The Mill House (21 page)

'Gorgeous, isn't it?' Fen smiled, coming to join her as she got out of the car. 'I used to fantasise about living here as a child. I saw myself as Sleeping Beauty, with Prince Charming hacking his way through the woods to find me. Alas, it was only ever my brother David who made it, and as he had his own designs on the place that didn't include a stupid sister, my dreams were shattered at a very early age.'

Julia had to laugh.

'Come on, I have the keys,' Fen said, almost as though they were on an adventure. 'Let me show you around.'

As she trotted up the steps and across the

wooden deck to the French doors that served as an entrance, Julia went after her, looking around at the flower beds that surrounded the house, and then off to the far side where she spotted another barn-like building in the distance, and what was clearly an orchard in the next field.

'Those are the stables over there,' Fen told her, seeing her looking. 'Do you ride?'

'I've been known to.'

Fen seemed delighted. 'Well, if you fancy a bit of a hack while you're here, just say the word.'

Liking the idea of cantering out across the moors with Fen, Julia said, 'I take it the stables belong to the house we passed, which presumably is your parents'?'

'Absolutely. Mum's at the hairdressers this afternoon, and Dad's gone to Truro with Rico and David, but I'll take you over there later. They're absolutely dying to meet you, but don't worry if you're not up to it today ...'

'No, I'd love to meet them.'

Clearly pleased with the answer, Fen jabbed a large, old-fashioned key in the lock and turned it. 'Ef voila!' she declared, moving on ahead and sweeping her arms out for Julia to admire the spacious kitchen they'd entered.

Julia's eyes opened wide with surprise as she took in the immaculate peppermint green cabinets and dressers, with their flowery bone-china tea sets and shining beechwood counter tops. Though not exactly her taste, it was quaint beyond belief and she couldn't help loving it. In the middle of the room was a round pine table with a lavish bowl of fresh fruit at its centre, and a decorative

old coach lamp hanging over it. The floor was laid with old flagstones, the ceiling was striped with gnarled oak beams, and across the back wall was a genuine inglenook fireplace with a cast-iron wood burner in the hearth.

'Amazing, isn't it?' Fen said admiringly. 'It was all Gwen's doing. She loved to cook, so Dougie splashed out on all this for her sixtieth birthday.' Her pleasure became edged with sadness as she added, 'At least she got a few years out of it before she went. Tilde's kept it up to scratch since, though Dougie always treated it gently. He used to say it was a part of Gwen, and she'd want him to keep it looking nice.'

'It sounds as though they were very happy together,' Julia said, wishing again that she could have been a part of it.

Fen nodded. 'Very. Can't you feel it?'

Julia looked around and after a while she thought that, yes, maybe she could.

Fen's eyes showed her delight. 'This place has always had good vibes, even before Dougie and Gwen lived here,' she said. 'They just made them better.'

Julia walked over to look through the cookery books in the deep-set window sill, and a bundle of opened letters that was stuffed inside an old- fashioned rack. Horse brasses and dried flowers hung from the walls, along with amateurish paintings of the spectacular views outside, and one of the mill itself. Everything about the place seemed so perfect that she could almost feel unnerved by it, though she guessed that probably had a lot more to do with her emotional state than any kind of reality.

'Mum said she'd get a few things in for you,' Fen was saying, as she pulled open one of the peppermint green doors to reveal a large fridge inside. 'Ah yes, she has. Milk, eggs, bread, wine, water, ham, cheese, fresh salad ... She seems to have thought of most things, but if you need anything else there's a small shop in the village, or a supermarket about ten minutes away. I'll show you later how to get there. And of course there's always our kitchen to raid.'

Feeling slightly overwhelmed by so much generosity, Julia was about to thank her, when Fen took off along a narrow hallway to one side of the fireplace. 'On your right,' she announced, 'is the bathroom, on your left a study and at the end is a bedroom. We moved Dougie down here after his stroke. It was easier than having to keep negotiating the stairs.'

