by Joanna Neil
They left the inn together a short time later and went to his car, a fairly new rapid-response vehicle equipped with a blue light, high-visibility strips and badges.
He held open the passenger door for her and she slipped into the seat. The smell of luxurious soft leather greeted her, and she sat back and tried to relax.
Matt set the car in motion and started along the coast road, cruising at a moderate pace so she had the chance to take in the scenery on the way.
She gazed out of the window, watching the harbour slowly recede, and in a while they left the blue sweep of the bay behind them as he drove inland towards the hills. The landscape changed to rolling green vistas interspersed with narrow lanes lined with clusters of pretty cottages decorated with hanging baskets full of bright flowers.
He sent her a quick, sideways glance. ‘Is this meant to be a kind of holiday for you—a chance to recover from everything that has happened? Or are you more concerned with sorting out your aunt’s estate?’
‘I suppose it’s a bit of both, really. I was beginning to feel that I needed a break, a change of scenery at least, and although it was a sad thing that my aunt passed on, it gave me an opportunity to get away. I…’ She hesitated momentarily, then went on, ‘There’s no one else left in my family, so it’s down to me to sort out what’s to be done with the property.’
Perhaps she’d managed to come to terms with all that before the accident, but since then she’d felt her isolation keenly. Being unable to remember people around her meant that she was cut off from all that was familiar, and it left her with an acute sense of loneliness.
‘And do you think you’ll manage all right?’ he said, cutting in on her thoughts. ‘If you’re not working, I mean?’ He saw her hesitation and pulled a wry face. ‘Am I overstepping the mark? You’ll have to let me know if I do that—I’m afraid I tend to get carried away and say what’s on my mind. ‘
She shook her head. ‘That’s all right. I appreciate you being open with me.’ She frowned. ‘I’m not sure how I’d handle going back to medicine just yet. But I have enough money to keep me going for now, until I find my feet. After my parents died some years ago, it seems that I sold the property and invested what they left me. So at least I don’t have any worries on that score.’
‘Perhaps that’s just as well. It looks as though you have more than enough on your plate right now.’
He concentrated on the road for a while as he negotiated a series of bends, and then, after following a winding country lane for about half a mile, Saffi suddenly became aware of an isolated farmhouse coming into view. It was set back from the road amidst fields, a little gem in the surrounding greenery.
‘That’s the house, isn’t it?’ she said, excitement growing inside her as they drew closer. It was a long, rambling property, with a couple of side-on extensions that had been added to the main house over the years, giving it three different roof elevations. It was pleasing on the eye, with the traditional white rendering throughout and slate roofs over all. The window-frames were mahogany, as was the front door. A trailing jasmine shrub sprawled over the entrance wall, its bright, yellow flowers making a beautiful contrast to the dark evergreen leaves.
‘Do you remember it?’
‘No. But my solicitor showed me a photograph. It’s lovely, isn’t it?’
He nodded, and parked the car on the drive. ‘Here, you’ll need the keys.’
‘Thank you.’ She stood for a moment or two, gazing at the house, and then she slowly walked up to the front door. The scent of jasmine filled the air, sweetly sensuous, instantly calming. Saffi breathed it in and suddenly she was overwhelmed as her mind captured the image of a dear, slender woman, a nurturing, gentle soul.
‘Oh…Annie…Annie…’
Her eyes filled with tears, the breath caught in her throat, and she heard Matt saying urgently, ‘What is it, Saffi? What’s wrong? Have you remembered something?’
She was shaking. ‘My aunt…it was just as though she was here…I could feel her…But she’s gone, and I don’t think I can bear it…’
He hesitated momentarily, and then wrapped his arms around her. ‘It’s all right, Saffi. I know it’s hard, but it’s good that you remember her.’
She didn’t move for several minutes, overtaken by grief, but secure in his embrace, glad of the fact that he was holding her, because but for that she might have fallen. Her legs were giving way as emotion wreaked havoc with her body, leaving her fragile, helpless.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said after a while, ashamed of her weakness and brushing away her tears with her fingers. ‘The memory of her just came flooding back. I wasn’t expecting it.’
