As she unfolded the letter she wondered what this would relate to. They were in chronological order, so things had yet to get nasty. The Argylle family still expected Freddie to marry Prudence, despite his past assertions to the contrary and the unmistakeable interest he was showing in Hannah. Although intent on riding out the post-fireworks storm, no observer could miss the way they looked at each other, or the chemistry between them.
The venom Cassie experienced in Kathryn’s memories caught her by surprise. Why she was surprised she didn’t know. It was in character. Swallowing, Cassie reassured herself exactly who she was.
It was pretty evident though, had the Argylles not enlisted Kathryn’s help with separating Freddie and Hannah, she would have acted independently to the same end.
In the event, they’d approached her for assistance when the extent of the Hannah problem became obvious. When Freddie had given Matthew Argylle two black eyes on his suggestion he satisfy his lust for Hannah, but marry Prudence.
My dearest angel,
Pray forgive me! You should never have encountered my mother thus.
Rest assured, she will never reveal the compromising nature in which we were found. She wishes to see me happy, Hannah, and I could never be happy without you.
Your using a splinter of wood by means of explanation was very clever and—
Cassie dropped the letter from suddenly shaking hands.
No!
Flinging off the duvet, she ran through to her bedroom and opened her bedside drawer to retrieve the letters she’d already read. She opened the one she’d read at random in Wiltshire, and scanned the contents. Freddie’s flower garden raids. Yes! George didn’t have a flower garden. She dismissed the number of bouquets George had sent Susie when she hadn’t returned his calls because … it wasn’t helpful. She picked up the next. Church and a forgotten shawl. Okay! She collapsed on the bed in relief before scanning through the next. Not good, really not good. She was beginning to feel ill. She knew what the next letter held.
This was impossible. Totally impossible. And she was Cassie Silbury! Cassie Silbury couldn’t possibly even contemplate …
She dashed out of her room to grab her bag. Finding her mobile, she dialled.
‘We need to talk. Now.’
Chapter Twenty
It was 1.00 a.m. and Rachael could not believe she’d got herself out of bed to traipse across London at Cassie’s beck and call. A bed she’d only just collapsed into having consumed far too many cocktails with Rob. A Rob who, tonight, had seemed intently focused on drinking himself into oblivion.
She’d not managed to get to the bottom of his low mood at all. It wasn’t to do with what she’d told him about Susie and George the other day, she was sure of that. With the proviso that he keep shtum because Susie wouldn’t appreciate him being given the details quite yet, she’d, as requested, ‘hit him’ with the pertinent facts: they were Soul Mates from the past and had recognised each other during George’s regression – the aftermath of which he’d witnessed – and were now coming together.
He simply let her talk and afterwards appeared stunned. But following a very long silence, he finally said, ‘I can only hope they get their happy ending and things start running more smoothly for them because Susie deserves a break.’
‘You believe what I’m telling you?’ Rachael had urged.
‘I was on the receiving end of his look, remember?’ He had then turned to her in that intent way of his and murmured, ‘I never thought you were mad, Rach. Although on occasions I wish you were.’
He then told her a funny tale about work.
So his low mood hadn’t been about that. Nor work. Nor a girl. He’d been most adamant about that. It had all been more than a little frustrating and worrying.
Just like the rest of her night was proving.
Hadn’t she done enough of all this beck and call stuff in the past? But there had been a desperate edge to Cassie’s voice that had her concerned.
It was bloody freezing, but no sooner had Rachael rung the buzzer than she was hauled inside and through an inner door. Now in the living room of Cassie’s flat … very nice, she was about to demand what the blazes was going on when she caught sight of Cassie’s face. She stood with her back against the closed door and looked … She could look no more worried were she watching the grim reaper approach.
‘Cassie?’ Rachael tentatively asked.
Cassie flung herself across the room to disappear through another door. There was some banging around before she re-emerged with a full bottle of vodka and two tumblers.
