It Started with a Secret

by Jill Mansell

  Seth took her hand, interlinking his fingers with hers, reveling in the sensation and recalling the last time it had happened. “This thing. You and me. Just so you know, I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it was going to last.”

  “And if it all goes horribly wrong, you’ll sack me.” Lainey’s mouth twitched. “So I’m kind of hoping it works out too.”

  They made their way back to the car. Once inside, Seth drew her toward him and kissed her for the first time. It was everything he could have hoped for and definitely worth the wait.

  He had a feeling this was going to work out.

  Eventually they heard a bark and broke apart. Observing them from a few meters away was a man of roughly his own age, with dark hair and electric-blue eyes, walking an ancient, whiskery dog on a lead. Breaking into a dazzling grin, the man winked at Lainey before continuing on down the main street.

  Cheeky sod.

  Over on the village green, Seth discovered, they were also now being watched with interest by the group of teenagers. He said drily, “I feel like a tourist attraction. Time to go.”

  Her eyes sparkling, Lainey gave his arm a squeeze. “How weird is it that a few months ago I’d never even heard of St. Carys? And now all I want to do is go back there with you.”

  Chapter 45

  A fortnight later, the stage was set to celebrate Richard’s eightieth birthday. Always up for a party, he’d invited over two hundred people to Menhenick House.

  Thankfully, after three cloudy, drizzly days in a row, the skies had cleared, the sun was now blazing down, and the garden, thanks to Kit’s loving attention over the course of the summer, had never looked better.

  The guest list comprised an eclectic assortment of family, fellow actors and arty types, and friends acquired over the decades, ranging from long ago to those made more recently during his time here in St. Carys. Even a couple of ex-wives—the calmer ones who could be trusted not to make a scene—had been invited along to join in with the celebrations.

  “You’ve done wonders. Everything’s perfect,” said Majella as they surveyed the scene. Lainey had strung colored bunting around the yard, along with garlands of fairy lights to come on later when it grew dark.

  “Seth helped me. I couldn’t have done it without him.” Just saying his name still gave Lainey a warm glow, not to mention the thought of that magical first weekend they’d spent together at his flat in Bristol. The last fortnight had been the happiest of her life.

  “And we couldn’t do anything without you.” Majella squeezed her arm and whispered, “How’s it going? All OK?”

  Lainey smiled, because although Majella had tried her best to be pleased for her and Seth, at the same time, she had been worried that if the relationship didn’t work out, it would make life at Menhenick House difficult for all concerned. She’d explained apologetically that she couldn’t bear the thought that if it went wrong, Lainey might up sticks and leave.

  “So far, so good. In fact, better than OK.”

  “Well make sure you keep it that way, please.” Majella gave her arm another squeeze. “And I am starting to relax, just so you know. I’ve never seen Seth so happy. I mean, when he was with Dawn they seemed to get on well, but he was still…himself, you know? This time it’s different. He can’t stop looking at you and his eyes light up in a way I’ve never seen before. It’s like you truly belong together.”

  “I hope so.” Secretly, Lainey felt it too.

  “Ooh, I haven’t had a chance to tell you.” Majella brightened. “Guess who I saw when I popped into the post office at lunchtime?”

  “Hugh Jackman?” Well, you never knew; maybe Richard had given his good friend Hugh a call, casually made a last-minute addition to the guest list.

  “Dawn! Sitting outside Paddy’s Café! And you’ll never guess who she was with.”

  “Umm…Kate Winslet?”

  “No! Niall.” Majella pulled an eek! face and strummed an imaginary guitar. “I couldn’t believe it! And it didn’t look like a first-date scenario either…she was draped all over him, as if they knew each other really well.”

  Lainey boggled. “Wow, we’d heard she’d started seeing someone.” Which had been good news as far as she and Seth were concerned. “But we didn’t know who it was.”

  “Let’s just hope he’s nicer to her than he was to me. Anyway, Dan’s going to be here soon.” Majella beamed and patted her heart. “I still can’t believe it’s happened. Honestly, he makes me feel like a teenager again.”

