by Anita Waller
He turned the page and continued to look at the reports. ‘Well, there’s a namesake of yours in here.’
‘Really?’ Jenny tried to keep her tone light.
‘Yes, a young lady who can play the flute with some skill, apparently. Her surname is Carbrook.’
Her laugh was forced. ‘Well, I don’t have any relatives. Must be a different branch of the Carbrook’s.’
Jenny controlled the desire to snatch the newspaper from him, and kept up the pretence of normality until he disappeared down the stairs. She jumped from the bed and ran into the bedroom overlooking the front drive, watching as his car left.
Sitting on the spare bed, she opened the newspaper she had been clutching tightly.
Grace’s face stared back at her, and she gasped. A quick read through of the article, followed by a more intense read, showed her exactly what she was missing in her daughter’s life. She had always recognised the creativity in Grace, but this …
She moved back into the master bedroom and climbed into bed, just managing to rescue the cup of coffee before it tipped over. She sipped thoughtfully, while re-reading the article.
The concert was scheduled for 13 July, which didn’t leave much time for planning. She would go back to the flat she had only just left and make it welcoming. Grace would need to feel secure. She would be within a couple of days of the school year end, and by the time the new term was due to start, Grace would be back with Mark, and she would have the letters. If the letters didn’t materialise, she would be a fugitive with a daughter, somewhere in Europe.
With £20,000 in the bank, plus whatever she could get for her engagement ring, she would be okay until she could get a job. If the scenario of a life on the run came to pass, she could manage. With the other scenario of getting the letters back, she may even get to keep Sebastian as well.
She could always come up with some sob story of having felt overwhelmed by the engagement and having to escape for a bit; the sale of the engagement ring would be an act reserved purely for the fugitive possibility.
Jenny’s mind was racing with the minutiae of her plans; the strategy had been in her head for so long, and now, the possibility of taking it to fruition had been presented to her.
Grace would be unguarded for a small window of time – Mark and Michael would be in the audience. Adam, presumably, would be a participant in the concert, as it would be his last one at that school, which would leave Grace vulnerable.
She simply had to get in the back of the school and wait until Grace had finished her solo. She would persuade Grace to sit in the car with her for ten minutes, just to chat, and she would text Mark to tell him what she wanted. That should pre-empt any moves towards taking the letters to the police.
She cast her mind back to the two times she had been behind the hall where presumably the concert would be held. There was curtained off area where the school stored extra chairs, overhead projectors, and other equipment. It should be reasonably empty, because the extra chairs would probably be in use. She could hide in there.
If, heaven forbid, she was discovered, she could turn on the tears and plead she just wanted to hear Grace play, but couldn’t be in the audience, because Grace’s father was there.
The more she thought about it and honed the plan, she realised she could just get away with it. It was key the text be prepared in advance for sending to Mark, because if he thought for one minute Grace had been snatched, he would ring the police. He had to get the text in the small time-slot between Grace going to the car and the concert ending.
She felt energised. A quick shower followed by a second cup of coffee, and she was out of the house, heading for her car.
She drove to the flat so recently vacated and reached across to the glove compartment to get a notebook and pen.
Climbing the stairs gave her no pleasure, but she knew she had been right keeping the small rental property. It had always been part of the plan. She needed a hideaway for Grace, even if it was only for a couple of days. Or longer.
Jenny walked around the lounge, concerned at the shabbiness of it. Grace needed to feel comfortable in her mother’s presence, and having a pleasant, welcoming environment would help things along enormously. She had three weeks to smarten it up, before the day of the concert arrived. She took out the notepad and began to write.
13
Sebastian kissed Jenny several times and moved towards his car. She followed him, a smile on her face.
He looked across at the Fiesta, and once more felt the unease settle around him. Maybe Erin would be more forthcoming about why she was trying to track down the car; he still considered bringing up the subject out of the question.
He settled in the driving seat and rolled down the window for one last kiss.
‘See you late afternoon tomorrow, sweetheart,’ he said, and put the car into drive.
‘Love you. Enjoy Zurich,’ Jenny called, as she watched his taillights flicker momentarily, before pulling out on to the road.
Sebastian reached Erin’s home half an hour later, and soon after, they were at the supermarket getting barbecue foods and drinks. He could tell she was excited at the prospect of introducing him to her father and half-brother, and inwardly, he groaned. This would all be over now, if it hadn’t been for the picture of Jenny’s car arriving on the screen of his phone.
The weather clouded over just before lunch, but by two o’clock, the sun was shining. He had set up the barbecue and loaded the small summerhouse with drinks.
He was sitting on a garden chair, enjoying a couple minutes of quiet time, when he heard chatter behind him and Erin calling his name.
He turned and met Michael for the first time.
Erin introduced them, and they shook hands, and she did likewise with Mark and the children.
‘Seb, this is my half-brother, Mark Carbrook, and the kids are Adam and Grace.’
He shook Mark’s hand and said hi to the children, his brain completely out of gear. Carbrook.
Grace Carbook, the little girl with some musical talent that Jenny had denied knowing. What was he missing?
