The Tangled Web

by The Tangled Web (retail) (epub)

  She lost all idea of time but a glance at her watch told her she had been searching for two hours. With the coming of evening, darkness closed in and just when she was thinking she would never find it, the cave opened before her, a blacker black in the gloom. She fell inside and lay for a while without attempting to do anything more than rest.

  Slowly she removed her drenched coat. There were a few dry branches which she gathered together, wishing she had the means of lighting them if only for momentary cheer from a blaze.

  With them she made a bed and with her wet coat around her she sat and drank from the flask. Immediately she felt better. Looking out at the slanting rods of rain which showed no signs of easing, she tried to assess the situation.

  It was bleak. No one knew where she was. Even if someone saw the car – and that was unlikely – they would have no idea where she could be found. Roy might have phoned Catrin, but whether he had mentioned their talk about the cave was doubtful. Why should he? And Rhys – Rhys was the only one who might guess and he, she reminded herself sadly, was in America with Jessica.

  The storm increased in strength through the hours of darkness. It lashed against the rocks as if determined to smash them and dislodge her. She slept a little but most of the night was spent thinking of Rhys. Should she stay in Firethorn Cottage or sell it and start again somewhere? Loving him and seeing him so near would be hard to take.

  The bats didn’t leave their perches, perhaps instinctively knowing that no insects would be flying in this weather. She fancifully pretended the tiny creatures had stayed to keep her company.

  Towards dawn she finally woke and looked out. The storm still gusted but the rain had ceased, leaving a fast-moving pattern of clouds. She was stiff and chilled, the coat she had used as a blanket was soaked and she had to force herself to put it on. It would offer some comfort once it warmed.

  She stared out at the bleak scene and wondered fearfully how she would cross the stream which by now must be seriously swollen. The remaining coffee was cold but she drank it gratefully and ate the last of the sandwiches. Leaving the cave with the equipment belonging to Rhys once more draped around her, she left the flask behind – no point in carrying unnecessary items – and set off.

  She was stiff and tired and hungry, but knew she had to move, get down lower where there was at least a possibility of seeing someone. She was surprised to find that her feet hurt. They had swollen and her shoes were painfully tight. Her muscles were reluctant to move and as she slithered down the path she wondered just how far she could walk.

  It was sensible to head towards the car but it seemed a long way off and if she couldn’t cross the stream, what then? Perhaps there was an easier way down if she went across the range rather than down? Rhys was not a mountaineer and he wouldn’t necessarily have chosen the easiest route to the cave, simply the shortest.

  Staggering as she made her way downwards, still undecided, she eventually caught sight of the stream now a foaming, turbulent river, wild and certainly un-navigable. She turned to walk upstream; there the stream might be smaller and should be easier to cross. Everyone knew streams and rivers widened as they reached the sea, she thought logically.

  She fell as she tried to climb higher in the hope of seeing a likely place to cross, and panicked at the sudden sharp pain in her knee. This was not a place to lie injured. She choked back a sob as she faced the fact that she was in danger of losing her life.

  She sat for a while and rested her knee. Loaded down with Rhys’s equipment was making walking more difficult; the cameras swung unexpectedly and tilted her off balance. But she had brought them this far and couldn’t leave them now. The prospect of giving them to Rhys, unharmed, was what kept her from the edge of despair as she moved further from the cave into unknown territory.

  * * *

  Rhys had been alarmed when he had returned home from dropping Jessica at the airport to find Amanda missing. Philip had already searched the local area and now, with a night having passed and evening approaching once more, they were both seriously alarmed.

  ‘The cave,’ Rhys said. ‘I have a feeling she’s gone to the cave. We were going there together but, well, you might say Jessica changed our plans.’

  Philip wasn’t convinced. ‘Why would she go into the mountains on her own? No, I think we’d do better by talking to her brother again. She went to see him before she disappeared and he might remember something she said that would help find her.’

  ‘You go if you wish, but what d’you think you’ll accomplish that can’t be achieved on the telephone? He insists she was heading back here when they parted.’

