*****
Fraser had been at Wainford and arrived at Larchwood late in the afternoon. Lizzy met him in the hall. ‘Have you heard from Claudia?’
Fraser frowned, and his voice was laced with concern as echoes of Rowmont resounded in his head. ‘Not since this morning. Why? What’s happened?’
‘She left the hotel early to get Justin, but she isn’t here yet. We arranged to get together for a chat. I need to talk to her. It’s time somebody told her. I hate this secrecy, Fraser.’
‘She hasn’t been well enough to take it on-board. Don’t you think she’s got enough to deal with?’
‘She hasn’t completely recovered, but she’s not frail. She’s been coping with Elsa Hamilton all her life, she can do it in her sleep. We’re her friends…her family, and none of us told her that her mother turned up looking for the diaries. She’ll think I was in on it, and I had nothing to do with it.’
‘All the same, I’d rather you didn’t discuss it with her―not yet.’
‘It isn’t your call, Fraser, is it? I realise that you had to do something at the hospital, claim that you were in a relationship―engaged even, but this masquerade about being her next of kin is over now. It’s insulting not to tell her. I called Heather Brow, but she isn’t answering. And her mobile’s switched off.’
‘I’ll go to Heather Brow,’ Fraser said, ‘she might have called in for something. If she’s there, I’ll explain everything. And I’ll reassure her that you had no part in it.’ He wasn’t looking forward to telling Claudia about Elsa Hamilton’s visit, but Lizzy was right, she needed to be told.
Claudia’s car wasn’t there. He entered the house and looked around. A couple of Justin’s toys were on the carpet, but no special ones…no cat. There was a note on the sofa, and with a glimmer of hope, he reached for it. But that glimmer turned into a dark fear when he realised that Elsa Hamilton had beaten him to it. A fit of rage surged through him. The woman didn’t even try and hide her lies and deceit.
The sound of Claudia’s car, coming up the drive, drew Fraser to the window. She parked behind his vehicle on the drive. He sighed with relief and went to the door. ‘What are you doing, Claudia?’ he called to her.
‘We needed food. We’ve been to the supermarket.’
‘Why have you come back to Heather Brow?’
‘I live here. So does Justin. But he can still spend visitation days with you, at Larchwood, when we’ve sorted it out.’ She seemed unemotional and cold towards him.
‘Visitation…?’
‘Do you prefer the term access? I don’t mind which one you use, just sort out your side of it as soon as possible.’ She reached into the car and released Justin from his seat.
Fraser stood by the rules of not having a row in front of Justin, but he had to hold down a lot of anger and frustration. Claudia wasn’t likely to listen to his explanation yet.
‘I have to get Justin ready for bed,’ Claudia told him in a matter of fact way, ‘he’s exhausted.’ She took the child inside, leaving Fraser to do the only thing that was of any use at that moment. He unloaded the shopping and put it in the kitchen, then helped himself to a cold drink. Claudia had obviously been devastated by the letter, what’s more she didn’t deem him to be innocent. This was going to be hell.
‘You can go up and say goodnight now,’ Claudia said when she came back downstairs. ‘But you’ll have to be quick, he’s almost asleep.’
Fraser wanted to talk to Justin, stroke his head, but the child was prone to waking suddenly with enough energy to play for another hour or so. This was difficult enough already, so he decided not to stay by the cot for more than a few seconds.
When he returned to Claudia, she stood motionless, as she looked through the window. He said nothing, it seemed better to leave her to speak in her own time.
‘When were you going to tell me?’ she asked, without turning to face him. She seemed calm, but he knew that her well-practised coping mechanism was holding her together.
‘When you recovered.’
She turned from the window, her eyes seemed to burn her anger into him. ‘You know me,’ she said, ‘I recover from situations very quickly. So are you going to tell me about my mother’s visit?’
‘How did you find out?’
‘She mailed a letter to the receptionist, at the hotel, and enclosed one for me to be delivered personally. The receptionist reassured me that you were a perfect gentleman and helped her.’
