Secrets at the Last House Before the Sea

by Liz Eeles

  CHAPTER 27

  Rosie turned her key in the lock at Driftwood House and pushed open the front door. As the wood scraped across the flagstones, she vaguely registered that the timber was swelling again and needed to be sanded down a little more. Though that thought was swiftly followed by the realisation that it didn’t matter. The house was condemned.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ said Rosie to the empty hallway. Though whether she was apologising to the house or to her mother for what she’d just done, she wasn’t quite sure.

  ‘Sorry for what?’ mumbled Matt, coming out of the kitchen, clutching a piece of toast. Heaven knew how long he’d been asleep. He still had bed-head hair and he yawned, showing his wide white smile.

  ‘I don’t know. Sorry for disappearing?’ answered Rosie, too emotionally wrung out to face another confrontation.

  ‘Did you?’ He rubbed a hand across his bleary eyes. ‘Did you go for a walk?’

  ‘I went for a drive, to Dartmoor to see Charles Epping.’

  ‘Wow, well done!’ Matt was fully awake now. ‘So what did the old dog have to say for himself?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  Matt’s toast, slathered in butter, began to bend and drip onto the tiles.

  ‘What do you mean, nothing? You did tell him that he’s your father, didn’t you?’

  ‘I said that I strongly suspected he was.’

  ‘And he said nothing?’

  ‘Not a lot. He didn’t believe me and his wife accused me of being a gold-digger.’

  ‘That is outrageous, Rosie. It must have been very upsetting. So what happened next?’ he asked, stepping towards her.

  ‘I left.’ Rosie moved away from him and wiped splattered butter from her jeans with shaking hands.

  ‘You left? Is that it?’ Matt ushered her into the kitchen and gestured for her to sit on a stool. ‘I’ll make you a cup of tea and you can tell me all about it.’

  She wasn’t going to tell him all about it. She wasn’t planning on telling him much at all, but the words came tumbling out because she needed to get it off her chest.

  Matt listened attentively as he made the tea and then sat down next to her. ‘So what’s your next move?’

  ‘My next move about Driftwood House?’

  ‘Who gives a monkey’s about this old place, Rosie? I’m talking about Epping. What’s your next move with him?’

  ‘There is no next move. I go back to Spain and forget him.’

  ‘Don’t be daft. There must be a next move. You can confront him again, demand a DNA test and, if that fails, threaten to go to the press and sell your story. A man like that will value his reputation.’

  ‘Why would I do that? He wants nothing more to do with me and the feeling is mutual. And I have no desire to humiliate his wife, even though she’s awful. She must have been hurt enough at the time.’

  ‘Oh Rosie.’ Matt took her hands in his. ‘You can’t let Charles Epping win. He owes you, and what’s he worth? Five million? Ten? Maybe more, with all the land and property he owns. As his flesh and blood, you deserve a big chunk of that.’

  ‘I don’t want his money, Matt. I’m not a gold-digger, whatever Cecilia thinks.’

  ‘Of course you aren’t, babe. But isn’t it selfish to give up on money like that?’

  ‘Selfish? How can it be selfish?’

  ‘Just think what you could do with a huge injection of cash. Think what we could do. You could finance me to set up my entrepreneurial property business, which would clean up in the area.’

  ‘And that’s what all this is about. I thought as much.’ Rosie stood up so quickly, she spilled tea all down her sweatshirt. Jeez, it was hot. She pulled the sodden fabric away from her skin.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ asked Matt, his eyes narrowing as he handed her a wodge of kitchen roll.

  ‘I wondered why you were so keen for me to tell Charles Epping he’s my father. You’ve got your eye on his money to kickstart your business. I hoped you were being empathetic, but I’m starting to realise that’s not your style, is it?’

  ‘Bit harsh, babe. I’m only trying to help you.’

  ‘Help me or help yourself? And please do stop calling me babe.’

  Matt’s face darkened. ‘I get that your mum has just died and you’re upset about everything. That’s why you’re so obsessed with this shabby old house that rattles in the wind that never ever stops. But you might as well get everything you can out of a man who abandoned you and your mother. And I’m not going to apologise for being ambitious. You had ambitions and dreams before you came back to this crappy cove in the middle of nowhere.’

