‘He’s a bit of a hunk,’ Arabella continued, ‘and I know you, Suzanna. You fall in love at the drop of a pin.’
‘I do not!’ Suzy huffed.
‘You do. Simon was a prime example. You had known for him but as soon as he showed an interest in you, you were in love!’
‘Simon was lovely. You said he had perfect manners and money!’
‘He was and he did but he wasn’t right for you.’
‘You wanted me to marry him so I could buy you and Dad a house!’
‘I was wrong about that, wasn’t I?’
‘Then you wanted me to sell the ring he bought me.’
‘Which was actually due to be yours,’ Arabella pointed out. ‘I know you, young lady, and you are in love Sevastian whether you admit it or not.’
‘I barely know him!’
‘It doesn’t matter. Did I tell you how, after meeting Richard for just one day, I knew he was the man I would marry and spend the rest of my life with?’ Arabella’s chin wobbled and fresh tears rolled freely from her eyes. ‘And now he’s gone. The time I had with him would never have been enough.’ She clutched Suzy’s hands. ‘If you feel love, no matter if your head tells you it is too soon, hold onto that feeling and the man who makes you feel like that. You’ll never know how much time you’ll have together.’
Sevastian was unpacking the food bags when Suzy ventured into the kitchen.
‘You don’t have to do that,’ she said, suddenly feeling awkward.
‘I know.’ Sevastian carried on emptying the bags. ‘Rodion was asking after you. Tatyana is feeling much better. I will tell them you and Arabella are here so they can come down and join us.’
Suzy held her breath as Sevastian approached her. In bare feet the top of her head only scraped his shoulder. The heavy musky undertones of his aftershave flooded her senses, forcing her thoughts back to how, after surrendering to that first act of lust, the scent of him had penetrated her own skin. She jumped as his finger hooked under her chin, tilting her face up to his.
‘Have you an answer for me? Will you be mine?’
Suzy thought of Simon and how much she had thought she loved him. He had been a gentle, thoughtful man who had hid a huge secret. He had lied and hurt her but would the hurt be greater if she allowed Sevastian to slip as easily from her life? Arabella’s words rung in her ears.
It would either be the stupidest thing she had ever done or the bravest.
Suzy made the decision. ‘Yes.’
Sevastian whooped with joy, scooping her into his arms and spinning them both around. Holding her up, his hands underneath her armpits, her feet inches from the kitchen floor, he passionately covered her lips with his. Slowly, and still kissing her, he lowered her back down and gently placed her on the floor. ‘You will be so happy,’ he murmured.
‘What is this?’ Rodion’s deep voice cut in from the kitchen doorway.
Suzy, weakened by emotion, leant against Sevastian’s chest to catch her breath. ‘We are in love.’
‘What?’ Rodion boomed. ‘Do not be ridiculous!’
Sevastian started to object.
A thin hand rested lightly on Rodion’s shoulder and slowly Tatyana drew into view.
‘It’s not so ridiculous though, is it?’ Tatyana’s voice was still light with exhaustion. ‘Were we not the same when we first met?’
Rodion opened and closed his mouth.
‘You declared your undying love for me within an hour,’ Tatyana continued. ‘One hour, Rodion…but that was because you’d just finished ravishing me!’
‘Tatyana, too much information,’ Rodion warned. ‘We do not want our daughter to think we were swept away with passion.’
Arabella squeezed beside her old friend. ‘Tanya?’ Tentatively she reached for her. ‘It’s really you. I can’t believe it, I thought you were dead!’
Tatyana held her thin, bird-like arms open. ‘My dearest friend! How wonderful it’s to see you!’
‘I’d thought I’d never see you again!’ Arabella sobbed. ‘I went to your cremation.’
‘And I thought I’d die at Stephen’s hand!’ Tatyana cried. ‘When I thought that man couldn’t be any crueller he went and surprised me by coming up with some new way of tormenting me.’
Both women clutched each other, their tears of unconcealed joy silencing the others.
‘Don’t you see?’ Tatyana said to Rodion once she managed to control her tears. ‘Everything that went wrong between us was because of love. Now love needs to fix everything. I should never have returned to Stephen. I should’ve stayed in Koravkovia and had Suzanna there…I should have waited for you.’
