‘So you’re Mr and Mrs Opie’s son?’ she addressed Richard. Bettany was ill at ease. She knew little about children and was never comfortable with them. The three before her were obviously bright-minded and capable, and she found them a little intimidating. It was silly, and she was cross with herself for feeling this way. She was the adult and superior here. ‘You bear resemblance to your father, but you’re not at all like your sister Claire.’ Then to Lily, whose natural untidiness, although dressed in a good coat and clean boots, and new knitted pixie-style hat, scarf and gloves, made her seem rather like a little savage; she would undoubtedly be impertinent and nosy. ‘And you’re Lily Praed, and the sweetheart of the village, by all accounts.’
Lily responded to Bettany’s extensive smile by curtseying. ‘Yes, my lady. My father’s a fisherman. Us Praeds are one of the oldest families in Portcowl.’
‘Really? How fascinating.’ Bettany was praying Winifred would soon return to take this lot to the kitchen. Why on earth had she offered these children hospitality? She should have thanked them and sent them on their way. Jacob should be here, but he had been called away to the telephone to speak to the archdeacon. Bettany only felt poised when with her own set and unassuming people like Christina Vyvyan and Claire Opie. If she had known that her first time here would coincide with one of Jacob’s events, she would have postponed. He had taken it for granted she would be happy to pitch in, but she had not even got the bearings of the vicarage yet let alone the parish – this lowly parish.
‘Everything looks fine,’ Joe said, running his eyes over the white damask tablecloths. There was nothing else to say, there was nothing else to see.
Richard sighed. He was bored. If Miss Howard-Leigh had actually offered the warm drinks and biscuits, he would have declined. The trouble with her sort of people was that they just assumed, and he was offended about being sent to the kitchen. He wasn’t a beggar.
Lily piped up, ‘You look lovely, my lady. I like your brooch.’
‘Really, dear?’ Bettany’s eyelids fluttered wildly and she stared at the girl. ‘You shouldn’t address me as my lady, but as Miss Howard-Leigh. Well? I’ll ring for you to be shown to the kitchens.’
The boys pushed their bikes out through the vicarage gates, with Lily trotting after them like a dutiful puppy. ‘It was lovely, the cook putting honey in the hot milk. Her biscuits are made with real butter too, did you hear her say so?’
The boys ignored her.
‘This wretched party is going to be horribly twee. It’s for grown-ups and little kids.’ Richard scowled, with disgust.
‘You won’t be as glad as Miss H-L, from what I saw of her,’ Joe said.
Bettany retreated to her bedroom and took out her journal. When I agreed to marry Jacob I knew I would have to become involved with some of his parishioners, but I did not allow for dealing with parishioners children. I thought, as his wife, I would dine with the local ladies, but there are few ladies here. Fund raising is a must, of course, but I did not expect to have to get involved beyond committee level.
Her pen dashed across the pages with more negative comments concerning her bridal future.
Eleven
Running her fingers down the folds of her satiny sea-blue bridesmaid dress, Evie turned from side to side and stood up on tiptoe to try to gain a full view of herself. She had just sewed the lace she had made over the bodice, and was trying on the dress. Tomorrow the dress would hang in Alison’s bedroom until her wedding day, where all the wedding party would get ready. Her father was out at sea, but she wouldn’t have shown him the dress anyway. He wasn’t interested in Alison’s wedding and did not intend to go, even to the chapel. For a moment Evie wondered what it would be like to be a bride herself, making all the preparations, and looking forward to lying in the arms of a new husband and making love. With the right man the supreme intimacy would be wonderful, she was sure.
She heard someone come in the back door. ‘Hello, Evie! You in the front room?’
It was Rob. She couldn’t be more pleased. Thrilled was a better word, for delicious feathery sensations were slinking up and down her back. ‘No, I’m up here, trying on my bridesmaid dress. Give me a moment to change.’
‘Don’t do that,’ Rob called, at the foot of the stairs. ‘Let me see you in it.’
‘Oh, I don’t know if I should.’