  “Things are looking up around here,” said Lainey.

  “For us. But not for India.” The smile faded from Majella’s face, because India continued to worry them and was flatly refusing to confide in anyone about whatever it was that was clearly still troubling her. She was quiet and withdrawn, not her usual exuberant self at all, and over the last few days had become noticeably more on edge whenever anyone had mentioned today’s party. Which, to be fair, had happened a lot.

  “We’re keeping an eye on her,” Lainey’s tone was reassuring. “It’s all we can do. Whatever it is, we’ll get her through it.”

  Although quite how, when they were so in the dark about the problem and India flatly refused to talk to anyone or consider any kind of professional help, she wasn’t entirely sure.

  * * *

  People started arriving at six, and by seven the garden was filling up nicely. Lainey carried out plates of hors d’oeuvres and began offering them to the guests, helped by Nerys, who was still adamant she didn’t want to be introduced to anyone as Richard’s daughter. “Oh no, really, I couldn’t be doing with the attention.” She winced at the hideous prospect. “All those people giving me the once-over and coming out with ridiculous questions…it’s not my cup of tea at all. If anyone asks, just say I’m a friend of the family, that Mum and Sir Richard worked together years ago.”

  Which just went to show, Lainey realized, that some secrets were better coming out while others were far happier staying hidden.

  Oh, but she still wished she knew what was troubling India.

  A cry of “Wyatt!” went up behind her, and Lainey turned to see Majella and Richard greeting the latest arrival. When Kit had mentioned that Wyatt was coming down to Cornwall this weekend, they’d insisted he be invited along to the party. And being Wyatt and partial to an over-the-top gesture, he was carrying a dramatic arrangement of tropical flowers.

  Kit embraced him as Lainey made her way over to them. Richard, rakish in a cobalt-blue linen suit worn over a bright-pink shirt and with a pink rose in his buttonhole, said, “Flowers for me, young man? Most kind, but I’d have preferred something I could drink.”

  “Which is why these are for Majella.” Wyatt presented them to her with a gentlemanly flourish, then turned back to Richard. “I couldn’t manage to carry yours out here because it’s a crate of Perrier-Jouët. It’s sitting in the kitchen.”

  Richard landed a smacking kiss on each of Wyatt’s cheeks and declared expansively, “Did I ever tell you you’re my favorite American?”

  Wyatt’s cheeks glowed as he turned to include Lainey and Kit in the conversation. “Actually, I’ve got a piece of news for you two. Think you’re going to like it.”

  Lainey clutched his arm with delight. “You’ve got yourself a boyfriend? Yay, that’s brilliant! Isn’t it brilliant?” She beamed at Kit, but Wyatt was already shaking his head, looking pleased with himself.

  “No, not that. I won’t say it’s better than that, but it’s still good.” He paused, then said, “Mom and Dad have just bought the Chateau de Rafale.”

  “Oh my God! Are you serious?” Lainey’s mouth fell open. “That’s amazing…Biddy and Bill will be so relieved.”

  “They are. And they’re going to be staying on to run it as a business.”

  “Wow…”

  “Pop needs a project to keep him occup
ied. He put in the research, and it’s a sound financial investment. Biddy and Bill love the place, so why would they need to leave? It works out well for everyone, and they’re planning to turn it into a really high-end destination. I didn’t tell you before, in case the deal fell through, but they completed the sale yesterday. It’s a done deal and everyone’s delighted.”

  “This is the best news.” Lainey threw her arms around Wyatt and wondered what it must be like to belong to a family capable of just buying a French chateau outright because retirement was a bit boring and you fancied opening a hotel. Imagine if she’d been a completely different kind of person, the ruthlessly gold-digging kind who couldn’t be bothered to save up their own money in order to start up a business; never mind that he was gay, she could have married Wyatt Hilstanton herself.

