by Anne Hampson
‘Yes, it’s surprising what can be done with an old property like this.
It’s surprising, too, how quickly the work can be done - if you keep on pushing everyone, that is,’ he added with a laugh.
And if you have the money, thought Kim, for it was really Julian’s money that had worked this miracle. It was a beautiful hotel now, with the original mellowed structure outside and every modern comfort within. It would do well, for already the bookings for this season were almost complete and many of the guests had asked if the place would be open at Christmas. The decision to open had not yet been made, for Margery felt that perhaps it would be too much for Neil. Despite his difficulty in walking, he insisted on doing his share of the work, and he it was who took possession of the reception desk during the time when all the staff were otherwise engaged. However, he could, if he wished, be relieved of this work for Margery herself was now free to take it on.
‘We could open for Christmas,’ he had said eagerly. ‘If the guests want it, then why not?’
‘We can decide later,’ was all Margery would say, and it was left at that.
‘You’re very quiet,’ remarked Julian as they left the grounds and took to the little path. ‘What are you thinking about?’
She smiled and shook her head.
‘Nothing important; just wondering if Margery and Neil will decide to open for Christmas.’
‘Neil wants to, so I expect they will.’
‘Margery doesn’t seem to care for the idea.’
‘She worries about Neil, but there’s no need. He’s perfectly all right except for his legs.’ The path was becoming rough and stony and Julian took her arm. ‘Sure you’re not tired?’ he asked. ‘If you want to turn back just say so.’
No, I’m fine, Julian. The walk will do me good.’
‘You’ ve been wonderful, Kim. I do appreciate it, and so do the others.’
‘I’ve enjoyed helping,’ she returned, embarrassed by the idea of being discussed by Margery and her husband. ‘You’ve worked hard yourself,’ she added, turning her head to smile up at him. He had been in overalls for weeks, working like a navvy at times. But it appeared to have done him good, for he was glowing with health, and his face was tanned almost to the colour of mahogany.
‘It was a case of having to,’ he said with a grimace. ‘If we hadn’t all lent a hand the place would never have been ready in time. I wanted it open by Easter if it was at all possible.’
‘And we managed it. That was certainly an achievement.’ Julian made no comment and silence fell between them for a while as they traversed the steep and rocky way into the foothills of Cader. Working together had done more than make possible the opening of the hotel, Kim mused, falling in behind Julian as the path narrowed to little more than a couple of feet in width. It had brought a certain comradeship to her and Julian which swept away all their antagonism, and Kim herself had drifted into a realm of security where the future no longer dismayed her. At times she had been assailed by doubts, naturally, for the foundation on which their marriage was built was most insecure, to say the least. Julian had wanted marriage because, he said, he would never tire of her, but there were times when Kim wondered if this were possible with a man who could be so fickle as to marry someone else only a few days after losing the girl he loved. However, on the whole, Kim felt safe, for her husband was kind and he was gentle. With regard to her own intimate feelings for him, she firmly kept a check on them, conscious as she was that he still loved Vicky. Never would she allow him to guess that her emotions were involved, for nothing would be more humiliating than for him to know she cared.
The path widened slightly and Kim came alongside her husband again. He took her arm and presently they left the path altogether and tramped over the high pasture towards the heather slopes ahead. All was silent, with a great peace pervading the vast expanse of moor and mountain.
‘I shall miss it all when we leave,’ Kim said at last with a hint of regret in her voice. ‘We haven’t yet decided where we’re going to live, but it won’t be in Wales, will it?’ Julian had certain business interests, and that was the reason for his having an office in his flat. He had transferred all his books and equipment to the hotel and there were days when Kim saw him only at meal times. But obviously he could conduct his business from home and Kim waited expectantly for his reply, remembering that he had once said they could live wherever they liked.
‘Would you want this sort of isolation? - if we decided to live in Wales?’
She nodded.
‘It isn’t really so isolated as I at first imagined. Yes, I could live among these lovely mountains.’
