Onwards Flows the River

by Caroline Windsor

  Beth perched on the boulder beside her and gave her a radiant smile. “I was dreading going back to the home tomorrow, but now I know we’ll be back here again in three months’ time I don’t mind nearly so much.”

  Kate strolled across to the far side of the tor and gazed out across the wide expanse of moorland to the woods and fields beyond. A hawk, its black-tipped wings beating a steady rhythm, glided silently past and she could see a thin cloud of smoke spiralling upwards from a distant homestead. She took a deep breath, relishing the crisp, clean moorland air and forced herself to think rationally. Her passionate love affair with the rivers, moors and valleys of the Devon countryside and her close relationship with the Matheson family had been a part of her life for so many years that to deprive herself of it now would be unthinkable. Aidan or no Aidan, she promised herself, she would continue to enjoy her holidays here, as she had done in the past. To do otherwise would do harm to nobody but herself.

  With that firm resolve she turned to rejoin her friends.

  o0o

  “It’s interesting how much you can tell about a person by seeing the place where they live,” Jo observed to Kate as they stood in the living room of Daniel’s flat gazing out over the rooftops of Westermouth to the sea beyond.

  “So – what have you discovered?” Daniel appeared from the kitchen bearing a pot of coffee. Kate hastily removed the remains of the delicious buffet lunch which he had prepared for them to make room for the tray. He passed the cups around.

  “At a guess, I’d say you came from a services background.”

  “Spot on – my father’s in the RAF. How could you tell?”

  “Everything’s so neatly arranged – there’s a place for everything and everything’s in its place, which isn’t exactly typical of most bachelors I know. And there isn’t any clutter – it’s as if you’ve had to move around a lot and you don’t want to feel encumbered by too many possessions.”

  “That’s true too. I spent my early childhood in England, but we moved to Cyprus when I was ten and then Germany five years later.”

  Jo wandered over to the highly polished upright piano which stood against the far wall and ran her fingers lightly over the keyboard.

  “You love music, and you’re a pretty accomplished pianist, with a penchant for Mozart, and sometimes you’re asked to play the organ at your local church.” She laughed at Daniel’s expression. “No – I’m not psychic – Kate had told me that already!”

  “That’s cheating!” He grinned at her. “Come and see the rest of the flat – I’d no idea how much it revealed about me.”

  Aidan and Beth were deeply engrossed in a game of rummy, but she could feel him watching her as she followed Daniel into the kitchen. Brightly painted in a vivid sunflower yellow, the terracotta tiles and pale pine wall cupboards gave it a continental air. A row of gleaming stainless steel pans stood, neatly arranged in order of size, on a shelf beside the stove. Beneath the shelf hung a well-stocked spice rack.

  Jo looked around. “I’d say that you were probably an excellent cook, that you enjoyed doing it and that Indian curries happened to be a speciality of yours.”

  “Very impressive. Not thinking of becoming a detective, are you?”

  “A psychologist possibly – I haven’t decided yet.”

  “This door here leads out onto the roof. I’ve made a bit of a garden for myself; it’s a real suntrap in the summer.”

  Jo followed him outside. A small wooden table with four matching chairs stood near the door and a collection of ceramic pots and wooden tubs filled with neatly trimmed shrubs had been arranged, in orderly groups, around three sides of the roof. In the distance she could see the outline of a ship silhouetted against the horizon.

  She gave him a quizzical look. “The scene of many a romantic dinner with Hannah, no doubt.”

  Daniel grinned. “You’re wrong as it happens. Hannah’s been here often of course – but there’s always been someone else too, either Aidan, or Kate, or some other friend.”

  So the double bed which she had glimpsed as she had passed his bedroom was a sign of optimism for the future rather than enjoyment in the present. Poor Hannah. No wonder the girl was frustrated.

  “Safety in numbers, I suppose.”

  He gave a sheepish grin. “Something like that.”

  “Thanks for showing me your flat – I thought it might be a bit cold and clinical in a bachelor-pad sort of way, but you’ve made it a real home. You obviously don’t intend to move on in a hurry.”

  “I’ve no reason to. When you’ve moved around as much as I had to as a child, a settled home comes to mean a lot. Westermouth has everything I need – this flat is only five minutes’ walk away from my work and ten minutes from the sailing club. There’s a cinema just around the corner and a theatre in the next street. My friends are here and Hannah’s here – well, some of the time at least.” He smiled at her. “I’m glad you like the flat. It’ll be interesting to see what you make of Aidan’s place later this afternoon – it’s a bit of a contrast.”

  “I’m sure it is – I know you’re friends, but you’re completely different from one another.” Jo turned and went back into the kitchen. “I imagine his house is rather more chaotic – bits of boat lying around everywhere – am I right?”

  Daniel laughed. “You’re not far wrong – but you’ll have to wait and see.” He locked the back door behind him. “Now, if we’re going to have a stroll around town before it gets dark we’d better get going.”

  o0o

  Hannah, determined for once not to be left alone with Daniel, fell in beside Kate as the six of them set off down the quiet treelined avenue which led from Daniel’s flat into the centre of Westermouth.

