Serena grinned back at Natasha and Carys.
‘You’re a reporter?’ Carys said, somewhat startled.
‘Don’t worry,’ Serena said, ‘she’s one of us.’
‘A true YBG,’ Phoebe added.
‘Okay,’ Carys said. ‘Well, I didn’t think it would be quite so much work,’ she confided to Natasha. ‘Everything’s so big after my little terrace in town.’
‘I bet you don’t know what half the rooms are for,’ Natasha laughed.
‘I think I’ll get there eventually but I do tend to get a bit lost every now and again.’
‘Nobody can be expected to feel at home straight away,’ Louise said in defence of her friend. ‘Whether it’s a huge stately home or a tiny bungalow.’
They walked on through the silent wood. They’d passed through the beeches now and everything suddenly seemed much darker. Large smooth trunks gave way to dark, gnarled, knuckly trees with sharp-looking foliage.
‘This is it,’ Phoebe said in tones that were hushed and rather reverential. ‘We’re nearly there.’
Louise looked at Carys and her eyes widened as if to say, what are we doing here? But Carys was rather taken with the place, deciding that both Phoebe and Serena were right: the yew tree bower was both magical and spooky. The thick, twisted trunks and dark emerald fronds were quite bewitching to behold in the fading light and everything was so quiet. Carys believed that she’d never heard a silence like it before.
She reached out and touched one of the yew trees, surprised that the fronds felt so soft. The ground was carpet-soft too and swallowed the sound of their footsteps. Then, all of a sudden, there was a small break in the woodland where you could see out over the rolling fields beyond.
‘What’s that?’ Louise asked, pointing to a white bird flying low.
‘A barn owl,’ Penny said. ‘Out looking for mice.’
Louise pulled a face. She didn’t like being anywhere where there might be mice.
‘This way,’ said Phoebe unnecessarily: there was only one pathway after all.
Carys felt a hush of excitement and half wanted to scream out in delight at their little adventure.
‘Just up ahead.’
And then they were there. The path seemed to end in a secluded bower - a little cathedral of trees.
‘It’s completely weather-proof,’ Phoebe said. ‘We’ve been here when it’s pouring with rain and you stay wonderfully dry.’
Serena spread a large red tartan blanket on the ground and Phoebe quickly placed a bottle of Bailey’s in the middle.
‘I hereby declare this YBG meeting open,’ she said in an ever-so-serious voice.
They all sat down and plastic cups were handed round.
‘Anyone for Baileys?’ Phoebe asked, her dark eyes sparkling with joy.
‘Come on,’ Penny said. ‘I’m dying for a drink.’
Phoebe unscrewed the lid of the bottle and poured a generous amount into each cup. ‘Save time later if we have trebles now,’ she said with a little laugh.
‘What about the initiation?’ Natasha said.
‘Oh, yes. Carys and Louise haven’t done this before.’
Louise gave Carys an anxious glance in fear of what might be about to take place. ‘Don’t look so worried. It’s just a few words.’
‘And you’ve got to hold your cups out, like this,’ Serena said, holding her cup high in the air in demonstration.
Carys and Louise held their cups aloft.
‘I solemnly declare,’ Phoebe began.
‘I solemnly declare,’ Carys and Louise repeated in unison.
‘That all said and done in the privacy of this bower …’
‘That all said and done in the privacy of this bower …’ they chanted, trying hard not to giggle.
‘Will be repeated to no-one.’
‘Will be repeated to no-one.’
‘Now drink,’ Phoebe ordered and Carys and Louise lowered their cups to their lips and drank deeply, the creamy liquid turning to fire as they swallowed.
For a few moments, there was the complete silence of appreciation.
‘This is good,’ Penny sighed.
‘Mother’s best,’ Serena said.
‘She left a good collection in the drawing room,’ Phoebe nodded. ‘We thought it wouldn’t do to waste it.’
‘Quite right,’ Natasha said. ‘I hate waste.’
‘And I can’t stand a drink without something to nibble,’ Penny said, unzipping her jacket and taking out a carrier bag hitherto hidden. ‘Cheese straw, anyone?’
‘Oh, Pen!’ Serena laughed.
