30
After their journey, the large meal and the excitement of Sid’s poolside dive, everyone was ready for an early night. Vee didn’t think she’d sleep at all, preoccupied as she was with all that she’d discussed with Yolanda and knowing there was another difficult conversation to come, but the vast bed and soft feather pillows were so comfortable that exhaustion overcame her very quickly.
She woke the next morning feeling much more positive. That is, until she wandered over to the window to fling back the shutters and feast on the view of early-morning sunshine over the sparkling blue water of the pool. The sight of Simone and Rick emerging from the back of the garden near to where the gite could be found filled her with a sudden rage, especially as Rick was wearing swimming shorts and Simone had covered her costume with a very glamorous silky robe.
As Vee watched, they both dropped their towels on loungers by the pool and Simone slid the robe from her suntanned shoulders, revealing a swimsuit that covered very little. Her generous curves were gloriously on show now, and Vee saw that Rick couldn’t help giving them a glance before he climbed down into the water, with an involuntary yelp.
‘Chilly, isn’t it,cheri?’ Simone’s voice carried clearly. ‘It’ll warm up later, but this is my favourite time of day to swim. Race you. Last one to do ten lengths is a… I don’t know the English word for it.’
‘Sissy? Wimp?’ suggested Rick, already halfway down the pool.
With a whoop, Simone plunged into the water, causing a major ripple effect and setting off with a dashing crawl to catch him up. Vee seethed quietly. Rick could easily have messaged her to see if she’d like to join them. He was obviously having far too much fun to think of such a thing. She ground her teeth until she realised that she was giving herself jaw ache and headed for the shower instead.
As the blissfully warm water flowed over her, Vee tried hard to analyse her bitter feelings. She and Rick were friends, that was all. What was it to her if he wanted to frolic in the pool with their hostess, who obviously appreciated his charms? It was up to him what he did with his free time. But the thought of the two of them being closeted together in the gite made Vee feel like the odd one out on the playground at school, or the last to be picked for the netball team. It would have been just as logical for her to be in the annexe rather than Rick as one of the two younger members of the group. Simone had chosen her housemate on purpose. She wanted him for herself.
Shrugging off these unwelcome thoughts as best she could, Vee finished her shower and dressed in shorts and a vest top with a baggy denim shirt over the top. The warm breeze coming through the open window told her that it was going to be another lovely day, even though they were now into the time of year when back in Willowbrook, she’d have been pulling on a sweater and jeans.
Half an hour later, the group were once again gathered under the parasols by the pool ready for breakfast. Vee noticed that Sid had made sure to be sitting at the farthest point from the water’s edge and Winnie was cosied up next to him. The two of them were talking in low voices as the chatter of Beryl and Frank dominated the conversation. Beryl wanted to go for a walk to explore the village, and she was asking Simone for guidance.
‘What Iwilldo, although it’s not my custom, you understand,’ said Simone, placing a large dish of croissants and pains au chocolat on the table between the butter and various preserves and adding two golden-brown baguettes to a bread basket that had been laid out ready. ‘What Iwilldo is come with you, Beryl, and anyone else who would like to join us. I can introduce you to the people who run our excellent Café Associatif and you can enjoy a cup of the best coffee in Brugnac d’Agenais. Apart from mine, of course. I have already invited Rick for a tour of my home village. He said he would be delighted.’
Simone shot what looked suspiciously like a triumphant glance at Vee and went inside to fetch the coffee and also the pot of tea insisted on by Sid. Rick avoided looking at Vee, reaching for a croissant without commenting.
Just as she was about to say that she would like to come along for the walk, Vee’s phone pinged with a message from Yolanda.
We have a lot more to say to each other, I think. Come over to my house as soon as you have eaten.