‘Your mother was ill,’ Fraser explained. ‘Even so, we couldn’t get her off the premises quick enough. We put her on the plane, and she went home.’ He could see that Claudia felt betrayed, but she remained controlled.
‘After all she’s done you offered your plane?’
‘We were stalling her until we could warn you. In the end, we thought it would be better to get her out of the country, as quickly as possible, and then work out what best to do.’
‘Clearly that didn’t include telling me.’
‘Claudia, not so long ago I thought you were kidnapped or murdered. I even feared that you might not wake up, you might have memory loss, brain damage even. You wouldn’t ever know me or Justin again. So forgive me if I’ve been a little over-protective.’
‘I haven’t forgotten what you did for me. I appreciate what you say. But how could you…?’ Her self-control fled from her grasp. She failed to hold back the tears that surged from her eyes as she cried out, ‘How could you be such a cruel, heartless turncoat?’
Fraser was horrified at her suggestion. ‘A what!’
‘Why did you take the diaries, Fraser, why?’ She gulped and pushed the tears from her eyes with the flat of her hand. ‘Why did you give them to her? I know she’s dangerous, but I was going…’ She was unable to continue.
Fraser made a move to comfort her. ‘Darling please let…’
Claudia held up her hands to stop him. ‘Did you learn nothing from what she’s been doing? For goodness sake, are you still on her side?’
‘Will you just—’
‘I’ve broken my promise to my grannie, and Alyona. Do you think it’s going to keep my mother quiet for the rest of her life? What about that phantom, Russian jewellery? Did she tell you about that?’
‘Yes, she mentioned it.’
‘She’s going to keep fighting until she’s got hold of it.’ Claudia shook her head. ‘And it doesn’t even exist. What will you do about that, buy some and send it out to her?’
Fraser scowled. ‘Claudia, for Christ’s sake, will you listen to me.’ He reached out to her again. She backed off. It was agony. He wanted so much to hold her and comfort her. He knew the pain she must have been feeling these past few hours. He raised his voice in desperation. ‘I promise you I didn’t give Elsa Hamilton the diaries. I moved them, they’re at Larchwood. They were at risk here. After meeting your mother, it wouldn’t surprise me if she got somebody to break into this place.’
‘But she said you were helping her. She made it clear―’
‘And you believe her? Suddenly you can take her word for it? I lied to her to get rid of her, and to get her off your back for a while. Surely, you don’t have a problem with that. I certainly don’t have any worries about it.’
Claudia looked shaken. ‘Where are the diaries now?’
‘Joe’s got them…locked in the security office, in a safe. If your mother wants them, she’ll have to get past Joe. That’s not going to happen.’
Claudia expelled a long sigh as she slowly sank down onto the sofa. ‘That’s what she does, isn’t it? She injects suspicion in your mind.’
Fraser sat by her and ventured to put his arm around her. She accepted the gesture. It was a great relief to him. ‘Lizzy gave me a hard time for not telling you earlier. She was hoping to talk to you when you got back, refused to leave you in the dark any longer. She also made it quite clear that I’m not really your fiancé, so the pretence has to end.’
‘I hope you didn’t fall out over it.’
‘No, we didn’t.’
Claudia looked at him, her eyes full of fear, but her voice steady. ‘She knows about Justin. I’m so sorry.’
‘Yes, I know, but for the moment, she thinks I’m on her side.’ He tightened his arm around her, and she leaned against him. ‘She knows about Wainford, too, so I guess that puts me in the firing line along with you. We’re in this together now. God knows how she found out so much about us. But there are ways, I suppose.’
‘It’s hard to imagine who would…’ Suddenly she sat upright. ‘Oh, no!’ she said with a sigh. ‘It’s obvious now I think of it. Todd! He’s been in that alcove, scrubbing away at the paintwork, listening to everything. He knows about Justin, Wainford, the hotel…’
‘Todd? Are you sure?’
Mother didn’t turn up at Larchwood, did she? Because she knows that Todd’s working there. She might still need him in place. She wouldn’t risk blowing his cover.’