He served drinks, his mind not really connected to the moment. Without that picture of the car, he would just have dismissed the name reveal as coincidence, but it had been Erin who had sent the picture. That wasn’t just coincidence. There was definitely a connection between Erin’s extended family and his future wife. And he was damn sure he would know what it was by the end of today.
He tried to think back to anything Erin had said about Mark, but it was minimal. He knew they had only just met, and it had been through Michael marrying Mark’s mother. He seemed to remember her saying it was the marriage which had brought the half-siblings together … he felt frustrated he hadn’t taken more notice of what she had told him at the time.
He watched Grace as she bent over to peer into the pond lower down the garden. She was completely immersed in the world of the fish she could see swimming lazily in the heat of the sun.
‘Grace,’ he called. ‘Would you like a drink?’
‘Yes, please, Sebastian.’
‘Gin and tonic?’
She giggled. ‘No, I think I’ll have lemonade, please. Easy on the vodka, though.’ Again, the giggle.
He liked this girl.
He stepped back into the summer house and poured her the lemonade, adding a slice of lemon and some ice, before sticking in a pink straw.
He carried it down to her and joined her on the bench by the side of the pond.
‘I’m Seb, not Sebastian. And I understand you’re the famous Grace Carbrook, flautist.’
She looked at him, weighing up if he was being sarcastic; she took a sip of lemonade before answering.
‘Am I?’
‘So Erin says.’
‘Must be me, then.’ She giggled a second time.
‘You any good?’
‘Mrs. Montague says I am.’
‘Your teacher?’
She nodded. ‘My head teacher
, but she teaches the music group.’
‘And you’re in the school concert playing a solo? I saw you in the newspaper,’ he said, by way of explanation at her puzzled expression.
‘I am. I’m playing “Annie’s Song”, if I can get it right.’
He laughed. ‘I’m sure you’ll get it right. Your mum and dad must be so proud of you.’
She shrugged. ‘Mummy doesn’t know. She doesn’t live with us anymore. Daddy won’t let her come home.’
He watched as the sadness crept across her face and felt as low as he could get.
‘Oh, I’m sorry, Grace. I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to upset you. Fancy a game of boules?’
She nodded, and they walked back up the garden to collect the boules box.
Adam and Mark joined them, leaving Erin and Michael to enjoy comfortable, if slightly soporific, small talk.
‘He’s nice,’ Michael said, after hearing raucous laughter from Adam, as he watched Sebastian misthrow his ball completely. ‘He’s getting on well with the kids. Have you known him long?’
‘About three months. He makes me happy, but I’m taking things very slowly. I don’t want to make the same mistake as I did the first time around.’
Michael glanced at her; he had seen first-hand the pain her marriage had caused her, and he couldn’t help but feel relieved at her caution towards Sebastian.
‘What does he do?’
‘He has his own company. Something in IT. He doesn’t talk about it much, but he’s away a lot with it. It suits me, I’m happy with my own company, as you know, and when he’s here, it’s great. I’m not saying he’s a keeper, Dad, but we’re getting on really well.’
Michael nodded and said no more. If Erin was happy, he was happy. She had been so supportive when he and Anna had told her of their marriage, and he would be there for her, supporting her, in this new relationship.
He smiled, as he saw Adam punch his fist in the air and yell, ‘YEAH.’ His grandson was so competitive, and he was clearly beating the adults at the game.
Ten minutes later, the children were down by the pond, and Mark and Sebastian had returned to the grown-up part of the garden.
‘Any more drinks required?’ Sebastian called from the doorway.
‘I’ll have a beer, I think,’ Mark said. ‘It’ll cool me down, after losing to the kids. They thrashed us. Not only can she play the flute, she can play boules.’
Michael laughed. ‘They play it all the time at home. Didn’t you know?’
‘I didn’t even know we had a set.’
‘Ah.’ Michael grinned. ‘That might be my fault. I’d got two sets at home, so I brought one over for them. And then, I taught them …’
‘Well, thanks. A word of warning might have been helpful. Lambs to the slaughter, we were, Seb and I.’
‘Here. Stop moaning.’ Sebastian handed him the beer. ‘We were well and truly hammered. Can they play football?’
‘Huh. Don’t even go there.’ Mark laughed. ‘Adam plays in goal, totally fearless. And Grace is pretty nifty up front. Forget that. They don’t play darts, though.’
‘Whoa!’ Erin held up a hand. ‘I do not have a dartboard! Forget it!’
Mark called the children up to renew their sunscreen, and inconsequential talk lasted through until five o’clock, when everyone became busy lighting the barbecue, preparing the food, and sorting out the garden table.
The meal was delicious, and the children happily cleared everything away. Erin, Michael, Mark, and Sebastian could half hear the conversation and all of the laughter, as they attempted to load a dishwasher that was strange to them.
They played several games of Uno, with Adam, once again, proving to be far superior to his elders, and then, Mark and Michael gathered them up to take them home.
Thank yous and goodbyes were said, and Sebastian finally closed the door, his smile still fixed on his face.
‘Wonderful family you have,’ he said, and kissed Erin on the lips. ‘Love the kids. Love the fact they’ve been brought up to interact with adults. Grace gives as good as she gets. Smart young lady. I get the impression she misses her mum, though.’