It wasn’t an invitation. More of a summons, Vee thought. Reluctant to leave Rick to the tender mercies of their hostess, she knew she must talk to her aunt again, and it would be better to get it over with now rather than have it hanging over her head. She texted back a briefokayand got on with her breakfast. To deal with emotional upheavals on an empty stomach would probably be a mistake, although she still didn’t have much of an appetite.
Vee was ready to leave for Yolanda’s house long before the rest of the party were mustered. Sun hats needed to be fetched, sun cream applied, which seemed ridiculous in October, but it was already warming up even in the shade, and cardigans ‘just in case’ had to be found by Beryl and Winnie. Vee said goodbye to them all, apart from Rick who had gone back to the gite without so much as a word. She set off for Yolanda’s place via the gate by the annexe but there was no sign of him. Okay, if that was how Rick wanted to be, two could play at that game. The lack of contact stung, but Vee was determined not to chase after him. Let Rick have a wonderful time trailing round after Simone. He’d soon realise how irritating the woman was. Wouldn’t he?
Yolanda was waiting outside in her garden, once again sitting at the mosaicked table with yet more coffee in front of her. Vee felt as if she was on a permanent caffeine high already, but any crutch was better than none, so she accepted a cup and sat down.
‘You’re looking very serious again today,’ said her aunt. ‘I have a feeling we’re going to be heading into uncharted waters. Are you ready?’
Vee frowned. ‘I suppose I am,’ she said. ‘I have to ask you this, I can’t put it off any longer. Why have you kept away from me for so long?’
There. The question she’d been so wary of asking and yet so keen to have answered was out at last. Yolanda didn’t say anything for a few moments. Then she sighed. ‘It’s complicated, and I’m not proud of this,’ she said. ‘But I… strongly disapproved of something you did in the past. I can see now, with hindsight, that it wasn’t my place to pass judgement on you. What business was it of mine to be so high-handed in my views? Nevertheless, it has driven a wedge between us.’
Vee stared at her aunt. This was like teetering on the brink of a vast precipice. She had to ask for more information but to hear the answer was going to open up a Pandora’s box that had been firmly closed and locked for many years.
‘Tell me what you mean,’ she said, her voice cracking as she got the words out.
‘I’m sure you’ve worked that out by now, unless you’re much less intuitive than I give you credit for,’ said Yolanda. ‘I’ve gone over and over it all in my mind, and I still don’t have the answer. You gave your baby away, Venetia. Your own flesh and blood. How could you bear to do such a thing?’
31
Yolanda’s words shot through Vee like a lightning bolt. She thought about getting up and leaving, running away from the thoughts that were racing through her brain, but she’d come this far. There was no going back now. It was time to face Yolanda’s question, one that had haunted her for a very long time without the need for anyone to ask it out loud. All around her, the sunlit garden glowed with autumn beauty. The chickens clucked around the bushes, contentedly scratching the soil just in case of a stray worm. Yolanda waited, her eyes half-closed against the glare.
‘I didn’t realise you knew about all that,’ Vee said, eventually. ‘It was meant to be a secret. Did my mum tell you?’
‘Not intentionally,’ said Yolanda. ‘It was one night after you were in bed. I overheard Tallulah talking to your dad. They’d just come back from Boston. I’d been house-sitting for a while, and I was beginning to think it was time for me to go home. I went downstairs to have a word about arrangements for leaving, and I couldn’t help hearing what they were talking about. They were discussing you and your sister. Cassie was very much on their minds, for obvious reasons, but they were even more worried about you.’
‘Did they know you’d heard?’
‘Yes, because I was so shocked I gasped out loud. Your mum flung the living room door open and there they were, both staring at me.’ Yolanda reached for Vee’s hand. ‘Why don’t you tell me your version of the story? I’m a good listener and I promise not to speak until you’ve finished, if that helps. I’ll try really hard not to be judgemental, but I’ve kept my own feelings about this bottled up for too long already.’
Vee wondered where to begin. Did it start when she was just thirty-five years old, childless and depressed? Or did the roots of what happened go back to a much earlier time?
