Where Seagulls Cry
By
Yvonne Whittal
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
WHERE SEAGULLS CRY
Adam Granger was blind, and Kim Harvey had married him for convenience—at first. But she fell in love with him and the marriage became a real one. It was then, though, that Kim's real problems began— for until then she hadn't known about the beautiful Ursula Bennett, who was about to come back into Adam's life…
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First published 1977
This edition 1977
© Yvonne Whittal 1977
ISBN 0 263 72418 2
For Doddie Moore
CHAPTER ONE
Autumn clouds were drifting across the sky with the promise of rain, while waves lashed the ragged rocks below the cliff with a fierceness that sent the spray several feet into the air. Further along the coast the fishing vessels were pulled high up on to the beach for safety. No one ventured out to sea in this weather lest they should be trapped by gale force winds and tossed about mercilessly by a turbulent sea.
High up on the cliff Kim Harvey stood staring out to sea, the wind whipping her long russet-coloured hair about her face, her hands dug deep into the pockets of her fleece-lined jacket. Leaving Heron's Bay was going to be a wrench, but after Aunt Freda's death there was nothing else she could do other than sell the cottage and move to the city. No one blamed her for this decision as there were very few prospects for a young woman in this small fishing village.
Kim sighed heavily and trudged further up the hill, her comfortable shoes slipping occasionally on the wild grass. There were not many cottages this far up, except for the three or four which were owned by families who used them mainly for holiday purposes. The most isolated cottage was the one on the crest of the hill which had stood vacant for more than a year until someone by the name of Granger had bought it several months ago. Rough steps down the side of the steep cliff led to a private beach where a sturdily built wooden shack housed a motorboat. Apart from this, no one knew much about the owner, except that his car was occasionally seen winding its way up the steep track towards the cottage on the occasional week-end and, like any other small village, the inhabitants were filled with curiosity, and a few unkind speculations.
Dry twigs clung to Kim's slacks and she flicked them off impatiently with her hands. A gust of wind blew her hair across her face once more and, as she straightened to brush the silky strands from her eyes, she saw a man walking slowly and deliberately towards the edge of the cliff. Something more than curiosity made her stop and stare at this tall, lean stranger with the short, but unruly dark hair, his eyes hidden by dark-rimmed sunglasses. His steps were slow and slightly irregular, and quite often he stumbled over the rough surface of the ground as he approached the edge of the cliff.
What the devil was he up to? she wondered when he was barely a few feet from the edge and still showing no sign of stopping. Was he trying to commit suicide?
'What the hell do you think you're doing?' Kim shouted at him frantically, rushing forward on shaky legs and almost stumbling in the process.
'I beg your pardon?'
Kim's anger rose sharply as she stared from him to the edge of the cliff, which was now less than two feet away from him. 'Are you out to get yourself killed, or merely to frighten the life out of me?'
When she had called out to him the first time, he had stopped in his uncertain stride, and now, as he turned towards her, Kim had the curious sensation that he was looking over her head at something beyond.
'I'm blind.'
This blunt statement of fact would have shocked most people into a display of contrition and sympathy, but it merely sharpened Kim's anger. 'That's no reason for you to want to kill yourself!' His firmly compressed lips relaxed into a semblance of a smile as they faced each other in silence, but when it appeared that he had no intention of turning back, Kim shrugged her shoulders and turned from him. 'Well, go ahead and take that final step. Throw yourself down on to the rocks and see if I care!'
'Wait!' Kim stopped in her furious stride at the sound of that authoritative voice and, glancing over her shoulder, she saw him extend a hand in her direction as though groping for some kind of support. 'What I am trying to say is that I have no idea how close to the edge I am, and I would be grateful if you would lead me away from it.'
Kim went forward without hesitation and took the extended hand in her own. His fingers curled strong and warm about hers as she led him to safety. 'There's a patch of soft grass further up the hill if you'd like to sit down and rest for a while,' she suggested as she felt him shaking beside her.
'I think I would like that.' His voice was deep and pleasant although slightly clipped with fatigue, while his breath came fast between parted lips.
'You can sit down here,' Kim told him eventually. 'The grass is soft and dry.'
The stranger released her hand and sat down heavily, resting an elbow on his raised knee and burying his face in the crook of his arm. Kim sat down beside him and observed him closely as his breathing became more regular. He was thin, almost gaunt, his clothes fitting loosely on his tall frame. His face was pale and thin, the hollows in his cheeks accentuating cheekbones which would normally not be so prominent. His forehead was broad, and his nose high-bridged and straight, while the firm chin had a slight dent in the centre. It was his hands which finally drew her attention. They were strong hands, despite the slenderness of his fingers, and suggested artistry of some kind. A surgeon perhaps? she wondered curiously.
