‘No way,' she imagined him saying. ‘We're a team, you and I. We'll show them!'

She replaced the toby jug on the table and picked up her mobile.

*   *   *

The island looked closer today because the intervening water was narrower than it had been the afternoon she had first revisited this spot. Was the tide on the way out or in . . . waxing or waning? Coming in, probably.

Shona stood on the empty beach, considering how long she would have to wait for the water to disappear and then picked up a pebble to add to the cairn of stones.

Overhead a lone seagull let out a mournful cry as it winged its way down the estuary and she wondered where its companions were on the sunny spring morning.

Since Liz was too busy to talk the next best thing was to be alone to think things out and come to terms with Jack's reaction. Several cars had been parked in the car park of Bessie's Kitchen as she drove past and she was glad for Liz's sake because she needed the custom. With luck there would be even more customers presently, arriving for a Sunday lunch that she knew would be excellent.

Just like Mags, Shona's mouth watered at the thought of that roasting pork filling the
kitchen
at Ferniehope Castle with its rich aroma.

But she wasn't really hungry. Standing here on this lonely shore with the rising breeze ruffling her hair she was reminded of those family holidays long ago and was shaken with such devastating sadness that she sank to the shingle and sat with her head resting on her knees. Dad had always been so quick to sympathise with her longing to reach the island. And now Dad was gone and suddenly her loss had hit her in this devastating way. Tears welled up and a huge lump filled her throat.

She had tried to make Dad's last years comfortable for him, but now she wished she could have brought him up here on holiday, staying perhaps at a farm nearby so that they could relive together some of the memories that meant so much to them. But Dad's arthritis prevented any long car journey.

She raised her head, tears streaming and saw Felix trudging along the coast path towards her, a rucksack on his back. Wiping her face to disguise the grief that had taken her unawares Shona struggled to her feet.

‘Hey, what's this?' Felix called as he got close.

She gave a shaky laugh that turned into a sob.

At once his arms were round her and her face rubbing against the rough wool of his
jersey.
‘It's all right,' she murmured, pulling away at last. ‘It's nothing.'