Little Kiosk By The Sea (7 page)

Idly, Harriet took one she hadn’t read off the shelf and thumbed slowly through it. More books were piled on the floor. Against the other wall the old fashioned roll-top desk that Harriet remembered Amy inheriting from her father was closed. Strange, Amy had never had an office in the old days.

Harriet turned and walked the few steps to the entrance of the small winter sitting room. This was much as she remembered it. Two winged armchairs, a two-seater leather Chesterfield, all facing the small open fireplace, a sheepskin rug in front. More full bookshelves, a side table or two – one with a silver tray, a decanter half full with sherry, another with whisky and three glasses. Family photos lined the mantelpiece.

Ellie in Amy’s arms at her christening, dressed in the long lace dress handed down through the family. A picture of herself with a baby Ellie in her arms sitting out in the garden. Another had Ellie sleeping peacefully in her pram. A black and white faded one of Amy’s parents. Ellie’s grandparents, whom she’d never had the chance to truly bond with.

Thoughtfully, Harriet picked up one of the silver framed photos. A smiling Ellie in her bridesmaid dress for Sabine’s wedding. A mere eighteen months old, she’d been so good on that day. The mantelpiece was a time warp of her and Ellie’s long-ago life. Guiltily, she replaced the photo.

Amy had truly adored Ellie and the rift was in no way her fault. She hadn’t been her brother’s keeper. By cutting contact with her, Harriet knew she was guilty of punishing the wrong person. And now it was too late to make amends.

Smothering a sigh, Harriet moved towards the main summer sitting room. This room, with its huge sliding windows, overlooking the terrace and the mouth of the river, was light and airy. Tentatively Harriet ran her fingers over the keys of the baby grand piano positioned in the corner and in front of the side window so the pianist had an inspiring view up river. She’d always loved this room. Ellie had taken her very first steps on the ancient carpet that still covered the wooden floorboards. She’d spent so much time in this house when she and Amy had been family.

It was when she walked into the large farmhouse-style kitchen that the tears finally started and she frantically searched for a tissue. It was all still so familiar.

The large Aga cooker, the pine table where eight or ten of them would gather for one of Amy’s delicious suppers and put the world to rights fuelled by a couple of bottles of wine. The dresser filled with Amy’s collection of blue and white china. Surely any moment now, Amy herself would open the back door and come in, her gardening trug filled with vegetables, urging everyone to stay for lunch.

Taking the letter the solicitor had given her out of her pocket, Harriet pulled out one of the wheel-backed chairs and sat at the table. Had saving this to read here been a good idea? Perhaps reading it somewhere neutral would be better. Or even waiting for Frank and opening it together. No. It was her past that was involved. A time when Frank hadn’t been around to protect and look after her.

Carefully she opened the envelope. Maybe it would explain things. Tell her where the money for the huge legacy had come from for instance. More importantly, explain why Amy had made the bequest.

My dearest Harriet,

Sadly we’ve not seen each other for many years but I’ve thought of you so often. You and Ellie. I hope you were able to re-build your life and eventually find happiness again. I wish you had felt able to keep in contact but do understand your reasons for severing your old life completely from the new one you were forced to face. From the day you married my brother, you became my family. In all the years, I have never thought of you as anything other than my sister-in-law.

I know Trevor Bagshawe will have explained my wishes to you and your initial response will probably be to shout NO, NO, but please think about it carefully before you decide to turn my legacy down. It is my way of making up for all the hurt you suffered at the hands of my family all those years ago. Money does not equate happiness, I am well aware, but it does provide opportunities that would otherwise be impossible. I hope it will give Ellie the chance to explore and live her life to the full.

It is not my intention to cause you more distress, but I very much long for Ellie to know her true family origins. I dreamt for years of seeing you and Ellie happy in this house again.

With much love,

Amy

Harriet’s skin tingled as she read the letter. Inside her head, Amy’s soft Devonshire voice was saying the words as she read them. The tears were falling freely as she finished reading and she searched in her bag for another tissue. She’d hurt Amy more than she’d ever realised with her determination to sever all contact with the family and the town. Amy had written to her about six months after the scandal broke, asking her to keep in touch, but she hadn’t replied. Being genuinely fond of Amy, she’d longed to but, in the end, the need for a completely new life had won and she’d torn the letter up.

