When Willow didn’t answer her sister, but reached for another tissue and blew her nose, Ellis said, ‘We need to accept that in all likelihood Rick will come down here begging forgiveness and swearing he’ll never do it again.’
‘That’s precisely what he’ll do,’ said Naomi with a steely tone. ‘But Willow, I’m afraid it will be over my dead body if that man crosses the threshold of Anchor House ever again. I simply will not allow it, even if he is the father of your child. Trust me when I say he will never change.’
‘Your mother’s right,’ said Geraldine. ‘You must believe her. She knows what she’s talking about.’
Not wanting her friend to elaborate any further, Naomi cleared her throat warningly and Geraldine fell silent.
‘As usual, I haven’t really thought things through,’ said Willow miserably. ‘I have no idea what I’m going to do next.’
‘For now, you don’t have to think about that,’ said Naomi. ‘All that matters is that you’re safe here with us. So drink your tea and let me cut you a slice of cake.’
‘Thanks, Mum.’
Trying to conceal the absolute fury she felt towards Rick, that he could harm her precious daughter,Naomi took the knife and plate that Ellis had produced. She had to grip the knife hard to stop her hands from shaking. If Rick were in the room now it would take every scrap of her willpower not to plunge it deep into his chest, to avenge the wanton violence he had carried out on poor Willow, a defenceless young woman carrying his child.
The more she thought of what Willow had gone through, the more Naomi felt as though a lifetime of suppressed anger was about to unleash itself. All those years of self-deception she’d put herself through and which, in so many ways, had caused more harm to her than the actual physical blows. She was reminded of that day in the garden following Geraldine’s last visit, when she had learned that Colin had not been held in the high regard she’d always believed, that maybe her oldest friends were not the only ones to have seen through the flimsy artifice of their marriage. Seated on the wooden bench overlooking the beach that day she had been consumed with regret and a sense of worthlessness, and the belief that everything she had done for the sake of her family had been for no real reason. But then Ellis had appeared and suddenly none of that had mattered. The past was the past, it was the future that counted.
But today once again she was forced to confront the harm she may have unwittingly caused. In striving to create the illusion of a perfect marriage, which now seemed no more than a tawdry trompe l’oeil, had her actions led to where they were now, with history having repeated itself, just as Geraldine claimed?
Chapter Fifty-Three
Later that afternoon, and while Geraldine and Ellis offered to prepare an early supper together, Naomi suggested to Martha and Willow that the three of them go for a walk while the weather held.
As they trudged along the beach in a strong buffeting wind, shafts of milky light pierced through banks of darkening clouds, and the sea, grey and roiling, resembled Naomi’s churning emotions. But as apprehensive as she felt, she was determined to do what she knew she had to. They’d reached the sand dunes when she decided that this would be where she finally told her daughters the truth.
‘Let’s sit here for a while,’ she said, ‘if it’s not too cold or too uncomfortable for you?’
‘It’s fine by me,’ said Martha, ‘my thermostat seems to be switched to a permanently high setting these days.’
‘Mine too,’ said Willow.
They sat either side of Naomi and she suddenly wanted to put her arms around them both and hold them tight, just as she had when they were little. She felt as though she were about to jump off a cliff and, selfishly, she needed her daughters to stop her from feeling so terrified.
Watching a lone sailing boat in the distance heading around the promontory, perhaps on its way to Bosham harbour, Naomi summoned up her courage. ‘There’s something I have to tell you,’ she began nervously, ‘and I’m very much afraid it’s going to upset you. You might not even want to believe me, but—’
‘Is this about you and Ellis deciding to marry after all?’ interrupted Martha.
‘No,’ she said, ‘it has nothing to do with Ellis. It’s about your father. And Martha, I know how much you loved him, so this will be particularly hard for you to hear.’ She swallowed and once more steeled herself. After a small pause, she carried on in a rush. ‘Earlier today, Geraldine, in her inimitable way, referred to history repeating itself. By that, she meant that your father had a violent streak and when things became too much for him, he lost his temper and his self-control and would sometimes take out his angry frustration on me.’
In the seconds that followed, the sound of the foaming tide dragging at the sand and pebbles, and the cry of a seagull swooping low over the turbulent water, seemed unbearably loud.
‘I don’t believe you,’ said Martha. ‘Not Dad. Why would you say something so awful about him?’
‘Because it’s true.’
‘No! It can’t be. Not Dad.’
‘Martha, it is true,’ said Willow in a voice so faint it was made almost inaudible by a sudden gust of wind. ‘I know it is.’
Naomi turned her head to look at her youngest daughter. ‘How do you know?’ she asked.
‘I saw him. I saw him hit you.’
‘No!’ cried Martha angrily before Naomi could speak. ‘Stop it, the pair of you!’
‘I’m not lying,’ said Willow, ‘and nor is Mum. I saw him do it.’
‘Oh Willow, why did you never say anything?’ asked Naomi.
