Still Waters

by Linda Kavanagh

  Ivy nodded gratefully. A movie meant she wouldn’t have to make small talk for an hour or two – as long as Danny didn’t want to discuss the ins and outs of the film afterwards. He still maintained an interest in photography even though he’d little time to indulge in it any more. And when they went to the cinema, Danny could never resist airing his views on every camera shot and special effect used. Ivy often thought that if he hadn’t gone into the retail trade, he’d have made a great director. She smiled, wondering what it would be like working with him on the set of Bright Lights. Probably better not to mix business and pleasure!

  “You alright?”

  “Yes, of course.” Ivy made an effort to sit up and look happy. There was no point in arousing Danny’s suspicions, especially now that they’d left Willow Haven behind.

  Chapter 39

  When Julia didn’t appear in the shop one morning, Fred had an uneasy feeling. Although they barely spoke nowadays, Julia was always punctual and, despite the tension between them, she still took pride in seeing that all the shelves in the shop were fully stocked.

  Since they didn’t sleep in the same bedroom any more, Fred always made a point of having an early breakfast and taking a short walk. By the time he returned, Julia would have showered, had her own breakfast and opened the shop. That way, intimacy was avoided and embarrassment and hostility kept to a manageable level.

  But this particular morning, the shop was still closed when Fred returned from his walk. He could see the retreating figure of one of his regular customers, and he cursed beneath his breath. What was Julia thinking of? They couldn’t afford to turn away business …

  Opening the door with his own keys, Fred surveyed the empty shop. Where on earth was Julia? He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, but before he could consider the matter any further, two more regulars entered the store and Fred quickly served them. By now, he was very worried. Could Julia have left him? Things had been strained between them for so long that he wouldn’t be surprised.

  At the first opportunity, Fred locked the shop’s outer door and headed upstairs to their living quarters, two steps at a time. He might as well know the truth; perhaps she’d left him a letter …

  There was no letter on the kitchen worktops or dining-room table, and Fred felt a momentary sense of relief. But now he had to approach the spare room that was now Julia’s fiefdom. The door was closed, and Fred knocked tentatively. He didn’t dare invade the space that Julia now guarded so zealously. But there was no answer, and Fred was filled with a horrible sense of foreboding.

  Reluctantly, he opened the door, and immediately knew that Julia was dead.

  She still looked as though she was sleeping, but he could see that her skin had taken on a pale and almost translucent sheen. Her heart was no longer beating, and he was stricken as he touched her cold, lifeless body as she lay in eternal sleep. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he thought of all the things he’d longed to say to her, but had avoided, fearing a row. Now it was too late. Oh Julia, dear Julia, he thought, I’ve failed you. You haven’t known a moment’s happiness since Joe left, and you were right to blame me for it. Now I’ll never have a chance to make it up to you. Maybe I’ve killed you by what I did to Joe …

  An emotional Fred rang their family doctor, and before long the wheels of officialdom were in motion. Peggy arrived back from school shortly afterwards. Weeks earlier Fred had explained to Peggy and Danny that Julia had moved into the spare room because she was having trouble sleeping, and hadn’t wanted to wake him. Fred doubted that anyone would believe him, but he didn’t want the recent coldness between him and Julia to blight what had essentially been a good marriage. Nor did he want outsiders speculating about their relationship, since they themselves had never had to deal with the loss of a child like he and Julia had.

  As father and daughter clung to each other, sobbing, Fred felt numbed by his loss.

  Two of the people he’d loved most in the world were gone, and in each case they’d parted from him in anger. Joe had been particularly close to his mother – how he wished he had some way of contacting him and letting him know about her death.

  The official cause of Julia’s death was given as a heart attack, but Fred knew that his wife had died of a broken heart. She’d never smiled again since the day Joe left, and he now realised that her aloofness had been the only way she could cope with the pain of loss. She’d bottled it all up inside her, and if she’d tried to speak it would probably have emerged as one long howl of anguish.