The chair scraped across the floor tiles as Harriet stood up and pushed it back. Sitting here in Amy’s kitchen on her own was unnerving. All those long-ago feelings of hurt, uncertainty, guilt – oh the guilt – were flooding back.

She’d seen enough for today. She’d come back with Frank. She folded the letter back into the envelope and placed it in her bag. No information there about where the money had come from. Maybe Amy won the Lotto or something. Investments? No way of knowing. Simply that she wanted Ellie to have it.

As she walked towards the front door, her mobile rang. Ellie.

‘Mum, is it all right if I come home for a bit?’

‘Yes, of course. When are you coming?’

‘Be with you in about an hour,’ Ellie laughed. ‘Sorry to spring it on you.’

‘That’s fine but … have you got your key? Because neither Dad nor I are home at the moment.’

‘Oh. Where are you?’

‘Dad’s on a business trip and I’m in Devon – having a short break.’ No need to explain why. ‘Ellie, is everything all right? You sound a bit hyper. I can come home this evening if you need me.’

‘Everything is fine. Just got an unexpected holiday. Enjoy your break. I’ll see you when you get back. Love you.’

‘Love you too,’ Harriet said as the call ended. Something had happened in Ellie’s life, she was sure. She was too determinedly cheerful. What did ‘coming home for a bit’ mean in reality?

The river was sparkling in the noon-day sun as Harriet walked back into town deep in thought. She’d promised to meet Sabine at the kiosk for a picnic lunch.

Sabine had a small crowd round her as Harriet approached, so she hung back watching the passenger ferry and looking at the river scene. Far more boats and moorings in the river than she remembered.

Once Sabine had finished dealing with the holidaymakers, she opened a couple of the director’s chairs and placed them on the embankment pavement.

‘How did it go up at the house? Pasty and wine okay?’ she asked. Without waiting for an answer to her second question, she handed Harriet a plastic cup of red wine. ‘Pasties will be here soon.’

‘It was weird. After all these years it was as if I’d never been away,’ Harriet said. ‘I kept expecting Amy to appear and tell me off for not telling her I was popping in and why hadn’t I brought Ellie.’ She took a sip of the wine. ‘I can’t tell you how guilty I feel over Amy. I wish I could say sorry to her. Make up for the lost years.’

‘Doing what she wants and living in the house could be one way,’ Sabine said.

‘But she won’t know, will she?’ Harriet sighed. ‘It’s too late.’

Their pasties were delivered just then by a young lad on an old-fashioned bicycle with a large wicker basket fixed to the front. For several minutes both women ate contentedly.

‘Gosh these are good,’ Harriet said. ‘Haven’t had a pasty in years.’ She glanced at Sabine, who’d muttered an oath.

‘Just seen Owen coming this way. Didn’t think when I suggested lunch here that certain other people would be around. Sorry.’

Harriet shrugged. ‘Not to worry.’ Managing two days incognito in her home town had to be some sort of record anyway.

‘Hi, Owen,’ Sabine said. ‘Guess who’s turned up?’

‘Harriet, nice to see you. I’d heard you were back and wondered if we’d meet.’

Harriet glanced at Sabine, who held up her hands. ‘I swear I didn’t tell him. Who did?’ she said glaring at Owen.

‘Can’t remember,’ Owen said, shrugging. ‘Staying long?’

Harriet shook her head. ‘Just a few days.’

‘Sabine filling you in with all the news?’

‘Hear you’ve done really well with the business,’ Harriet said.

‘She tell you I’m off at the end of the season for a bit of travelling? Try to persuade her to come with me, will you? Right. I’m off to have lunch with the mayor – want to bend his ear about this kiosk. I’ll be back for the 2.30 trip. Don’t forget to sign the Save the Kiosk petition, Harriet.’

As he left them, Harriet looked at Sabine, ‘Travelling with Owen?’

Sabine shrugged. ‘Told him I’ll think about it, that’s all, but it’s not going to happen.’

‘Could be fun.’

‘Mmm,’ Sabine said. ‘More wine?’

‘No thanks. Have to drive to Totnes later to meet Frank,’ Harriet said. ‘Oh, Beeny what am I going to do?’

‘Selfishly, I want you to come back! It all happened so long ago I can’t see it affecting your life now. People won’t even realise you’re a true local unless you tell them. They’ll think you’re another incomer. And old friends will just accept that you’re back.’