Rodion nodded slowly, drawing her to him. ‘You are right, my love. You have not always been.’ He indicated Suzy. ‘But now I think you are. Sevastian.’ He held out his hand to him. ‘I apologise. You are an honest, trustworthy, and loyal friend, much more than an employee and I would be honoured to be able to finally call you family.’
Sevastian kissed the top of Suzy’s head. ‘Thank you, Rodion.’
Suzy’s sudden laughter broke the heavy mood. ‘Now, are we going to celebrate this strange family reunion?’
Rodion clapped his hands together. ‘Time for a drink!’
‘Vodka?’ Suzy teased.
Rodion and Sevastian both laughed.
‘As you probably do not have any Medovukha,’ Rodion teased, ‘we will have to settle for what you do have!’
‘Medo what?’ Suzy asked.
‘Medovukha,’ Sevastian said. ‘It is a strong honey drink. I do not like it but I do not care much for vodka either.’
Suzy slipped out from Sevastian’s embrace and began pulling bottles from her drinks cupboard. ‘I have brandy, cognac, whisky, vodka, rum, gin,’ she listed each bottle as she placed it on the kitchen side. ‘And a whole host of others so you can’t accuse me of vodka pigeon-holing you!’
‘Any sparkling wine?’ Tatyana asked softly.
Suzy eyed her new mother teasingly. ‘I do but one glass and you’ll be floored. We need to fatten you back up!’
Tatyana laughed. ‘I agree but I’m still having a glass or two of wine.’ Her eyes sparkled. ‘If I remember correctly when Simon used to bring you to dinner, I’d drink you under the table!’
Suzy laughed back. ‘I remember but I sure gave you good competition!’
‘Like mother like daughter!’ Rodion joked.
Arabella’s eyes filled with tears and she stifled a sob.
‘Like mothers like daughter,’ Tatyana amended, reaching for Arabella’s hand. ‘Arabella and I held our own in the drinking stakes against the lads when we were young!’
‘I remember!’ Arabella laughed. ‘They used to suspect us of tipping it over our shoulders!’
Tatyana grasped Arabella’s hand. ‘I couldn’t have asked for a better person to raise my daughter for me. I was lucky to have such an amazing friend.’
Arabella smiled her appreciation. ‘I was lucky to have such a wonderful friend who trusted me with the most precious gift ever.’
‘Oh, stop it!’ Suzy wailed. ‘You’re going to make me cry!’ She raced over to the two women and flung her arms around them. ‘This is proving to be the saddest yet most wonderful Christmas time ever!’
* * *
Chapter Ten
‘Can I ask you a question?’ Suzy hovered next to Tatyana who was seated at the dining table while the others fussed with food preparation.
Tatyana touched the chair beside her. ‘Please do.’
Suzy pulled the chair out and sat on it. ‘Why did you marry Stephen Prendergast, were you ever in love with him?’
Tatyana’s thin shoulders shrugged. ‘I first met him in nineteen seventy-nine when I was twenty-four. My mother had recently died. Stephen was charming, handsome, and showered me with affection. I fell for him instantly. Then before I knew it I was pregnant and when Stephen suggested marriage I agreed without a second thought.’
‘But you lost the baby; it was
one of many you lost?’
Tatyana nodded sadly. ‘Four babies I lost before Stephen told me about conceiving his own child with our housekeeper Harriet. She already had children so Stephen saw that as a positive sign.’ Her eyes took on a misty glaze. ‘I thought he loved me. Well, until I failed at providing him with an heir. I only realised he had probably never loved me at all when he brought the housekeeper’s son to live in the house, forcing me to watch as she held and fed the child, reminding me of how my own body had failed me.
‘I wanted a child more than anything but the pain of seeing Stephen with his new son destroyed me. At the airport I looked up at the flight boards and one name jumped out at me; Koravkovia. Where else better to flee to than the very place my grandmother had fled from? Stephen didn’t know about my grandmother or Koravkovia so it seemed the perfect place to hide. After all, my passport was British, surname too, so I had nothing to fear.’
