Beautiful Creatures

by Lulu Taylor

  Then an image came to her mind with the force of a blow: it was a picture of a bride, with short dark curly hair and a wreath of flowers, her lips glossy and her dress billowing out …

  Flora gasped. Her hand went to her heart and her mouth dropped open. She knew who this was. The woman walking towards her was her mother.

  She wanted to go forward and meet her, but she couldn’t move. All she could do was stand there, thinking, This is her, this is my mother, she is here at last … over and over.

  As they reached her, coming through the gate in the fence and into the garden, Diane Beaufort smiled. ‘Flora?’ she said in a soft voice.

  ‘Yes,’ Flora replied. But although her lips moved, no sound came out. She was too overwhelmed by the sight of her own flesh-and-blood mother coming towards her that she couldn’t do anything at all.

  Then Diane opened her arms and suddenly she could move. Flora raced forward and an instant later was wrapped in her mother’s embrace for the first time she could ever recall in her life. The wool coat was scratchy under her cheek, but she didn’t mind.

  ‘You’re here!’ she breathed, her eyes tight shut as she felt the reality of her mother’s arms around her. ‘At last.’

  ‘I think that went all right,’ said Vicky to Nick as they sat in the kitchen over coffee and Hilda’s home-made flapjacks.

  ‘It was a hell of a risk,’ Nick said. He smiled. ‘But I think, just maybe, you did the right thing.’

  ‘What do you make of Diane?’

  Nick looked thoughtful as he nibbled on a piece of sticky flapjack. ‘I thought she seemed okay. Kind of reserved, but maybe that’s nerves. You can sure see where the girls get their looks from. She may be getting on, but she’s still a beauty.’

  Vicky nodded. ‘It must be completely strange for her too. She’s been living in isolation for years.’

  ‘But you managed to persuade her to leave?’

  ‘It took a while,’ Vicky said. It was easy enough to slip away for a few days while the girls were in Scotland and she had made the first trip to the Pyrenees on her own, using Nick’s information to locate the mountainside cottage on the outskirts of a remote village. There, Diane Beaufort was living alone, with only a collection of animals for company, almost entirely cut off from the outside world except for a satellite phone in case of emergencies. It was a bare, beautiful place to live, where the only passersby were hardy mountain goats and the occasional goatherd. Vicky’s arrival had clearly been a great shock and Diane’s first reaction had been hostile, but Vicky had persisted and gradually won the older woman’s trust. The temptation to learn about her daughters and their lives was too much for her. Eventually she’d allowed Vicky in to talk to her for hours about what had happened to Octavia and Flora.

  Diane had listened hard, much of what she was hearing causing her obvious pain.

  ‘Flora wants to see you,’ Vicky had said at last. ‘More than anything, she wants to know her mother.’

  Diane thought and then said, ‘But not Octavia?’

  ‘Well … not right now. She’s turned her back on the past. She only wants to move forward.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘But I know how you can see Flora alone. And I hope you’ll decide to do it. I don’t think you’ll regret it.’

  ‘I need to think about this,’ Diane had said, sighing. ‘I’d resigned myself to never seeing my daughters again. If I’m to step back into the world, I need to be sure it’s the right thing to do.’

  When Vicky had returned the next day, Diane had said, ‘No one else needs to know about this, do they? If I go and see Flora, I mean?’

  ‘No, no one. It can all be done privately. You needn’t so much as book a ticket,’ Vicky said eagerly.

  ‘If that’s true, then I’ll come. But there’s one condition. I have to be allowed to leave when I say, and after that I must be left strictly in peace. I don’t want a stream of visitors coming here, trying to understand me and my life. Understand?’

  ‘I understand,’ Vicky said, trying to hide her jubilation. She’d done it. She was about to make Flora’s dream come true. All she needed was Max to help her, just as he’d promised.

  84

  Flora and Diane sat alone in the sitting room. At first Flora had hardly known what to say to her mother, but only wanted to look at her in amazement.

  ‘You’ve grown into a beautiful girl,’ Diane said, staring at her. ‘I knew you would. You were a gorgeous baby. You both were. I suppose that, looking at you, I’m getting a glimpse of Octavia too.’