‘Do you remember anything else?’ he asked cautiously. ‘About the house, your work…your friends?’ He was looking at her intently, and perhaps he was asking if she had begun to remember anything at all about him and the way they’d known one another.
She shook her head. ‘All I know is that I was happy here. I felt safe. This is home.’
He let out a long breath, and then straightened up, as though in that moment he’d come to some sort of decision. ‘Well, that’s good. That’s a start.’ He didn’t add anything more, didn’t try to tell her about the past, or give any hint as to what their relationship might have been. Instead, he seemed to make an effort to pull himself together, reluctantly releasing her when she felt ready to turn back towards the door.
‘I should go in,’ she said.
‘Do you want me to go in with you? You might still be a bit shaky…and perhaps I ought to show you around and explain what needs to be done with the animals. I mean, I can look after them till you find your feet, but maybe you’ll want to take over at some point.’
She stared at him. ‘Animals?’
‘You don’t know about them?’
She shook her head. ‘It’s news to me.’ She frowned. ‘You’re right. Perhaps you’d better come in and explain things to me.’
They went into the house, and Saffi walked slowly along the hallway, waiting in vain for more memories to come back to her. Matt showed her into the kitchen and she looked around, pleased with the homely yet modern look of the room. The units were cream coloured and there were open shelves and glass-fronted cabinets on the walls. A smart black cooker was fitted into the newly painted fireplace recess, and an oak table stood in the centre of the room.
‘I bought some food for you and stocked the refrigerator when I heard you were coming over here,’ Matt said. ‘Your solicitor said you might need time to settle in before you started to get organised.’
She smiled. ‘Thanks. That was thoughtful of you.’ She checked the fridge and some of the cupboards and chuckled. ‘This is better stocked than my kitchen back in Hampshire. We were always running out of stuff over there these last few months. I had to write notes to remind myself to shop, because my flatmate was worse than me at organisation.’
‘I can see I’ll need to keep an eye on you,’ he murmured. ‘We can’t have you wasting away.’ His glance ran over her and a flush of heat swept along her cheekbones. She was wearing jeans that moulded themselves to her hips and a camisole top that outlined her feminine curves, and she suddenly felt self-conscious under that scorching gaze.
‘I…uh…I’ll show you the rest of the house if you like,’ he said, walking towards a door at the side of the room. ‘Unless it’s all coming back to you?’
She shook her head. ‘It isn’t, I’m afraid.’ She followed him into the dining room, where the furniture followed the design of the kitchen. There was a cream wood Welsh dresser displaying patterned plates, cups and saucers, and a matching table and upholstered chairs.
‘The sitting room’s through here,’ Matt said, leading the way into a sunlit room where wide patio doors led on to a paved terrace.
She glanced around. It was a lovely room, with accents of warm colour and a sofa that looked soft and comfortable.
‘I think you’ll find it’s cosy of an evening with the log-burning stove,’ he
murmured.
‘Yes.’ She had a fleeting image of a woman adding logs to the stove, and a lump formed in her throat.
‘Are you okay?’
She nodded. ‘I guess I’ll need a plentiful supply of wood, then,’ she said, getting a grip on herself. ‘Where did my aunt get her logs from, do you know?’
‘There’s a copse on the land—your land. It should supply plenty of fuel for some time to come, but your aunt did a lot of replanting. Anyway, I’ve filled up the log store for you, so you won’t need to worry about that for quite a while.’
‘It sounds as though I owe you an awful lot,’ she said with a frown. ‘What with the groceries, the wood and…you mentioned there were animals. I don’t think I’ve ever had any experience looking after pets—none that I recall, anyway.’ Yet no dog or cat had come running to greet them when they’d first entered the house. It was very puzzling.
‘Ah…yes. We’ll do a quick tour upstairs and then I’ll take you to see them.’
