The Holiday Home

by Fern Britton

  Within a week he had his reply.

  His father rang him at the sailing school, ecstatic at the prospect of the prodigal son’s return; he even agreed to pay their plane fare home. The afternoon’s lessons had been cancelled due to bad weather, so after handing in his resignation Henry set off for home, eager to deliver the good news. He was so excited, he ran into the apartment, not even stopping to take his coat off. Sue wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room. Hearing sounds coming from the bedroom, he opened the door.

  Susan had her back to him. Apart from her Bunny ears, she was naked. And she was sitting astride the similarly naked body of his best friend, James.

  In that split second Henry didn’t know whether to drag his wife off the creep and smash his face in, or walk away. It was too much to take in.

  ‘You bastard!!’ cried Henry, lunging towards the bed.

  ‘Steady on, old man. Take it easy,’ said James, leaping up.

  ‘How long has this been going on?’ It was a struggle to force the question out – his throat was so constricted with grief it felt as if he was being strangled.

  Susan, hastily pulling the covers up to hide her naked body, said nothing. It was James who answered.

  ‘Look, mate, I know how it looks, but you can’t blame me – she’s the one who made all the running, practically threw herself at me. I mean, what do you expect when you pick a Bunny Girl for a wife?’

  ‘You utter shit!’ spat Susan, her face twisted with hatred.

  ‘Ah, but I’m a rich shit, aren’t I?’ said James, scooping up his clothes and putting them on. ‘You’ve been after my money since the beginning. Remember when she left you, Henry, back in London? It was for me. Course, once she realised she wasn’t going to part me from my cash, she went running back to you. Only she’s not too keen on living in poky little cabins and one-bedroom apartments, having to get by on a sailor’s salary, so ever since I showed up in Boston she’s been all over me.’

  Henry couldn’t speak. He felt as if it were all some terrible nightmare, that it couldn’t really be happening.

  ‘I’m sorry, mate,’ said James. He reached out a hand, but Henry slapped it away. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I’ve behaved like a shit. But believe me, you’re better off without this one.’ James gestured towards Susan as if she were nothing.

  Henry and Susan looked at each other in silence as James walked out of the room and let himself out of the apartment. Henry felt as if his heart had been ripped out and smashed into a million pieces. Finally he spoke.

  ‘How could you? You’re carrying my—’ His veins turned to ice as the awful possibility hit him. Voice sinking to a barely audible whisper, he asked her, ‘Is it my baby?’

  Susan shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, before turning her back on him and putting her clothes on.

  ‘But you … Why …’ Henry shook his head in disbelief. ‘You’re despicable,’ he said, his strength returning. ‘I’m going out for an hour. When I come back, I want you and all your things gone. I never want to see or hear from you again.’

  ‘You can’t throw me out on to the street. Where am I supposed—’

  Henry gave a mirthless laugh, ‘Oh, I’m sure a resourceful girl like you will come up with something. Perhaps your wealthy boyfriend will have you back. You’ll never get another penny from me, I swear it.’

  Slamming the door behind him, Henry stormed out. He walked and walked, not knowing where he was going, until he walked into a bar, and there he stayed till the owner threw him out. He couldn’t believe that his best friend and his wife had betrayed him. Well, they could both go to hell. That gold-digging slut would never get another penny of his money as long as he lived. After the way she’d lied to him, telling him she loved him, telling him she was having his baby. He didn’t know what to believe any more; it was as if their whole marriage had been a lie.

  All Henry wanted to do was to go back to England and start again. Forget about Susan and James and the whole goddamn business. When he’d sobered up, he phoned his father and told him everything. Within hours he had wired him the fare and Henry was on his way home.

  29

  As Henry looked into Belinda’s tearful face, he could feel the past crashing into his present. ‘I’m not certain that I am your father.’

  ‘That’s not true, is it? You told her you didn’t want a baby, you threw her out.’

  ‘No, no … I never—’

  ‘As soon as she was pregnant, you abandoned her, penniless, on the other side of the Atlantic.’

  ‘No!’ Henry felt the anger rising. ‘No! I would never have done that. I wanted a baby. I wanted you.’ He looked around to see if anyone had noticed the change in him. ‘We need to talk somewhere else.’