Julia stepped in behind her to find a room that was sunny and fresh, with pale lemon walls, mustard curtains, and a matching candlewick bedspread adorned with deep lavender cushions and a similar-colour throw. 'Tilde's changed all the sheets,' Fen assured her. 'Everything's nice and clean, even the carpets I think.' She looked down, and seeing a pair of slippers next to the bed she said, 'Oh dear, I don't think those should be there.'

Julia looked at the slippers too, and having detected the tremor in Fen's voice she put a comforting hand on her arm.

'It's OK,' Fen assured her. 'Silly me. I bought them for him, you see. A couple of Christmases ago. He told me they were horrible, then proceeded to wear them every day. I guess we

should pop them away,' and picking them up, she dropped them inside a large hand-painted wardrobe and quickly closed the door. 'Going to miss him,' she said, 'but when you're ready, if you need a hand going through everything, I'll be happy to help.'

Running out of ways to say thank you, Julia merely smiled, and thought how lucky her father was to have known this woman, who must have been like a daughter to him.

'Sitting room,' Fen stated, and leading the way back into the kitchen, she began to mount the wooden staircase that rose across one wall.

The sitting room was another lovely surprise, with its high, vaulted ceiling and criss-cross beams, huge stone fireplace, and three comfy sofas. Clearly her father had used one end of it as a reading area, for beside the window where the mill wheel could be seen going round was a deep leather chair with an Anglepoise lamp behind, and bookshelves full of encyclopedias, gardening tomes, and, Julia noted with a poignant smile, the complete works of Daphne du Maurier. She wondered if she might find a copy of her own meagre effort tucked away somewhere, but there was no sign of it, which, though disappointing, was hardly surprising, when her father had never known her as Julia Thayne.

Spotting a clutch of photographs on a side table, she went to take a look. 'This must be Gwen,' she said, picking one up, and studying the round, open face, with bright, knowing eyes and a laughing mouth.

'Yes, that's her,' Fen confirmed, coming to peer over her shoulder.

'She gives the impression she's flirting with the photographer,' Julia commented.

Fen chuckled. 'That's because Dougie was holding the camera. They hardly ever stopped I flirting with each other, those two. They were a treat to watch.'

Thinking that was how she and Josh had always been, Julia put the photo down and picked up another. It felt strange to see her father looking older in the picture than he had at the funeral home, but she knew that people often appeared younger in death than they had during the last years of their life.

'That was taken about six years ago, at a local wedding,' Fen informed her. 'He was one of the ushers. Looks very smart in his tails, doesn't he?'

Julia nodded.

The other pictures were of people she didn't recognise, except one of Fen with her children, and a few more of Gwen. Then her heart turned over as she glanced at another table and spotted a photograph she knew only too well. It had been taken not long after Daniel was born, and showed him being clutched in a four-year-old Shannon's arms.

'How did he get this?' she said, going to pick it up.

Fen shook her head, i haven't seen it before,' she answered, i take it they're yours?'

'Yes. But how did it get here?'

Fen was at a loss. 'Could your mother have sent it?' she ventured.

Julia's cynicism came out in a scoff. 'I don't think so. As far as I'm aware she doesn't even know

where he lived. Besides, it's too nice a gesture for her. It wouldn't even enter her head that he might like a picture of his grandchildren.' 'What about another member of your family?' 'There's only my aunt and uncle, and they don't go in for nice gestures much either. Well, my aunt, possibly, but she doesn't even breathe without my uncle's approval.'

Fen was curious. 'So I wonder how he got it? It's not the kind of shot he could have taken himself, and anyway, I can't see him being that furtive.'

'It was done in a studio, as part of a set.' Julia told her. 'Josh and I are in the others.'

'So maybe he got it from the photographer - except how would he know it had been taken?'

'And how long has he had it? You say you haven't seen it before.'

'No, but I'm so used to the photos in here, I don't really notice them any more. He could have put it there last week, or last year.'