  “And of course we’ll be doing weddings there,” Wyatt whispered into her ear as Seth made his way across the lawn toward them. “So if things carry on going as well as Kit tells me they’re going…you know where to find us.”

  Lainey said, “Very funny.” It was far too soon, of course, but deep down, the thought that it could conceivably happen one day made her heart flutter.

  An hour later, they heard the roar of a powerful sports car pulling up outside, and Christina made her late but show-stopping entrance in a full-length, slinky white dress and more silver necklaces than Harrods. Spyros, the Lamborghini-owning boyfriend, was dressed all in black and kept casting covert glances in the direction of the other attractive female guests, which didn’t bode well.

  Once Christina had finished greeting Richard, his ex-wives, and several of his more famous actor friends, she collected a fresh glass of champagne and sauntered across the lawn to join Seth and Lainey.

  “Here we go,” Seth murmured as she approached. “Mum, hi, you’re looking great.”

  “I should hope so, darling, after all those weeks of detox in a no-fun retreat! Still, no pain no gain, and at least my liver’s had a rest. Now it’s as good as new and ready to rock and roll again. Cheers!” She clinked her glass against both theirs, then turned to Lainey. “And this is a turnup for the books, isn’t it? Seth tells me you two are a couple now! Which is wonderful, obviously, but you’ll have to keep an eye on him—my son’s almost as bad as I am when it comes to settling down.”

  “Actually, I’m not,” said Seth.

  “Only joking, my darling. And this one’s lovely, so I definitely approve. So tell me how it happened, how you two got together.” Christina fixed her heavily mascaraed gaze on Lainey, bright with expectation. “I want to hear everything, all the details!”

  Since there was no way that was going to happen, Lainey said lightly, “Well, I was visiting my Granny Ivy in the Cotswolds and Seth gave me a lift up there, then at the end of the day he came to pick me up from Goosebrook, and that was when we discovered—”

  “Goosebrook? That name rings a distant bell. Now why does it sound familiar?”

  “Yes, it was the most brilliant coincidence, because that was when we realized it was—”

  “Oh, was this the day you came up to the retreat to tell me about Matteo?” Christina turned to Seth and clapped her hands in delight. “So really it’s all thanks to me!”

  It was the suddenness of the movement that caught Lainey’s eye. India, sitting alone on a bench beneath a pergola overhung with honeysuckle, had dropped her phone on the grass and her head had jerked up. Now she was staring at Christina like a mongoose hypnotized by a snake.

  “Yes, it was that day.” As if sensing that Lainey was distracted, Seth took over the story about their first meeting, twenty years earlier, up a tree in a back garden in Goosebrook.

  “Well, isn’t that just wonderful?” Christina’s many bangles jangled as she clapped her hands. “Bravo! And I’m going to take all the credit!”

  “I did tell you about it at the time,” Seth reminded her.

  “Did you, darling? I don’t remember. Oh, now look at that. Empty.” She regarded her glass with dismay. “I’d better go and find Spyros and pick up a refill.”

  The moment she’d tottered off, India was on her feet.

  “What was Christina talking about just then?” She was looking at Seth, her jaw visibly tense.

  He laughed. “When Lainey got stuck in the tree, you mean?”

  “Not that. When she said you went to see her to tell her about Matteo.” India’s rib cage was rising and falling as if she’d run a marathon. “Who’s Matteo?”

  Seth hesitated. “He was a friend of hers from years ago. Why?”

  “But who was he? Did you know him too? Have you…met him?”

  Lainey checked to make sure no one else was within earshot. No, all clear.

  What was going on here? The color had drained from India’s face and she was practically hyperventilating with the need to know about Matteo.

  Seth clearly understood that something significant was happening too. Taking care not to say the wrong thing, he shook his head. “I…didn’t meet Matteo, no.”

  They were staring at each other now. As far as the two of them were concerned, the party no longer existed.

  “Why are you asking?” Seth went on. “What does the name mean to you?”