‘Why would he do that? Todd likes you.’
‘Not more than his career. Mother’s a successful agent, she casts films, theatre, TV drama… He’s so hungry for a start in the business. That magazine was a gift from heaven. He obviously managed to make a trade. She might have suggested an interview, a small part in a movie maybe. He’d have no idea that he was being reeled in as part of her plan. She’s no doubt done with him now and already spat him out.’ She shook her head. ‘Poor Todd, he got to play Iago for real.’
Chapter Twenty-Three
Claudia was amazed at how much easier travelling could be when there was a doting father to help. That alone was allowing her to feel more relaxed, so she was able to push the memories of the accident aside and allow them to fade along with the physical bruises. Holiday mood was the order of the day for the family, and it was impossible not to feel the same. It felt good to get off the crazy merry-go-round, that controlled her life, and move on to a more manageable pace for a few days. Fraser now understood the true extent of what she had been up against, and the pat-on-the-head kind of support he previously offered had been replaced by a much more realistic backup. That, at least, eliminated some of their differences.
Fraser had arranged their transport from the airport to Villa Firenze. All she had to do was put Justin in a child’s seat in the back of the vehicle.
‘Is this your car?’ Claudia asked as she fastened her seatbelt.
‘No, I hired it.’
‘I like it. It’s really comfortable…a nice family vehicle.’
‘I’ll get you one when we go back to―’
‘That’s not what I meant,’ she hastened to say. She turned around to check on Justin, who was in one of the five seats behind her. ‘I meant for other people, couples with three or four children.’
Fraser grinned. ‘What a happy thought.’
Claudia expelled a brief laugh. ‘You can take that look off your face, Fraser Gallier. I’m not filling all these seats with babies just because you’ve developed a taste for fatherhood.’
Fraser laughed out loud and then started the car.
Claudia smiled to herself. It was good to be on friendly terms, but she still had to put on a casual air, pretend his smile didn’t fill her heart with warmth and longing, deny the hunger in her body when he was close by. He still used the terms of endearment that he adopted in the hospital. It seemed he’d grown accustomed to using them and continued to do so. Claudia thought it petty to object, and she had to admit that she enjoyed the sound of Fraser’s voice calling her darling or sweetheart. He hadn’t mentioned his proposal again, which was just as well because the way she felt sometimes, she would accept that offer with every atom of her being. She would unashamedly take what she could have and worry about the consequences later.
There was still no sign of a permanent arrangement for Justin, both child and father seemed to like it the way it was. Claudia didn’t care for their it-ain’t-broke-so-don’t-fix-it attitude, but as all three of them were going through a time of recovery, she decided to let it lie for a while. She leaned back in her seat, turned her face to the window and gazed out at the unmistakable, Tuscan landscape. The sunflowers had yet to be harvested, and the fields were still yellow and gold where the corn had been cut. Hints of purple flashed before her eyes as the car passed rows of ripening grapes.
‘You’re very quiet, sweetheart,’ Fraser said, as he steered the car along the picturesque, winding roads.
‘I’ve never been here before. The landscape is just…’ She sighed.
‘Yes, it is, isn’t it?’
Claudia loved the way Fraser understood what she meant.
*****
Villa Firenze was large and impressive. It stood in extensive grounds with beautiful colourful gardens and closely cut grass, scorched by the sun. Vehicles arrived in convoy. Porters quietly waited by the entrance steps, but as the vehicles pulled up, they sprang into action, like dancers launching into a well-rehearsed choreography. They knew their parts, some parked the cars and some dealt with luggage. It was so efficient.
Then, Irena greeted them and told Fraser that his parents were already waiting to see him.
Claudia encouraged him to go.
‘I should show you the cottage first,’ Fraser said.
‘Cottage?’ Claudia queried.
‘It’s a smaller villa than this one,’ Fraser explained. ‘Lizzy said she preferred it when she first came here. She thought you’d feel the same.’
‘Sounds lovely.’
‘Then we’ll stay in the cottage.’
‘We?’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be in another room.’