‘Not so isolated as you first imagined. ...’ Julian appeared lost in thought and Kim wondered if he experienced any pangs of remorse for that terrifying experience to which he had subjected her. ‘It was pretty grim that night,’ he admitted, and Kim felt a sort of tender pressure on her arm which sent a warm glow through her whole body.
‘I thought it was haunted.’ Her voice was strangely husky; Julian stopped and took her in his arms, tilting her face up with a gentle hand under her chin.
‘I shouldn’t have hurt you like that,’ he said, and Kim’s lashes came down, hiding her expression. For she felt he was lying — yes, he must be lying, but there was no mistaking the apology in his tone and she was convinced that he now experienced the deepest regret for what he had done. This was the man known to Margery, the man she had believed totally incapable of the treatment he had so callously meted out to Kim. ‘You must have been very frightened.’ Julian’s lips touched hers as he spoke and Kim swallowed hard. For his concern brought a lump to her throat. If only they had met in normal circumstances, she thought, quite forgetting her resolution never to marry. If only they had met and fallen in love....
‘Can we live in Wales, then?’ Abruptly she changed the subject, lest she should give herself away. ‘I’ve seen one or two very pretty places for sale, when we’ve been out. Perhaps we could make some inquiries?’ She spoke a little breathlessly, wishing he would release her and start walking again.
Julian smiled faintly and obliged; she wondered if she wasted her time in trying to hide her thoughts, for she knew from experience that her husband was an unusually perceptive man. The idea that he might have an inkling of her feelings dismayed her and she drew away from his side, determined to assume a cool and impersonal front. Immediately sensing the change in her, he stiffened slightly and after that the walk was much less pleasant than before. Julian spoke curtly, saying he would contact several house agents, and then a silence fell between them, an uncomfortable silence, and after a little while Julian suggested they return to the hotel.
Kim felt miserable and left him as soon as they arrived back at the
hotel. Julian went in to Margery and Neil and Kim spent the rest of the evening alone in the sitting- room of the flat. This was her own fault, because of that little snub. Julian was sensitive, despite that other side to his nature, and her sudden coolness had probably hurt, producing in him the desire for revenge. And this was it, this was his way of punishing her. She gave a deep sigh and leant back on the cushions. If only they had met in different circumstances, she mused again. And even now ... if only the shadow of Vicky was not looming in the background... .
But the shadow was to become very real - for Vicky arrived the following Saturday, for a three-week stay!
Kim happened to be doing the lunch hour relief at the reception desk when she arrived, all pink and white and looking like some priceless porcelain doll, exquisite and fragile. Kim could only stare in stupefaction as she watched Vicky standing at the hotel entrance, her attention on the taxi driver as he took her luggage from the back of the car. He brought it into the hall and she paid him. Then, turning, she took a couple of steps towards the desk and stopped, her gaze fixed unbelievingly on Kim, who was, by this time, glancing through the bookings. Yes, here it was -taken by Margery, and as Vicky was quite unknown to her there was no reas
on at all why Margery should have mentioned the booking to Kim.
‘Kim!’ she exclaimed at last, almost running to the desk. ‘No wonder I couldn’t find you! How long have you—?’
‘Why are you here?’ Kim interrupted, her eyes on Vicky’s ringless hand. You’re on holiday, obviously, but why did you come to this hotel? It’s scarcely the sort of place I’d have expected you to choose.’
‘Julian,’ Vicky began confidingly when Kim interrupted her again. ‘Julian? Is he expecting you?’
Vicky shook her head.
‘I thought he might have dealt with my inquiry himself, but as he didn’t I decided to make it a surprise. Oh, it was lucky that I happened to see the brochure about this place.’ Swiftly she glanced around. ‘I’d no idea it was like this; I thought it was a ruin. Has he done it up or something—?’ Suddenly she stopped, her brow creasing in perplexity. You haven’t answered my question, Kim. How do you come to be here?