  ‘You’re right, Rhys. There are plenty of people looking in the most likely places, let’s try the unlikely.’ The two men forgot their differences and, after making sure they had ropes and extra clothing and food, they set out for the mountains.

  * * *

  The weather was closing in and the rocks were slippery as Amanda made her way forwards, following the sound of the stream, walking alongside it at times and at others high above it with steep rocks dropping down and separating her from its hopeful presence. She trod awkwardly and, trying to save her already painful knee, she tripped and rolled down and down a fall of scree, landing breathless and tearful not far from the water. She lay there wondering whether she could find her way back to the cave. At least with evening drawing in she would have somewhere to rest and its comparative warmth was a goal.

  Time was a blur; she no longer looked at her watch. She turned to retrace her steps with the feeling she had been walking for days. In fact she had covered very little ground.

  * * *

  Rhys and Philip reached the cave and Rhys gave a shout of joy as he recognised the cheerful red of the abandoned vacuum flask. ‘She’s here,’ he called and hurried on. But the cave was empty and he shouted his rage to the sky.

  ‘She has been here though,’ he said. ‘All my equipment has gone. She came up her alone to collect it.’ His shoulders drooped with despair. ‘But where is she now?’

  It was tempting to split up and cover more ground but both men knew that idea was fraught with even greater danger. Instead, they headed downstream, calling as they went, both convinced that, for someone lost, that would be the wisest choice.

  * * *

  A short distance away, in the opposite direction, Amanda huddled under her coat and closed her eyes. A rest was what she needed, then she would walk out of the mountains with ease. Just a short rest.

  * * *

  Rhys and Philip had been walking and calling for half an hour, unaware they had been increasing the distance between themselves and Amanda, when Philip stopped.

  ‘Would she have got this far, loaded with your cameras? I think we ought to go back and try the other direction.’

  Rhys didn’t argue, he had been thinking similar thoughts himself. Still calling, they followed the turbulent stream back the way they had walked as darkness began to fall like a grey sodden blanket around them.

  * * *

  Amanda was dreaming. She was warm and cosy in Catrin’s favourite armchair and the warmth of the fire was soothing her aching body. She wondered vaguely how she had got home. She heard Rhys calling and smiled. She was too comfortable to go and see what he wanted.

  She relaxed again into sleep and in doing so slipped a little. The jerking movement woke her from her pleasant dream. Voices were calling.

  She woke and struggled to stand. ‘Rhys?’ she whispered aloud. Then, as the voices continued she raised her voice and called back, looking around her for the source of them.

  In the distance she saw two figures. At once, unbelievably, she recognised Rhys. ‘He’s in America!’ she said aloud. ‘How can he be here, looking for me? Rhys!’ she called. ‘Rhys. I’m here!’ She watched as he waved excitedly before hurrying towards her in a stumbling run. They met as she reached the scree slope and clung to each other. It was a long time before anyone started asking questions.

  ‘Thank go
odness you’re safe,’ Rhys repeated over and over again.

  ‘I thought you were in America,’ Amanda said.

  ‘I took Jessica to the airport,’ he explained, staring at her as if unable to believe she was safe.

  The second figure materialised into Philip, who stood a little way off waiting until the ecstatic reunion was over.

  ‘How did you know where to find me?’

  ‘Come on, back to the cave,’ Rhys instructed.

  ‘What? You aren’t going to make me wait while you film!’

  His smile widened as he removed a rucksack from his back and handed it to her. ‘Dry clothes. Change in the cave, it’ll be easier than the car, and the sooner the better.’

  While Amanda changed into the dry clothes, which turned out to be Rhys’s and far too large, Philip unpacked food and coffee.

  ‘The whole village has been anxious,’ he told her. ‘Catrin has had dozens of calls all suggesting where we might look. People have been out all night. Several men have been driving around looking for your car.’

