Page 106 of One More Christmas at the Castle
‘Now, you know Asa could be silly with young women. It was his great weakness,’ Nancy interrupted. ‘And of course, they could rarely resist him, even though he was so much older. But despite that, it was never in question that he absolutely adored you and you were the centre of his life.’
‘I know – and that these …flirtationsmeant nothing, but that didn’t stop them hurting.’
Nancy reached across and patted my hand. ‘Of course, but we all have our weaknesses, and you and Asa had a long and very happy marriage, despite these peccadillos.’
‘We did,’ I agreed, ‘though, thanks to Faye, things were never quite the same again. Her name was never mentioned between us after she ran off.’
‘Never?’
‘Well, very rarely. I told Asa when she turned twenty-one and the solicitor informed me she’d turned up to claim her inheritance from my father, and then again, a few years later, when I was told she was dead.’
Nancy patted my hand again. ‘Your lives took a new course after Asa’s illness, but I think, once he’d recovered his health and thrown himself into the temple excavations with his usual enthusiasm, he found something that engrossed him almost as much as his marine archaeology.’
‘He did always immerse himself whole-heartedly into everything he did.’ I smiled wryly. ‘And of course,Ifollowed him wherever he led.’
‘There, then,’ she said. ‘And as to that little vignette in thefilm, I dare say Faye wastryingto flirt with him, but I saw nothing in his manner that wasn’t avuncular – and since she was such a young girl and your half-sister, how could it be otherwise?’
‘No … you’re quite right, of course,’ I said with a sigh.
‘I expect she had a young man of her own in that party from the yacht, if she went off with them after the accident,’ Nancy said.
‘But she wasn’t on it when they traced it to the South of France, was she?’
‘No, and though her guardians tried to find her, the trail was dead. You know, despite her failings, hers is rather a sad story really, isn’t it, Sabine? Her parents dying while she was still in her early teens, farmed out to guardians and then dumped with a half-sister who disliked and resented her …’
‘I did my best with her, while she was staying with us,’ I protested.
‘I’m sure you did. And perhaps she found some happiness in her short life, wherever it was she settled,’ Nancy said. ‘But she’s long gone now and it’s time to forget old, bitter feelings and let go of the bad parts of the past. You’ll feel so much better for it,’ she assured me. ‘Why don’t you tell Xan in the morning that you’d like to record a brief description of the accident and how it led to a new and exciting turn in yours and Asa’s careers? I’m sure you’d find it cathartic and then you could move on from that point.’
‘I expect you’re right,’ I admitted, though I knew a spark of that hatred for Faye would continue to burn deep in my heart.
‘Let’s talk about something nicer,’ Nancy said, filling our whisky glasses up. ‘It’s so pleasantly wicked, letting our hair down in the evenings, like this! I only allow myself one tot of whisky at home.’
‘I promise not to tell on you,’ I said, and she grinned.
‘And we still have all the joy of celebrating Christmas with family and friends to come!’ she said with a happy sigh. ‘I’ve written a very special grace to read for before Christmas dinner.’
‘It’s not one of your long ones, is it?’ I asked suspiciously.
‘Oh, no,’ she assured me innocently, but past experience made me hope the food was still hot by the time she’d finished.
30
Picture This
On Sunday night, without forewarning, the sky had inconveniently dumped a vast blanket of soft snow over the landscape, and though Henry, after the newspaper run, reported the lanes already snowploughed clear, he said it lay banked up high on the verges.
I thought Mrs Powys’s manner towards me seemed to have turned even chillier, too, if that was possible, though Henry said I was imagining it.
Not that it mattered to me, really, for I was becoming increasingly engrossed in preparations for the arrival of the rest of the guests on Friday and focusing on the Christmas catering.
Not one, but two fine hams had been delivered and were now in the larder, with the Christmas cake and football-sized pudding.
I checked and rechecked lists, timetables and menus, and pinned them up on the big corkboard in the kitchen, made out the final supermarket shopping order for Henry and filled the freezers with pies, puddings, pasties, quiches, tarts and fruit crumbles, along with anything else that could be made in advance and pre-frozen.
Henry did a little baking on his own account – nibbles, cakes and starters – but he’s much more laid-back about these things and, in any case, can whip up a batch of Parmesan puffs, or savoury vol-au-vents at the drop of a hat.
It wasn’tallwork over the next couple of days, though. Xan persuaded me back on to the ice again, and this time, I managed to stay upright and move of my own volition, even if I did still need to hang on to him.