Rachael shook her head. ‘Not for me.’ She’d had more than enough tonight.
Cassie continued to pour the drink into both glasses which she’d placed upon the dark wood coffee table. The table was positioned in front of the Victorian fireplace that currently housed a roaring fire. Rachael winced and moved as far away from the flames as she could with furniture in the equation. Open fires were something she had never been able to stomach even before she’d been regressed. It had all made sense when she had learnt of that burning at the stake once upon another time.
‘You’re going to need this,’ Cassie said with surety, before promptly downing the contents of her own glass.
Rachael frowned. ‘How about you tell me what this is all about?’ she ventured, moving herself over to the sofa, kicking a duvet out of the way, and sitting down.
But Cassie had disappeared again! Rachael flung herself back into the cushions of the sofa in frustration.
Seconds later a pile of papers landed in her lap and Cassie slumped down on the sofa next to her.
Rachael glanced from Cassie, who now had her head in her hands, to what looked like … old letters … Letters? ‘Are these Freddie and Hannah’s?’ she cried, unable to hide her excitement. She snatched one up, absorbing the aged paper and the fancy writing. She’d known Cassie had been given the letters, but this was the first time she’d seen them. ‘Have you read them? We’re talking serious love here, aren’t we? With the cherries on top? Can I read them when you’re done? The more I learn the better. I can’t help but feel that the Soul Mates thing might be a tad more complicated than I’ve always considered it to be.’ Rachael shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to consider all the questions Matey had wrought and what else she might not know … She necessarily refocused and prompted, ‘Are you going to tell me what this is all about?’
Cassie remained silent. And Rachael had had enough. ‘Flaming Nora! You have to tell me what’s going on here. I can’t help if I don’t know!’
Cassie slowly raised her head and looked at her with a haunted look upon her face. Rachael’s stomach plummeted.
Cassie’s eyes blinked before she asked quietly, ‘What do you know of … history repeating itself?’ Her voice had cracked halfway through that question before she continued to say, ‘I’m talking of multiple events someone experiences in a past life playing out in their next, not the world history and whether it’s cyclical debate.’
Rachael stared long and hard at Cassie as she thought through what she’d just asked. When she had completed that process she slowly shook her head. It was becoming apparent that the fresh bottle of vodka Cassie had produced was not the first of the night. She knew Cassie had been drinking far too much a while back. Not that she herself could really talk with the amount she’d consumed tonight, but social drinking was a far cry from this. Even if Rob hadn’t been particularly sociable.
‘History would seem to be repeating itself,’ Cassie continued in that quiet, cracking voice that might just have been an attempt at matter of fact. ‘Or at least some of it is. There’s no denying the evidence. It’s there in the letters. Not everything tallies, which I’m attempting to clutch on to, but if I look at what’s there I’ve no choice but to consider it. To more than consider it. I thought you should
know what I’ve found. To be told what appears to be happening to George and Susie. I also thought you might be able to help. You seem to have theories on pretty much everything. And for obvious reasons it’s not something I’ve ever contemplated so know nothing about—’ Her regularly breaking voice broke off completely and she swallowed audibly. ‘I just need to know why and how it’s happening so I can make sure it stops. I’m sure you’d like it to stop too because …’ She focused those haunted eyes on Rachael and any attempt at matter of fact that might have been there went straight out of the window as she cried, ‘Because taking it to the logical conclusion, if it continues to repeat … my brother and your best friend are going to die!’
Just how much had Cassie had to drink? Rachael needed to calm her down and get her to bed so she could sleep it off. She’d crash out on the sofa tonight to make sure she was okay. Perhaps in the morning when her own head was completely clear of alcohol – although she could safely say she was finding the present situation sobering – they could chat about her drinking? Not an appealing prospect and one that sobered Rachael up yet further. But someone had to have that talk with her.