  ‘Yes,’ Flora said, wanting to blurt out the question that was hanging over them both: Why did you leave us?

  ‘Vicky has told me something of what you’ve been through recently. I’m so sorry, Flora. It sounds as though you’ve suffered very much.’ Her mother’s voice was gentle and sympathetic. With all her heart Flora wanted to reach out to her, confide in her, tell her everything, but this woman was a stranger. And until Flora knew why she had left her two young daughters, it didn’t seem possible to understand her.

  ‘Yes, and it’s not over yet.’

  ‘Vicky said this man you married has some hold over you?’

  ‘He’s … he’s blackmailing me with private photographs. If he made them public, the scandal would be … terrible.’

  ‘Ah, yes. Well, I know something about that. Your aunt made sure that every salacious detail she could dig up against me was used in the custody case. There was almost no part of my private life that didn’t become public knowledge, and the pain of it was awful.’ Diane’s eyes darkened at the memory. ‘But let’s not talk of that now. I want to hear about your life … what it was like growing up with Frances.’ Her mother looked at her, questioning, something like vulnerability in her eyes. It seemed that a lot hung on her answer.

  Flora stared at the floor for a minute. Where did she begin? With the strange, restricted lives they’d been forced to endure? With the rigid diets and severe punishments? With the string of governesses and the finishing school that might as well have been a prison? With the things she’d had to suffer in those huge but mostly empty houses? ‘It was … happy,’ she said, unable to bring herself to begin to tell the truth. How could she? Perhaps when … if … they ever got to know her. ‘We were well treated by Aunt Frances and she looked after us. It was a bit eccentric, perhaps, but at least Octavia and I had each other.’

  ‘Ah, yes … Octavia. Who doesn’t want to see me.’

  ‘Yes. She’ll be angry. She thought we should leave things as they were.’

  ‘But you didn’t agree.’

  ‘No.’

  Diane Beaufort sat back in her armchair. ‘Tell me more about growing up,’ she said. ‘What games did you play?’

  It became easier after a while to talk about the happy things, the holidays and Christmases, the silly things that had happened. And it seemed important to reassure her mother that she had done the right thing in leaving the girls, even though the question of why they’d been left at all remained hanging in the air. Hilda brought them sandwiches at lunchtime, and tea at four o’clock, and still they talked on. Eventually, Vicky knocked discreetly at the door and told them it was almost dinnertime.

  ‘Aren’t I going back tonight?’ Diane asked, surprised.

  ‘Max says the flying conditions aren’t terribly good this evening, and anyway you’ve talked for hours. It’s probably best to stay here tonight and leave tomorrow.’

  Diane cast a worried look at Flora. ‘But isn’t Octavia coming back?’

  Vicky said, ‘Not until later tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll miss her.’

  ‘Won’t you stay and see her?’ asked Flora. ‘I think it would be terrible if she missed her only opportunity to meet you, even if she believes she doesn’t want to.’

  Diane shook her head. ‘I don’t want to force myself into her life. She thinks she’d be better off without me and she very well may be.’

  ‘Come on,’ Vicky said. ‘Max is waiting for
us.’

  Dinner was surprisingly enjoyable. My mother, Flora kept thinking in a daze, wanting to pinch herself to check she was awake. My mother is here. Max, Vicky and Nick kept discreetly quiet during the meal, speaking just enough to keep conversation flowing, but letting Diane and Flora continue their exchange of memories.

  Flora realised with surprise that on one side of her sat her mother and on the other was Nick. If only Octavia were here, it would be perfect, she thought.

  While they were waiting for the pudding, Diane looked about and said, ‘This reminds me a little of the house I first lived in with Arthur. You girls were born there. It was your first home.’

  ‘Really? Where was that?’ Flora asked, interested.

  ‘A house in the countryside just outside Edinburgh, where Arthur was doing a Master’s in engineering. It was when he planned to go into the family business eventually.’ A wistful look passed over Diane’s face. ‘We were so happy then. Before it all went wrong.’

