This time.
And he had been the one who had cut off all contact eighteen years ago too.
Yet at some stage during those eighteen years, he had tracked her and Kyra down, but hadn't made contact with them. Why had he done that?
When her mum had told her that it was Amias who had, in a roundabout way, disclosed Cat's address, she'd been determined not to ask him about it. What difference would it make?
But now she wanted to know.
She wanted to know so many things.
Like why he'd taken such an instant dislike to her all those years ago. Was it because of the things his dad had said? Because his dad had told him to stay away from the Devons?
She wanted to know why he'd seemed so caring and attentive while she was in the hospital and yet, the minute she got out, he never contacted her again. And yet he'd tracked them down. Why?
She wanted to know why he had said he was glad she had come home. Had he meant that? Or was it just a throwaway line? And why he'd said those awful things about her getting pregnant on purpose to trap Kyle. Was he really suggesting that Kyle had told him that?
But most of all, she wanted to know why, as fireworks flashed and banged around them, he had looked at her as if she was the only woman in the world. And a beautiful one at that. Why his dark eyes had filled with longing. Why he had looked as if he was going to kiss her. And why he'd changed his mind and fled, albeit with some lame excuse.
What exactly was Amias Wells playing at?
Was that it?
Was he playing?
Was this all some sort of game to him?
By the time she reached the front door of Devon Villa, she really did have a headache.
She let herself into an empty house. Mary and Jeremy must have gone to the celebrations too. Or out for dinner. Or to the pub. What did it matter? At least she could be alone with her thoughts.
But she didn't want to be alone. She wanted to be back on the village common with Amias. She wanted to be staring into his eyes and for him to be staring into hers. And she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted that so badly it made her stomach churn.
Or perhaps that was hunger. She grabbed a packet of crisps, a wine glass and a bottle of wine and went to her room.
She had drifted off once or twice, but she hadn't really slept and was rather tired this morning.
Kyra joined her at the kitchen table. 'Amias said we're going to his place for dinner tonight.'
Cat choked on her toast. She had to swallow several gulps of coffee before she could reply.
'Er. Yes. He's found out about the man in the photograph. His name's Bailey Mitchell and he's Canadian.'
Kyra nodded. 'I know. He told me. But he says there's other stuff and he's also got more photographs to show us.' She tilted her head to one side and grinned over the rim of her mug. 'I can say I've got a headache if you'd rather go alone.'
'What? Absolutely not. Besides, we wouldn't be alone. His sister and brother-in-law will be there.'
'Oh.' Kyra reached out and grabbed half a slice of toast from Cat's plate. 'He didn't mention that bit. Don't frown at me like that. I'll make some more when I've eaten this.'
Cat sighed, got up and put four slices of wholemeal bread into the large toaster, turning around when Mary walked into the room.
'Good morning.' Mary looked excited before she smiled contritely at Cat, as she had been doing ever since refusing, yet again, to tell her who her dad was. 'The bonfire and fireworks were rather good, weren't they?'
'So was the food,' Kyra added, glancing at Cat. 'You missed a really superb buffet, Mum. And that blackberry Pavlova was to die for.'
Mary gave Cat a curious look. 'Didn't you have any food?'
'She had a headache,' Kyra said, 'and left early.'
'Are you unwell, Catherine?'
Cat sighed. 'No. I'm fine.'
'Are you sure? You do look a little peaky.'
'I said I'm fine, Mum.'
Mary darted a look at Kyra before smiling wanly at Cat. 'That's good. Because I have some exciting news I want to share.'
'Oh?' Cat eyed her warily as she poured herself another coffee.
'Is it about Granny Viola?' Kyra asked. 'Has she come out of her coma?'
'Sadly not.' Mary furrowed her brows. 'But you know that because you and Catherine visited her yesterday, didn't you?'
Kyra nodded. 'Yeah. But I thought the hospital might've called you this morning, or something. So what's the exciting news then, Gran?'
Mary beamed at them. 'Jeremy has asked me to marry him. And naturally, I've said yes.'
Cat stared from her to Kyra and back again, her mouth wide open in disbelief.
