‘You made me think—’
‘You jumped to conclusions and assumed …’ he trailed off. ‘I was hurt you’d think I’d cheat on you, of course I was. But I had to put my own feelings aside. I did it for you.’
‘Oh, Rufus. All these years you let me believe that you and Isobel … you silly old fool.’
‘I know, but it was the price I had to pay to keep her, for you to keep her, because you must have assumed it was what Isobel wanted for her baby.’
‘It’s what I wanted to believe,’ admitted Claire.
‘I realised that, but I didn’t know she was Isobel’s baby – not straight away; it never even occurred to me that she might be until you accused me of having an affair and being left literally holding the baby when I told you I’d found her at the theatre.’
Claire took Rufus’s hand. ‘It wasn’t the only price you paid. You gave up working in the theatre too.’
‘How could we have afforded three children on your part-time GP salary and my irregular theatre work? But it wasn’t just the money. The work that I loved would have taken me away from home, away from you and the children, once the local theatre closed down. A life on the road on theatre tours – I’d have missed you and the children terribly. I knew that if I changed jobs, I would miss the theatre terribly instead. But I made a choice, Claire, and that choice was my family.’
Claire squeezed his hand tight. ‘I never expected you to make that sacrifice.’
‘It didn’t feel that way, Claire, not at all. I’d do it all over again if I had to. I just wish you hadn’t been so dead-set against theatre after that. Even taking the children to shows was forbidden. But I understood.’
Claire said, ‘Of course you did.’
‘I thought in time I could tell you the truth that, despite what you believed, I’d never had an affair with Isobel. Imagine my surprise when Bridie got a bit older and the resemblance became apparent. You’d been right all along – she was Isobel’s baby. She still wasn’t mine, but it made me realise why Isobel had disappeared from that show months earlier. She’d found out she was pregnant, and somebody in that theatre troupe was the father. I was afraid to tell you that, in case you went searching for the real father, and then … well she wouldn’t be my Bridie anymore. For my own selfish reasons, I just kept my mouth shut.’
‘You avoided Aldeburgh, and especially Cobblers Yard,’ said Claire.
Rufus looked across at Reggie and quickly averted his gaze. ‘I knew of all the people in our theatre troupe, it was Reggie shehad eyes for. I wasn’t sure whether they’d … slept together …’ Rufus trailed off.
‘I have a daughter?’ Reggie stared at the locket.
Isobel turned to him. ‘I always loved you, Reggie, but I was just too focused on my career, and so were you, to even think of marriage and children, and … and then I discovered I was pregnant. I couldn’t hide it any longer. I thought … I thought if I disappeared to London, and stayed with friends, and had the baby, I could figure things out. I didn’t know how it was going to work with our jobs. I didn’t want you to give up what you loved just because I was pregnant.’
‘Give up what I loved?’ Reggie said. ‘I loved you, Isobel.’
Isobel said, ‘I wanted you to know about the baby, so I returned. But … but I didn’t know how to face you. I’d never told you I was pregnant, and I should have. So I left her with that note. I’d addressed the note to you, Reggie. I don’t know what I was thinking at the time – I guess I thought that you’d find her and realise she was your daughter. And fall in love with her, and forgive me for not telling you, then … we’d …’ she shrugged, ‘I don’t know, be reunited, and live happily ever after.’
‘But the note was lost,’ Reggie said sadly.
Isobel breathed deeply. ‘Yes, it obviously blew away in the evening breeze, and it wasn’t you who found her, but Rufus, and … and then I discovered you’d jetted off to Southeast Asia. I knew you’d always said it was where you wanted to travel to, where you wanted to spend a few months. Then all I could think was that things happen for a reason, because where would a baby fit with your plans?’
‘Oh, Isobel, I only went there to get as far away from the theatre as I could, to try and forget you.’ He said, ‘I wonder what our lives would have been like if I’d found her with the note that night.’
Rufus stepped in. ‘I am so sorry.’
Isobel shook her head. ‘It wasn’t your fault, Rufus. I left her, and the cards fell where they fell. When I realised Reggie was gone, I didn’t know what life I could give her. And when I saw you all in the village where you lived … you and Claire, I couldn’t have asked for more, that’s all I can say. Bridie has turned into a wonderful young woman.’
‘We tried to discourage her from going into the theatre,’ said Claire. ‘It was me, actually. I tried to discourage her, being protective, afraid of the precarious life she might lead.’
‘Afraid she might end up like me?’ said Isobel.
There was a moment’s silence. Claire said, ‘I’m sorry, Isobel.’
‘No,’ said Isobel, ‘I’m sorry that all those years you thought Rufus and I …’ she trailed off. Then changed the subject. ‘But look how wonderfully things have turned out. ‘Bridie owns a theatre,’ said Isobel, smiling. ‘And she’s an amazing performer. I’ve been watching from the wings the way she’s brought the show together. She’s one heck of a producer too.’
‘I second that,’ said Reggie.
Rufus looked at them all. ‘How long has this been going on – the theatre, I mean? And why was I kept in the dark?’
Reggie said, ‘She made us promise to keep it a secret. I wasn’t sure why, but I guessed it was because she thought you’d both try and put her off staging a play and tell her to just sell the place instead.’
