The Way We Were_ A Novel - Marcia Willett [72]
Liv was silent; she felt threatened but she couldn't understand why. She gave a little shiver and Chris put an arm about her shoulder.
‘Come on, love,’ he said gently. ‘She can't hurt you.’
Liv smiled gratefully – but she had an instinctive feeling that he was wrong.
Julia and Pete stood together on the drive, waving goodbye to Zack and Caroline. It had been such a happy day. The sun was so warm, the sky so cloudless, that they'd eaten lunch in the garden and afterwards they'd wandered up on the Tor with Frobisher; Zack and Pete strolling ahead talking about Zack's new posting as first lieutenant and Pete's sailing holiday in the Med with an old naval chum, whilst Caroline and Julia lagged behind, planning how Caroline might come to Trescairn for a few days when the submarine sailed.
Several times during the climb Zack glanced back, smiling with such caring concern at his wife that Julia's heart leaped with joy at the deep love between these two dear children.
‘It's lovely to see them together,’ she said now to Pete, slipping her arm in his. ‘Caroline is such a darling and I'm so proud of Zack. Oh, Pete, supposing we hadn't adopted him! What a lot we'd have missed.’
‘But was there any question of not adopting him?’ he asked, as they walked back up the drive. ‘It was a foregone conclusion as far as I remember. After all, we were his guardians and there was nobody else, was there?’
‘No,’ agreed Julia. ‘But that didn't mean that we had to do it.’
‘Oh, we couldn't have let him go,’ protested Pete. ‘Funny little sprog that he was. After old Tiggy being here all that summer, they'd become family, hadn't they?’
Julia squeezed his arm. ‘Lots of men wouldn't have felt like that.’
‘Oh, well,’ he said lightly. ‘You know me. “All heart that isn't armpit”, as they say in the navy.’
She laughed but shivered suddenly. ‘How terrible it was,’ she said, her face sombre.
‘Come on, old love,’ he said. ‘It was a long time ago. All over now. I'm going to mow the lawns. A cup of tea would go down well if you felt like making one.’
He turned away, crossing to the barns, and Julia walked on slowly. She could hear the sound of a car approaching and stopped at the door, looking back to see if it were coming to Trescairn. Liv's little car appeared. She parked near the barn, waved to her father and came up to Julia; her face was anxious.
‘You just missed Zack and Caroline,’ Julia said. ‘What a shame. Did you pass them on the road?’
Liv shook her head. ‘There's something I want to tell you, Mum. I was going to mention it before but I thought it might worry you. But now …’
She hesitated and Julia watched her in alarm. ‘What is it?’ She drew Liv into the house. ‘Is it to do with Chris?’ she asked anxiously.
Liv frowned and shook her head. ‘No, it's to do with Andy. He's been seeing Cat. He met her out of the blue and they've been going out together. I hoped it would simply be a flash in the pan but it isn't. She turned up just now at Penharrow’
Julia gazed at her in disbelief. ‘At Penharrow? But why?’
Liv shook her head. ‘To make trouble,’ she said bitterly. ‘Why else? Oh, I don't know why. She's staying with friends at Rock. I'm furious with Andy, and I've told him so, but he simply doesn't care. I'm probably being silly but my hackles still rise at the thought of her. You should just see her now.’
‘What's she like?’ asked Julia almost fearfully.
‘Very attractive. Odd, isn't it? She was always such an ugly child.’
‘Does she look like Angela?’
‘Yes,’ said Liv after a moment. ‘Yes, I suppose she does.’ She glanced at her mother, distressed. ‘Oh, Mum, I'm sorry, but I just thought you ought to be warned. You never know. She might turn up here. What can we do?’
‘Nothing,’ said Julia. ‘Nothing at all. We can't prevent Andy from seeing whomever he likes. I'd just rather it wasn't Cat.’ She made an effort to be cheerful. ‘Come on. Let's go and make some tea for your father.’ But her pleasure in the day was gone and she was filled with foreboding.
1976
The heat increases; the shimmering moor bakes gently, hardening