‘It’s not bad luck for the bride’s brother to see anything before the big day. Don’t be shy.’
I’m not shy with you, Rob, Evie thought, ecstatic at her confidence. More than anything she wanted Rob to see her dressed in something beautiful. ‘Be just a mo.’
Kicking off her flat shoes she put on her high heels and made a quick tidy up to her hair. With her palm over her rapidly beating heart, she made herself walk slowly to the top of the stairs, and halted there and looked down on Rob, and smiled.
‘Wow.’ His eyes glowed large in his strong face in distinct male appreciation. He stretched up his hand. ‘Come to me.’
Evie floated down the stairs, putting her hand into Rob’s hand and he supported her down the last three steps. He held on to her hand, firmly.
‘You look stunning, Evie, you’re beautiful, like something out of sea myths. I’m going to dance nearly every dance with you at the reception and I don’t care what anyone thinks, specially Davey.’
His mood was so buoyant and sparkling, Evie laughed. ‘And you’ll look handsome in your suit.’ Then common sense prevailed. ‘Rob, this is the first time you’ve been out. You’d better sit down. Is everything all right?’
‘I’m stronger now, will soon be my old self. In fact this is the second time I’ve been out today. I walked with Alison along the quay and had a few words with all the crews. Davey ignored me, of course. I’ll go mad stuck in the house. Alison’s gone to Alfie’s for supper. She’s left me something to eat, but what I really need is company. You don’t mind, do you, Evie?’
‘Not at all.’
‘And I wanted to give you this.’ Rob picked up something he had dropped on the table, a large box of chocolates, with a picture of a country rose-covered cottage on the lid. ‘To thank you for all you’ve done for me. My recovery would have been a lot more miserable without you popping in.’
‘You didn’t have to do that, Rob,’ Evie whispered, staggered by the gift. She had never thought to receive such a grand gesture, an expensive and meaningful one too. ‘But thank you very much.’
‘I wanted to see that lovely amazed expression you take on at times, just like now. You’ll have to keep the box a secret from Davey.’
‘I’ll keep it in my room. Dad never goes in it. I really ought to get out of this dress.’
‘Does that mean you want me to go?’
‘Not in the least, stay and chat. You get settled. Just give me a few moments and I’ll be straight back down.’
‘Fine,’ Rob smiled with genuine warmth. ‘I enjoy talking with you, being with you, and Evie, you really do look gorgeous.’ Slipping up to her room, Evie’s heart was thudding like heavy waves while she undid every tiny satin button of the dress and laid it carefully over the foot stead of her bed. Hastily, she pulled on the clothes she had worn before, but she kept on the high heels, they made her legs look longer and shapelier. She wanted Rob to see her at her best. If she had any make-up she would have dashed on a little, but her reflection in the looking glass literally shone back at her. Taking a deep breath, darting her fists about in frenzied glee, she took the stairs down quite sedately.
Rob’s eyes were on her, from where he was sitting in the middle of the couch.
‘Would you like some—?’
‘I only want you to come and sit beside me.’ Rob patted the spot.
Evie did so, turned to face him.
‘There’s no need for us to dance all round the quay, is there, Evie?’ There was a low huskiness in his tone. ‘I’m not mistaken in saying that we’ve grown very close, am I.’
‘You’re not mistaken at all, Rob.
’ Her whole being was on fire at his words, words she had wanted to hear more than anything. She should be floating up to the clouds but there was an immovable obstacle to them going on from here. ‘But…’
‘No buts, darling, I know it’s Davey you’re thinking about. Right now I want to kiss you and I know you want it too, and we mustn’t deny ourselves.’
Evie’s arms went to him at the same moment he drew her tightly into his arms, their eyes closing. Their lips touched in the sweetest intense sensation. ‘I love you, Evie,’ he murmured, taking her lips again. ‘You’re mine, mine.’
Evie kissed him and held on to his powerful body, giving to him, being melted into him. It was so right. She shivered in rapture as he kissed her behind her ears, and she shuddered when he caressed her back, arms and throat with the backs of his fingers. ‘I love you too, Rob. I never thought I would. It’s happened. I couldn’t help it.’