  There was a pause and then Vicky said, ‘And you’ve lived in France ever since you left England?’

  Diane laughed. ‘Oh, no. We lived all over the world. Africa, for years and years. And then in the Far East. I only turned up in France about six years ago.’

  We? Flora thought. We lived all over the world. But only I turned up in France.

  Dinner finished and Diane said politely, ‘Thank you for a lovely meal. I haven’t been to a proper dinner party like this for longer than I can remember. It was most enjoyable. But, if you don’t mind, I’d like to turn in now.’

  Max stood up. ‘Let me show you upstairs to your room.’

  When they’d gone, the other two looked at Flora, both with concern in their eyes.

  ‘How did it go?’ Vicky asked.

  ‘Fine, fine …’ Flora sighed. ‘It was all very friendly. And she hasn’t disappointed me – she’s what I expected: gracious and dignified and all of that. But we haven’t really talked about what happened, why she went away.’

  ‘There’s still tomorrow,’ Nick suggested, with a sympathetic smile.

  ‘Only an hour or two. I don’t know how I’ll ever ask her,’ Flora said sadly. ‘But it will be hard to say goodbye to her without knowing.’

  ‘Let’s see what happens tomorrow.’

  As they were all about to go upstairs to bed, Nick put out a hand to stop Flora. ‘Can I speak to you alone?’ he said in a low voice.

  She nodded, a flutter of excitement in her stomach. All day the knowledge of his presence had been disturbing her, tingling within her, even when she was lost in conversation with Diane. She had been longing to see him by herself. Perhaps he’d been thinking the same thing.

  She followed him into the sitting room, lit only by the glowing embers burning in the grate. He stood close to her, his face illuminated by the half-light so that his perfectly straight nose was even more pronounced. Her heart began to race and she felt a light and delicious fizz in her belly as her body responded to his nearness.

  ‘Did everything go okay? I hope it was all right, springing this surprise on you. Vicky thought it was the best way.’

  ‘It was fine.’ Flora smiled at him. ‘Thank you for helping.’

  ‘That’s all right,’ he said gently. ‘I want to help you.’ His expression became sad and he hesitated before saying, ‘I hate bringing bad news.’

  The pleasurable tingle turned to a swoop of fear in Flora’s chest. ‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘Otto …?’

  Nick nodded. ‘I’m afraid so. I wish I didn’t have to say this to you. He’s been in touch to let me know that he’s demanding an extra five million a year. For life.’

  She gasped. ‘But he already has more money than he could ever spend!’

  ‘He’s greedy, Flora. It’ll never be enough, not until he has everything you own. My guess is that he considers you to be his property, and what’s yours as his.’

  She put her face in her hands and closed her eyes. ‘Why won’t he leave me alone?’ she cried out in anguish. ‘I only want to be free of him. God, I wish I’d never laid eyes on him. If only I hadn’t been so stupid …’ She burst out crying.

  ‘Hey, hey.’ Nick reached out and put his arms round her, pulling her close to him. ‘Don’t blame yourself. Older, wiser and more sophisticated women than you have fallen for nasty little conmen before now. You were targeted. You weren’t to know. You didn’t have a chance against an operator like that rat.’

  She huddled into his arms, comforted by the smooth warmth of his cotton shirt and the sound of his heart beating. She stopped sobbing, sniffing slightly instead as her tears subsided. No matter how dreadful Otto was, his power over her receded when she was with Nick.

  He pulled back from her, a sweet expression in his eyes. ‘Better?’

  She nodded, looking up at him, her face tilted towards his. Kiss me, kiss me, she was begging him silently, desperate to have the touch of those full lips on hers.

  ‘Oh, God,’ he muttered. ‘I want to kiss you. This is crazy.’

  ‘No, it’s not,’ Flora whispered. Her fear and anguish had disappeared and she was filled with yearning for him. Nick gazed down at her; his eyes were a melting brown in the soft glow of the embers.

  ‘You’re so beautiful,’ he said in a wondering voice. ‘What did I do to end up in a house in the middle of nowhere with a gorgeous girl in the firelight like this? I must have one hell of a fairy godmother.’

