by T A Williams
To compensate, she dug out a woolly hat that she had brought from home in readiness for winter. At least for now it definitely wasn’t needed and she could always buy another in the fullness of time, so she handed it to Marlon and saw him take it in his mouth with great delicacy. As she went across to the kitchen with Marlon, he carried it with him and immediately took it to his basket, climbing in and settling down with his elbows on it in proprietorial fashion. Faye found Claudette working at the table, the most wonderful smell of freshly baked cake in the air.
‘Hi, Claudette. What have you been baking? That smells divine.’ Marlon, from his basket, quite evidently shared her opinion. His nostrils were twitching and his nose was straining upwards.
‘Miss Beech asked me to make a homecoming cake for Eddie.’ Claudette moved to one side and Faye saw that the cake was covered in smooth white icing, with fancy strawberry piping around the edge, a single candle inserted in the middle. ‘I was just about to come over and give you a call. Miss Beech asked me to invite you to join her and you’ve arrived at exactly the right time. Come on, let’s go through.’
Claudette lit the candle and set the cake on the tray alongside the teapot and cups. Faye walked with her through to the lounge, the dog’s nose closely following the trolley. When they got there, Faye was delighted to see Eddie on his feet by the fireplace, resting on a pair of crutches.
‘Wow, Eddie, up and about again already? I’m impressed.’
‘Hi, Faye. The surgeon told me I had to try to move about a bit every day. But, now you’ve come and seen me vertical, I’m going to stop showing off and sit down again.’ Gingerly, he rested the crutches against the wall and lowered himself into the wheelchair. ‘Claudette, what a cake!’
‘That looks wonderful, Claudette.’ Miss Beech was smiling broadly. ‘Thank you so much. Eddie, we thought the least we could do to mark your triumphant return was to give you a cake. Now, come on, blow out the candle.’
Faye poured the tea while Eddie blew out the candle and Claudette cut the cake. Miss Beech insisted that Claudette should join them as well to celebrate Eddie’s return and the four of them sat and chatted, listening to Eddie’s experiences in Switzerland – as ever, recounted with a fine sense of humour. As she listened, Faye glanced surreptitiously at Miss Beech’s face and saw the rapt expression on it. There was no doubt in her mind: Eddie and his employer for the past fifty years had a relationship that went very deep.
She envied them that.
Chapter Twelve
The next morning was overcast, although the temperature was still high, and the humidity rising. When Faye emerged from her morning session with Miss Beech, she found Claudette and Obelix in the kitchen, discussing the weather.
‘Violent thunderstorms, that’s what they’re predicting.’ Claudette had been watching the television.
‘And a hell of a lot of rain.’ Obelix nodded his head sagely. ‘Faye, if you’re thinking about taking Marlon for a walk, I’d go now, if I were you. The storms are supposed to hit us this afternoon and you know how hard it rains round here.’
Faye had been thinking the exact same thing. ‘How long do you think we’ve got?’
Obelix obligingly went over to the door and stepped outside into the courtyard, eyes trained skywards. ‘Not that long.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘It’s just gone eleven now. I’d aim to be back by twelve. You don’t want to be caught out when it does start. And you definitely don’t want to be up on the open hillside when the lightning comes.’
‘Right, I’ll go now. Marlon, fancy a walk?’
Faye opted for one of the shorter routes, keeping well away from the high ground. As she and Marlon were walking down the road towards the village, she saw Gavin’s car pull out of the farm entrance and head up towards her. As it drew level, he slowed and stopped.
‘Hi, Faye.’ He looked pleased to see her. Beside him, in the passenger seat, Dominique gave a little wave. He glanced up at the sky for a moment. ‘I wouldn’t stay out for too long, if I were you. There’s a storm coming.’
‘Hi, you two.’ Faye was delighted to see them both. She glanced at the child’s seat behind them and was rewarded by a big smile and a wave from little Elise. ‘Yes, Obelix told me there’s thunder on the way, but the air’s so sticky this morning, you can hardly miss the fact that it’s coming. I’m just doing a quick walk for Marlon’s benefit.’ As she spoke, she noticed that they were both formally dressed in sombre clothes. ‘Oh, I’m sorry. Are you going to a funeral?’