‘Penny, you are priceless!’ Phoebe said. ‘Penny can’t go anywhere without bringing some home baking along,’ Phoebe explained to Carys and Louise as she took a perfect, golden straw.
‘These are delicious.’
‘Always the best.’
All six of them munched happily, little waterfalls of golden crumbs spilling onto the dark forest floor.
‘Right, then,’ Phoebe said. ‘We not here just to drink, eat and be merry.’
‘More’s the pity,’ Serena said.
‘The YBG’s serve a purpose.’
‘Listen to her. She sounds like a politician. And she had the nerve to reprove me for sounding like a journalist,’ Natasha tutted before taking another sip of Bailey’s.
‘We’re here,’ Phoebe continued undeterred, ‘to discuss Carys.’
Louise looked at Carys and frowned. ‘What wrong with Carys?’ she asked quietly.
‘Nothing. Nothing’s wrong with me,’ Carys said blushing and obviously not looking forward to being the centre of attention.
‘It’s Richard,’ Phoebe said. ‘He’s being absolutely beastly and it’s got to stop.’
‘Is he? Is he being beastly?’ Louise asked. ‘I can’t really imagine that.’
‘He leaves her alone all day, doesn’t he, Carys?’ Phoebe said.
Five pairs of eyes turned to her for confirmation.
At last, Carys spoke. ‘Well, I have often thought about opening a missing person’s file on him.’
Penny giggled and Phoebe and Serena nodded in sympathy.
‘It’s always been the same with the Bretton men,’ Serena said. ‘Poor mummy used to say that she’d forgotten what daddy looked like.’
‘So what makes you think you can do anything to stop it?’ Natasha asked.
‘Because, if we don’t, then-’ Phoebe paused, her brow crinkled in anxiety.
‘I may have to run away,’ Carys said.
Phoebe turned sad eyes on Carys. ‘I do hope you’re joking.’
‘Of course I am but I don’t know how much more of this I can take. Anyone would think I was married to his secretary. I speak to her more often than him.’
‘And I bet he doesn’t really listen to you when you do speak to him’ said Natasha.
‘Yes!’ Carys agreed. ‘His mind is always somewhere else, you can tell it is.’
‘I wouldn’t allow my husband to treat me like that,’ Serena said quietly, and everyone turned to look at her. ‘What? Well, I wouldn’t!’
‘We believe you,’ Penny said, passing her another cheese straw.
‘But what are we going to do about Richard?’
The six women were silent. Perhaps for longer than was healthy.
‘Come on,’ Phoebe encouraged. ‘This is Carys and Richard’s marriage we’re talking about here. Hasn’t anybody got any suggestions?’
‘Other than a divorce?’ Serena said.
Phoebe glared at her.
‘Only joking.’
‘I don’t think there’s any point trying to change a man,’ Penny said, handing out another course of cheese straws. ‘I tried to with my Ewan.’
‘Didn’t it work?’
‘Only for about a fortnight.’
‘What was wrong with him?’ Natasha asked.
Penny rolled her eyes. ‘He’s the complete opposite of me. I’m neat; he’s messy. I plan; he’s spontaneous. I squeeze the toothpa
ste from the bottom; he squeezes it from the top. You name it and we’re poles apart.’
‘So why did you marry him?’ Serena asked.
Penny looked a little sheepish for a moment. ‘Because,’ she said in a whisper, even though there was nobody else around for miles, ‘the sex is fabulous.’
The yew bower was filled with sudden laughter.
‘But couldn’t you have the sex but not the marriage?’ Natasha asked. ‘I mean - live apart but come together - if you get my meaning.’
Penny grinned. ‘I’m not like that. It’s all or nothing. So I’ve got a lifetime’s supply of great sex as well as a house that will always look as if it’s hosting the world’s biggest jumble sale.’
‘A small price to pay,’ Serena said. ‘I wish I could get some great sex.’
‘Serena!’ Phoebe chided, her mouth dropping open at her little sister’s declaration.
‘What? What have I said now?’
‘I don’t think we wish to hear about-’
‘I do,’ Natasha said.
‘Well, you would,’ Phoebe said. ‘Wouldn’t be surprised if you wrote up our confessions in tomorrow’s papers.’