They let the kissing and loving go on and on. Then, with Evie resting her head in the hollow of his neck, they tightly held hands. ‘We must be together, Evie, darling. We deserve to be. We can’t allow our love to be for nothing. You have the right to find happiness, to get married and raise a family. It would be rotten and selfish of Davey to refuse you this, even though the man you love happens to be me. The accident has changed me. I know what’s really important now, but I know I’ll never be able to convince Davey it’s true. But Davey wouldn’t want you marrying anyone ever. I don’t want to hide my feelings for you, to skulk about behind Davey’s back. Will you be brave and confront him, Evie? You’re old enough to do whatever you want. I know your mother made you promise to always take care of Davey but she would also have wanted your happiness too, I’m sure. If we marry, Davey will have to accept it. You’re not afraid of your love for me, are you?
‘Of course not, never Rob,’ she replied emphatically, gently touching his face. ‘Don’t ever believe that.’
‘Or afraid of your father’s reaction?’
‘It won’t be easy, but that’s all, darling.’
‘You mustn’t let him talk you round, Evie. You might spend the rest of your life in misery if you don’t follow your heart. What would be the point in that? And we’d find it unbearable seeing each other nearly every day knowing we can’t be together.’
‘I’ll speak to Father as soon as he’s home and rested. The only way to get through what lies ahead is to speak up and get it out in the open. You’d better not come round here tomorrow, Rob. I’ll join you and let you know what he says.’
* * *
‘I thought there was something different about you the moment I came through the door,’ Davey muttered grimly. After a poor night’s fishing, he had breakfasted, and warm in his fireside chair with a lit pipe, he had listened without interrupting Evie’s ‘something serious to tell you’.
‘Are you angry with me, Dad?’ Evie asked sitting opposite him, leaning forward, pulling at her skirt with taut fingers, her cheeks flushed red with anxiety. ‘I haven’t done anything underhand.’
‘I know you wouldn’t.’ Clipped tones. Sigh like a cold blast of air. A long stony silence.
Evie waited for him, her insides in pieces. It had been surprisingly easy to spill out the speech she had rehearsed all through the sleepless night.
Davey dropped his pipe down in the fender. ‘Will you go ahead whatever I say?’
‘I’d hate to do anything without your blessing, you know that, Dad. I’ll always be devoted to you, but I really want to marry Rob. I love him, and I know he loves me too, totally.’ Evie begged with pleading hands. ‘I trust him, Dad. I know he’ll be good to me.’
‘Everyone must be good to you or they’ll have me to deal with,’ he said gruffly, his weathered features set like granite. He entered another forbidding silence, his eyes staring at the floor, and it seemed to Evie the minutes of eternity were dragging by.
Although she was beside the warm range, Evie felt cold. She kept a small crochet shawl over the back of her chair and she put it round her shoulders and huddled up, feeling young and small and lost. Soon her eyes would spill bleak tears. Her father was thinking of ways to crush her dream.
At last Davey lifted his head. To Evie it was as if a cold bleak winter had passed and she was about to face another that would last all her life. ‘Dad?’
‘I understand you wanting to marry and have a family, Evie.’
‘But?’ She could barely speak from the disappointment at his coming objections. It would take the shine off her life if her marriage meant she and her father would end up estranged.
‘It’s a mystery and a trouble to me that you’ve chosen Rob Praed. There’s many fine men hereabouts, sea and wind above him in morals. But if you must have him, as you said, you’ll only be next door. I’ll be able to keep a weather eye on you, and if that man as much as raises his voice to you, he can expect hell and high water from me.’
‘You mean you’re willing to accept Rob and I getting married?’
‘Evie, I hope you don’t believe I’ve been, or ever would be cruel to you. I’ve held out against you leaving home for whatever reason because I wanted you to be absolutely sure it’s what you wanted. I promised Iris that very thing. Both of us had witnessed too many heartbreaks and we didn’t want that for you.’