'You've done what?'
'I knew you probably wouldn't be thrilled, Catherine. You seem to have taken an instant dislike to him, and since I refused to tell you about your father, it seems neither of us can do anything right. But he makes me happy and I'm not getting any younger. I don't want to spend my life alone. He's handsome, kind and considerate. And he's doing a wonderful job on this house.'
'Which is costing you a small fortune. I overheard the two of you yesterday. “Another ten thousand pounds”, I heard him say. I assume that means you've already given him one lot of ten thousand pounds. I can't see even one thousand pounds worth of work, let alone ten or twenty.'
Mary stuck out her chin. 'That's because you have no comprehension of the cost of things, Catherine. Or the amount of work that needs doing. The entire house requires rewiring, for one thing, and that's not cheap. Plus a large portion of the money is to pay for goods that are on order. The new marble for my ensuite, for example. That's coming all the way from Italy. You can't get the marble I want from this country. You have to pay for items like that in advance, not on delivery.'
'Isla got some lovely fake marble tiles from the local DIY store for the bathroom in Bonniemount Cottage,' Kyra said. 'It only cost a couple of hundred pounds to do the whole room, didn't it, Mum?'
Cat nodded. 'It did.'
'I don't want fake marble, thank you very much. I want the real thing.'
'I thought you were planning on selling this house,' Cat said. 'OK, perhaps rewiring is a good and sensible expense, but don't you think spending a fortune on an ensuite is throwing money away?'
'No. Jeremy says it'll add value.'
'And what does Natalia say? She's the estate agent who's going to be selling it, isn't she? Don't you think it might be wise to ask her opinion?'
'No, Catherine. I don't. Jeremy does this sort of thing for a living and he knows what does and doesn't add value. With the greatest of respect to Natalia, she's only handled property in Merriment Bay and the surrounding area. Jeremy has refurbished houses in London so he knows the market there. And that, after all, is where we're most likely to find a buyer.'
'So now you're saying you won't be giving Natalia the instruction?'
'I'm not saying that. I'm simply saying that I'll be strongly suggesting she markets the property in one or two of the upmarket magazines or in conjunction with a London agent, perhaps. Which was always my intention. But it just so happens that Jeremy has a friend who is a partner in a London firm.'
'I bet he does.'
'And what's that supposed to mean?'
'Mum! Gran! Can we stop this please?' Kyra pleaded. She shook her head and sighed as they both fell silent. 'I have to be honest, Gran and say that I'm not sure about Jeremy, either. But if you've just got engaged then we should be congratulating you, not arguing with you. And Mum. I hate to point this out, but for the past eighteen years – well, not eighteen, but ever since I was old enough to listen – you've been telling me that Gran and Granny Viola made you miserable because they didn't like Dad. All you wanted was for them to give him a chance. So don't you think that we should now give Jeremy a chance? If Gran loves him and he makes her happy, isn't that enough for us to be happy for her?'
Cat stared at Kyra, emotion sweeping over her, making her unable to speak right
away. She looked at Mary and back at Kyra and eventually smiled.
'I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm glad you get your brains from your dad, sweetheart. You're right.' She smiled at Mary. 'If you love him and he makes you happy, then I'll try to give him a chance, Mum. I'll try to see what you see in him.'
Mary swallowed hard and blinked several times. 'Oh, Catherine. You don't know how pleased I am to hear you say that. This means the world to me.'
'Congratulations, Gran,' Kyra said, beaming at them. 'Have you got any champagne? Shouldn't we be celebrating?'
'Where is he anyway?' Cat asked. 'I haven't seen or heard him yet this morning?'
Mary grinned. 'He's gone to London to buy me a ring. There's champagne in the fridge, Kyra. Use my favourite crystal glasses.'
'He proposed before he'd bought the ring?' Kyra pulled a face as she got up to get the champagne and glasses. 'That's a bit weird.'