  ‘Please, I wish you would kiss me,’ said Flora, unable to bear the tension any longer.

  He bent down and with exquisite gentleness, put his mouth on hers and kissed her lightly. His lips were as soft and gorgeous as she’d expected. Something in her melted further second by second as he kissed her, over and over, each kiss a little harder and lasting an instant longer than the last. It was a delicious, delicate tease, until she was longing for him to take possession of her mouth. Then, at last, his lips opened and his tongue brushed her lips. She opened her mouth to him, savouring the sweetness of his taste, putting her hands round his head to pull him to her, digging her fingers into his thick black hair.

  This is a kiss, she thought dizzily. The first perfect kiss of my life.

  They kissed for what felt like a long time, her desire for him growing with every moment. She had thought, in those terrible encounters with Otto, that he was killing her, destroying her capacity for love and desire. The instant Nick touched her, she felt as though something was put back into place, as though he had somehow fixed her. And as they kissed, a sense of joy that Otto’s power over her was being vanquished grew and grew, along with the wonderful sensations shooting all over her body like delightful fireworks. She wanted to kiss all of him, explore him, feel his skin, discover his body …

  ‘Oh my God, Flora,’ said Nick, pulling away from her at last and looking down at her in astonishment. ‘That was … beautiful.’

  ‘Nick …’ she said, gazing up at him, her eyes shining, ‘Nick, I—’

  The door opened and Max came into the room. He stopped short when he saw them standing so close to one another. ‘Oh. I’m sorry.’ He seemed disconcerted. ‘I didn’t realise you were in here. I just came to get my paper.’

  ‘Not at all, we were just discussing … er …’ Nick said uncomfortably. He looked at Flora and his gaze became tender as his voice trailed off.

  ‘Please, please, don’t mind me, I’m just going,’ Max said, picking up his newspaper.

  ‘I … er … I guess we’d better all go to bed maybe.’ Nick turned to Flora. ‘You must be tired.’

  ‘Yes, I am.’ She smiled at him. The spell was broken for the moment, but she could still feel the imprint of his lips on hers and taste him in her mouth. For now, she wanted to savour it, treasure it and think about it. ‘I’ll go up now. Goodnight, Max. Thank you for everything. Goodnight, Nick.’

  ‘Goodnight,’ he said softly, looking as though he wanted to kiss her again. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  ‘Goodnight, Flora,’ Max
said, as she headed out of the room, feeling as though she were floating. ‘Sleep tight.’

  85

  Octavia sat back in the taxi, feeling pleased with herself. Once the funeral was over, she’d wanted to return to Glachach as soon as possible and in the end had managed to get a dawn flight from Bristol to Glasgow, then a taxi to the village near the house, and from there another local taxi with a driver who actually knew how to find the house, as she had no idea where it was unless she was coming by air. She had a feeling that ‘by some mountains, not far from a loch’ wouldn’t cut it as directions in Scotland.

  As the battered old car bounced along the unmetalled track that led to Glachach, Octavia thought how much she was looking forward to eating a proper breakfast with Flora, and was idly wondering if she could get Hilda to teach her how to make porridge in that particularly sublime way when suddenly she sat up straight. There was the cherry-red helicopter in the field by the house.

  ‘Max,’ she breathed with excitement. ‘Max is back!’ She leant forward. ‘Can you hurry up, please?’

  The taxi driver muttered something under his breath and they carried on juddering up the track until at last they came to a halt in front of the house.

  I’ll surprise him, thought Octavia, paying the driver and then hurrying round to the back of the house where she could let herself in. Hilda was in the kitchen when she came in, topping up a large pot of coffee.

  ‘Hello, miss!’ she said, looking surprised as Octavia skipped past her. ‘We weren’t expecting you back till later.’

  ‘I know, don’t say anything!’ she said mischievously, and darted out of the kitchen down the hall and flung open the breakfast-room door. ‘Da-dahhhh!’ she announced, flinging her arms into the air. Then she stopped short and stared. Around the table were Max and Flora, as she’d expected, but also Vicky, Nick, and an older woman with blue eyes and short dark hair. ‘Oh,’ she said.