‘You were very brave,’ Suzy said in admiration. ‘So you arrived in a country you’d never been to before and met the love of your life?’
Tatyana reached for Suzy’s hands and laid her own over them. ‘Rodion wasn’t as charming as Stephen but he was far more passionate and he captured my battered heart. Rather like Sevastian seems to have done with yours. I raised Simon as my own and I am devastated we have lost him but he had his own secrets. Arabella told me while you were in the kitchen about Nathaniel. I’m so sorry.’
‘Me too. I loved Simon, very much. He was a wonderful friend. I am sad he didn’t know the truth about you. I miss him but the pain of his betrayal is lessening.’ Suzy listened to the voices spilling out from the kitchen. ‘What I don’t understand is why you went back to Stephen? Why not stay in Koravkovia with Rodion?’
Tatyana sighed. ‘I was a fool. When I came home I discovered I was carrying Rodion’s child. I was petrified I would lose you and I couldn’t risk Stephen knowing the truth. I hid you and to give you the best possible life, I returned to Stephen and his money. I bought Sycamore Lodge for you, Suzy. For all those long years you were my secret. Then, as your twenty-fifth birthday neared I began to write you a letter to accompany the Vydrina Diamond Rodion had given me to pass to you on your birthday.
‘Stephen found me writing the letter and demanded I hand over the Vydrina Diamond. I refused and he hit me, over and over. When I woke up I was in a building somewhere, I don’t know where, it was dark and I was chained by my feet.’ Tatyana began to cry. ‘He said he’d do such cruel things to me if I didn’t tell him where the diamond was. Once I knew he had told everyone I had died, I couldn’t risk telling him. It was the only thing keeping me alive.
‘When he found out about you he threatened Richard, forcing him and Arabella from Sycamore Lodge. You know the rest of the story from there. Rodion told me Stephen was arrested?’
Suzy nodded, too choked to speak.
‘Good,’ Tatyana’s voice grew stronger for the first time. ‘I hope he receives the same type of treatment he bestowed upon me.’
‘No more of that talk.’ Sevastian swept in bearing a huge bowl of steaming, roasted potatoes. ‘We will eat and talk of how Suzanna will be coming to see Koravkovia’s beauty with me.’
Suzy smiled, hugging herself inside as he dropped a kiss on her head. Was it so very wrong she felt happy?
The doorbell rang just as Sevastian had efficiently cleared the plates from the table. Suzy rose and picked her purse up on the way to answering it. It was probably Christmas carol singers. Despite the rapid loss of two much loved people from her life a glow of warmth had begun to grow inside brought on by the people who now surrounded her. She thought she would pay it forward and give the carollers however much money she had in her purse. She pulled out two twenty pound notes while opening the door.
‘I can’t take tips.’ Julian’s eyes crinkled with his smile as he caught sight of the money in her hand.
Suzy quickly stuffed the notes back into her purse. ‘I thought you were carollers.’
‘Sorry to disappoint you.’
Suzy wondered what to say. How awkward. ‘Are you on duty?’
‘Not today.’ Julian pushed a hand through his dark hair. ‘I was wondering how you were so I thought I’d stop by on the chance you were in.’
‘Sorry, how rude of me questioning you on the doorstep. Would you like to come in?’
Julian nodded. ‘Shall I sing you a Christmas carol? I must warn you though I can’t hold a tune!’ He knocked icy snow from his boots before stepping inside and briskly rubbing them on the doormat.
‘Would you like a drink or are you driving?’
‘Not driving so a drink would be great, thanks.’
Suzy led the way into the warm kitchen, the smell of roast chicken and stuffing still hung heavy in the air, and gestured at the array of bottles on the kitchen side. ‘Take your pick!’
‘Whisky with ice, please.’ Julian dropped his coat over the back of a kitchen chair and leant against the worktop, crossing his feet at the ankles. ‘We still haven’t found Gerard’s safe. Can you remember if he said anything to you about it? Even something tiny may have significance.’
Suzy handed him a tumbler of drink before replying. ‘No, sorry.
Julian sipped his whisky, eying her over the top of his glass.
‘Are you okay?’ Sevastian strode into the kitchen.