‘George and Susie are not going to die,’ Rachael reassured, patting Cassie’s hand. She couldn’t believe she was having to say this. And to Cassie! ‘Well they are. Of course they are. We’re all fated to die. But not yet, anyway. Or at least I hope not. How beyond tragic would that be? That would be a real nasty twist from Fate.’
‘Your people skills are second to none!’
Rachael shook her head and continued to say, ‘History does not repeat itself like that, Cassie! What you are talking of is impossible. I have no theories on the subject because it’s a ridiculous concept. Why would you ever think I’d have theories on it? So how about we—’
‘I need you to listen to me.’
Rachael met Cassie’s eyes and promptly flopped back in her seat with a sigh. She’d taken in her determination, and it was highly evident she’d not a hope of calming her down until she’d got this out of her system.
‘Thank you,’ Cassie said before releasing a sigh of her own. Although hers was shuddery. She then took a deep breath and began.
‘Hannah and Freddie made a public spectacle of themselves at the firework party.’
Rachael remembered. It had been the hottest gossip of the season.
‘Hannah’s identity wasn’t known,’ Cassie continued. ‘But Freddie publicly called out Lord Granger over his comments, refusing to have what he and Hannah had going demeaned.’
Rachael nodded, but failed to see where this was going.
‘Don’t you see? George and Susie were caught at it in public. Susie’s identity has to date remained a secret. And there’s even a price on her head! Hannah had a price on her head too with all the bets being placed. And George has made a public declaration on national TV refusing to have their encounter cheapened!’
Rachael shook her head. ‘You can’t possibly consider history is repeating itself on the basis of that. I really think we should look at getting you to bed and—’
‘I am not finished,’ Cassie cried.
Rachael closed her eyes and sighed again.
‘Hannah encountered Freddie after her little brother threw up on her. Freddie gave her his coat. She’d been on a coach. And I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Freddie hadn’t chased after it!’
Rachael slowly opened her eyes.
‘Hannah and Freddie were caught in a compromising situation by Freddie’s mother. Hannah produced a lame excuse about a splinter. I’ve been with my mother today. George’s mother. We encountered George and Susie in a compromising situation … and Susie produced a cock-and-bull story … about a splinter!’
Rachael sat forward in her seat and stared at Cassie.
‘The only thing definitely not matched is an encounter with a shawl in church. The flowers I’m not sure about. George hasn’t got a flower garden so … He didn’t send roses did he? But Susie isn’t religious is she? You’d never get George in a church. And surely she doesn’t own a shawl?’
Rachael had stopped listening. It had to be coincidence. But then Rachael nearly choked at the thought. She didn’t believe in coincidence. Fate. She believed in Fate. Ring-a-ding-ding, Fate is doing his thing. But this couldn’t be Fate. George and Susie would have their own fate. It couldn’t be the same as Freddie and Hannah’s. If that was the case, it would be a continual cycle of history repeating itself over and over. That didn’t happen. She knew that. She’d had completely different past lives. She’d yet to discover them all, but those she knew about were different.
‘You don’t think their meeting during George’s regression, while he was reliving the past, could have in any way linked the two?’ Cassie was asking. ‘I’m a sensible person – I am! But it was as if they were Hannah and Freddie for those moments before they passed out, or whatever the hell it was they did! Could it have possibly … muddled things up? I can’t believe I’m asking this, but I have to! Because of what I’ve found, what’s there before me, because of what seems to be happening and because I have to make it stop!’
‘This makes no sense,’ Rachael mumbled. And you didn’t ‘relive’ the past when regressed, you remembered it! ‘History doesn’t—’
‘You believe in everything else yet won’t even consider this? With everything I’m telling you?’
‘Because despite what people think, Cassie – I’m left of centre. Not clinically insane!’ This had to be coincidence. She couldn’t allow herself to think it could be anything else. Not with how Hannah and Freddie had ended up.
