Lou didn’t answer her phone when I called so I left a message for her to ring me on her voicemail. With impeccable timing, Mr Flibble sauntered into the kitchen as I opened a tin of tuna ready for my supper. I shared the can of fish with him and he allowed me to scratch the top of his head by way of a thank you.
I took my supper outside and ate it on the patio. The green surroundings of the garden enveloped me in a peaceful blanket soothing my frazzled nerves. The door of the caravan was closed and the blinds were drawn. Steve must have gone straight back out. He might have gone back to Mum’s to collect the truck or he could have gone to the pub to see her. Had Steve been about to ask us to get back together when I’d escaped from the car?
I pushed the remains of my tuna sandwich to one side, my appetite suddenly gone. My ostrich gene had kicked in at the wrong time. Maybe I needed to face the facts. Our new so-called business only relationship wasn’t working and we couldn’t fall back into the relationship we’d had before. I’d changed a lot over the last few months and even though I still loved Steve I wasn’t sure how much he’d altered Unless and until the cottage was sold we were flat broke. Every penny we had accumulated over the last few years was invested in the house. It should go for almost a decent amount when it was finished and then we’d have the capital to either reinvest or dissolve the partnership with the profits being split between us. Before the problems with the property market we should have made much more.
The cottage was in a very desirable area with a sizable garden in a good school catchment area and in prime commuter territory. We were surrounded by upmarket executive housing all of which was priced at the top end of the housing market.
Myrtle Cottage with its history and land would be much sought after once it was completed. Shame it came with resident ghosts.
My mobile buzzed telling me I had a text.
‘At Mum’s staying night. Have seen G and J. They know abt baby. Chuck is a tosser. L’
My sister’s message put a brief smile on my face. She must have called into Mum’s on her way home from work and been put in the picture about Chuck. I wondered how Gary and Jamie had taken Lou’s pregnancy news. The women in our family certainly didn’t seem to be having much luck where men were concerned.
I gazed out over the partly strimmed and rotovated area of garden. There was a long way to go before the cottage would be ready for sale. To get top money we had to finish the bathroom, turn a small dressing area into an en-suite, install a new kitchen, finish all the plastering, wrap up odd jobs everywhere and decorate. Then we had to sort out the outbuildings and finish the garden. We were six weeks behind schedule already and with Mr Poole from planning breathing down our neck we were losing profit with every delay.
Mr Flibble strolled out onto the patio and sat down a few feet away from me to clean his paws. A pair of white butterflies fluttered past performing their mating dance in the warm evening air while the leaves of the walnut tree whispered and sighed in the gentle breeze. The heady scent of honeysuckle and the sprawling clump of pink roses filled the air. Sometimes on evenings like this I could see why Steve had fallen for Myrtle Cottage, but then I’d go inside the house and the feeling that I wasn’t alone would creep over me.
It looked as if I wasn’t about to be alone much longer. Jamie was coming along the path towards the patio. Even from a distance I could see he appeared agitated, his usually carefully styled dark blond hair was untidy and his cheeks were flushed.
“I don’t suppose you know where I could find Steve, do you?” He stood before me, his hands tucked into the pockets of his bleached denim jeans.
“I think he’s gone out.”
“Damn.” He flung himself down onto the chair opposite mine and rested his head in his hands.
“Is something wrong?” Stupid question really.
“Has Lou told you? About the baby?” His voice sounded slightly muffled where his face was buried in his hands.
“Yes.” I wondered if he’d remembered that Lou was my sister. My defensive sisterly instincts kicked in and I waited to hear what he would say next.
He leaned back in his seat, his face tilted skywards. “Shit.”
For the second time in the space of a few hours I curbed my instinct to snap out a smart retort. Instead I waited to hear where this conversation was headed.
His cheeks rounded as he blew out a breath before lowering his head to look at me. “I’m sorry. Louise’s news has thrown me for a loop. I don’t know what to do.”
“I can understand that.” It had blown the rest of us sideways as well. I couldn’t help feeling an inconvenient pang of sympathy for the man opposite me when I read the confusion in his eyes.
“It’s not even so much that she’s pregnant, but there’s this other bloke.” He shook his head as if trying to put his thoughts in order.
“Gary, yes, I know.” It felt surreal to be sitting with my unborn niece/nephew's possible father talking about his feelings.
“Shit.”
Clearly this conversation was going to take a while.
“It’s just, I can’t get my head round it, you know. Damn, I need a beer.”
Steve still had a few cans left in the fridge so I fetched two – one for me and one for Jamie. I needed alcohol too but we were all out of wine. He popped the tab on the tin and took a long pull of beer.
“I really like Lou, she’s a great girl but this is just …” He stared morosely at the can in his hand.
“You do know she’s my sister, don’t you?” I thought I should remind him before he said anything too damning.
A fleeting rueful smile appeared on his face. “Yeah, I know. Crazy.”
We sat in silence for a couple of minutes.
“So, how serious is it with this Gary bloke and Louise?” Jamie asked.
“It’s not, at least not on Lou’s side. It was all over between them when she met you.” I didn’t know what else to tell him and as far as I knew it was the truth.
“Hmm.” He took another swallow of beer. “We were just having fun, me and Lou. Now it’s all messed up and I don’t know what to do.” Suddenly he looked sad and forlorn. It didn’t seem the right time for a lecture on the use of condoms and responsibility.