  India’s gaze slid to Lainey, then back again. In an unsteady voice she said, “Seth, tell me who Matteo is. If you know more than you’re saying…please just say it. I need to know.”

  “First,” Seth replied slowly, “you have to tell me where you heard his name.”

  Chapter 46

  Lainey held her breath; it was like those cycling races in a velodrome where neither rider wants to make the first move.

  At last India said, “I saw a message on Facebook.”

  “From?”

  “Your mum.”

  He closed his eyes briefly. “Of course.”

  “Don’t get her back over here. It was an accident.” India shook her head. “I was never meant to see it. She was replying to something from one of her old girlfriends and typed it into my inbox by mistake. Then ten seconds later, it vanished. She’d deleted it.” India tilted her head back, her eyes swimming with tears. “If I hadn’t been on my account at that moment I’d never have seen it, never known what it said.” She swallowed with difficulty. “But I was on there, so I did.”

  “It’s OK,” said Seth. “I know what it was.” He also knew that this was unconnected with the medical diagnosis; it only concerned the other Matteo.

  “I want you to already know, more than anything. But what if you only think you do?”

  “Fine, I’ll say it. My mother slept with some guy called Matteo, and he might be my biological father. But it doesn’t matter one bit.” Seth’s voice was low and reassuring. “And it doesn’t change anything, because my dad was your dad and you and Violet are my sisters and… Oh don’t cry, please don’t, you mustn’t. I love you…”

  “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe you already knew.” India fell into his arms, sobbing in earnest now with relief. “When did you find out?”

  “When I was about your age.”

  “What?” She did a horrified double take. “Oh God, how awful for you.”

  “Not awful at all.” Seth rocked her like a baby as she continued to drip tears and mascara down the front of his white shirt. “Like I said, it makes no difference. Thanks.” He took the tissues Lainey passed him and began mopping at India’s cheeks. “When did you see the Facebook message?”

  “F-five weeks ago. It was so awful, because I thought you didn’t know, so there was no one I could tell, and I was just bottling it all up inside me and wishing I’d never seen it, and then I couldn’t stop worrying and panicking because we all know what Christina’s like, and if she could let it slip once, sooner or later it was bound to happen again, only the next time you’d be the one who found out…”

  Beyond them, th
e party was in full swing, carrying on without them. “Everything just seemed to be happening at once,” India went on, her voice cracking. “And then Nerys turned up, which just made it a hundred times worse, because if Grandad found out you weren’t related to him, would he even bother with you anymore now he’d gotten a new daughter instead?”

  Lainey’s heart went out to her. India had been conjuring up worst-case scenarios for weeks, spiraling into panic and despair. And now Violet was on her way over, clearly having spotted that something was going on. She took one look at her sister’s wet, makeup-streaked face, and said, “Oh God, what’s happened? Tell me.”

  India looked at Seth, who nodded. So between much sniffing and eye wiping, India did.

  By the time she’d finished, Violet was in tears too. She hugged her twin fiercely. “I can’t believe you kept it to yourself. You didn’t even tell me.”

  Lainey passed over a second handful of tissues.

  “You were the last person I’d tell. I wanted to so much, but then you’d have been as miserable as me, and I couldn’t bear to do that to you.”

  * * *

  Taking the long way around, the four of them slipped back to the house so Seth could change his mascara-stained shirt and the girls could repair their makeup.

  On the landing, India turned suddenly to Lainey. “I’m so sorry about the nail polish and the chewing gum. And there was a fridge magnet too, but it only cost a pound. I’m going to go back to all the shops and apologize and pay them back. I just felt so helpless, not knowing what to do about the Matteo thing, but I can stop worrying now. And I feel so much better already.” She heaved a happy sigh. “I promise I’m never ever going to do it again.”

  “I know you won’t.” Lainey smiled as she found herself wrapped in her first ever embrace from India.

  “Thanks. I’m glad you’re here and I’m glad you and Seth are together. Promise me you’ll never break up.”