Evie was up on her feet and hugging his neck. ‘Oh Dad, I can’t believe it. Thank you so much. I’ll pop in every day to see to your meals and you can come round to us. I can’t wait to tell Rob, and then Beth. She’ll be as shocked as much as she was when Miss Copeland’s brother was suddenly reunited with his wife.’
Davey hugged Evie then held her away from him. ‘Will you allow an old man to make plans for you? I’d like you to wear my mother’s engagement ring, as your mother did the day she accepted my proposal of marriage. Iris would have wanted you to have a nice wedding, fine dresses, flowers and everything. ‘I’ll be proud to walk you on my arm down the chapel aisle. I’d like a spring wedding. Give us time to plan it properly.’
‘So I have your blessing, Dad?’
‘You do. Now, after all this your father’s throat is parched as sand. Put the kettle on, my handsome.’
Evie hummed happily as she set about making fresh tea.
Davey relit his pipe. He had spoken the truth about wanting her to be sure she knew what she really wanted out of life. Evie could make her plans but she would never become wife to Rob Praed, not him. Davey was unconvinced Praed was a changed man, and the braggart knew about Davey and his lover Cyrus. Once Evie became Praed’s wife he might feel it right to tell her, and Davey couldn’t bear the thought that Evie might look at him in horror and disgust. This wedding was not going to happen.
Twelve
‘We’re on our way to lunch. Can’t you two cheer up a bit?’ Christina addressed Beth and Kitty. Beth was driving them to Mor Penty. Kitty was in the back of the car with the dogs.
Receiving nothing more than glum expressions, Christina rebuked them. ‘I don’t understand why either of you are against the happy news you’ve received. Kitty, your brother has his wife back with him, and he and his children seem so happy. And you, Beth, have a sister who has just delightedly announced her engagement. I understand that you both have reservations in each case, but that shouldn’t stop either of you supporting your respective brother and sister’s wishes. You certainly shouldn’t be so openly opposed to their new-found happiness.’
‘I don’t trust Rob Praed, Mum,’ Beth said, carefully watching the bending roads as she drove but skidding a little towards a ditch. She sighed irritably. ‘He’s not good enough for Evie. He’ll break her heart. Evie’s had her head turned by a handsome face and false promises. All she will have ahead of her is being torn between him and her miserable father. I can’t see Davey letting go of the stranglehold he has on her. I’d be thrilled if Evie was marrying anyone else, someone kinder, without stubborn pride, and with her living further away from her grasping father.’
‘And I don’t trust Connie one b
it.’ Kitty’s cheeks burned with resentment. ‘Her lover ran out on her and she’s come running back to Stuart. She’s using Stuart because she’s feeling rejected and lonely. The moment things don’t suit her she’ll be off again, and Stuart and the children will be left even more upset than before. You advised me to give her every chance, Beth. Well, now you understand how I feel.’
Beth saw in the rear view mirror Kitty dart her a thorny look. ‘I thought she seemed sincere, that it was worth giving her the benefit of the doubt,’ Beth said defending herself. ‘It’s different where Stuart is concerned. He was already married and was struggling with two young children. We all saw how ecstatic Louis and Martha were when they saw Connie. There seemed to be no strain at all between Stuart and Connie. From what we can tell, everything seems to be working out well.’
‘The point is—’
‘That Mr Copeland and Evie are adults and should be allowed to make their own decisions and their own mistakes, as we all are. It’s really no one else’s business,’ Christina said firmly. ‘If the pair of you go on showing your disapproval you’ll drive a very unwelcome wedge between yourselves and those you’re worried about. Your duty is to support them, and if things do go wrong to be there for them to help pick up the pieces. Now, Kitty, Stuart and Connie have extended an eager invitation to all of us to spend the day with them, but to you in particular. I’m sure they will have gone to a lot of trouble to make everything perfect. They’re probably very nervous. The least you can do is make an effort to seem pleased for them, don’t you think? To put them at ease.’
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