‘Jenny? I hope not.’
And Sebastian’s world, with confirmation of the information he had only guessed at, fell to rock bottom.
He continued to hold Erin close, afraid she would be able to tell from his face there was something wrong.
Finally, she spoke. ‘Shall we have a nightcap? Or do you want a tea, or something?’
‘I’ll have a small whisky, I think,’ he said. What he really meant was he needed a very large whisky.
‘I’ll get it,’ she said, and walked into the kitchen. ‘I’ll bring it through. Go and make yourself comfortable.’
He didn’t think he would ever feel comfortable again.
14
Grace took out her flute and music book, setting up her stand. She fiddled around with it until it was at exactly the right height for her, and lifted the instrument to her lips.
The notes came out effortlessly, and she played for five minutes, without referring to the book. She needed to get used to the feel of the flute, used to the feel of her fingers as they touched the keys.
She hesitated on one note, repeating it several times until she was sure she had it right. Then, she turned to the book and began to play. The sound of ‘Annie’s Song’ echoed through Lindum Lodge with a clarity that left anyone who could hear it, speechless.
Grace played for half an hour and then stopped. Her lips felt strange, and she knew she needed to rest. She felt happy with what she had done, but knew more practice was needed for the concert.
She took the picture of her mummy from the top drawer and looked at it, gently stroking it before placing it back underneath the scented drawer liner her mummy had put in all the drawers in her bedroom. She somehow knew her daddy wouldn’t want her to have the picture.
She missed her mummy, and even though Daddy and Granddad Michael had said it couldn’t have been her she had seen that day, she knew it was.
She ran downstairs and out to the back garden, where Adam was kicking a ball with very little enthusiasm. A game of football with nobody on the other side wasn’t that enthralling, and he was bored.
‘It’s nearly lunchtime,’ she announced.
‘Has Granddad gone home?’
Grace nodded. ‘He said he had some work to pick up, but he’ll be back later.’
Adam frowned. ‘If today gets any worse, I’m going to end up doing my homework.’
‘You’ve not done it?’
He shook his head. ‘It’s maths.’
‘Oh.’ Grace understood completely. ‘Has it got to be done by tomorrow?’
He nodded glumly.
His sister grinned. ‘Well, that’s your afternoon sorted.’
She went back inside.
Mark was laying the table. ‘Can you ask Adam to come in, please, sweetheart? He needs to wash his hands before I dish this up.’
Adam appeared in the doorway. ‘I’m here,’ he said.
His father looked at him and laughed. ‘Cheer up. You can go out again after lunch.’
‘He can’t,’ Grace announced smugly. ‘He’s got maths homework to do.’
Sibling payback time.
Jenny heard the Jaguar pull on to the drive and went to the door to welcome Sebastian home. He got out of the car, and she thought how tired he looked.
‘Coffee?’ she asked, and he nodded.
He followed her through to the kitchen, after dumping his case in the hall, and walked across to kiss her. ‘Missed me?‘
She smiled. ‘Just a bit. Maybe next time I can go with you.’
‘Of course you can. I thought of asking you this time, but I was there for such a short period, it wasn’t worth it. Next trip, I’ll combine business with pleasure.’
‘You look tired. Did it go well?’
He shrugged. ‘We’ll see.’
He had spent most of the night lying
awake by the side of Erin. They had made love, but, in his heart, he knew it was for the last time. His mind had churned its way through the long night, and when he left her just after lunch, he was no clearer in his thoughts.
He hadn’t asked Erin anything else; it would have put her on full alert, if he had started to query the situation over at the Carbrook home. Whatever he found out now, it would be down to him to do the detective work. And he knew it didn’t really matter what he found out; he wanted Jenny in his life.
His initial reaction had been to confront Jenny, to just ask her why she was denying the link to her daughter. He wasn’t brave enough; she could easily walk away, instead of answering. He watched her moving around the kitchen, as she made two coffees, and knew he wouldn’t be able to bear that. They were perfect together.
He took the coffee from her and sat at the kitchen table.
‘Do you want to do anything?’
She smiled. ‘Why, forsooth, sir, dost thou proposition this fair maid?’
‘If this fair maid dost enjoy being propositioned, I’ll go along with that.’
He loved the easy way between them; it had been like that from the very start. But, now, he had decisions to make.
Did he confront her with what he knew, or did he push it all to one side and say nothing? She clearly had reasons for not telling him of her past life, and he couldn’t believe for one minute she had simply walked away from Grace and Adam. Something must have happened to cause the massive split.
In his present frame of mind, he was quite happy to just ignore everything, but he was realistic enough to accept that one day, they would have an argument, a disagreement, and everything could quite possibly come tumbling out.
And then, what? He would lose her; he was sure of that.
He looked at her over the rim of his cup and smiled. ‘Let’s go to bed.’
‘Good plan.’
‘Now?’
‘When we’ve finished our coffee.’
He nodded, slowly.
‘You always this practical?’
‘Yes. Maybe. Sometimes.’
She put down her cup. ‘Let’s go to bed.’