‘Don’t be absurd!’
She gave Sorrel an uncomfortably sceptical look. ‘Sorrel,’ she said, slowly and precisely, as if she were addressing an imbecile, ‘it is not me who is being absurd, and believe me, you have my sympathy for the shock you’re experiencing and I know that is why you are behaving this way.’
‘You have no idea how I am feeling, so don’t patronise me. Where are your stepchildren, as a matter of interest?’
Valentina’s eyes narrowed and she tilted her chin up. ‘They’re sleeping.’
‘Of course they are,’ muttered Valentina, ‘like a couple of babies, no doubt.’
‘Sorrel, let us be very clear on this point, a point I have discussed with Alastair and on which he fully supports me. I will not stand for Nikolai and Irina to be blamed for what was an accident. Do you understand me?’
‘I understand you all too well.’
‘I’m glad to hear that, Sorrel, because I believe for Alastair’s sake it is very important there is no confusion between us.’
‘Trust me, there is absolutelynoconfusion between us; I know exactly what the situation is, that you’re the kind of woman to take advantage of a man when he’s at his most vulnerable.’
Valentina tilted her head and gave Sorrel a superior half smile that made her grip the teaspoon in her hand so tightly it hurt.
‘How strange that you should be talking about Alastair when you claim to be so upset about your daughter,’ said Valentina. ‘I wonder what is really more important to you. Rachel, or Alastair?’
Sorrel could have taken the teaspoon and done something unspeakable with it, but the kettle coming to the boil gave her something else to do with her hands. ‘If you need to ask that question,’ she said, forcing herself very calmly to put teabags into the china pot followed by water, ‘then you don’t understand the first thing about Alastair and the close friendship he has with us, and how we have always stood by one another.’
‘And what a burden that must be for poor Alastair, weighed down by you all. Can you be surprised that he wants to be free of you at long last, and be with me?’
It was rare for Sorrel to be at a loss what to say, but the sheer venomous intent behind the honeyed tone of Valentina’s words left her momentarily speechless.
‘The truth always hurts, doesn’t it?’ Valentina remarked. ‘Self-deception is such a foolish trick to play on oneself.’
‘Make no mistake, self-delusion is just as foolish,’ Sorrel said, finding her voice.
‘I agree, which is why I never fall into that trap either.’
Taking a tray from the cupboard next to the cooker, Sorrel said, ‘That remains to be seen.’
‘You know, Sorrel, I suspect that you and I are not so different. Why don’t you consider lowering your guard and be friends with me? Wouldn’t that be less exhausting for you?’
Thinking she would sooner make friends with a rattlesnake, Sorrel prepared the tray to take upstairs. ‘I would imagine,’ she said at length, ‘that you know that is never going to happen.’
‘That is a great pity. For I make a much nicer friend than I do an adversary.’
‘I don’t doubt that for a second. And now, if you don’t mind, I’m going back upstairs to be with my daughter.’ She was at the door when she came to a stop. ‘I knew it wouldn’t take you long to show your true colours.’
Valentina smiled. ‘The very same thought occurred to me about you. Which is another reason I think we would actually be quite good friends. You and I are two of a kind, Sorrel.’
Not trusting herself to respond to such an inaccurate, not to say wildly offensive statement, Sorrel gripped the tray in her hands and carried on through the doorway.
Hell would freeze over before she ever contemplated that odious woman worthy of her friendship. Just what did poor deluded Alastair see in her? And why was he such a bad judge of character? First Orla, now Valentina!
Yet what really irked her was the sly manner in which Valentina had dictated the terms of the conversation, deflecting it away from those who were responsible for Rachel nearly dying, and focusing it instead on Sorrel herself.
She climbed the stairs with slow careful steps. The house was unnaturally quiet. When they’d returned from the hospital in Norwich, Jenna had explained that Alastair had gone with Danny and Frankie to retrieveSwallowtailwhere it had been abandoned in the broad. It wouldn’t be long before they would be back, she supposed. Then what?
She found Rachel sitting up in bed talking on her mobile phone.
‘She’s chatting with Callum,’ Simon said, taking the tray from her and putting it on the dressing table, pushing aside the clutter of make-up, hairbrushes, tissues, jars of moisturiser, nail varnish and perfume bottles.
‘Cal,’ said Rachel into the mobile, ‘there’s no need, come as you originally planned this evening … No, I mean it. I’ll be feeling more normal by then anyway … No really … You’ve got work to do … I know, she was a star … I still can’t believe what she did … And Blake too … Would you like to speak to her?’ Rachel nodded at Jenna, then passed her the phone. Jenna went over to the window to speak to Callum.
