The Way We Were_ A Novel - Marcia Willett [89]
‘I'm going to make myself a sandwich,’ she said, getting up. ‘See you later.’
In the annexe she walked up and down for a while, staring out at the sea.
What difference did it make, she asked herself, if Val and Chris were trying for a baby? She'd made her own vow never to come between them – never to be like Angela – so what difference? The little pain in her heart told her that it mattered very much. Clearly there was to be no future for her with Chris. The miracle that she never quite dared to imagine fully – Val throwing in the towel of her own accord and flouncing back to London – was not going to happen. It occurred to her again that she'd allowed Penharrow and Chris to become a kind of comfort zone: there was something attractive about being with someone who knew you inside out and accepted you totally, though no emotional demands were being made. It was fun and exciting; and dangerous.
Liv cut a slice of bread, took out some cheese, but her appetite had deserted her. She sat down at the table, opened her laptop and logged on. There was an email from Andy:
To: Liv
From: Andy
Did you see the news last night about the fraud trial in Paris? There was a picture of a bronze that's just like one we had at home. Do you remember, I mentioned it ages ago after seeing the Antiques Roadshow but then I forgot all about it? Did you ask Mum where ours is? Cat remembered it from way back. It's called The Child Merlin. Apparently the one in the museum in America isn't the original but a copy. The old boy up for trial denies keeping the original in his private collection and nobody can trace it. I'm sure you'd recognize it. Odd, isn't it? Perhaps we've got a masterpiece hidden away. Ha ha! Cat thinks we should check it out. How's Cornwall?
Liv stared at the message, confused. She remembered that Andy had mentioned the little Merlin weeks back but clearly they'd both forgotten about it. As for the trial, she'd been too busy to watch the news or read the papers, and she resented the way Cat's name always cropped up in Andy's messages to her now. Dispirited, she returned to her sandwich.
Chris sat on after she'd gone; not seeing what was on his screen, thinking about Val. Her reaction when she'd discovered that she wasn't pregnant had been almost frightening; she'd been so certain that, to begin with, she'd refused to believe it. Ultimately, she'd had to accept it.
‘It doesn't matter, love,’ he'd said – well, that was a bad start, of course.
‘It might not matter to you,’ she'd cried angrily, almost weeping, ‘but it does to me.’
‘I didn't mean it like that.’ He'd tried to put his arms round her, to comfort her, but she'd shrugged him off. ‘I meant that it's only the first try. It could take ages. Nobody gets pregnant first shot straight off the pill.’
She'd given him a withering look. ‘How would you know? Made a study of it, have you?’
He'd felt such a surge of antagonism that he'd had to take a tight grip on his temper.
‘I think it's a fairly well-known fact,’ he'd said quietly. ‘Any-way, I see no reason to lose it just because you haven't got what you want immediately. Other people try for years.’
‘I'm not other people,’ she'd answered flatly.
Now, Chris got up from his desk, stuck his hands in his pockets; it was an intolerable position to be in and he was finding the obligation to perform at regular times extremely off-putting. Val's grim determined face and her mechanical approach roused no ardour in him and when he'd said as much she'd been particularly vituperative.
It was affecting his relationship with Liv too. Sworn to secrecy by Val, he found that he was uneasy with Liv, as if he were in some way deceiving her. Now, he was pretty sure she'd guessed at the truth.
He looked round quickly as the door opened and she came in. She grinned at him, offering