CHAPTER EIGHT

The rain hadn’t come yet, but the sky was grey and lowering. Rachel ran through the garden at the back of the house, and up the hillside to reach the track she had followed that first morning when she had escaped from the kitchen because Brian was there with Julie. So long ago, it seemed. So much had happened since then.

A curlew sent out its high, wild call as Rachel pushed her way up through the dry heather to the summit. She had a long way to go yet, so she didn’t linger. She didn’t dare. If once she stopped she would realise the difficulty of crossing the wild fell. She was gasping as she ran down the other side and began clambering again. After a while she slowed down a little as the old heather stalks bit into her ankles. The long, faded grass hid sudden potholes in the uneven ground and she had to be careful or she would have tripped and fallen headlong.

At last she topped the last skyline. On the other side was Garth Scar reservoir. At first she was afraid to look down for what she might see there. Instead she raised her eyes to the hills near Shutt Hob Gorge that looked misty in the far distance. As she watched they seemed to disappear into the low cloud until she could see them no more.

She needed to know, she had to know what the church tower looked like beneath the water, but it was the hardest thing in the world to look down to the calm grey sheet of water. Very slowly, with her breath held, she let her gaze travel down the hillside and out across the water. Something glimmered darkly — a shadow, several dark shadows. She let out her breath, her heart pounding

Dark shapes showed beneath the water, and something that stuck up like a rock. Part of the church? She stared. This had lain hidden for fifty years, and she was able to see it now. A feeling of awe crept up her throat. She had thought it would be frightening but instead deep relief stole over her. It was interesting and awe-inspiring, that was all.

She could hardly stop looking, but she was too far away here on the top of the hill. She must get nearer, down to the water’s edge to have a really good look. She ran down the rough hillside to where the banks of the reservoir were dotted with boulders and patches of gravel. She stared out at the reservoir, disappointed. Down here on a level with the water she could see nothing except the single rock-like tip of the church.

She raised her eyes to the surrounding hills, and tried to imagine how it had been before the water came. Much the same as today, apart from the buildings. Her young grandmother would have looked at the same hills, have listened to the sheep and the curlews and seen the rabbits cropping the grass. And then Harry Brent had come and swept her off her feet.

When she had first read about it in the pages of the diary her young grandparents’ flight had seemed like a romantic story, but she knew the truth behind it now. She knew, too, that you had to understand about the unhappy things as well. The world wasn’t a perfect place, then or now. A picture of Simon came into her mind with a suddenness that shook her. She saw him in the yard at High Hob in his working clothes. His boots had been clogged with mud. As he looked at her the wrinkles round his eyes deepened as he gave her the slow smile she had come to know and love. She would never forget him.

She was glad she had come to Alderbeck House in spite of everything. Sighing, she began to walk up the hill, pausing halfway to look back at the reservoir. The dark shadows were visible again now that she could see it in perspective. When she was miles away from here she would see her life here in perspective, too.

Rain began to fall with a thin veiling of mist against her face. She walked on towards the barn. Turning again, she saw that the water was blotted out now. Low cloud swirled round her, getting thicker by the minute. The top of the hill had vanished and so had the barn that only a moment ago she had seen lower down on the hillside. The penetrating silence was frightening.

She turned round and tried to walk in a straight line down the hillside the way she had come earlier. But which was the way? It was impossible to tell. She turned round again, to try to locate the barn in the whiteness that swirled round her like ghostly hands. A sob rose in her throat. Suppose she stumbled and tripped, suppose she couldn’t get up again?

She forced herself to stand still, to summon all the willpower she possessed to fight her panic. Then, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly she moved forward. Her foot caught in a heather root but as she pulled it free she overbalanced and slid to the ground. The wet heather was soft to fall on, and she was already so wet that staying here didn’t seem to matter. She could use a rest for a little while before she struggled again to find the route down.

She lay back and closed her eyes, feeling the clammy mist swirl round her. The silent, penetrating drizzle was heavier now, but it made no difference because she was already wet through. She pushed back her bedraggled hair, opened her eyes and sat up. Was the cloud a little higher now? She couldn’t be sure.