“There isn’t anything you can do. If you like Lou then be there for her. The baby is going to need to know its dad.”
He placed his can down on the table. “Yeah, you’re right. I just need some space, you know, to think this all through.”
“Its okay, it’s taken all of us a while to get used to the idea.”
He sighed again. “Thanks for listening and for the beer. I appreciate it.”
“You could try the Coach and Horses to find Steve. He might be there.”
“Ta, I forgot about the pub, he might be at Chloe’s. I’ll see you around.”
I swear he almost said 'mate' on the end of that sentence before he remembered who I was. It smarted to have my suspicions confirmed that Steve might have gone to see her. Clearly Jamie knew that there was a strong possibility of finding him there. I watched him wander away out of the garden before I collected the empty tins and went back inside the cottage.
The air in the kitchen felt thick and oppressive after the fresher breeze on the patio. I looked around for Mr Flibble but he had long disappeared into the garden. A prickle of unease teased its way across my shoulders and small pinpricks of light danced through the air in front of me. The honeysuckle scents from outside were replaced with that lavender perfume.
The skin on my arms pimpled and, much as I yearned to make a bolt for the open back door, my feet were rooted to the spot. An icy chill swept through me, replacing the earlier warmth of the day, seeping deep into my bones. My teeth began to chatter and my heart rate speeded. I was powerless to move.
* * *
What little news I can glean of the war is not good. Dorcas returned from market to say the gossip in town was that the King’s forces had been stronger than expected and the rebel army had been routed. I pray Joshua is safe and has not been killed or captured in the fight.
The baby seems to sense my disquiet, moving and kicking in my stomach as if sharing my fears. Mother thinks I am further along than I thought but that the baby is small. Perhaps this means the birth will be easier. I am sore afraid of what is to come, my only comfort is that the baby is part of Joshua and the thought of holding my child in my arms gives me strength.
* * *
Somewhere in the distance my brain dimly registered my mobile ringing. The air in front of me fogged and grew thicker. I could no longer see the old, white butler's sink and beat-up temporary aluminium draining board. Instead a grey misty shape swirled and formed, solidifying and shaping until a young woman of about my age stood before me. I could see the coarse thread material of her long grey, brown dress covering her rounded stomach and the neat hand-stitching on her white bonnet in curious detail.
My fear faded as she faced me. Dark chestnut curls framed a slender oval face and I barely had time to notice the sad appeal in her eyes before my world turned black.
“Kate! Kate!”
My face was wet, my head hurt and someone was calling my name. I forced my eyes open to find Steve kneeling on the floor next to me with a worried frown.
“Why is my hair wet?” I tried to sit up only to have Steve place his arm around my shoulders to guide my head from the hard tile floor onto the softness of his lap.
“You frightened the life out of me.” He smoothed my damp hair from my face and his fingers trembled against my skin. “I came in and saw you on the floor. I thought someone had come in to rob the place and attacked you.”
I lay still for a moment trying to remember how I’d ended up lying on the kitchen tiles.
“I think I must have fainted. It was the woman. The ghost woman, she was here, right in front of the sink and then I don’t remember anything.”
Steve looked at me. “Did you bang your head when you fell?”
Indignation flooded through me and I struggled upright, pushing aside all his attempts to make me lie still.
“I might have known you wouldn’t believe me. Perhaps after Saturday night when the paranormal people have been here then you’ll see for yourself!” Water trickled from my face down the back of my neck. “Why am I so wet?”
“I splashed cold water on you to try and bring you round.”
Steve tugged at the towel that was draped on the edge of the draining board and passed it across to me.
“I came in here to find you spark out on the floor. It’s taken me a good couple of minutes to get you to come round, all the time I’m thinking the worst and wondering if I should call an ambulance. Then when you do open your eyes you start rabbiting on about ghosts.”
I rubbed at the wet skin around my face and neck with the towel. “I fainted, and the reason I fainted was because I saw someone standing by the sink. A pregnant woman in an old-fashioned dress and a white bonnet. The same woman I’ve seen here before and each time she looks at me as if I’m supposed to do something.”
Steve rubbed at his face with his hand. “So what do you think this mythical woman wants? Who is she?”
“I don’t know who she is. I haven’t managed to get that far back yet. I thought she might be Isabella but she isn’t. I can’t explain any of it. I don’t know why I see her and you don’t, or anything. I only know this house scares me.”
The muscles clenched in Steve’s jaw. “It’s an old house, Kate. We’ve lived in and renovated old houses before. Maybe this Mike is putting ideas into your head.
You’ve always been imaginative and with the stress of your Mum and Lou-”
I struggled to hold on to my temper. “This is nothing to do with Mike. The freaky happenings started here before I met him, remember. Why you bought this place I’ll never know. If we’d had the barn we’d have been happy now.”
Steve’s complexion turned pale and I wished I could call my words back. This was too much like when we’d split up all those months ago.
“You’ve never understood, have you, Kate? I kept trying to find the right words. I thought you’d come here and see what I saw, feel what I felt and then you’d know. I’ve never been much good at talking, explaining things, you know that. You were so set on what you wanted with that bloody cowshed. And maybe I’m a bit slow after all because it’s finally hit me that you don’t want me.” He got to his feet leaving me staring up at him from my seat on the floor.
He turned and strode away through the back door and a big piece of my heart broke away and left with him.