A Lesser Evil - Lesley Pearse [119]
Yet as soon as his head popped up above the banisters as he reached the last landing and she saw a sort of furtive expression on his face, she knew something wasn’t right.
He had a letter in his hand. ‘For you,’ he said, holding it out to her as he came up the last five steps, and Fifi immediately recognized the writing on the envelope as her mother’s.
‘That’s funny,’ she said, taking it from him. ‘I didn’t see any mail for me this morning when I went out.’
Frank always picked the letters up and put them on the shelf in the hall.
‘Second post maybe,’ Dan said, turning his head away. ‘Or the postman put it through the wrong letter-box and they’ve just returned it.’
That explanation was too pat; he’d never been a good liar.
‘Or you saw the Bristol postmark and picked it up on your way out this morning?’ she suggested, looking sharply at him.
He gave the game away by blushing.
‘Why, Dan?’ she asked. ‘Were you going to steam it open to see if she’d said anything about you?’
‘No, of course not,’ he said, but had the grace to look slightly ashamed. ‘I just wanted to be with you when you read it to see if I was right.’
Fifi knew he was referring to his bet that her mother would invite Fifi home alone. ‘Couldn’t you just trust me to admit it, if that’s what she did do?’ she asked quietly.
‘No,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t, because I know you’ve got divided loyalties.’
Fifi turned her back on him and went into the living room, ripping the envelope open as she went.
Dearest Fifi, she read. It was lovely to see you and your home the other day, your father was so pleased to hear the visit went well, and that we’d made a start on sorting out our differences. The boys and Patty were thrilled too, they are looking forward to seeing you again before long, they all have so much to say to you.
I meant what I said about you and Dan coming for a weekend soon, but on reflection it would probably be for the best if you came alone the first time. There is still so much to be talked over, and we need to get that out of the way before we can really welcome Dan.I’m sure you’ll understand what I mean.
Write soon,
All our love, Mum and Dad.
‘Well?’ Dan said behind her. ‘Was I right or wrong?’Fifi felt sickened that her mother had let her down, but as she turned and saw Dan’s smug ‘I told you so’ expression, she felt angry with him too.
‘Wrong,’ she lied. ‘She only says how nice it was to see me and our home the other day.’
‘So can I see it?’
‘I’ve just told you what she said.’
‘You’ve only told me part of it,’ he said, and he lunged forward and snatched the letter out of her hand before she even saw him move.
‘Give it back,’ she shrieked. ‘You’ve got no right to read my letters.’
He held it above his head, out of her reach, and read it.
‘I rest my case,’ he said as he handed it back to her. ‘Just as I said, she wants you there all on your own. Once you’ve told her all my faults, it won’t take her long to convince you that you’d be better off without me.’
Earlier this morning, before she went to the police station, Fifi had felt Dan was justified in walking out the night before, and she had been determined to tell him so when he got home today. She really wanted things to get back to the way they used to be, making each other laugh, being relaxed and happy together. When they first got married they had agreed that it didn’t matter what anyone else thought or said about either of them. He said that he could live with her parents’ attitude towards him, because he knew they had something together that was very rare and precious. She had promised him that she would never let her family come between them, and she believed she had kept her promise.
So she felt betrayed now, because after all they’d been through, he had decided to believe she was so stupid that she couldn’t see how manipulative her mother was, and so weak that if she did go home alone, she would just bow under the pressure.
He had made sarcastic