  ‘Haydn and I formed search parties,’ Philip told her. ‘And we’ve been out most of the night but it wasn’t until Rhys came back at five this morning that we knew where to look.’

  ‘I knew at once where you were,’ Rhys said.

  ‘But how? I didn’t know myself. It was only Roy suggesting it that put it into my mind.’

  ‘I don’t know how. But I knew,’ Rhys said.

  ‘Catrin hasn’t slept for a moment,’ Philip said. ‘She’ll be so relieved to know you’re safe.’

  ‘We’ll phone from the first box we see.’

  Amanda had barely given Catrin a thought. All through the long, lonely night she had thought of no one but Rhys.

  Now she saw clearly for the first time that although she had no family, she was not alone and never would be. Catrin was her family; Heather, Haydn and Philip dear friends. And Rhys? She looked at him holding out the flask to refill her cup, his face lit with the smile of relief that hadn’t left him since he had found her. What role would he play in her future? A friend, like Roy had suggested? Would that be enough to keep her in Tri-nant?

  With the luggage shared between the two men, Amanda set off down the now clearly discernible path to the stream. The water still flowed furiously and Rhys led them downstream to where it widened, and assured them it was shallow enough for them to walk across. Amanda looked doubtfully at her shoes, already ruined. It seemed she was in for another soaking.

  Rhys picked her up and said briskly, ‘No point in you getting soaked again.’

  ‘Give me your car keys,’ Philip said when they were at last on the road. ‘I’ll drive it home for you.’

  Rhys held out his hand. ‘Thank you Philip,’ he said gripping the man’s hand firmly. ‘I’ll never forget what you did.’

  ‘Just keep her under lock and key till she’s learned her lesson,’ Philip grinned. He drove off in Amanda’s car and Rhys opened his car door for her. There were blankets there and he wrapped them around her lovingly.

  ‘I was frightened that I’d lost you,’ he said, and something in his voice told her he cared. She had to speak out; even if it meant losing him, she had to tell him about her mother.

  ‘Jessica is my mother,’ she whispered.

  ‘I suspected as much weeks ago,’ he said, starting the engine. He didn’t drive off immediately but looked at her, trying to read her thoughts. ‘She and I weren’t lovers, if that’s what you think. We met in America and although she gives the impression we were more than friends, that was not the case. She tried to commit suicide, and I found her. I feel responsible for her safety. I befriended her, that’s all there ever was between us. She has an ego that needs constant feeding. She has to pretend that every man she meets falls desperately in love with her.’

  ‘And you didn’t?’

  ‘I don’t find glamorous actresses irresistible. I’m more for practical souls who wear jumpers too large and stagger about in wellington boots.’

  It was so ridiculous they both laughed and Amanda knew that, against the odds, the tangled web they had created had unravelled itself and they were going to be all right.

  He searched in a pocket and handed her a note. ‘Jessica asked me to give you this.’

  The note was brief and rather sad. Jessica wished her luck and promised that one day, when things had settled, she would write and try to be a friend. ‘But,’ the note ended, ‘don’t ever call me Mother!’

  As the car warmed her she relaxed and every time she glanced at Rhys he was smiling. It was going to be all right. She settled under the warm blankets and slept.

  Rhys looked at her, loving her, and wondered how he could ever ruin her life by asking her to marry him and share a life as disjointed as his. She woke as they stopped outside Firethorn Cottage and smiled up at him. He scowled back.

  During her sleep, his feelings had changed from grateful relief to a deeper, unselfish love. He had to let her go. It was kinder to walk away from her. A husband should be there always, not just when his busy schedule allowed it.

  He hid disappointment and regret in his anger and, as Catrin ran down to open the car door to greet her, he said sharply, ‘Don’t do anything as idiotically stupid again! If you can’t think for yourself, consider the people who have risked their own lives searching for you.’ He got out, opened her door, slammed it shut and drove off.

  Amanda burst into tears and was helped up to bed by Catrin, who put it down to shock.