She no longer felt even the merest spasm of fear. Marvelling, she thought back to her first glimpse of the church tower in the water and the ruins of Alderbeck Court — part of her heritage because of Sarah Swin-bank. It was nothing to do with Brian because his great-grandmother was Rose, not Sarah whose home it was. She didn’t have to go away. Brian had left, and Nerissa, too. They had gone away together, repeating the pattern of long ago.

She would soon have money of her own because of Aunt Sophie. She could stay here with Mrs Woodfield and contribute to the household instead of being a paid companion. At least she could make the suggestion. Somehow she felt it was the right one and that Mrs Woodfield would welcome it.

She stood up. The mist was beginning to clear lower down, but the rain still fell. She heard a shout.

“Rachel, are you there?”

A dog barked. Surprised, she stood and listened and heard it again. Fly bounded up to her, panting and delighted, and then Simon was there, too, bulky in his jacket. She felt an overwhelming relief that he was here. She slithered down to him.

“Simon, oh, Simon!”

“All right, lass?”

She looked at him, and those simple words were enough. He gazed down at her with such love she could hardly bear it. She raised her face in wonder. He stepped forward and the next moment she was in his arms with his deep voice murmuring his anguish and fear that he would never find her among these desolate fells. Then he kissed her long and hard.

She was breathless when he released her at last.

“Oh, Simon, I’m glad you came.”

“Your young friend telephoned. Aye, David. I guessed where you had gone when he said he’d shown you Garth Scar. He told me how it was between you, too. I didn’t know. He’s a young lad more your age.”

“A friend,” she whispered. “Never more than that. There was nothing between David and me.”

“Aye, I know that now, Rachel. He’ll be at the house when I get you back. He knows why I had to come.”

She clasped his hands and raised them to her lips. For a second he stood still. Then he pulled her into his arms again. This time his kiss was gentle and she didn’t want it to end. When at last he released her he gazed at her with the same loving look in his eyes.

“I’m too old for you. Do you know that, Rachel?”

She laughed shakily.

“Age, what does age matter?”

“A few years, that’s all. You’re right, lass. It doesn’t matter. And now we need to get back before the weather worsens.”

“I’ve got something I need to do first,” she said urgently. “I saw them, the buildings underneath the water. Now I want to touch the barn, just one more time. I need to do it, Simon.”

“We’ll wait here, Fly and me. We’ll not go anywhere without you.”

She ran to the old building that loomed up large on the misty hillside in front of her, and put out a hand to touch it. Nothing happened.

“It’s cold,” she cried.

David had said stone could act as a conductor, that the emotions felt at Alderbeck Garth when Sarah and Harry fled were so strong they left impressions on the stone. So what did this mean now? That the emotions had faded, were at peace? That her own feelings about her grandparents had changed, and she herself had changed, too? She turned to go, and immediately there came to her a strange feeling of peace. She ran back to Simon.

“Rachel?”

She heard the anxiety in his voice as he came towards her.

“You look different, lass,” he said in wonder.

“I am different. I can see more clearly now.”

He smiled and held out his hand to her.

“The cloud’s lifting.”

Rachel looked round with delight as the grey curtain rolled back from the distant hills. It wasn’t what she meant, but it could wait for the moment. Simon’s face was pale, and the lines round his eyes were edged deep. She had caused him worry and she was sorry.

“I shan’t let you go away ever again, Rachel, my love,” Simon said. “You’re needed here. Julie won’t stay long with her aunt in Leeds. When she gets over this she’ll want to come back. You’re needed at Alderbeck, lass.”

Because of Brian, Julie could be counted as her relation, too, as well as Simon. Here was the family she had prayed for! She had no need to worry any more about belonging.

“And you, Simon, what about you? Do you need me?”

He caught hold of her arm and pulled her close. How could she doubt for a single moment his need of her? Rachel smiled, too, as she felt his arm go round her. They set off down the track together to the place she would always now call home.