There were two bedrooms upstairs, one with an en suite bathroom, and along the corridor was the main bathroom. Saffi couldn’t quite work out the layout up here. There were fewer rooms than she’d expected, as though something was missing, but perhaps her senses were off somehow.
‘Okay, shall we go and solve the mystery of these pets?’ she murmured. Maybe her aunt had a small aviary outside. She’d heard quite a bit of birdsong when they’d arrived, but there were a good many trees around the house that would have accounted for that.
They went outside to the garden, and Saffi caught her breath as she looked out at the extent of her property. It wasn’t just a garden, there was also a paddock and a stable block nearby.
‘Oh, no. Tell me it’s not horses,’ she pleaded. ‘I don’t know anything about looking after them.’
‘Just a couple.’ He saw her look of dismay and relented. ‘No, actually, Annie mainly used the stable block as a store for the fruit harvest.’
She breathed a small sigh of relief.
Fruit harvest, he’d said. Saffi made a mental note of that. On the south side of the garden she’d noticed an archway in a stone wall, and something flickered in her faulty memory banks. Could it be a walled garden? From somewhere in the depths of her mind she recalled images of fruit trees and glasshouses with grapes, melons and peaches.
They walked by the stable block and came to a fenced-off area that contained a hen hut complete with a large covered wire run. Half a dozen hens wandered about in there , pecking the ground for morsels of food.
‘Oh, my…’ Saffi’s eyes widened. ‘Was there anything else my aunt was into? Anything I should know about? I mean, should I ever want to go back to medicine, I don’t know how I’ll find the time to fit it in, what with fruit picking, egg gathering and keeping track of this huge garden.’
He laughed. ‘She was quite keen on beekeeping. There are three hives in the walled garden.’
Saffi rolled her eyes. ‘Maybe I should turn around right now and head back for Hampshire.’
‘I don’t think so. I hope you won’t do that.’ He gave her a long look. ‘I don’t see you as a quitter. Anyway, it’s not that difficult. I’ll show you. Let’s go and make a start with the hens.’
He led the way to the coop. ‘I let them out in the morning,’ he explained. ‘They have food pellets in feeders, as well as water, but in the afternoon or early evening, whenever I finish work, I give them a mix of corn and split peas. There’s some oyster shell and grit mixed in with it, so it’s really good for them.’ He went over to a wooden store shed and brought out a bucket filled with corn. ‘Do you want to sprinkle some on the ground for them?’
‘Uh…okay.’ This had all come as a bit of a jolt to her. Instead of the peace and quiet she’d been expecting, the chance to relax and get herself back together again after the trauma of the last few months, it was beginning to look as though her days would be filled with stuff she’d never done before.
She went into the covered run, leaving Matt to shut the door and prevent any attempted escapes. An immediate silence fell as the birds took in her presence.
‘Here you go,’ she said, scattering the corn around her, and within seconds she found herself surrounded by hens. Some even clambered over her feet to get to the grain. Gingerly, she took a step forward, but they ignored her and simply went on eating. She shot Matt a quick look of consternation and he grinned.
‘Problem?’ he asked, and she pulled a face.
‘What do I do now?’
He walked towards her and grasped her hand. ‘You just have to force your way through. Remember, you’re the one in charge here, not the hens.’
‘Hmm, if you say so.’
He was smiling as he pulled her out of the run and shut the door behind them. ‘They need to be back into the coop by nightfall. As long as their routine isn’t disturbed, things should go smoothly enough. They’re laying very well at the moment, so you’ll have a good supply of eggs.’
‘Oh, well, that’s a plus, I suppose.’
He sent her an amused glance. ‘That’s good. At least you’re beginning to look on the positive side.’
She gritted her teeth but stayed silent. Now he was patronising her. Her head was starting to ache, a throbbing beat pounding at her temples.
‘And the beehives?’ she asked. ‘What’s to be done with them?’
‘Not much, at this time of year. You just keep an eye on them to make sure everything’s all right and let them get on with making honey. Harvesting is done round about the end of August, beginning of September.’