Natasha rolled her eyes. ‘Lighten up, Pheebs. We’re only joking around.’
‘But we’re not meant to be joking around. We’re meant to be finding a solution for Carys.’
They were silent for a moment.
‘I don’t think there is one,’ Carys said at last.
‘Don’t say that,’ Phoebe said.
‘But she’s right,’ Serena said. ‘Some problems don’t have a solution.’
Phoebe frowned. ‘But there must be one.’
‘Have you talked to him?’ Penny asked. ‘Told him how you feel?’
Carys gave a small smile. ‘He’s not around to talk to. That’s the problem.’
‘Well, he’ll have to make time. Slot you in to his busy routine. You’re his wife, for goodness sake. It seems to me that he’s treating you worse than one of his precious family antiques,’ Penny said.
‘Yes, you must try and talk to him,’ Phoebe agreed, greatly relieved that somebody had made a sensible suggestion at last.
Carys nodded in agreement. She couldn’t quite see how that would work but it was easier to agree with everyone.
‘Now,’ Serena said, ‘who’s for another drop of Baileys?’
Over an hour later, when the cheese straws and Baileys were but a distant memory, the secret six stumbled out of the yew bower following Phoebe’s solitary torch beam.
‘What was that?’ Louise asked.
‘What was what?’ Serena answered.
‘I heard something - some sort of snuffling.’
‘Snuffling?’
‘Something was snuffling behind me.’
‘Oh, that will be the bear,’ Serena said, nonchalantly.
‘Bear! Are you joking?’
‘Shush! Of course she’s joking,’ Phoebe said.
‘Or else the wolf of Amberley.’
‘Don’t talk about wolves at a time like this,’ Louise said. She’d never been very good with animals. She was even afraid of her nan’s old budgerigar.
‘I have heard tell,’ Serena began in a dark whisper, ‘of a wolf the size of a small horse seen prowling in these woods late at night.’
‘What utter rubbish,’ Phoebe chided.
‘It is not. Just because you’ve not seen it.’
‘It probably was a small horse,’ Phoebe said. ‘Or else you’d drunk too much,’ Phoebe said, tripping over the roots of an old beech tree.
‘Look who’s talking.’
‘Shusssssh!’ Penny giggled. ‘Someone will hear us.’
‘There’s nobody around for miles,’ Serena said. ‘We could be screaming for our lives and nobody would hear us. That reminds me, did I tell you the story about the young couple walking through the woods at night when there was a mad man was on the loose?’
‘Shut up. Shut up!’ Louise yelled. She was beginning to get seriously spooked now.
As luck would have it, they were nearly out of the woods and the grounds of Amberley opened up before them.
‘I’ll never go in a wood again - ever,’ Louise said, her face as pale as a daisy.
They trooped down the footpath towards the gardens and walked across the dark lawn.
‘I’ll give you a call next week,’ Penny told Phoebe once they’d reached the house. ‘Lovely to meet you, Carys. And you, Louise.’
‘You couldn’t drop me off at my car, could you?’ Louise dared to ask. ‘It’s parked half way down the drive and I really don’t want to walk passed all those trees.’
‘No problem,’ Penny said, laughing.
‘Night everyone,’ Louise said. ‘Bye, sweetheart. Give me a ring soon, won’t you?’
Carys nodded. ‘I will. Promise.’
Natasha, who wasn’t afraid of anything, had parked her mountain bike by the side of the house.
‘Are you sure you wouldn’t rather wait until morning?’ Phoebe asked. ‘It’s awfully late.’
‘Don’t fuss. I’ve got lights.’
‘I’d be much happier if you stayed.’
‘No can do. I’ve got an early start.’ She kissed Phoebe on the cheek and then Serena. ‘All the best, Carys. I hope things work out.’
‘Thank you.’
The three of them watched as Natasha placed her helmet on her head, switched her lights on and swung herself onto her bike before peddling down the driveway into the dark.
‘Completely mad,’ Serena said.
‘Bonkers,’ Phoebe added.