Gavin’s face fell, as did Dominique’s, and Faye found herself wishing she hadn’t spoken. After a brief hesitation, Gavin managed to dredge up a weak smile. ‘Something like that. Anyway, we’d better get on.’
‘Faye, you must come down to the farm for a coffee some time soon.’ Dominique, too, was trying hard to look and sound cheerful once more.
‘I’d like that, thanks. Anyway, Dominique, I’ll see you and Elise on Monday. Bye.’ Faye watched them drive off and wondered who had died, or what else might have happened that could be classified as “something like that”.
***
The weather forecasters were right. The sky got steadily darker and darker until, just as Faye was sitting down to a plate of salad and goat’s cheese at lunchtime, the whole apartment was lit up by a blinding flash of lightning, followed almost immediately by an ear-splitting crash. Even from here, she could hear Marlon across the courtyard in the chateau erupt into another of his barking fits, but no sooner had he started than he stopped again. Presumably even his canine brain registered the fact that he was powerless in the face of the elements.
Somewhere, far in the distance, a car alarm was going off, but, apart from that, all was still. She went over to the window looking onto the valley and, leaning out, pushed the shutters open and clipped them to the wall on either side. The sky was an intimidating greyish-mauve colour and the temperature still high. Faye could feel her skin grow clammy as the humidity in the air continued to build. She was still standing there a few seconds later when another blinding flash sent her cowering backwards and the almost simultaneous clap of thunder threatened to burst her eardrums. Unwilling to risk leaning out to grab the shutters again, she shut the window and retired to the kitchen table once more.
A few minutes later, the rain started and, as Obelix had predicted, it was torrential. Although Faye was sure there had to be several layers of insulation between the ceiling and the roof of the stables, the noise as the rain poured down onto the roof tiles was still deafening in the flat. The only good news was that the arrival of the rain put an end to the thunder. She went back over to the front window and could barely see across the courtyard to the chateau. The cobbled yard itself was awash with water and twin streams had already formed, running away down the tracks made by the cars along the drive towards the gate.
She pulled the window open once more and immediately noted the change in temperature and, with it, a drop in humidity. She took a few deep breaths, relishing the return of more bearable conditions.
The rain lasted for several hours and by the time it finally stopped and the sun began to break through the clouds once more, Faye had completed another chapter of the book. She had told Miss Beech she was aiming to finish before Christmas and, as long as she could keep up the same sort of pace, that was looking very feasible.
That evening she was happy to let Obelix take Marlon out for his walk, as the ground was still running with water. By next morning, it had started to dry out once more so she put on her waterproof boots and headed up the hill this time. As it was a Sunday, she was officially not working, and so she and the dog went for a longer circuit, returning to the chateau around lunchtime. Faye then spent the rest of the day at her computer, making a start on the next chapter, inserting anecdotes and information taken from the various notebooks, diaries, and sheets of paper in the cardboard box.
It was while she was doing this that she made the discovery that she could find no record anywhere of what Mis
s Beech had done for the first year after her arrival in the USA. She found a reference to her boat docking in New York on 14th January 1955, but nothing more. The diary for 1955 was missing and there was no record anywhere of her early days in Hollywood. All she knew was what Miss Beech had told her about working as a waitress and doing the rounds of the studios and agents, looking for acting work.
Although Faye now had a satisfactory first chapter, outlining Miss Beech’s childhood and her decision to travel from Plymouth to America, there was a big blank between that and her first speaking role. She resolved to ask her to fill in the gap so that she could complete the record of the actress’s life from birth to the start of her movie career. As far as her career was concerned, she and Miss Beech had got as far as the early Seventies in their conversations and 1955 remained the only major blank.
On Monday morning, she didn’t have the opportunity to ask this question, as Miss Beech was once again feeling indisposed and the doctor had been summoned. Faye went up to her bedroom to ask if she wanted to do any work and Miss Beech shook her head wearily. ‘To be quite honest, Faye, I just don’t feel up to it today. I’m sure I’ll feel better tomorrow. Why don’t you have a session with Eddie? He knows everything about my career and his memory’s a lot better than mine.’
