Second Time Around (33 page)

Authors: Marcia Willett

BOOK: Second Time Around

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âNo fool like an old fool,' she told herself. âBut it doesn't mean that it hurts less.'

WILL, STANDING ON THE balcony, staring out over the sea, would have agreed with her. He had tried to conceal his disappointment from both Isobel and Bea but he suspected that he had not done too well. The shock had been too great and the thought of losing Isobel filled him with unhappiness. It had been a relief to concentrate on Tessa and Giles and the court case against Adrian Pearson but the pain had been there, gnawing away in the background. He knew now that she would never have married him, that it had been a moment of Indian summer madness on his part, but the knowledge that she was gone from the cove, that he would never hear her voice calling from the kitchen or see her wandering on the beach, was hard to bear.

For Bea's sake he tried to pull himself together. There was still so much to be grateful for and Bea's companionship was very important to him. He wondered if it were the genes they had inherited from old John Rainbird which were responsible for the ease they found together. He thought of Mathilda, living peacefully here in the cove, and wondered if she had known love. For some reason the knowledge of her life here, the use of her belongings, a sense of her presence, brought him comfort and he took a deeper breath and raised his head. She, too, had stood here, holding this balustrade, listening to the boom of the surf against the shelving sand â¦

When Bea came into the room behind him, carrying the tray, he was able to come in from the balcony and smile at her with real happiness. He looked with pleasure around the room, at the two chairs pulled up to the hearth, the Scrabble board on the low table between them, and at the blue and yellow flames that danced over the bone-white salty wood. He took comfort from Mathilda's books on the bookshelves and her bureau in the alcove and the security of the house all about him. He saw that Bea was watching him and laughed a little.

âEver feel that she's here?' he asked her. âOld Mathilda? I get the
feeling of her sometimes, d'you see? It's â¦ comforting.' He chuckled at the expression on Bea's face. âCrazy? Is that what you think?'

âPossibly.' Bea went to fasten the window and draw the curtains, concealing her delight at the genuine expression of contentment on his face. âProbably. But for someone bordering on senile dementia you play a mean game of Scrabble. Best out of three games and the loser does the washing-up. Have you seen the toasting fork â¦ ?'

EVENING ADVANCED ACROSS THE darkening water. The moon rose above a ragged wrack of black cloud, pouring its cold brilliance down upon the cove where the waves rushed in over the sand and the only sound was the eternal murmurings of the restless sea.

Other Early Novels by Marcia Willett

First Friends

A Friend of the Family

The Courtyard

Also by Marcia Willett:

A Week in Winter

A Summer in the Country

The Children's Hour

The Birdcage

Echoes of the Dance

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.

An imprint of St. Martin's Press.

www.thomasdunnebooks.com

www.stmartins.com

eISBN 9781429992718

First eBook Edition : April 2011

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Willett, Marcia.

Second time around / Marcia Willett.â1st St. Martin's Griffin ed.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-312-30666-3
ISBN-10: 0-312-30666-0

1. Inheritance and successionâFiction. 2. Home ownershipâFiction. 3. Country homesâFiction. 4. Cornwall (England : County)âFiction. I. Title.

PR6073.14235S43 2008