  At least she hadn’t chosen to leave him, and Fred took solace from that fact. Julia had her own money, so she hadn’t been trapped in the marriage. Perhaps, in some small way, she’d still loved him right to the end …

  Everyone in Willow Haven turned out for Julia’s funeral. Danny was distraught, so Ivy left her young husband free to spend as much time as he needed with his father and sister.

  But Ivy was beginning to worry in case this change of circumstance would put pressure on them to stay in Willow Haven. While she supported Danny’s dream of launching his own supermarket chain, she was well aware that Fred Heartley still exerted an immense pull over his son through their combined love of the retail trade. Ivy desperately hoped he wouldn’t make Danny feel obliged to stay in Willow Haven by dangling the prospect of taking over Heartley’s Stores. If that happened, Ivy wasn’t sure what she’d do. She didn’t want to give up on her own dream, but she was also a married woman, and she’d have little choice if Danny wanted to stay.

  She also knew that her own parents would be thrilled to have her stay in the village and, despite her protestations, her mother would be a willing baby-sitter when the baby arrived. Ivy knew she could have a pleasant, if dull, life in the village. Obviously, this kind of life suited many people, but Ivy longed for something more. She felt deeply sorry for Fred, but she didn’t feel like sacrificing her own ambitions. Besides, Danny had ambitions too, and they weren’t likely to be fulfilled in a small village like Willow Haven.

  Much to her relief, Danny still seemed keen to go to London, and he made no suggestion that they remain in Willow Haven. However, they couldn’t leave until after the baby was born and until they’d sat their exams, and Ivy feared there was still time for Fred to work on Danny and convince him to stay.

  Chapter 40

  Ivy was relieved to be back at work on Bright Lights, and her fears about the mystery caller were already beginning to fade. In the absence of any calls the previous week, she was managing to convince herself that the caller was just a random crackpot, and that the calls had nothing whatsoever to do with her or Harper’s Lake. There was no second body in Fred’s car – she’d simply allowed her own fear to create a monster that didn’t exist except in her imagination.

  She also managed to convince herself that the phone call in South Africa had simply been someone playing a prank on her, and that her own fear had made her jump to the wrong conclusions. Ivy didn’t intend to scrutinise the situation any more closely – that would mean giving power to this crackpot and diverting her energy from the professional performances she was expected give on the set.

  Being back in the company of her acting colleagues and film crew also lent an air of normality to things, and by lunchtime Ivy had rationalised away most of her fears. She was in top acting form, and enjoying the new storyline. After her spell in hospital, Ivy’s character Isabella was keen to resume the affair that had been interrupted by the nightclub fire. But she was under scrutiny by her husband, who’d almost caught her and her young lover in an embrace just before the fire started. Now he was determined not to let her out of his sight, and Isabella was beginning to wonder if her own husband could have been the person who started the fire …

  As they shot the next scene, Anton, as Ivy’s stern older husband, was at his irascible best, and he and Ivy hurled insults and accusations at each other with all their might. Once the angry scene was over, cast and crew relaxed, and the director called for a tea break.
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  Ivy gave Anton a quick hug, then they headed to the catering van for a well-earned cup of coffee. “You were superbly nasty – as usual!”

  Anton laughed. “Thank God I’m not married to a woman like Isabella – I’d probably have a heart attack and die before the honeymoon was over! Imagine all that constant aggression – at least, Ivy, we get paid to have such stupendous rows!”

  The cast from the previous scene were already milling around the catering van, and Ivy and Anton waited in line for their coffees.

  Suddenly, Alison, the director’s PA, appeared at the door to the studio offices.

  “Ivy – there’s a call for you!”

  Excusing herself, Ivy left the queue and headed into the studio offices. She was angry at the intrusion, and ready to be livid with the caller. Family and friends knew never to phone her at work. The Bright Lights set was sacrosanct, and she’d chew the ear off whoever was phoning her.

  Suddenly, she felt stricken. Could something have happened to Danny, Joseph or her parents? Suddenly she was running, and without even a nod to the director’s PA, she snatched up the phone from the desk and pressed it to her ear.

  “Hello?”

  “You were in Willow Haven at the weekend,” a voice whispered. “I hope you stayed away from the lake!”