- and how long have you been working for—?’ Once more she broke off, her thoughts flitting from one thing to another in a manner quite familiar to Kim, and her eyes widening incredulously as she noticed Kim’s wedding ring. ‘You’re married? Oh, but you of all people!’ Vicky
clapped her hands delightedly. You - to be caught, after all you’ve said, after the way you used to scoff at marriage, saying girls were stupid even to think about it!’ Several guests, late arrivals for lunch, stared at the flushed and excited girl before, smiling slightly, they went on their way to the dining-room, which was the old chapel, tastefully restored, yet retaining some of its character so that it had the appearance of a refectory rather than a modern dining-room. ‘Who’s the lucky man?’ Vicky went on, with another little clap of her hands. ‘Not that I’ll know him, but tell me all the same.’
Her question was deliberately ignored as Kim said,
‘So you’ve come to see Julian?’ Her voice was cold and crisp. ‘Why?’ The question brought a sparkle to Vicky’s eye; she tossed her head in a faintly arrogant gesture.
‘I want to make things up with him. He loves me, I know that, and now I’ve decided to marry him.’
‘Then you’re a little late,’ Kim submitted dryly.
‘Late?’ Vicky blinked at her. ‘You mean he’s going out with someone else? Oh, but that’s nothing,’ she added airily, ‘He can soon get rid of her.’
‘I’m afraid it’s not quite so simple as that, Vicky.’ A slight pause and then, ‘You see, I’m married to Julian.’
‘You—?’ Vicky stared unbelievingly and a hand fluttered up to touch her cheek. ‘Wh-what did you say?’
‘I’m married to Julian,’ repeated Kim in soft but deliberate tones. ‘And so, as I said, it’s not as simple as you appear to think.’
‘Married to Julian!’ Vicky exclaimed, Her face was flushed with anger, and the little fist lying on the desk became tightly clenched. ‘Julian! Oh, it can’t be — he’d never look twice at you — never!’
Kim’s face had lost much of its colour, but her voice remained steady and calm as she went on to assure Vicky that what she had just told her was true.
‘We were married within a fortnight of our first meeting,’ she added, and Vicky became quite speechless at this news. ‘You’d better see your room,’ Kim then went on practically. ‘I’ll get the porter to show you up.’ She pressed the bell and almost instantly the porter arrived. Kim gave him the room number and passed the key to Vicky. Mechanically the younger girl took it from her and as their eyes met Kim saw that Vicky’s were brimming over with tears. ‘I’ll get another relief,’ Kim said, ‘and
then I’ll be right up.’
Vicky opened her mouth to speak, but the porter was standing by and she changed her mind, turning to follow him up the wide stairway to her room on the first floor.
Vicky here.... Kim watched her until she turned on the landing and was lost to view. What would happen now? With a tiny sigh Kim rose and went in search of one of the staff who was not at lunch.
‘I’ll be back in a few minutes,’ Kim promised as the girl took over. ‘That’s okay; I can manage quite well. I’ve done this once before, remember?’
‘Of course. I forgot for the moment.’
Vicky was standing by the window, staring out to the smooth outlines of the Cader peaks. She hadn’t even taken off her coat and as she turned she drew a hand across her face, wiping away the tears.
‘I hate you,’ were her first words, spoken almost in a whisper. ‘My best friend, to do this—’
‘First of all, I’m not your best friend, and never have been,’ Kim interrupted curtly. ‘And as for what I’ve done, as you call it — I’m here simply because I was fool enough to come to your aid!’
Her words seemed to go unheard, because Vicky said again,
‘I hate you, do you hear? He was mine, and you stole him. Oh, how could you! It’s only because he’s rich - it must be, because you’ve never thought of marriage before—’
‘Stop this nonsense,’ cut in Kim severely. ‘Are you trying to say you love Julian?’
‘Trying?’ Vicky stamped her foot, though it made no sound on the thick carpet. ‘I know I love him. I knew right at the beginning, but - but -oh, well, Stephen came along and I thought I loved him—’ She broke off as the tears began to stream down her face. ‘I’ll never marry anyone else. I can’t live without Julian!’
‘Then it’s a great pity,’ said Kim between her teeth, ‘that you didn’t marry him!’ She stopped. What had she said? Not that it mattered, for she would have to tell Vicky the truth.