‘If you could just tell me how I get there, or maybe get one of the porters to show me.’
‘I will show you,’ Irena said.
Fraser looked a little tense but smiled and kissed Justin’s head before he dashed off.
Claudia carried Justin as Irena escorted her, from the forecourt of the Villa Firenze, and across the grass towards the pool. It was, as Jenny had told her, kidney-shaped, with steps fanning out in the recess. Several luxury loungers were placed on the paved surround. The water glistened in the sun, it was so still and inviting.
The cottage nestled on the higher ground beyond the pool. A grassy hill rose behind it and led to a patch of woodland. Claudia felt a ripple of excitement as they followed a cobbled footpath through a shrubbery and into a terraced garden. She looked up at the terracotta-roofed villa and then down at the colourful, billowing plants each side of the stone steps that led up to a veranda, where cane chairs were arranged around a table.
‘Fowa.’ Justin wriggled his fingers at the sight of the blooms.
‘Yes,’ Claudia said, ‘aren’t they lovely. We’ll come back and see them in a minute.’
Inside, there was a very spacious kitchen diner. The dining area was arranged with a long table and chairs, and there was a staircase against the wall opposite the main door. An archway led to a lounge, with a wide window that looked down on the gardens and the pool. Two long sofas were placed opposite each other, and a low table between.
‘The refrigerator is well stocked,’ Irena said, ‘you can cater for yourself if you wish. Otherwise you can join the family. Most of the time they will probably eat outside, beneath the pergola, but if the weather is not suitable, then it is served in the dining room.’
Irena showed her the upper floor. The smaller of the two bedrooms was light and cheerful. There was a cot and two single beds. In the master bedroom, fitted wardrobes, white and extensive, filled one wall.
Claudia went to the patio doors that closed off the balcony, pulled back the lawn curtains and looked at the view beyond the grounds. Fields of sunflowers stretched towards a stout villa in the distance.
There was a separate bathroom, and Claudia made a mental note to be vigilant when coming out, after a shower or a bath. Not a good time to be bumping into Fraser on the landing.
Justin began to make signals that he wanted a drink, so they went back downstairs. Claudia p
ut him in the high chair at the head of the table. ‘He’s going to think he’s king of the castle sitting here.’
Irena smiled. ‘He is a happy child. You have done well. But it is only two weeks since your discharge from hospital. You must tell me if you need anything. I have an office in the reception area.’
‘You seem to have an office everywhere you go.’
‘As I said before, it is essential to maintain a high level of support. I hope you will remember that if you need anything.’
‘Thanks Irena,’ Claudia said, ‘I will.’
When Irena left, Claudia smiled at Justin. ‘Want some juice?’ He answered with a chuckle. She opened the fridge. ‘Wow! I don’t think we’ll starve here, Justin.’ She got him a drink and cut up some slices of banana, then sat by him. ‘I think we’re going to have a great holiday,’ she said. Justin’s eyes were fixed on her, his brow twitched as if he was trying to work out what she was saying. ‘Daddy wants to pay all our bills, so I can write my book. What do you think? Should I let him? Maybe I should marry him. Could it work, me being in love, and he still thinking of me as a special friend? What do you think, hmm? Tell your mummy what you think of it all. Come on, give me a sign.’
Justin knocked his beaker off his tray and shrieked with delight to hear it bounce on the hard floor.
‘That’s a sign?’ Claudia shrugged her shoulders. ‘Maybe you’re right. He’s not going to ask again anyway. He won’t expose himself to another rejection. Maybe he’ll go back to Natalie.’ She smiled at Justin. ‘But I’ll always have you, so nothing else matters now.’
Chapter Twenty-Four
Fraser and his parents, Diana and Graham, sat at one of the poolside tables. Tension between them was rare, but today the atmosphere was strained. Conversation so far had been about the journey, the impending harvest at their vineyard, and Fraser’s business. Nobody seemed to want to broach the subject that was causing the uneasy feeling between them. Fraser wanted to get through this discussion without causing conflict, but the situation didn’t look good for an amicable outcome.
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