As she reached a realisation, Rachael let relief flood through her. She declared delightedly, ‘In any event, history can’t repeat itself. Even if technically it could. They only ever ended up dead because of us. And we are out of the equation. You’re no longer plotting their downfall, I’m not assisting you … In fact, it’s quite the opposite. We’re working to unite them!’ Rachael was feeling rather pleased with herself and worryingly relieved.
‘There were others working against Freddie and Hannah! Not just us. There was Matthew and Prudence Argylle —’
‘It makes no difference. History cannot repeat itself like this.’ Rachael was absolutely not prepared to consider the possibility.
‘Something is happening to allow it to repeat. We’re out of the equation, but the other factors must still be in place.’
‘Cassie, will you stop this! History is not repeating itself! There are bound to be some similarities going on. Their personal characteristics aren’t that different this time around to what they were then, so they are bound to make similar choices and that could lead to similar patterns. But it doesn’t mean history is repeating itself. And you yourself pointed out there are things that are different. If history was repeating itself, which of course it isn’t and can’t, there wouldn’t be differences! Things happened in the past that have not happened in the present and vice versa! It’s simply … similarities. Will you just pause to listen to yourself for a moment?’
‘I’m trying not to because I know how I’m sounding. But something has to be the same for this to be happening. Personalities may be a factor, but I can’t see how that’s enough. It can’t be down to location being the same or us being the same so … What if we aren’t the only ones around from the past? We’re here. So are George and Susie. What if others are? What if other people are the other factors and that’s why history is repeating itself? What if they are behaving just as they did in the past and that’s allowing—’
‘Cassie! Susie and George are not going to die as they did in the past. Which is what this is all about, isn’t it? The similarities are simply playing to your fears, don’t you see?’ Rachael shook her head. She hadn’t realised Cassie was still struggling so much. She’d thought she was finally coming to terms with things. She continued gently, ‘I kno
w it’s hard, but it’s the past, Cassie. The past. Forward, remember?’
‘It’s impossible to look forward with what appears to be happening! What if there are others around? What if—’
‘Others will be around. We are all surrounded by people we’ve known in the past, but not all from one particular life! There’s a spread across the ages which no doubt ensures history can’t repeat itself in the way you’re talking of.’
‘What if Matthew and Prudence are around? What if they are plotting to—’
‘They’re not! I just knew that’s where you were going! Will you please stop this! Actually, thinking about it, the presence of so many of us from the same time in the eighteen hundreds – you, me, George, Susie, Rob – may be why we’re seeing such similar patterns emerging. We’re all having an influence on things going on around us, as we did back then. But it makes no difference because none of us want to see George and Susie separated. And even if Matthew and Prudence were around – which they aren’t! – they wouldn’t necessarily be baddies. We’ve turned good.
‘And do you know what? Even if the similarities continue – and that’s all they are – they’re going to cease because we aren’t going to be turning things nasty this time around. Correct me if I’m wrong, but up to this point Kathryn and Tessa’s actions weren’t having much of an impact on things. Kathryn had got Tessa to befriend Hannah’s maid so we knew her whereabouts and the such, Kathryn had started planting that seed within Tessa, and no doubt Freddie too, that there was more between Hannah and Richard Barratt than there was. But other than that, at this stage …’
Rachael’s words died away as she took in Cassie’s confounded gaze and the words that now accompanied it.
‘Rob? Rob was—’
Rachael screwed up her face as she realised what she’d done. She hadn’t meant to let that slip out. It was so much easier when you identified people yourself and in your own time.
‘Richard Barratt!’ Cassie cried. ‘I knew there was something but … I see it now! Does Rob know? Does he—’ Cassie broke off to stare at Rachael, aghast. She whispered, ‘The energetic dance with Mr Richard Barratt.’ She now shook her head slowly. ‘Freddie watched Hannah dance with him. Just like George watched Susie and Rob dirty dance! How many “similarities” do you want before you consider that history might just be repeating? And … Oh my God! You look at Rob just like Tessa used to look at Richard Barratt!’
Romancing the Soul Page 20