Harriet looked at Sabine. ‘You make it sound so easy.’

‘Accept the legacy, Tatty. Worry about it afterwards. Ten to one, there won’t be half the problems you imagine happening.’

‘Even if that proves to be true – what about Ellie’s reaction? I’m terrified she’ll hate me for my past mistakes.’

Harriet scrunched up the plastic cup and threw it in a nearby waste bin. ‘I’d better go and let you get on with selling tickets.’

Impulsively she hugged Sabine. ‘Oh it’s so good to be back together. Why did we ever lose touch?’

‘Because you did a runner, you daft bitch,’ Sabine said.

Harriet laughed. Beeny never had been one to hold back.

Four hours later, Harriet, sitting in the car at Totnes railway station waiting for Frank, mentally went over the pros and cons regarding Amy’s legacy.

Accepting and going back to live in the town – could she really do it? The condition of living in the house for a year wasn’t that long, really. If it didn’t work out at the end of the twelve months, she could return home and use the house simply as a holiday home. Or even rent it out. The last few days had shown her that she still had friends in the town and the warm fuzzy feeling she’d always got driving down the hill towards the Higher Ferry whenever she’d been away for some reason, had hit her hard the day she’d arrived. Deep down, she knew she wanted to live back in the town.

Ellie’s reaction was the real worry. There was so much she didn’t know about the past. Would it all have to come out when she was told about the legacy? The scandal itself might have happened a long time ago and, like Beeny said, people were more forgiving because it was so common place these days, but how would Ellie react to her mother’s secret. She wouldn’t have to tell Ellie anything about the past if she turned the inheritance down, but how could she live with herself if she did that? Besides, she and Frank had always said they would tell Ellie the truth about the past when the time was right. Now Amy’s legacy had catapulted into their lives, the moment couldn’t be denied any longer. Whatever the consequences.

And Frank? How would all this affect their relationship? Would he be prepared to move with her to the town she’d vowed never to return to? Could his work commitments even make it impossible for him to live in Devon? No that wasn’t a reason for not retuning. These days the Internet made it possible to live and work anywhere.

Harriet reached into her bag and took out Amy’s letter and turned it over and over. She didn’t need to read it again. She’d read it so many times now she could have recited the contents word for word if she’d been asked. Intriguing that Amy had anticipated her saying NO to the legacy. There were so many reasons to turn it down – and just the one for accepting – whatever the problems it brought her, Harriet, there was no denying it was Ellie’s birth right. How could she possibly deny her?

Getting out of the car as the London express pulled into the station, Harriet sighed. She and Frank would discuss it but, in truth, there was only one decision they could make …

CHAPTER TEN

ELLIE

Parking in her parents’ driveway, Ellie sat for a few moments physically unable to summon up the energy to actually get out of the car. Gripping the steering wheel, she banged her head against it in despair. God what a twenty-four hours. Job and home gone simultaneously.

In one way she was relieved her parents were away and she didn’t have to face them, but on the other hand she longed for a hug from her dad and a gruff ‘It’ll sort itself, pet,’ his answer to everything that had upset her throughout life. Mum would give her a quick cuddle and make her a hot chocolate before sitting down, prepared to listen to all the ins and outs of what had gone wrong this time.

She was stiff when she finally got out of the car and went into the house. She’d unpack the car later. Not that there was a lot of stuff. Mainly clothes and a few personal items that were lying about. She’d literally flown around the flat pushing things into her large rucksack, knowing deep down she was unlikely to see anything she’d missed ever again. She sighed deeply. Right now, she needed a coffee.

Once in the kitchen, she switched the machine on and heaped coffee into the filter. Waiting for the water to drip through, she wandered upstairs to her old room. Now technically the guest room, it lacked the funky wallpaper and posters she’d pinned up everywhere in her teenage years before leaving home. For the past five years the walls had been covered in a bland cream paper with nondescript twirls on it. The old-fashioned kidney-shaped dressing table still stood in front of the window, the ruched material concealing its drawers and central shelf the same toile de joy pattern that hung at the window. Rod had been scathing: ‘God, this room belongs in the last century.’ He’d been dismissive of everything else in the house too. Oh, not to Harriet and Frank. To them he was charm itself. It was just to her in private that he poked fun. When she’d protested he was being unkind, he’d just looked at her and shrugged.