  12

  Amanda suffered no ill effects from her night on the mountain. She was fully recovered the following day when Philip came to ask after her.

  ‘As you see,’ she smiled, ‘I am perfectly all right. But I don’t know if I would be if you and Rhys hadn’t found me. I wouldn’t have found the way to cross that stream, would I?’

  ‘Of course you would, a resourceful young lady like you. You’d have followed the banks until you reached the ford.’

  ‘Thank you for all you did, Philip.’

  ‘Get on with you, it’s Rhys who guessed where you were. Though what made him realise you’d be daft enough to go clambering about collecting cameras in a storm like that, I don’t know. As soon as he knew you were missing he sensed where you were. He must have very strong feelings for you, wouldn’t you say?’

  ‘Just an intelligent guess, that’s all.’

  ‘What possessed you, Amanda?’

  She shook her head. ‘I really don’t know. It was the end of term and with no plans and feeling a bit fed up, I just wanted to fill the day. It was Roy who put the idea into my head, suggesting that Rhys might be pleased that I’d bothered.’

  ‘You mean he sent you up there on a day like that?’

  ‘No! I didn’t think of it until after I’d left him. He just thought that I might collect the stuff as a surprise for Rhys when he got back.’

  ‘He put the idea into your mind? That’s all?’

  ‘That’s all.’

  ‘Pity he didn’t remember and let someone know where you might be.’

  ‘He didn’t know I was missing, did he?’

  ‘Yes,’ Catrin said. ‘Gillian phoned at about ten o’clock to tell me you’d forgotten a headscarf. I told her you weren’t back and we were getting worried. She didn’t mention anything about where you might be.’

  Philip said nothing more but there was a strange look in his eye. He would be asking a few questions as soon as he could get to see Roy Clifford.

  Rhys called several times to make sure Amanda was all right but he only glanced at her as if she were a part of the furnishings, questioned Catrin about her progress, and left.

  Amanda wondered what had happened to change his attitude so dramatically. There was no doubting his genuine relief at finding her safe, or the warmth of his concern as they travelled home. But the moment the car stopped outside Firethorn Cottage, there was that sudden coldness, which hadn’t thawed since.

  * * *

  One day du
ring a warm spell in late August, Amanda and Catrin set off for a leisurely drive around the villages of the beautiful Vale of Glamorgan. They stopped to eat at a small tavern specialising in fish and sat for a while looking out over the calm blue sea. In contrast, they then went on to Barry Island where trippers flocked in their thousands and covered the warm sand with a cheerful patchwork of family groups colonising the beach for the day. Mums and dads, children of all ages plus uncles, aunts and grandparents, all enjoying a typical seaside day out. Sandcastles were built and flattened into tables on which fresh white cloths were spread, and there was the usual assortment of food, games and paddling causing laughter and contentment.

  They were just leaving when they saw Philip carrying a couple of ice-creams along the promenade, staring at them with concentration as if willing them not to melt before he reached his destination. They continued to watch with mild curiosity as he reached a group and pushed his way through, to hand one of the piled-up cones to a young woman.

  ‘So Philip has a friend, I see. And about time too,’ chuckled Catrin. ‘Shall we go and say hello, or wait until later so we can tease him?’

  ‘I don’t think we should do either.’ Amanda stared at the couple in shock. ‘Look who it is.’ The young woman was Heather James.

  They hurried back to the car as if guilty of snooping. When they were moving away, Catrin said, ‘I wonder how long that’s been going on?’

  ‘Nothing’s going on. How could it be? She and Haydn are so happy together. Heather and Philip must have to meet sometimes to discuss things. Helen and Jane are still Philip’s children, even if he has agreed never to become involved.’

  ‘But all the way out here? Haydn has been telling Rhys how pleased he is that Heather has started going out again. First into Cardiff to buy the latest records and the odd item of clothing. I wonder what he’d think of this? Meeting Philip, hiding away in a place where she’s unlikely to be seen by anyone from Tri-nant. Big hat and sunglasses in case she is!’