  ‘Dreams change.’

  Matt shook his head. ‘You need to get back to Spain pronto, Rosie, because you’re in danger of becoming weird and boring, just like the people around here.’

  ‘Do you really want me to come back?’

  ‘I’m here, aren’t I?’ answered Matt, sulkily.

  ‘You only came after I told you that a very rich man might be my father, and you’ve been pushing me to claim my so-called inheritance ever since. Someone less charitable than me might think you were after my money, Matt.’

  ‘That’s crap, Rosie. But do we just miss out on all that money, on that chance of financing our future? Don’t you see that it is rather selfish?’

  Anger bubbled up inside Rosie, like red-hot lava. ‘Let me get this straight. You want me to beg a man who has just sent me packing to recognise me as his daughter so that you can set up a business that’s economical with the truth in pursuit of a good sale.’

  ‘It’s short-term pain for long-term gain, ba… sweetheart. You and me, we’re in this together for the long haul.’

  Rosie gasped at his ability to barefaced lie. ‘Really? What about you and Carmen?’

  ‘What about her?’

  ‘I know everything,’ fibbed Rosie.

  Matt puffed up his chest, before deflating like a balloon. ‘Have you been talking to Juan? What did he tell you?’

  ‘Every detail.’

  ‘He’s such a bloody tell-tale! It was only a couple of kisses, to start with.’

  ‘To start with? So, there was a lot more after that.’

  ‘Don’t twist my words, Rosie. I’m not proud of myself but you were away and, when Carmen practically threw herself at me, one thing led to another. I was flattered.’

  And there was the problem. Matt, like the dad she grew up with and like Liam, took flirtation too far and ended up deceiving and betraying people. Charles Epping, too, was no stranger to betrayal, though his had been in the name of ‘doing the right thing’.

  ‘This doesn’t have to change anything between us,’ Matt whined, giving her his best puppy-dog eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Rosie. I’ll tell Carmen to back off because I’m all yours.’

  ‘Will you still be mine when temptation keeps on coming and Epping’s money doesn’t?’

  ‘That’s below the belt, Rosie.’

  ‘Which is rather ironic, coming from you.’

  Matt bit his lip, his expression sour. ‘I probably deserved that, but I don’t want us to be over. Please forgive me, Rosie, because I love you. Come back to Spain and we can go back to the way we were. Say something!’ he demanded, when she remained silent, though what did he expect her to say?

  Of course I forgive you, Matt, and it’s all Carmen’s fault, maybe? It wasn’t, though Rosie would be having a stiff word with her about female solidarity when she got back to Spain. You’re a selfish pain in the arse? That kind of went without saying. You’ve broken my heart? He hadn’t, much to her surprise. He’d bruised it, undoubtedly, but her heart felt too battered right now to fully register any extra hits.

  Rosie spoke calmly and clearly. ‘I’m coming back to Spain, but I’m not having anything more to do with Charles Epping, not ever.’

  ‘Even for me?’

  ‘Even for you, because, hard though it may be to take in, none of this is actually about you, Matt.’

  ‘That’s tru
e, I suppose. It’s all about this past-it house, and this awful village and people like Nessa and Belinda and local idiot, Liam, and his bloody biceps.’

  ‘He’s not an idiot.’

  Matt shook his head. ‘I’m going home, Rosie. I’ll pack and be out of here in an hour or two. Are you coming with me?’

  Rosie looked at him, standing in the doorway, blocking the light. She could swallow her pride and forgive him, forget Charles Epping and Driftwood House, and go back to Spain right now. That would simplify her complicated life.

  ‘Well?’ urged Matt.

  Rosie looked around the newly painted kitchen, where she’d learned to bake fairy cakes with her mum. ‘I’m not coming with you. I think we both know that our relationship is over.’

  ‘You’re totally overreacting,’ spluttered Matt, his face turning red.