  “Who the hell are you?” Ivy shouted.

  But the caller had already hung up, and Ivy found herself listening to the dial tone. She was now shaking from head to toe, and the concerned PA rushed over to offer her a chair, since she looked as though she was about to faint.

  “Are you okay, Ivy? Here, let me get you a drink of water –”

  “No, no, I’m fine thanks, Alison. Do you think you could trace that last call?”

  Alison lifted up the phone and dialled a number, then looked sadly at Ivy. “Sorry – it just says: Private Caller.”

  Ivy grimaced, feeling powerless and frightened. Her earlier certainty that the calls were a mistake had evaporated once again. What did this person want from her? So far they’d asked for nothing, except that she stay away from the lake, and the calls only seemed hell-bent on terrorising her. Ivy wished she could go to the police, but if they put a tap on her phone, they’d hear the caller talking about the lake, and they’d want to know what that meant.

  “Ivy, should I ask Doug to hold off shooting the next scene for half an hour? You don’t look well –”

  Rising to her feet, Ivy shook her head. “No thanks, Alison, I’m fine.”

  Alison looked at her perceptively. “If that caller was giving you hassle, don’t forget we have a legal team to take care of things like that.”

  “No, no – I think it was just a wrong number.”

  Alison gave her a sceptical look, but said nothing more.

  Outside, Ivy headed for the catering van, a smile firmly plastered on her face once again. But inside, her stomach was churning. The caller said they “hoped” she’d stayed away from the lake – did that mean they hadn’t actually been watching her? She supposed they couldn’t follow her everywhere, which also seemed to confirm it wasn’t anyone she knew well, because friends and family had been constantly in her company. Or could it mean that the caller hadn’t been in Willow Haven at all? But that would widen the net of possible perpetrators even further …

  Back on the set, Ivy’s good humour had dissipated, but she got through the rest of the shoot by concentrating on how Isabella was feeling, and making a real effort to put her own concerns aside. Luckily, the afternoon was spent filming several montage sequences, and the lack of script enabled Ivy to gradually gain her composure once again and, by the end of the day, she was feeling a little more in control. But this latest phone call didn’t augur well for her next trip to the lake.

  That evening when she returned home she found a cheerful Danny already in the kitchen heating up their evening meal.

  “How was your day, love?”

  “Oh, fine,” Ivy said, as nonchalantly as she could manage. “And yours?”

  “Very good, as a matter of fact. I was down at the site in Coulton, and it’s perfect for what we want. I also got a new laptop and printer for Hannah and called in to see her – you know, despite her claims of being a technophobe, she’s mastered the computer very quickly.”

  Ivy smiled. Danny had been true to his word. But then, he always was, because he was such a kind and decent man.

  Then it suddenly occurred to her that if the mystery caller lived in Willow Haven, Danny might actually have passed them in the street that very day, or they might even have spoken to him, before or after they’d made their threatening phone call. Ivy’s blood ran cold as she envisioned this person toying with Danny, maybe even dropping hints during their conversation with him, hints he might later add together and suddenly discover the depths of her cruelty and deception.

  “D-did you talk to anyone else while you were there?”

  Danny shook his head. “No, I’d only time for a flying visit – the surveyor was late so we got delayed at the site. Luckily, Hannah was amazingly quick on the uptake – I doubt if she’ll need any more lessons.” He smiled ruefully. “I’d hoped to see Dad but, if I hadn’t got out of the village early, I’d still be stuck in traffic on the M25!”

  “So you didn’t talk to anyone else?”

  Danny looked puzzled. “Are you okay, love?” he said, looking closely at her as he poured her a glass of wine.

  Taking the proffered glass, Ivy nodded, too tired and too worried to speak. Anyway, if she opened her mouth, she feared only a squeak would come out. Instead, she sipped her wine and said nothing.

  “You look tired,” Danny said, stirring the pan on the stove. “Why don’t you sit down at the table and take it easy – I’ll have dinner ready in five minutes – okay?”