Mary laughed like a teenager. 'He was planning to go and buy the ring today and he was intending to propose next week. But he said last night was just so perfect and that I looked so beautiful he simply couldn't help himself. He got down on one knee as we walked home across the bridge. It was so romantic, with the moon throwing silver sparkles into the River Wynter and the smell of bonfire smoke as the embers slowly burnt away. He took me in his arms and we started dancing on the bridge as he sang 'Moon River' in his best Frank Sinatra voice. He looks a bit like Frank Sinatra did in his fifties, don't you think? He's a big Sinatra fan. What was I saying? Oh yes, we danced on the bridge and then he stopped suddenly, looked into my eyes and got down on one knee and popped the question. I'm not going to tell you the exact words, because I know you, for one, Kyra, will screw up your pretty little nose and pull faces. But it was wonderful.' She gave a long soft sigh and stared dreamily into the distance.
'OK,' Cat said, smiling. 'Perhaps I have misjudged him. That does sound quite romantic. Congratulations, Mum. I hope you'll both be very happy.'
'I just wish Mother was here to share my joy.' Mary slumped into a chair at the kitchen table and Kyra handed her a glass of champagne. 'Although knowing her, I don't suppose she'll be best pleased by the turn of events either. I'd better wait until she's fully recovered before I break the news to her. She is a big Frank Sinatra fan though, just like Jeremy. I told him we used to watch all Sinatra's films together on Sunday afternoons. He did the same with his mother when he was young, so we have that in common too.'
Cat didn't have the heart to say that, the way things stood, it was looking less and less likely that Granny Viola would ever fully recover. If she even woke up at all.
'Congratulations, Mum,' she said, raising her glass in the air. 'Here's to you and Jeremy and your bright new future together.'
Chapter Three
'This isn't a date,' Cat repeatedly told her reflection in the full-length mirror in her room as she dressed for dinner. She told herself the same thing, but silently, as Mary drove her and Kyra to Amias' house in the bay. Which was a complete surprise. Both because Mary offered to drive them, and because she didn't make any sarcastic or caustic comments about why they would want to have dinner with Amias in the first place.
The next surprise of the evening was Amias' house.
Mary pulled up a short distance from the door. It seemed she couldn't bring herself to pull up on the driveway. She stopped at the end of the private road which led to the three new houses standing above the bay.
They weren't brand new. They looked as if they'd been there for a few years now, but when Cat was last in the bay, eighteen years ago, all that had been here were sand dunes and a cliff overlooking the sweep of sand and sea below.
Even then, as she, Kyle and Amias had sat on that cliff, looking out across the sea to the sun setting on the horizon, Amias had said that one day he'd build a house up here. He'd also said that Kyle could design it and they'd actually drawn sketches of what it might look like, while Cat had drawn a sketch of what she would have built there for her dream home.
None of the three houses looked like those sketches, at least, not from the front.
'That one on the right is his, I believe.' Mary pointed to the largest of the three.
'Wow,' Cat said, 'I know you said this was a posh new house, Mum but this looks like something you'd see featured in a magazine.'
'Yes. Well. I'll say one thing for him,' Mary added grudgingly. 'The man seems to have acquired rather good taste in certain areas. Would you like me to come and pick you up? You won't stay for more than a couple of hours, will you?'
Cat grinned. 'I have no idea how long we'll be. But please don't worry, Mum. You do whatever you've got planned tonight. Kyra and I will either walk home, or we'll call a cab.'
Mary hadn't argued. She was expecting Jeremy back from London at some point during the evening, Cat knew that, and would no doubt be celebrating. And with a sparkling new ring on her finger.
Cat waved her mum goodbye and, linking arms with Kyra, walked across a block-paved area towards the house to their right.
The house stood the farthest away from the road, on the highest part of the cliff, which meant it overlooked the roofs of the other two houses, and yet it was set a little farther forward, towards the sea, which would give it a 360° view of the entire area.
To the right of it was a small copse of trees, perched somewhat precariously on the undulating grassy slope of the cliff. Had they been there eighteen years ago? Cat couldn't recall. There had definitely been some bushes, which were still there. A fence, made to look like driftwood, enclosed part of this area but the rest was open.