  ‘No, I’m not. You’ve been seeing Carmen behind my back, and I deserve better. Can you tell Juan I’ll be back in the office on Thursday, as we arranged?’

  ‘It’s not over, Rosie. I won’t accept it. We can continue this conversation when you’re back in Spain and talking more sense.’

  Rosie shook her head. ‘We won’t be continuing the conversation, Matt. We’re definitely over,’ she said firmly to his retreating back as he stomped up the stairs.

  CHAPTER 28

  Liam shielded his eyes from the low-lying sun. The sky was blazing orange and gold over a silver sea and seagulls wheeling above the cliffs were dark silhouettes. And there, perched high above the village and his farm, he could make out Driftwood House. The building belonged to Heaven’s Cove and was an integral part of the village but it was set apart, rather like Rosie herself.

  He scuffed his feet into the soil, wondering why his thoughts kept returning to Rosie Merchant. She and her unpleasant boyfriend would be gone soon enough and life in Heaven’s Cove would return to normal. No more fighting to save Driftwood House. No more slow dances at village discos.

  Deliberately, he turned his attention back to the view which never failed to soothe him these days. Not so long ago, the wide open sea and acres of land had bored him, and the responsibility of taking over the struggling family farm had felt stifling. The more he felt trapped, the more he’d caroused with his friends – drinking too much, kissing too many women.

  But he’d grown into the landscape and now he appreciated the quiet moments when nature engulfed him and he could breathe.

  ‘All right, Billy. Give it a rest, mate.’ The dog’s sharp barks were shattering his peace.

  ‘I think he’s barking at me.’

  Rosie was standing next to him. The air around him shifted and, for a moment, he thought his mind had conjured her up. But this figment of his imagination was solid enough when her hand brushed against his arm. ‘I don’t want to disturb you.’

  ‘You’re not. I was only looking at the view.’

  Rosie tilted her chin to the sky and took a deep breath. ‘It’s beautiful here, isn’t it? I didn’t appreciate how magnificent the views are from Heaven’s Cove.’

  ‘Me neither. I rather took it all for granted.’

  ‘You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, until you move away.’

  ‘As you know, that was never an option for me, and most days I’m glad.’ He turned and looked at her properly for the first time – jeans, grey sweatshirt, hair pulled into a ponytail, dark circles beneath her big eyes. ‘What are you doing here? Are you and your boyfriend all out of eggs for Sunday tea?’

  ‘I wanted to tell you face to face, before I leave, that I’ve heard from Epping’s solicitor that Driftwood House can’t be saved.’ A spasm of pain passed across her face. ‘Let’s be honest. It was pie in the sky to think it could be. Mum’s gone and the house will go with her. Perhaps that’s the way it should be. But I thought you deserved to know first, after your work on the place, and I’m sorry it turned out to be a waste of your time.’

  She sounded business-like, distant.

  ‘I was happy to help but I’m not surprised. Charles Epping is a bastard who screws people into the ground. Money is king as far as he’s concerned. I can’t stand him or his family.’ He took a deep breath. ‘So you got a phone call, did you? I thought you went to see the Eppings earlier today.’

  Rosie scuffed her feet across the ground. ‘No, what made you think that?’

  ‘Someone thought they saw you out that way.’

  ‘Not me.’

  She was lying. The pink spots in her cheeks were tell-tale signs – she’d be absolutely rubbish at poker. And Alex was adamant that he’d passed her car this afternoon, just a mile or two from the turning to High Tor House.

  Rosie stared at her hands with their long, tanned fingers. Why didn’t she want to tell him? he wondered.

  ‘It’s such a shame about the house,’ she said. ‘I know it’s just bricks and mortar but losing Driftwood House feels like another small death.’ She dipped her head. ‘Stupid, isn’t it?’

  ‘Not at all. It’s been your home since you were born. So what happens next?’

  ‘I finish packing up the house and head for Spain.’

  ‘You and Matt.’

  ‘He went earlier today. Matt and I… well, it’s all got a bit complicated.’