  ‘Right here is fine. After all, I am family.’ Belinda was sobbing now. ‘Why did you leave us to have another family?’

  Looking at her properly for the first time, Henry could see that there was something of the Carew about her. In her eyes and in her brow. He reached out to her, wrapped his arms around her and held her close. ‘Are you really my daughter?’ There was hope rather than doubt in his voice.

  The sobbing Belinda clung to him. ‘Yes.’

  Henry’s voice quavered. ‘I’ve waited a long time to hold you.’

  *

  On the dance floor, Belinda’s doctored punch was loosening all inhibitions. Jem and Abi were having the time of their lives. Merlin had once again returned to his job of DJ, reluctantly letting the gorgeous Janie go. He looked around to see if she was still dancing, but she had left the floor and vanished.

  She was hunting down Greg.

  Greg, now that Henry seemed absorbed in something Belinda was saying, was hunting down Janie.

  Eventually he saw her walking around the outer edge of the party. Catching up with her, he took her arm and steered her away from the lights and into the deepening dark of the beach. Furtively he glanced around to see if anyone had spotted them leaving. The coast was clear.

  He held her tight. ‘Oh my God. I’ve missed you!’ He inhaled her beautiful but forbidden scent. ‘What were you thinking of, coming here? Now Henry knows about us.’

  Janie’s eyes lit up. ‘Good. You can tell Connie and Abi, then we can be together.’ She kissed him hard.

  When he surfaced he said, ‘It’ll be tough. Neither of us will have a job. I shan’t have a home. We’ll have only our love to keep us warm.’ He moved in for another kiss but she held him at bay.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Henry will sack us both and Connie will take me to the cleaners. We’ll be poor but together. Quite romantic, actually.’

  He kissed her again, slipping his hand under her skirt and grasping a smooth firm buttock.

  *

  Pru, who had yet to rejoin the party, was cooling her feet at the water’s edge. In the gloom she could make out two figures in a passionate embrace. A few more steps and she knew their identity.

  Unable to believe what she was seeing, she called out, ‘Greg? Is that you?’

  The two figures broke apart and the girl – Pru let out a gasp as she saw the mane of blonde hair and realised that it was Janie – hurriedly pulled her dress down. Covering his face with his hands, her cheating rat of a brother-in-law turned tail and ran into the dark.

  Gathering her senses, Pru hot-footed it back to the party.

  *

  Connie was trying to follow Jem as he showed her his limited skills at street dancing. She was enjoying herself immensely. Very tiddly, giggling and spinning wildly, while Jem was attempting to catch her when she looked as if she might fall. Dorothy was dancing elegantly with a group of teenage girls who were in complete awe of her. Merlin was sharing a couple of long spliffs with Pearl and her boyfriend, and the music was really rocking. The perfect night for the perfect party.

  Pru walked straight over to Connie and urgently touched her arm.

  ‘Con, I need to talk to you, right away.’

  Connie, thre
e sheets to the wind by this stage, shrugged off her sister. ‘I’m dancing, why don’t you join us? Your wonderful son has been showing me how to “bust some moves”!’

  ‘Stop behaving like an overgrown teenager,’ Pru snapped. ‘This is important.’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake, loosen up for once. You’re always bringing everybody down. What’s your problem? Can’t you stand to see anybody else enjoying themselves? Always trying to ruin my fun, always spoiling things.’

  ‘At least I’m not making a drunken exhibition of myself while my husband shoves his hand down his secretary’s knickers!’

  Slightly stoned as he was, Merlin hadn’t noticed that the music was coming to an end and he didn’t have the next track ready. In the short silence, Pru’s words rang out loud and clear.

  ‘Ooops,’ said Merlin, savouring the moment.

  Pru’s words washed over Connie like a bucket of cold water. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘You heard. I’ve just caught that so-called perfect husband of yours up to no good with that floozy of a secretary. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t taking dictation!’

  A cold anger rose up in Connie. ‘You nasty, jealous cow. You’ve always wanted to ruin everything, always muscling in and taking things that were rightfully mine. You hate to see me happy, don’t you?’ she screeched.