So, Faye and Eddie spent the morning together and she obtained lots more information about his and Miss Beech’s life. She didn’t bring up the subject of his feelings for his employer – that was filed away in a little hermetically sealed compartment in her brain – but she did ask about 1955. He was unable to give her any meaningful information as, of course, this had been years before the two of them had met. She did, however, get the feeling that he definitely knew more than he was saying. Intrigued, Faye decided to quiz Miss Beech at her earliest opportunity.
That afternoon, Faye was scheduled to go swimming with Dominique and Elise – maybe even Gavin, too. However, as she came through the kitchen just before lunch and glanced into the Marlon’s basket, she found the dog fast asleep with his front paws gripping the bottom half of her good bikini. She hauled it out, shook an admonishing finger at him, and hurried off to rinse it out and hang it in the sun to dry. Fortunately, by three o’clock it was dry as a bone once more. She changed into the bikini, wrapped a towel around herself and, at the allotted hour, there was a knock at the door. When she opened the door, she found Gavin and Elise, but no Dominique. Gavin looked apologetic.
‘Dominique isn’t feeling too well and she says she’s sorry she just doesn’t feel up to it. Elise, on the other hand, is definitely looking forward to a swim, aren’t you? So I got bullied into bringing her.’
Elise squeaked happily and Faye led them across to the pool. She felt a bit hesitant as she unwrapped her towel and she glanced across just in time to see Gavin avert his eyes. Turning away, she spread the towel on a sun bed and busied herself with getting Elise ready for the water, blowing up the inflatable orange armbands, plastering her with sun cream, and securing her hair with a band. As she did so, she heard Gavin’s voice and looked up.
‘I was just thinking as I walked up the drive: I haven’t been here to the pool for a couple of years. Amazing, considering how close we are. I just don’t seem to have had the time.’ As he spoke, he dropped a towel on the other sun bed and, reaching up, tugged his T-shirt off, revealing a bronzed torso that ticked every single box in Faye’s wish list of desirable male attributes. He was muscular, but not overdeveloped like some of the gym aficionados she had dated in her time. His stomach was nicely rippled and his suntanned chest was covered with brown hair that only partly masked a vicious-looking scar that ran diagonally across, from his left shoulder to his right hip.
He unbuttoned his shorts and stepped out of them, revealing a pair of swimming shorts beneath, stretched tight across his thighs, and Faye swallowed hard. In spite of her declared intention of avoiding handsome men like the plague, being in the presence of a hunk like this was unsettling.
‘Boy, have I been looking forward to this!’ He gave her a smile and then ran lightly along the edge of the pool, parallel to the water, until he reached the deepest part where, without altering his stride, he flipped sideways and dived in – smoothly and effortlessly.
Faye decided she should stay in the shallow end with Elise, and the excited little girl was soon splashing about happily, while Faye kept a watchful eye. The sun was really hot again and the water pleasantly refreshing. As Faye sat there, she watched a succession of brilliant blue-green dragonflies, some as big as her fingers, flitting over the surface of the pool. From time to time, noisy groups of swallows shot past, snatching tasty insects out of the air, as they skimmed low over the water. On the far side of the pool, Gavin completed a series of lengths in an easy, lazy front crawl. It was a lovely afternoon and, of course, the little girl was a delight.
After half an hour or so, they retreated to the sun beds under a trellis covered with vines, heavy with bunches of grapes that were already a deep violet colour and no doubt nearly ready for picking. Under here, in the shade, it was cool and relaxing and within a few minutes Elise, wrapped in a towel, was snoozing. Once he was sure the little girl was asleep, Gavin turned towards Faye. ‘Thank you and Miss Beech so much for letting us come here. I’d forgotten just how wonderful a swim on a hot day can be.’
‘It’s such a pity Dominique can’t be here. I hope she isn’t too poorly.’