  Kate glanced at her in surprise. “I’d have thought you’d have been making the most of Daniel’s company before tomorrow.”

  Hannah gave her a rueful grin. “Actually, I’m trying to avoid him.”

  “Why? You two haven’t had a row, have you?”

  “Not yet – but I rather think we would if he managed to get me on his own.”

  Kate gave her a sympathetic look. “So you haven’t succeeded in seducing him this Christmas after all?”

  “Not for want of trying,” Hannah muttered. “And I might just have managed it yesterday if my blasted brother hadn’t put the kibosh on it.”

  “Did he do it deliberately?”

  “Oh yes – no doubt about it.” Aidan and Beth were walking side by side a few yards in front of them, with Daniel and Jo further ahead still. Hannah scowled at her brother’s retreating back. “For some reason he seems just as determined as Daniel not to let me lose my virginity. At this rate I’ll grow old and shrivelled without ever having discovered what sex was like.”

  o0o

  Jo leaned back in the passenger seat of Daniel’s red Triumph Spitfire as it purred through the streets of Westermouth, and relaxed. Thank goodness she had managed to avoid being crammed into that appalling old Land Rover for the short journey to Aidan’s house. Hannah had obviously been determined to avoid travelling with Daniel – though, come to think of it, she hadn’t seemed over-keen to travel in her brother’s car either, slinking into the back seat beside Kate as if she wished she could disappear altogether. Beth, she noted, had been so delighted to find herself in the front seat beside her beloved Aidan that she had scarcely noticed that her sister was not travelling in the same car.

  Jo smiled to herself. It was odd how their Christmas had turned out. Hannah’s hopes of seducing Daniel had obviously been frustrated. As for Kate – Aidan hardly seemed aware of her existence. Her own fears that Beth, faced with so many strangers, would retreat into her shell, had been seriously misplaced. In fact, of the four of them, Beth was the only one whose high hopes for a wonderful Christmas had been fully satisfied.

  She had, how
ever, been pleasantly surprised by their walk around Westermouth. The setting was magnificent; the town curving around the bay so that almost every building had its own view of the sea. The rows of smart Georgian houses, neatly arranged in terraces, were particularly attractive and she had liked the area around the harbour, full of antique shops hiding down mysterious alleyways. Although her fleeting visit to the town with Hannah on Christmas Eve had revealed some surprisingly good shops, she had been unprepared for the wealth of cultural activities which were also available in the town.

  “We’re not all country hicks with straws in our mouths down here, you know,” Daniel had laughed when she expressed her surprise.

  She glanced at his profile. The driver’s window was slightly open and the breeze was rippling through his dark, wavy hair, lifting it off his forehead. He seemed lost in thought, and every now and then she noticed his leather-gloved hands tighten their grip on the steering wheel. Even in the short time she had known him she had come to like and respect him. Though clearly well-educated, comfortably off and with a bright future ahead of him, there was none of that smug middle-class arrogance which so often accompanied a man of his type. As for Hannah, he obviously adored her. She would be mad to risk jeopardising her future with him by too much dallying around in London. Having a bit of fun was one thing, but she suspected that Hannah wanted rather more than that.

  She closed her eyes, enjoying the smooth surge of power as the car accelerated down the winding road which led out of the town. Her thoughts turned to Aidan. Although the prospect of returning Beth to the children’s home the next day filled her with dread, she was not altogether sorry to be returning to London. Aidan’s unwanted attentions were making her uneasy and she was finding the situation increasingly hard to handle. Under normal circumstances she would have had no difficulty in brushing off unwanted suitors, but now she had Beth to think of. Aidan and Beth had hit it off immediately and her sister plainly hero-worshipped him. The two of them had so much in common – a deep love of the countryside and the sea, not to mention a spiritual life which clearly meant a great deal to them. These were all things which Jo envied but could not share. However, given the lack of suitable male role-models in her sister’s life, she was reluctant to alienate him. It wasn’t that she disliked him exactly, though she detected a slight air of moral superiority about him which she found deeply irritating. It was more, and she hated to admit it, that she was a little afraid of him. He seemed so certain about everything, so at home in his own comfortable little world of law firms, sailing boats and Quakers, that it made her feel both envious and inadequate. God knows she had worked hard enough since her mother’s death to provide herself and Beth with some measure of security, a settled place in an uncertain world. She had thought she was beginning to succeed. Now she felt all her old insecurities flooding back. What if her job at Harrison House came to an end, which it would if the management committee decided to withdraw funding? Where would she live then – and would she still be able to combine work with study if she had to take another, more onerous job? And what about Beth? She wasn’t over-happy in the children’s home. What if she ran away?

  Jo dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands until they hurt. By concentrating on the physical pain, she felt her mental torment subside. She looked out of the window. They had left the sea behind and the road which had hugged the shoreline now ran beside the broad estuary of the River Wester.

  “We’re almost there. Aidan’s house is right at the end of that terrace you can see over there. He was lucky to get it actually. He’d been looking for a house by the river for months, then one of his friends – an estate agent – tipped him off. He put in an offer and had it accepted before the property ever went on the market.”