  ‘You’re just a pathetic little whinger, too scared to do anything for yourself and always playing the victim. Well, you got your own back, didn’t you? Destroyed the one thing that really meant something to me, knowing it would break my heart! I loved Merlin,’ countered Pru.

  ‘Oh, here we go again, still bleating on about bloody Merlin!’

  ‘You saw that I was happy, and because you were a selfish little madam, you threw yourself at Merlin, knowing that he was my boyfriend and that I was in love. I knew it when he took me to the fuggee hole and a pair of your knickers fell at my feet when he shook the quilt out for me to lie on. I knew they were yours because I’d bought them for your birthday! You did it on purpose, to hurt me.’ Pru was crying now, something she hadn’t done for a long time.

  ‘Since when did you ever care about my feelings? Whenever I had something, you did your best to spoil it or take it away from me – I hate you!’ Connie, too, was now in tears. She lunged at her sister, but both women were stopped dead in their tracks by a girl’s anguished scream.

  ‘Stop it, stop it, stop it!!’ Staggering from the punch that Belinda had made, Abi pushed her way through the dancers to get to them. ‘How could you! In front of everybody. And saying those horrible things about Daddy! I hate you both. You’re so selfish, neither of you care about anyone else but yourselves. This is my birthday and you’re ruining it!’ She screamed again at the top of her voice. ‘I’m sick of both of you – the party’s over!’ And with that, she ran off.

  ‘Abi, darling, come back!’ Connie shouted. She started to run after her, but tripped and fell, landing on her knees in the sand. Jem shot past her, calling Abi’s name. When Connie looked to see where they’d gone, Abi had been swallowed up by the darkness.

  Hearing the commotion, Dorothy rushed over.

  ‘What’s going on?’ she demanded.

  ‘We’ve upset Abi,’ said Pru, deflated and ashamed. ‘She’s run off.’

  Henry and Belinda had appeared and were helping Connie to her feet.

  ‘Where’s Greg?’ said Henry.

  ‘The last time I saw him, he was down by the water with that secretary of his,’ said Pru.

  ‘Shut up!’ screeched Connie, putting her hands over her ears, her mascara running towards her chin. ‘Shut up. Stop saying these horrible lies. Just because Merlin fancied me more than you. Greg loves me and would never ever be unfaithful to me.’

  ‘Never mind Greg,’ said Dorothy, ‘he can take care of himself. It’s Abi I’m worried about.’

  Francis was directing Merlin and some of the boys to shine the disco lights in the direction Abi had run to, but they weren’t powerful enough to illuminate much beyond the party zone.

  Everyone was calling Abi’s name. Some of the drunken teenagers thought it was all a joke, until Henry barked at them to shut up or else no one would be able to hear if Abi was calling for help.

  A few minutes later Jem ran back, chest heaving, barely able to get the words out: ‘Has she come back, Poppa?’ Grim-faced, Henry shook his head. ‘I ran down to the seashore, right to the cliffs and then all the way along, calling and calling, but I couldn’t see her.’

  ‘Maybe she’s gone back to the house,’ said Pru.

  ‘Wherever she’s gone, we need to find her,’ said Francis.

  ‘All she had on was that flimsy mermaid costume, it’s not safe for her to be running around in the cold and dark,’ said Dorothy, her arms around a sobbing Connie.

  Everyone looked to Henry. He strained to see beyond the lines of fairy lights. It was pitch-black out there. She could have stumbled from the cliff path in the dark, fallen on the rocks. If they didn’t find her soon, she might get caught by the turning tide. He beckoned Francis and Jem and instructed them to get a search party together. Pearl and her boyfriend set off to find some torches. Merlin was ordering people to go and turn their car headlights on to light up the night and help the search.

  The only thing that mattered now was to find Abi.

  *

  Blinded by tears, Abi had run to the seashore, then across the shallows to the sanctuary of the cliffs. All she could think of was to hide in the darkness and leave the ruins of her birthday behind her. She stubbed her toe on a boulder and fell forward into black space before landing in a rock pool. Limpet shells rasped against her cheek. Scrabbling to stand up, she put her hand to her face and felt the sting of blood. An agonising pain shot up her foot and Abi realised that she must have hurt her ankle badly when she fell. When she tentatively tried to put weight on it, an excruciating pain shot through her and she felt as if she would pass out.