Entering the house and quickly punching in the code for the new alarm system Richard had had installed, they walked up the staircase towards the private quarters. Both Phoebe and Serena were staying at Amberley although Phoebe was hoping to buy her first home in nearby Pennington Bridge soon and Serena was planning to live in Florence for a year and find work.
The house was eerily silent as they headed towards their rooms, and the shadows were deep and dark in the minimal lighting.
‘I love Amberley at night,’ Serena whispered. ‘Don’t you?’
Carys smiled. ‘I haven’t made up my mind yet.’
‘And have you made up your mind about tonight?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘About Richard?’ Serena pressed.
‘You will talk to him, won’t you?’ Phoebe asked.
They reached their parting of the ways before Carys spoke. ‘I’ll try,’ she said. ‘I promise I’ll try.’
‘Good,’ Phoebe said with a sigh of relief.
And then they all said goodnight and went their separate ways and Carys suddenly felt desperately alone after the evening’s camaraderie. She wanted to shout out, Wait! Let’s have a drink in the drawing room, and so delay the end of the evening. But, when she turned round, Phoebe and Serena had vanished as quickly and quietly as Georgiana might have.
Georgiana. She’d forgotten all about Georgiana. Not that she would have discussed her new friend at the YBG’s meeting. It might have proved too tempting for Natasha and would’ve appeared in the newspapers the very next day. And what would the others have made of it all? She dreaded to think what Louise would say if she confessed to her. She’d probably demand Carys’s immediate departure from Amberley on grounds of mental health. And Phoebe and Serena? What would they have made of her confession? Serena would have probably shrugged and said something like, ‘Well, of course there’s a ghost. What do you expect from a house that’s so old?’ She didn’t expect Phoebe would be quite so nonchalant about the business, though. ‘That’s it,’ she’d probably have said. ‘You can’t go on living here. Something’s got to be done.’
Dear Phoebe. So kind and caring and constantly worried for other people’s well-being. Carys did feel lucky to have her as a sister-in-law. Perhaps she should have married her instead of Richard, she thought.
Opening the door to their private apartments and tiptoeing through the l
iving room to their bedroom, Carys saw the sleeping figure of Richard mummified in the duvet. She got undressed, had a quick wash and sneaked into bed beside him. He didn’t even stir. He probably hadn’t even realised she’d been absent for half the night.
Chapter 20
‘Morning, darling,’ Richard murmured somewhere above Carys’s left ear.
‘Morning?’
‘Quarter to eight.’
Carys groaned. She felt as if she’d only just fallen asleep.
‘I’ll see you later.’
Suddenly, Carys was bolt upright in bed. ‘Richard?’
‘Yes?’ He turned to look at her from the door.
‘We’ve got to talk.’
His eyes squinted quizzically.
‘About us,’ Carys said. ‘I hardly see you, Richard. I think we should be spending-’
Richard shook his head. ‘Can we do this another time, sweetheart? It’s just that I’m rushing to the estate office. There’s a man from the council due and I really have to be there to oversee this.’
Carys suppressed a desire to scream like a banshee and fling the pillows across the room at him. Instead, she waited until he’d shut the door and then hurled her pillow across the room.
A long, warm shower managed to calm her only a little. By the time she was dressed, she felt the sort of numbed annoyance that she was getting used to. The she- wasn’t-going-to-change-things-so-why-bother attitude.
She wandered through their living room into the kitchen where Cecily and Evelyn were sitting at the breakfast table and nanny was hovering over the sink.
‘Aren’t you girls going to be late for class?’
Evie gave a little smile. ‘It’s Saturday, silly!’
Carys frowned. It was Saturday. She’d completely forgotten. That meant that, officially, she didn’t have to report for duty in her office. She should, of course. There was stacks to do but she refused to turn into a slave to her job like Richard. And what was Richard doing seeing someone from the council on a Saturday? It didn’t seem very likely. Then again, Amberley did have a timetable all of its own.
‘Oh, yes. Just testing,’ she said, sitting down and pouring some cereal into her bowl. They all munched in silence; only the sounds of spoons hitting bowls and molars crunching flakes could be heard.
‘So,’ Carys began hopefully, ‘what are you two up to today?’ She addressed the question to both of them but her eyes were fixed on Cecily trying to discover signs of life.
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