He raised his head then and there was a grim expression about his mouth. 'Are you sitting down?'
'Yes.'
'I would like to apologise for the inconvenience I've caused you.'
'An explanation would be appreciated more.'
His lips twisted into a tight smile. 'Perhaps I should introduce myself.' He extended a hand in her direction. 'I'm Adam Granger, and you are—?'
'Kim Harvey,' she told him as she clasped his hand briefly.
'Kim,' he repeated softly. 'An unusual name, but I like it. May I call you that?'
'Yes.' So this was the man who had bought that remote cottage, and whom all the villagers were speculating about, she thought as she glanced at him more closely. 'What on earth were you doing walking about unescorted on this treacherous cliff?'
Again that tight smile touched his lips. 'I w
anted to go for a walk, and as I'd been here several times before… before I was blinded, I thought that I knew in which direction not to go. You could say that I was experimenting towards independence.' A seagull swooped low over their heads and headed towards the beach with a flap of wings, and Adam Granger tilted his head in a listening attitude before he continued. 'I thought that if I counted my steps I would know in future how far I could walk with safety, and I'd counted five hundred and thirty-two when you shouted at me.'
'Well, that's just fine,' Kim remarked sharply, hugging her knees beneath her chin. 'Now you know that you can take five hundred and thirty-three to your death.'
During the ensuing silence between them only the sound of the sea could be heard, while the velocity of the wind increased as storm clouds gathered thickly in the sky.
'Are you always so brutally frank?' he asked suddenly, his mouth relaxing into an unexpected smile that displayed strong, white teeth.
'Always.' Quite unperturbed, she got to her feet and brushed the grass from her slacks. 'Now, if I don't get you home now, we'll both be caught in the storm.'
'Will I be taking you out of your way?'
'Yes, but I don't intend to leave you to wander about aimlessly,' she replied abruptly, taking his hand as he rose to his feet beside her. 'I'll take you home and give whoever is looking after you a piece of my mind for allowing you to go off on your own.'
'You can't blame poor old Solomon,' he remarked as he fell into step beside her, shortening his stride to match her own. 'He had no idea that I would go off on my own, and he's most probably hunting all over the place for me at this moment.'
'Solomon?'
'A coloured friend I grew up with on the farm,' he explained. 'My father agreed that he could come and live with me until I manage to sort myself out.'
The first drops of rain splashed into her face when they were still some distance from the cottage. 'Do you think you could hang on to me and run the rest of the way?' she asked.
'I'll try.'
As they approached the cottage the rain increased and Kim guided Adam Granger towards the gate as swiftly as she could. From the opposite direction someone else was making a dash for the cottage and, as he ran towards them, grey-faced and relieved.
'Dr Adam, where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!'
'I went for a walk,' Adam Granger told him calmly. 'I'm sorry if I frightened you, Solomon.'
'As long as you are safe, Dr Adam,' Solomon said with a smile as they dashed inside, 'but you shouldn't go off on your own without telling me.'
'He shouldn't go off on his own at all,' Kim insisted hotly, determined to stress the point.
'The madam is right,' Solomon acknowledged apologetically, wiping the raindrops from his face with the sleeve of his jacket. 'I'll be in the kitchen if you want me, Dr Adam.'
The rain came down in a torrent as they stood in the shelter of the small hallway and Adam Granger appeared to be listening attentively. 'Is it raining very hard, or is that merely the wind?'
'Both,' Kim told him abruptly, shaking the drops of rain from her hair and wondering how she would reach her own cottage without getting soaked to the skin.
'Won't you stay and have tea with me?' he interrupted her thoughts. 'My car is at your disposal and Solomon could drive you down later.'
Kim stood about undecided. A part of her wanted to get away from him as soon as possible, while the other wanted to know more about this man who lived in utter seclusion with only his trusted servant for company.
It was almost as if Adam Granger was aware of her indecision as he moved closer to her. 'Please stay. I could do with some company,' he said persuasively.
'A cup of tea would be most enjoyable at this moment,' she finally relented, staring up into eyes hidden behind those exceptionally dark lenses.
He called down the passage to Solomon, instructing him to make tea before turning to her again. 'The lounge is through here,' he gestured to his right. 'If the room appears rather untidy you must forgive me, but I spend my days here listening to records or just doing nothing.'
The lounge was small with an odd assortment of furniture. Nothing matched, yet nothing jarred, and the visual impact was that of comfortable masculinity. The curtains were a warm wine-red, blending in colour with the stained wooden beams across the ceiling, but her attention was drawn to a bookcase at the other end of the room with rows of impressive looking books adorning the shelves. Of what use were they to someone who could not see? she wondered with a touch of bitterness. Solomon might be a tremendous help to him, but she was sure that he would be incapable of reading those informative books to his master.