Gavin shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. Exhaustion, really. A combination of things, I suppose. I don’t think she got a lot of sleep this weekend. Neither of us did.’ He glanced across at Faye. ‘You see, it was the anniversary of the accident.’ He must have seen the expression on her face. ‘Maybe you haven’t heard about what happened?’
‘Um, I heard there’d been an awful accident, but no detail.’
Gavin nodded, his gaze now miles away, out over the garden towards the distant hills. ‘That was exactly two years ago. You know you saw us in the car on Saturday? That’s where we were going. We did it last year and again this year, just as a sign that we’ll never forget them. We went to the place where the accident happened and laid a wreath, and then went to the crematorium in Manosque where they’re both buried.’
Faye was getting confused now. She rolled over and propped her head on her hand. ‘Sorry, Gavin, them? I thought it was your brother who was killed.’
Gavin nodded. ‘Yes, Robbie was killed, but Jacqui died at the same time.’
‘Oh, good Lord, I didn’t realize there were two people involved.’
‘They tell me I’m lucky to be alive. The other two were killed outright, but I was thrown clear of the driving seat by the impact. The same shard of glass that caused this scar sliced through my seatbelt and I was flung out of the driver’s door, otherwise I’d probably be dead as well.’ He paused, taking a few deep breaths.
Faye risked a discreet glance at him, but his eyes were still trained on the middle distance.
‘It was a runaway truck on a blind corner, you see.’ His voice was slow and subdued, as if he were explaining to a child. ‘Everybody says there was nothing I could have done and we didn’t stand a chance, but I was driving, don’t you see?’
Faye looked up at him. The expression of anguish on his face made her want to take him in her arms and hug him tight, but she forced herself to lie there and listen. ‘I was driving. If I’d been going a bit slower, or just reached the corner a few seconds earlier or later, they’d both still be alive today.’ She could hear the emotion in his voice – emotion and guilt. ‘Now they’re both dead and it’s my fault.’
Faye remembered Obelix telling her the accident had been nobody’s fault and she tried to say something, but Gavin hadn’t finished. ‘I was in hospital for over a month, but I survived. There was a time when I wished I hadn’t.’
‘Oh no, how awful, Gavin. How awful for you all. So, was Jacqui Robbie’s wife?’
Now it was Gavin’s turn to look bemused. ‘No, Jacqui was my wife.’
<
br /> ‘Your wife?’ Faye felt as if she was swimming through treacle. ‘But I thought you and Dominique were …’
Finally, Gavin realized Faye’s confusion and pulled himself into a sitting position opposite her. ‘No, Dominique was married to Robbie. She was expecting Elise when the accident happened. Jacqui and I got married three years ago and we were over here from London on holiday. We went for a drive one afternoon and then, just like that, it was all over.’ Gavin’s voice was deadpan, but his eyes gave him away. ‘I loved her very deeply and suddenly she was gone. It was the worst day of my life.’
Faye sat back in amazement, totally appalled. It must have been truly awful for them. Suddenly the depth of Gavin’s despair became so much more explicable. He hadn’t just been mourning the loss of his father and his brother, but his wife as well. It was heart-rending. Faye sat there and tried her hardest to put herself in his shoes. It was too terrible to contemplate. And, from what he had said, it wasn’t just grief he was feeling, but guilt as well. He had been driving and, although it sounded as though there must have been nothing he could have done to avoid the runaway lorry, she could only begin to imagine the feelings of guilt, imaginary or otherwise, that must have continued to run through his head. She looked across at him and felt tears spring to her own eyes.
‘Oh, Gavin, I don’t know what to say. I hadn’t realized …’ She picked up a corner of her towel to wipe her eyes, still overcome with emotion. Then, seeing the expression of blank misery on his face, she straightened up into a sitting position and reached across to stretch her arm around his shoulders. She caught him in a warm hug and pulled him towards her, cradling him in her arms. After a moment’s resistance, he slumped forward, his face buried into her shoulder, and she held on to him as she felt him start to weep.
After a while, as the tears slowly subsided and then stopped, Faye helped him upright until they were both sitting side by side. She pressed the towel into his hands and waited as he wiped his face. Finally, he looked up, an expression of acute embarrassment on his face.