The block paving, on which a Land Rover Discovery was parked with several surfboards strapped to the roof rack, gave way to a pale turquoise wooden decking, the colour of the sea on a hot summer day. The front door was an impressive blue-grey smoked glass affair, set between pale blue, timber cladding boards the length and height of the frontage with only four exceedingly large, no doubt floor to ceiling windows to break up the expanse; two on each level, it seemed, and one central oriel window between the two on the second floor. The oriel had wooden corbels etched with carvings of dolphins leaping from waves.
Kyra rang the video doorbell, and Cat made sure her hair covered the scar on her face.
'Come in.' A cheery female voice greeted them almost instantaneously via the speaker. 'Give the door a shove. It's heavier than it looks.'
Before they had a chance, the door opened and Amias stood in front of them and smiled.
'Welcome to my humble abode.' He stepped aside to let them enter.
'Humble?' Cat threw him a sarcastic grin. 'I don't think there's anything humble about this place. And that includes its owner.'
He raised his brows and grinned. 'It's just a house made of wood, some bricks and a few concrete pilings. Unfortunately, the pilings were a necessary evil.'
'It's not what I'd imagined.' She glanced around the hall; the pale blue painted wooden floor blended perfectly with the even paler blue walls.
'Oh?' A hint of concern flitted across his eyes. 'Are you disappointed?'
'On the contrary. I'm impressed. Very impressed.'
He beamed at them and laughed. 'In that case, you can stay. Let me take your coats.'
He was helping Cat out of hers before she knew what was happening and, as a hint of his aftershave pervaded her nostrils, inappropriate thoughts invaded her mind.
'Are you hot?' he asked, giving her a curious look as he then took Kyra's coat.
'W-what? Oh.' Her hands shot to her cheeks as the blush spread across her face. 'Um, it's a little warm in here after the cold outside, that's all.'
She coughed and looked away. What a good thing he couldn't read her mind.
He opened a door and hung their coats on hangers in the closet.
'Natalia and Josh are already here.'
'Was it Natalia who answered the bell? I didn't recognise her voice. I thought it might be…'
'Might be…?' He prompted, frow
ning just a little.
'Your girlfriend or someone.'
'I don't have a girlfriend at the moment, Cat.'
Why did that sound almost like an invitation? It certainly sounded sexy as he had softly emphasised her name. Or was her imagination running wild yet again?
'Oh? That's almost as surprising as this house.'
Even to her, the laugh she gave sounded a trifle hysterical. As if she was trying really hard to be funny. And failing miserably.
'It's this way.' He nodded towards a glass flight of stairs. 'Would you like to elaborate?'
'No, she wouldn't,' Kyra said, grabbing Cat's elbow and propelling her forward. 'Mum's had a bit of a shock today. We both have. It's taking a little while to sink in.'
'What kind of a shock?' He stopped in his tracks. 'Has something happened to Viola?' He looked and sounded concerned.
'No. To Granny Mary.' Kyra grinned.
He seemed completely bemused. 'Is it serious? God, Cat. Why didn't you let me know? We could've … You're both grinning. Is this some sort of joke?'
'We were hoping it was,' Cat said. 'Sadly it's not. Mum's engaged to the builder, Jeremy Stone.'
'Who? The man she met in the pub a few weeks ago, you mean?'
Cat nodded. 'The very same.'
'These stairs are a bit intimidating,' Kyra said, stepping on to the first one and hurrying to the top. 'Apart from being a bit frightening by being made of glass, I'm glad I'm wearing trousers. You wouldn't want to walk up these wearing a dress and no knickers, would you, Mum?'
'Kyra!' Cat blushed a deeper crimson than her dress. 'I'm wearing knickers,' she said, stupidly glancing over her shoulder at Amias and immediately regretting it.
The shock and surprise on his face about Mary, morphed into a massive grin.
'Thanks for sharing. But you needn't worry. I don't have hidden cameras. And even if I did, the glass on the other side of the treads has a special coating so you can only see through them if you're walking up or down them, not if you're standing beneath. A few women who weren't … Um.' He cleared his throat.
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