  “To them that hath shall be given,” Jo murmured. She felt him give her a curious look.

  “It needed a lot doing to it – which is why it was going so cheaply. But Aidan’s never been afraid of hard work. He’s done most of the renovation himself, and a good job he’s made of it.”

  “Does he never make a mess of anything?” She heard the sarcasm in her voice and despised herself for it.

  Daniel gave a snort of amusement. “You really don’t like him, do you? Whatever has the poor man done to you?”

  “Nothing really,” Jo shrugged. “I just find him irritating, that’s all.”

  “That’s a pity. I know he doesn’t feel the same way about you.”

  Jo glanced at him. “He’s told you, has he?”

  “That he finds you attractive?” Daniel nodded. “Yes, he’s told me. He’s told me several times actually. It’s become something of an obsession.”

  “Damn!”

  “I’m sure he’ll get over it, given time. It’s unfortunate though. I’ve never known Aidan so keen on a woman before. You’re sure there’s no chance of you changing your mind?”

  “Absolutely none.” Jo gave an exasperated sigh. “Why on earth couldn’t he fancy Kate, for heaven’s sake? She’s the one who’s crazy about him.”

  “I know,” Daniel gave her a wry smile. “She has been for years, though I don’t think Aidan’s ever noticed. Sod’s law, isn’t it?”

  “Didn’t you ever tell him?”

  Daniel shook his head. “I thought it might make things difficult between them. If he doesn’t know how she feels about him, then he’ll continue to treat her as he’s always done – as Hannah’s closest friend. If he does know, then he’ll probably feel awkward and try to avoid her.”

  “God – what a mess!”

  “It is, isn’t it?” Daniel gave her an amiable grin. “Still, it’s all part of life’s rich pattern.”

  Jo smiled. “Thanks. I was beginning to feel a bit paranoid about him. You’ve helped me get things back in perspective.”

  “Good.” He reversed the Spitfire neatly into the space behind Aidan’s Land Rover and pulled on the brake. “Now, tell me something. What was it that changed the relationship between you and Hannah? I gather you couldn’t stand the sight of one another when she first went to Harrison House.”

  Jo thought back to the night of Kate’s overdose. How terrified she had been that Kate might die, just like her mother had. And how adamant Hannah had been that Kate would not want any fuss – no Esme, no doctor, no nothing. She remembered the seemingly endless night, sitting beside Kate’s bed, her eyes glued to The Forsyte Saga, her ears alert for any change in her breathing. She remembered too how grateful Kate and Hannah had been for her discretion; how they had taken her out to that lovely Italian restaurant and made a fuss of her on her birthday. Since then, she had found herself included in their friendship and, lonely as she sometimes was, had come to depend on it. Kate’s secret, she promised herself, would always be safe with her.

  She frowned, as if trying to recall some event long past.

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “I do remember having the odd argument with Hannah when she first arrived, but I can’t remember exactly when it was that we started to get along. You’ll have to ask her.”

  “I have. Her memory seems to be as faulty as your own.” He grinned. “It’s not important. I was just curious, that’s all.” He unbuckled his seat belt. “It’s comforting, though.”

  “What is?”

  “The fact that you loathed Hannah to begin with, then changed your mind about her.”

  “Why?”

  Daniel eased himself out of the car, slammed the door and came around to the passenger side. He opened the door for her.

  “Well, if you can change your mind about Hannah – you might well change your mind about her brother.”

  o0o

  “It’s getting dusky – would you like to see the garden while there’s still a bit of light outside?” Aidan heaved a pile of law books off the settee to make room for his guests.

  “Yes please.” Beth leapt up
from the brown leather stool beside the fire. Carefully she laid down the well-worn book of Aidan’s which she had been leafing through. Kate recognised the distinctive cover of Quaker Faith and Practice and suppressed a smile. Not many thirteen-year-olds would have homed in on that particular book. Maybe Beth would turn out to be another little Quaker in the making – especially if Aidan had anything to do with it. Not that he ever foisted his opinions on other people, but, if asked about his faith, he was always keen to share his enthusiasm for the Religious Society of Friends.

  Aidan, too, had noticed the book. He glanced across at Kate and they exchanged a smile. A tingle of pleasure ran down her spine and she felt her mood lighten.

  “Come on then.” He unlocked the French windows and ushered them outside.

  Kate looked around. The garden, though narrow, was long and sloped downwards in carefully designed terraces towards the river. “I can’t believe how much you’ve done to the place already. You’d only just bought the house when I came here last year with Hannah – it looked a real tip.”

  Aidan laughed. “It was precisely because it was a real tip that I had to get on with the job. If it hadn’t been quite so bad I’d probably have spent years doing it up.”

  “This patio’s lovely – I can imagine you having barbecues here in the summer.”

  “I will if the sailing club has anything to do with it. More than one of my friends have pointed out what a pleasant outing it’d make of a summer evening, sailing across the bay and down the estuary to moor at the bottom of my garden. I can see I’m going to have to string barbed wire across the landing stage.”

  Daniel grinned. “Don’t take any notice of him. He may spend a fair amount of time alone here, but he’s not nearly as antisocial as he pretends to be.”