'Are you a medical doctor?' she asked curiously as she curled up in a chair and glanced at those artistic hands lying limply in his lap.
'No, I'm… I was a scientist.'
'Why use the past tense?'
His lips twisted with bitterness. 'I don't think I can be of further use in the scientific field as I am now.'
'That's a defeatist attitude to adopt.'
'Perhaps.' He seemed to be having trouble lighting his pipe and burnt his fingers in the process. Kim watched him with a brooding expression in her green eyes, but did not offer to help him.
'Did you lose your sight quite recently?' she asked.
'Yes.' His pipe was burning properly at last as he dropped the sixth match into the ashtray beside him. 'A month ago, to be exact.'
'How?'
Strangely enough he did not take exception to her probing questions. 'An explosion in one of the laboratories.'
Solomon brought in a tray of tea and placed it on the small coffee table between them. He smiled politely at Kim and then she was once again alone with her strange host. 'Shall I pour?' she asked quite naturally, as if he were quite capable of doing this himself.
'Please do, Kim. I take milk and one teaspoon of sugar.'
The pleasant aroma of pipe tobacco filled the room and Kim was overcome with nostalgia as she poured their tea. Her father always smoked a pipe, and quite often he allowed her to fill the bowl with tobacco for him. It was a little chore she had loved doing despite the fact that her father had grumbled about being capable of doing it himself. Adam Granger laid his pipe aside as Kim took his hand and placed his cup in it.
'I can't understand how anyone in their right mind could have allowed you to come here on your own,' she frowned as they sipped their tea.
'I have Solomon with me,' he replied stubbornly.
'You mentioned something about a farm,' Kim persisted. 'Why didn't you go there where your parents could have helped you through this period of adjustment?'
'After being a widower for several years, my father remarried a little over, a year ago.' He emptied his cup and placed it carefully on the coffee table before taking up his pipe once more. 'Libby is a gentle sort of person, but home isn't the same any more; besides, I… I'm old enough to take care of myself, don't you think?'
'Well, it's your business really,' Kim shrugged carelessly, 'but I do think you were foolish to come to this isolated place, and next time you decide to take a walk, don't be too proud to take Solomon with you.'
'Yes, ma'am.' His mouth relaxed into a mocking little smile that brought the colour rushing into her cheeks.
Kim judged him to be well in his thirties and, if he were not so thin, he could be devastatingly attractive, she thought irrationally as she placed her empty cup in the tray and rose to her feet. 'I really must go now,' she said.
'I'll tell Solomon to bring the car round to the front,' he said quickly, getting to his feet and walking from the room with practised ease. Kim sauntered across to the window and stared out into the small garden beyond. If Solomon was responsible for the garden, then he certainly made a good job of it. The soil was too poor for a flower garden, but the autumn roses looked magnificent, and the lawns were neatly trimmed. The rain had eased off considerably, Kim noticed, but the wind had not subsided. Adam Granger returned at that moment.
'Solomon won't be long,' he said.
Kim went towards him. 'Well, goodbye, Dr Granger, and thank you for the tea as well as the lift home.'
'Shall I see you again?' There was a touch of eager anticipation in his voice which she chose to ignore.
'I don't think so. I shall be leaving Heron's Bay shortly, and there's so much still to do before I go.'
'Oh.' He resumed his tight-lipped expression. 'Are you on holiday?'
'No, I used to live here with my aunt, but now that she's passed away I'm selling up and moving to the city to find myself a job.'
'I see,' he muttered politely, extending his hand towards her. Kim placed her hand in his and felt again the warm, almost electrifying pressure of his fingers. 'Goodbye, Kim, and thank you for saving my worthless life this afternoon.'
'If you don't shake off your defeatist attitude, your life will become worthless,' she told him sharply.
'Kim… please come again,' he said unexpectedly, the pressure of his fingers increasing with some urgency. He was lonely, she realised quite suddenly, and in need of company other than the faithful Solomon's. 'Tomorrow?'
Kim had the strangest feeling that she should refuse, but this tall, gaunt-looking man had touched a sensitive core in her heart. 'I'll try.'
Kim's meeting with Dr Adam Granger had disturbed her more than she was prepared to admit. The man needed help and encouragement, instead of which he was living a partially isolated life by choice, and quite obviously regretting his decision, judging by his hunger for someone's companionship. She did not want to become involved with him; she could not afford to. If he should come to rely upon her, her eventual departure from Heron's Bay would set him right back to where he was in the first place, and that would be cruel and heartless.
Where Seagulls Cry Page 1