  Ivy nodded, trying to muster up a smile. Danny didn’t deserve her churlishness. Nor did he deserve what she’d done to his family. Looking at his eager face, always anxious to please her, she wanted to cry. Or beg his forgiveness for what she’d done. But she could never confess, because she’d lose the most important person in her life if she did. And Fred and Peggy, whom she also cared about deeply. And Joseph, her son, would be appalled and devastated at the depths of his mother’s duplicity.

  Ivy sighed as she took her place at the table. Why do we always hurt the ones we love?

  Chapter 41

  “Hello, Mamma? It’s Rosa. The line is very bad – I’m in Hawaii. Oh, damn –”

  The line went dead and Hannah sighed. It was great to hear her daughter’s voice.

  Rosa didn’t ring very often, and when she did, there was invariably a problem with the line. Hannah could understand that some places still had primitive telephone systems, but she’d been longing to tell Rosa that she now had a computer, and to ask for her daughter’s email address.

  Hannah glanced across at her new laptop and printer. Danny had shown her how to create a Word document in order to write a letter to Rosa and how to print it off when she’d typed it. Then she’d add her signature to the end, just like Rosa did. She’d also be including the new email address Danny had set up for her – wouldn’t Rosa be surprised to discover how technologically advanced her mother had become! From now on, neither of them would need to send bulky letters – they’d simply be able to email each other! Danny had also explained that she could receive photos from Rosa on her computer, and she was thrilled at all the possibilities opening up to her. She was also inordinately proud of herself – she’d only needed one lesson, and Danny had been delighted at how quickly she’d got the hang of everything.

  As Hannah replaced the receiver, she glanced at the picture frame on the telephone table. In the photograph, Rosa was standing in the middle of a group of newly qualified flight attendants. Flanked by the captain and first officer, a large Boeing 747 behind them, the new recruits smiled happily at the camera.

  Rosa looked so elegant in her dark-blue uniform, Hannah thought proudly. They all looked so happy that day,
on the threshold of a new and exciting career. The picture always reminded her of how well Rosa’s life had turned out. And how blessed Hannah was compared to the poor Heartleys.

  But her joy turned to concern as she remembered where she was going later that afternoon. She had an appointment at her GP’s surgery, where she’d get the results of her recent hospital tests. Hopefully, they’d just give her a tonic that could alleviate the awful tiredness she simply couldn’t shake off. Luckily, learning about computers hadn’t involved expending much energy …

  Hannah Dalton’s lip trembled as she let herself into the house and closed the front door. The news that she had cancer had come as a terrible shock. She’d known something was wrong, but she’d blithely assumed her tiredness was due to getting older, or at the very worst, an ulcer or anaemia – something that could be cured by a few pills or a bottle of medicine.

  But as she’d sat facing her doctor across his desk, his expression had been grave.

  “I’m sorry to have to tell you, Mrs Dalton, they’ve found cancer – colon cancer.”

  Hannah’s heart almost stopped, but she had a question to ask.

  “Is it, I mean –?”

  The doctor shuffled the papers on his desk, confirming what Hannah already suspected.

  “Hrrmph, er, well yes, I’m afraid it’s fairly advanced. Of course, we’ll do the best we can for you, Mrs Dalton. I know this is a shock to you, and we’ll arrange treatment right away. We can do a lot to make people comfortable these days. At some point later on, I’ll need to talk to you about hospice care …”

  Hannah had stumbled out of the doctor’s rooms. She didn’t remember anything he’d said, except the word cancer, cancer, cancer …

  Her first impulse had been to contact Rosa, because she’d felt a primal urge to lean on someone who loved her. But by the time she’d got off the train and walked home from the station, she’d decided that telling Rosa would be unfair on her. She didn’t want to be a burden. People often expected their children to look after them in their old age or during terminal illness, but she’d no intention of imposing herself on her daughter. Rosa had made a great life for herself flying all over the world, and she’d even bought a house in Hampstead and become a landlady herself. There was no way Hannah was going to expect her to come back to the village she hated, in order to nurse her dying mother. Hannah didn’t flinch from the fact that she was dying. Instinctively she knew she didn’t have too long to live.