‘You make it sound so easy. I guess I’ll have to find myself a book on beekeeping.’
‘I think Annie had several of those around the place.’
They made their way back to the house, and Saffi said quietly, ‘I should thank you for everything you’ve done here since my aunt died. I’d no idea the caretaking was so involved. You’ve managed to keep this place going, and I’m very grateful to you for that.’
‘Well, I suppose I had a vested interest.’ She frowned. ‘You did?’
He nodded. ‘Your aunt made me a beneficiary of her will. Didn’t your solicitor tell you about it?’
She stared at him. ‘No. At least, I don’t think so.’ She searched her mind for details of her conversations with the solicitor. There had been several over the last few weeks, and maybe he’d mentioned something about another beneficiary. She’d assumed he meant there was a small bequest to a friend or neighbour.
The throbbing in her temple was clouding her thinking. ‘He said he didn’t want to bother me with all the details because of my problems since the accident.’
He looked at her quizzically and she added briefly, ‘Headaches and so on. I had a short attention span for a while, and I can be a bit forgetful at times…but I’m much better now. I feel as though I’m on the mend.’
‘I’m sure you are. You seem fairly clear-headed to me.’
‘I’m glad you think so.’ She studied him. ‘So, what exactly did you inherit…a sum of money, a share in the proceeds from the livestock…the tools in the garden store?’ She said it in a light-hearted manner, but it puzzled her as to what her aunt could have left him.
‘Uh…it was a bit more than that, actually.’ He looked a trifle uneasy, and perhaps that was because he’d assumed she’d known all about it in advance. But then he seemed to throw off any doubts he might have had and said briskly, ‘Come on, I’ll show you.’
He went to the end extension of the property and unlocked a separate front door, standing back and waving her inside.
Saffi stared about her in a daze. ‘But this is…I didn’t notice this before…’ She was completely taken aback by this new discovery. She was standing in a beautifully furnished living room, and through an archway she glimpsed what looked like a kitchen-diner, fitted out with golden oak units.
‘Originally, the house was one large, complete family home, but your aunt had some alterations made,’ he said.
‘There’s a connecting door to your part of the house and another upstairs. They’re locked, so we’ll be completely separate—you’ll have a key amongst those I gave you.’
She looked at the connecting door, set unobtrusively into an alcove in the living room.
‘I’ll show you the rest of the house,’ he said, indicating an open staircase in the corner of the room.
She followed him up the stairs, her mind reeling under this new, stunning revelation. No wonder she’d thought there was something missing from the upper floor when he’d taken her to look around. The missing portion was right here, in the form of a good-sized bedroom and bathroom.
‘You’re very quiet,’ he murmured.
‘I’m trying to work out how this came about,’ she said in a soft voice. ‘You’re telling me that my aunt left this part of the house to you?’
‘She did. I’d no idea that she had written it into her will or that she planned to do it. She didn’t mention it to me. Does it bother you?’
‘I think it does, yes.’
It wasn’t that she wanted it for herself. Heaven forbid, she hadn’t even remembered this house existed until her solicitor had brought it to her attention. But her aunt couldn’t have known this man very long—by his own account he’d only been in the area for a few months. And yet she’d left him a sizeable property. How had that come about?
All at once she needed to be on her own so that she could think things through. ‘I should go,’ she said. ‘I think I need time to take this in. But…thanks for showing me around.’
‘You’re welcome.’ He went with her down the stairs. ‘Any time you need me, Saffi, I’ll be here.’
She nodded. That was certainly true. His presence gave a new meaning to the words ‘next-door neighbour’.
She’d come here expecting to find herself in a rural hideout, well away from anyone and anything, so that she might finally recuperate from the devastating head injury that had left her without any knowledge of family or friends. And none of it was turning out as she’d hoped.
Matt had seemed such a charming, likeable man, but wasn’t that the way of all confidence tricksters? How could she know what to think?