'I wonder if he has any others,' Julia said, looking around. Her eyes stopped at one of the deep window sills where several more photos were positioned around a big Chinese vase. 'Oh my God, there's a school photo of Shannon,' she murmured, going to pick it up. 'And one of Dan in his cricket gear. This is amazing, but how on earth did he get them?' Fen was shaking her head. Julia gazed down into her children's faces. 'Whatever the answer, I'm glad he had them,' she said. 'Actually, I'm glad he wanted them.' But even as she spoke the words her heart turned cold, for there could be a horribly sinister reason for them

being here that she really didn't want to think about at all.

'I'm surprised he never pointed them out when he was telling me about you,' Fen remarked. 'He presumably had them then.'

Julia shrugged. 'Another mystery waiting to be solved,' she said quietly.

Fen waggled her eyebrows. 'Never could resist one of those,' she said, and they both smiled.

'So, do you want to see the main bedroom?' Fen said, 'It's in through here.' and going past the fireplace, she pulled a curtain back from a door, and walked on in. 'Oh, dear Tilde,' she murmured fondly, as Julia joined her. 'Fresh flowers and potpourri, and Gwen's best white lacy linens, because that's what Gwen would have wanted.'

'It's lovely,' Julia said, taking in the king-size wrought-iron bedstead, antique pine furniture, and plush burgundy carpet that matched the velvet curtains. 'I take it that opens into an attic,' she said, looking up at a small trapdoor.

'Correct. There's quite a bit up there, so it should keep you busy for a while.'

Julia gave her a look and once again they smiled.

'There's no bathroom up here, I'm afraid,' Fen said, 'which is mainly why we moved Dougie downstairs at the end. Obviously you can sleep down there too, if you'd prefer, but it's so beautifully cosy up here, don't you think?'

'Exactly where you'd want Prince Charming to find you,' Julia teased.

Fen laughed. 'I'll try to make sure it's not David who comes to the rescue,' she said, 'because I promise, that really would be a let-down since he's gay. He only came out a couple of years ago, actually, a bit of a blow for Mum and Dad, but they're slowly beginning to accept it now, and Charles, his partner, is an absolute sweetheart. He taught Dougie to surf last summer. You should have seen the pair of them, out there in the waves, struggling with the boards. Dougie never quite got the knack, but he was a star the way he tried. Put Daddy to shame, I can tell you, largely because Daddy didn't feel comfortable about being around someone like Charles without many clothes on. I ask you. As if anyone would fancy him, the great lump. Love him to bits, of course, but he's still a great lump.'

Julia was laughing.

Fen gave her a wink and started back into the sitting room. 'Shall I help you bring your things in?' she offered, apparently taking it for granted that Julia had decided to stay.

'I don't have much,' Julia told her. 'I might ask Josh to bring more when he comes on Saturday. Shannon has a ten-day half-term this time, and right now I'm thinking we'll probably spend the whole time here.' Quite what Josh would make of that when she told him she had no idea, nor was she certain that she really would stay for so long. All she knew for the moment was that she loved it here already, and since Sylvia was going to be in New York next week, and Josh would be sailing with Dan, there seemed no reason for her not to take at least a few days to try and recover from the blows of the past forty-eight hours.

After Fen left, half an hour or so later, Julia wandered back inside the house intending to go

upstairs and take a nap before joining Fen's family for dinner. However, she found herself coming to a halt at the kitchen table where they'd spent the past half an hour chatting over a cup of tea and some digestive biscuits. As she stood there staring down at the delicate pieces of china and scattered crumbs, she was trying to recall what they'd discussed, but for some reason she couldn't. It didn't matter though. None of it had been important, except in the way she'd felt so comfortable with Fen. She wondered if she'd ever needed a friend more, but she wasn't about to saddle a stranger with her problems, no matter how kind and compassionate Fen clearly was. She thought of Pauline, but knew she'd never turn to her, she was far too close to Sylvia, and had very likely known about the affair all along, which, to Julia's mind, made her almost as guilty. And as for Sylvia ... Even to think of her made Julia stiffen with loathing, and she could only feel thankful that the bitch hadn't had the guts to be in touch these past twenty- four hours, because Julia was a very long way from ready to deal with her yet, in fact were she to see Sylvia now, feeling as she did, she shuddered at the thought of what she might do.