‘You’re not in love with him? You admit it?’ A harsh laugh broke from Vicky’s pallid lips. ‘I knew you weren’t. You said yourself he looked horrid, and cruel, and yet you married him. Why — that’s what I want to know,’ she almost shouted, stamping her foot again. ‘Why did you marry him? Tell me that!’
A great sigh escaped Kim and for a moment she had not the patience to explain. However, Vicky would have to be told, so, sitting down on the bed, Kim began to relate all that had happened. Vicky listened, staring at her incredulously as she proceeded with the story. The only detail Kim omitted was that Julian had offered her marriage in order to keep her for always. She preferred Vicky to believe Julian had married her for revenge rather than desire.
‘He carried you off, and married you for revenge! Oh, I can’t bear to think about it!’ And the tears flowed again — but for some quite ridiculous reason Kim felt that the tears stemmed from envy! Try as she would to shake off the idea, Kim was convinced that Vicky would have thoroughly enjoyed being abducted and threatened with ruin. ‘And just imagine his wanting to marry you, only a few days after our engagement was broken - he’s despicable! I don’t think I love him after all,’ she cried inconsistently. ‘No -I hate him!’
‘In that case,’ Kim observed smoothly, ‘you’ll have no regrets that you’re not able to marry him.’
‘No, I haven’t—’ Vicky’s wet lashes fluttered uncertainly. ‘You’ve got me all confused and I don’t know what I’m saying. Of course I want to marry him; he loves me,’ she cried, examining Kim’s pale face as if to learn her reaction to her words. ‘He must have loved me to have gone off in such a temper and married you for revenge!’
Kim didn’t quite see the logic of this statement, but she had neither the patience nor the inclination to probe more deeply into it.
However, one thing seemed to stand out clearly. Vicky knew that Julian loved her, otherwise she would not have come to the hotel hoping for a reconciliation. What would happen now? she wondered again, an odd feeling of foreboding entering into her.
‘Are you staying — for the three weeks, I mean?’
‘Certainly I’m staying. I know Julian loves me,’ Vicky repeated on a note of defiance, ‘and so we’ll soon make up our quarrel.’
‘You seem to have forgotten me already,’ retorted Kim with a lift of her brows. ‘I am Julian’s wife, no matter what the circumstances of our marriage.’
/> ‘Oh, that!’ Vicky shrugged it off as of no importance. ‘You’ll have to get a divorce; they’re quite easy - everyone gets divorced these says. And it’s not as though I’ll be hurting you,’ she added on a pious note,
‘because you’ve just admitted you don’t love him.’
How could Julian ever have come to fall in love with such a girl? Kim shook her head in perplexity. There was something wrong, there must be. Nevertheless, Vicky’s reference to divorce worried Kim. Would Julian want that? Perhaps he already regretted his vengeful and hasty act. Kim felt she must know — now. And despite her promise to return to the reception desk, she left Vicky and went upstairs to where Julian was sitting in the spare bedroom, which had now been made into his study, although the divan bed on which Margery had slept was still there.
Julian glanced up and smiled. Kim moved slowly into the room, astonished at the wild beating of her heart and the little catch of fear in her throat.
‘Vicky’s here,’ she told him without preamble, and his eyes widened uncomprehendingly.
‘Vicky - here, in the hotel?’
‘Margery booked her in, and of course she wouldn’t mention it to either of us because she wasn’t to know that we — that you were a friend of hers.’ The amendment brought the merest touch of a smile to her husband’s lips and Kim added, ‘You’re quite right, Julian, Vicky is no longer a friend of mine.’
‘Caused you a good deal of trouble, eh?’ he said, for the moment diverted. ‘What does she want?’
Kim looked down at the desk, and absently flicked the pages of Julian’s diary that lay there on the edge. She had come to Julian with the intention of telling him exactly what Vicky wanted, but the knowledge of his love for Vicky stood in the way. She was here to make up their differences, to tell him she loved him, and Julian would hardly welcome that sort of statement from anyone other than Vicky herself. Would he be taken in by her? Surely he could see that she was utterly shallow ... but he knew all about her failings, he had already admitted that ... and yet he still loved her.
