Page 41 of Don't Believe A Word

Cristy looked at Robert as, shifting in his chair, he said, ‘If you’d told us how things were, you know we’d have helped …’

‘Oh shush now, it’s all in the past and you had your life in Australia with Jenny and the children to be worrying about.’ Turning back to Cristy she said, ‘I’m just telling you how I came to work for the Winters sisters. Charles and I had restaurants when we were in Hong Kong, but there wasn’t much call for my sort of cooking around here, not back then. And he didn’t have the heart to start again after we lost everything … I didn’t blame him. It’s hard for a man, isn’t it, when it comes to their pride … Anyway, I saw the advert in a local shop and got in touch with the sisters and when they interviewed me they decided there and then that I was right for them. It was for the whole summer, they said, but then … It wasn’t long after Sadie’s birthday … You should have seen her dear little face when she blew out the candles on her cake. She was thrilled to bits, clapping her hands and laughing … Then she shut her eyes tight to make a wish and we all knew what it was … She wanted to see her mummy, of course. It broke our hearts, it did. I remember offering to take her up on the moor to show her the ponies, to distract her, but they didn’t want me to do that. I don’t know why, but looking back, they never did take her far from the house.’

‘Do you remember anyone coming to visit?’ Connor asked.

‘No, I don’t, but I wasn’t there all the time, and never at weekends.’

‘So you don’t recall who brought Sadie to the house?’

‘I suppose I always assumed one of them had gone to get her, after the accident. Although I remember thinking it was funny that she hadn’t brought anything with her. No clothes, or toys, not even any pyjamas.’

Cristy glanced at Connor as he said, ‘How long would you say she was with them before they left Somerset?’

Gita frowned as she thought. ‘A few weeks, maybe. It must have been early June when I got there one morning to find them all packed up ready to go. They hadn’t said anything about leaving the last time I was there, a few days before, but all their things were in the car … They paid me right through to September to make up for giving me short notice. We all cried when it came time to say goodbye, I remember that.’

‘Did they say where they were going?’

‘I don’t think so. I presumed it was London.’

‘Did they keep in touch after?’

‘No. I could have kicked myself for not getting an address, I’d have liked to write to Sadie, send her a little card once in a while, you know, but well … Charles wasn’t in a good way around the time they left, and then Robert was getting ready to go back to Melbourne …’

‘About that,’ he confirmed. ‘When I realized what was happening over here, with my parents, I worked things out at home so I could spend a good amount of time with them …’

‘He was another one who tried to persuade me to give up my job with the Winters sisters,’ Gita told them, ‘but I wasn’t going to be bossed around by him or anyone else, and nor was I going to let him give us money. He needed it for his family and we were managing perfectly well on what little savings we had left, and my bit of income.’

Cristy was watching him, perhaps too intensely she realized when his eyes met hers and his brows rose in query. Quickly she said, ‘Did you ever meet Sadie?’

Robert shook his head. ‘No, but it’s possible I saw her a couple of times, from a distance. Not at the sisters’ house, it was beforeMum told me about their “niece”, in fact, and I wasn’t ever sure it was the same child. But after Mum got your call we both thought I should tell you about the young woman I met while out hiking …’

‘It’s what he does when he has a lot on his mind,’ Gita explained. ‘He hikes. And he was on the South West Coast Path when he first noticed this young woman …’

‘Are you going to tell it?’ he asked.

Gita chuckled and put a finger over her lips.

‘Sorry if now’s a bad time,’ Simon interrupted, bringing in their food, ‘but I expect you want it while it’s hot.’

‘Oh, thank goodness,’ Gita clucked. ‘I was about to faint.’

Laughing, Cristy said, ‘Actually, this seems as good a moment as any to break. If it’s OK with you, Gita, we’ll go back over what you’ve said when we’ve finished eating, and commit it to tape? And maybe you, Robert, won’t mind if we go straight to record to hear your part of the story?’

‘Fine by me. I just need to reiterate that I still can’t be certain it was Sadie I saw, but when Mum and I put things together, after the Winters sisters left Exmoor, well … You’ll be able to judge for yourselves whether or not we came to the right conclusions.’

*

Half an hour later they had moved from the now busy bar area into the garden room where another roaring fire had been lit to warm the cosy leather sofas, and a large pot of coffee was waiting to be poured.

As Cristy did the honours, Connor set up to record and Robert made his mother comfortable with a patchwork woollen throw over her knees and a quick polish of her steamed-up glasses.

‘I must say I’m very much enjoying our time,’ Gita commented happily as Cristy passed her a cup and saucer. ‘Of course, I might be taking a different view if Sadie hadn’t turned out well, but she has, hasn’t she?’

‘I think you could say that,’ Cristy assured her, ‘but obviously she’s very keen to know who she really is.’

‘Yes, of course, I can quite understand that.’ Then, ‘So you’re certain she wasn’t their niece?’

‘We are,’ Cristy confirmed.

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