  Sinking to her knees, Abi began to crawl. It took her a moment to realise that the dark opening ahead of her was the entrance to the cave that led to the undercliff boathouse of Atlantic House. She crawled inside, in utter agony, and collapsed on the damp sand. Then she started to call for help.

  All she heard in return was silence, broken only by the wash of the tide.

  Shivering with pain and fear, Abi began to sob.

  *

  ‘Here, drink this.’ Dorothy poured hot coffee for Pru and Constance, who were rapidly sobering up.

  The search parties were out combing the cliffs and seashore with torches; occasionally the sound of them shouting Abi’s name could be heard through the open windows.

  Henry had insisted that Connie go back to wait at the house in case she came home. Pru and Dorothy had gone with her. The two sisters had barely spoken since they left the beach.

  ‘Where on earth is Greg?’ asked Dorothy.

  ‘We don’t know, he seems to have disappeared,’ said Pru.

  ‘Pru says that she saw Greg … with Janie, his secretary, She says they were snogging’ Connie told her mother. ‘That’s what caused the row at the party. That’s why Abi ran off like she did. And it’s all because of Pru.’

  Henry, who had just entered the kitchen in time to hear Connie’s outburst, laid a hand on her shoulder and said sadly, ‘I’m afraid that what your sister told you was true.’

  ‘Daddy?’ Connie searched her father’s face, and found only his steady, truthful gaze.

  ‘I learned about it a few days ago, but couldn’t decide what to do. I left it too long, and now this … I’m so sorry, Connie. Your husband has behaved like a shit, and I’ve let you down. I should have had Pru’s courage and …’

  ‘Shhh, dear,’ said Dorothy, placing a hand on his arm. ‘This isn’t the time.’

  Connie’s face crumpled and she put her head in her hands. ‘Oh God, I can’t deal with this right now, not with Abi out there, missing. I just want her back. Nothing else matters.’ Great, heaving sobs wracked her
body.

  Pru reached out and put her arms around her sister, pulling her close.

  No one knew what to say. In the silence they heard something heavy banging down the stairs. Connie leapt up. ‘Abi!’ She ran to the door and stopped when she saw Janie, dragging a suitcase behind her.

  ‘What were you doing with my husband?’ demanded Connie, blocking her exit.

  Janie laughed. ‘What do you think? Playing Twister?’

  Connie slapped her across the face. ‘That’s from me,’ she said. Then she stamped on Janie’s sandalled foot. ‘And that’s from my daughter.’

  Suddenly appalled at what she’d done, Connie stood back. In a quiet voice she said, ‘Shame on you. Get out.’

  Clutching a hand to her face, Janie limped to the front door. As she stepped outside, she threw over her shoulder: ‘No wonder he wants to leave you – what a ghastly family you are!’ She closed the door with a bang before Connie could get to her.

  Pru entered the hallway. ‘Did you hurt her, Con?’

  ‘I think so.’

  ‘Good.’

  Arm in arm they went back to the kitchen to wait for news.

  *

  It was some time later when they heard footsteps on the terrace. Belinda had come back to report on progress, or the lack of it. The search parties had covered the beach and the cliff path, but there was no sign of Abi. Henry and Dorothy had gone back to The Bungalow to make more phonecalls and drum up some more volunteers.

  Connie started to cry again. ‘Perhaps she’s walked into the sea and drowned. We must call the coastguard and the police.’

  ‘I’ll get on to them.’ Belinda rubbed Connie’s shoulder and went to use the phone in the study.

  Connie watched her go. ‘She’s been so kind. Whereas—’

  There was a crash. They looked up to see a drunken Greg staggering through the French windows.

  ‘Greg! Where have you been?’

  Greg swayed slightly, obviously the worse for wear. ‘Connie, love, you’re everything to me,’ he slurred. ‘She means noth—’

  ‘Never mind that now, you bastard. Abi’s missing. Our little girl’s missing,’ Connie screamed at him. ‘It’s been almost two hours now. Francis and the others have been out looking all that time and they can’t find her.’