  She flushed again and Liam fought the urge to put his arm around her shoulders. It would be fine as a friendly gesture but, after the feelings stirred up by their slow dance, he wouldn’t mean it as a friend. He’d end up wanting to kiss her and what was the point of all these emotions? He’d only just put a lid on them. He turned his face again towards the sea.

  ‘Complicated how?’ he asked, levelly.

  ‘We’ve broken up and he’s flying back to Spain right now, probably to see Carmen.’

  ‘Who’s Carmen?’

  ‘The workmate I discovered he’s been having an affair with.’

  ‘You’re kidding me! The man’s a complete dick! Are you OK?’

  When he looked at Rosie, she was staring at the glowing sky, her face in profile. ‘I am, actually. I thought I loved Matt and he loved me, but I think I was only kidding myself.’ Her hand flew to her mouth. ‘Sorry, was that insensitive after Deanna decided that she didn’t…? I don’t mean…’

  ‘It’s fine. I’ve heard far worse and it was a year ago now. Life goes on.’

  That was the platitude he often spouted with no weight behind it but Liam suddenly found it hard to picture Deanna’s face. She’d meant the world to him and yet now he’d started to forget her and, for the first time since being jilted, he could imagine being with someone else.

  He stole a look at Rosie, who had closed her eyes with her face towards the dying sun. Golden beams of light danced across her hair, making it shine. At last he’d found someone he was willing to let his guard down for and she was about to fly off into the distance. Typical.

  ‘Actually,’ said Rosie, eyes still closed. ‘I know life goes on but it’s been a bit of a shit day all round. The sort that you know has been seared into your brain, even though you’d rather forget it completely.’

  ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

  Rosie hesitated. ‘No, but thanks.’

  ‘You’ll forget it eventually, I expect. Well, not so much forget as let it go.’

  Rosie opened her eyes and fixed her gaze on him. ‘You’re pretty wise, Liam Satterley, for a heartbreaker.’

  ‘That’s what all the girls say.’

  Why had he said that? It was the kind of glib remark that old Liam might have made.

  Rosie’s smile never reached her eyes. ‘I can imagine. How is Katrina?’

  ‘She was fine the last time I saw her. Why?’

  ‘No reason. She seemed a bit worse for drink by the time we left the disco, that’s all.’

  ‘I think she’d had a fair bit. So when are you leaving Heaven’s Cove?’ asked Liam, keen to move the conversation on from Katrina, who would never forgive him for turning her down. She was the type to bear a grudge.

&
nbsp; ‘I’m finishing packing up the things I want to keep and I’ve found a company that will collect and sell the furniture that I don’t. And my flight’s still booked for Wednesday afternoon. What else can I do?’

  ‘You could stay.’ Liam folded his arms and kept his eyes on the sunset. The sky had turned a blazing red as the sun slipped below the horizon.

  ‘Stay where? Driftwood House will be gone.’

  ‘There’s always Josie’s B&B while you find somewhere else locally. Or you could sleep here, with me. I mean’ – he tripped over his words – ‘with me and Billy.’

  Mentioning the dog in no way made the offer sound less sleazy and he knew he hadn’t quite shaken off his old reputation in Rosie’s eyes. ‘What I mean is, I wouldn’t mind putting you up in the spare room while you sort out your next move. My parents would be fine with it. In fact they’d probably love it.’

  ‘Why would you do that?’

  ‘I quite like you.’

  Billy’s ears pricked up. He was lying near the back door, watching the two of them. Rosie crouched down and stroked his back, then she glanced up at Liam. She looked upset. He hadn’t meant to upset her.

  ‘That’s kind of you.’ Her voice was wobbly. ‘But with Driftwood House gone, my life is in Spain.’

  ‘Yeah, sure. It was just a thought, trying to help you out.’

  ‘Thank you. It was a kind thought.’

  ‘I have my moments.’

  She straightened up and smoothed her hands down her jeans. ‘I guess this is goodbye then. I probably won’t see you before I leave.’

  ‘Will you be back?’ Did that sound too desperate?

  When she shook her head, hair came loose from her ponytail. ‘Probably not, now there’s no Mum and no Driftwood House to come back to.’