Julian’s eyebrows rose. ‘What are you doing here?’ He looked at Suzy. ‘This the man from the restaurant, the one who rescued your handbag?’
‘Yes,’ Suzy squawked oddly, wondering why her voice had suddenly risen, ‘Sevastian and I are...well...we’re...’ It felt ridiculous to Suzy having to explain herself to the detective.
Sevastian slipped a heavy arm around her shoulders. ‘We are in love,’ he finished for her.
Julian sipped his drink without replying, watching as Sevastian tilted Suzy’s face towards his and kissed her.
‘Have you ever been in love?’ Sevastian asked the other man.
Julian set his now empty glass on the side, having obviously drained it. ‘I’ve been in relationships but love hasn’t really crossed my path.’ He lifted his coat from the chair it hung over. ‘I did think maybe I could be but I was wrong. Goodnight.’ Carrying his coat over his arm he loped out of the kitchen.
‘Wait!’ Suzy chased after him. ‘Won’t you stay longer? It’s Christmas Eve.’
Julian opened the front door. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘Have I done something to offend you?’ Suzy frowned.
Julian smiled softly. ‘No, of course not. I stupidly assumed you would be on your own and after the meal we shared the other evening, I thought it would be nice to see you. I was obviously mistaken.’
Suzy’s thoughts drifted back to that evening. When he’d dropped her home he’d made no move as to signify any interest in her, she thought he was just a detective, albeit a very good looking one, doing his job.
Julian pressed his palm briefly against her cheek. ‘Just bear in mind whoever murdered Simon is still out there somewhere.’ He nodded pointedly in the direction of her kitchen before shrugging his coat on and stealing off into the night.
Suzy shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. She watched the detective’s departure until she could no longer make out his figure in the blackness.
‘Coming inside?’ Sevastian’s arm snaked around her waist.
Suzy shivered again, plastering a smile on her face.
Had passion blinded her? Was this relationship with Sevastian part of her grief over the loss of the man who had raised her, and for the loss of the man she would have married?
Suzy’s head pounded as Sevastian pulled her inside, closing the door behind them before tentatively cupping her face in his hands.
‘You are sad?’ he asked.
‘No. Yes. I don’t know.’ She closed her eyes. ‘Because of that diamond ring I lost people I cared about.’
‘But you also found more people to care for.’
‘Please let me in.’ Sevastian knocked on the bedroom door at half past midnight. ‘I want to see if you are okay.’
Suzy ignored him.
He knocked again. ‘Suzanna,’ he pleaded. ‘Don’t force me away.’
Suzy, jotting notes on a writing pad paused mid-word.
‘You are breaking my heart!’ Sevastian cried. ‘Tell me what I have done to upset you so I can make it better. I do not understand!’
Suzy continued writing down the names of Stephen’s victims. Had he been close to uncovering the location of Gerard’s safe? She thoughtfully chewed the end of her pen. He can’t have been, she reasoned, else he wouldn’t have been in her house on the night he was arrested.
Sevastian banged harder on the door. ‘Open this door!’ It shook with the force of his blows, rattling within its frame.
Surprise made Suzy drop her pen. ‘Go away!’ she shouted. ‘Leave me alone.’
‘I will never give up on you, Suzanna,’ Sevastian’s voice rumbled through the door. ‘I will never leave you alone.’ His footsteps stomped heavily downstairs.
Suzy experienced the rush of prickling nervousness she had previously felt whenever encountering Sevastian.
Why hadn’t she trusted her first instincts? Why had she allowed herself to fall for him? Had she been right to think what she felt for him was apprehension? Had grief mistakenly led her to believe it was passion?
Shaking her head, she turned back to the notes before her and tapped the one which kept drawing her eye.
Nathaniel Drinkwater.
She wondered if his name shone brighter purely because he had been the one to steal Simon’s heart. No, that wasn’t it. She thought of the Prendergast pre-Christmas party and what a snooty woman had said, “Daddy Drinkwater used to supply diamonds to top jewellers across the world but I heard he’s hit hard times.”
Unveiling Lies (Eastcove Lies Book 2) Page 11
