Page 97 of The Christmas Retreat
We walked into the village for a late lunch at the Blue Parrot cafe and, just as we were leaving, Pearl and Toby came in, laden with shopping.
Pearl, prettily flushed, showed off a silver ring with a middle band set with tiny stars that swivelled round. It was a starry kind of day!
On the way home we scrambled down to the little pebble cove, the only place on the headland where you could get down to the sea, where Rhys proved a lot better at skimming bits of slate across the water than either Cariad or me. Then we had to comb the debris with Cariad, while she looked for treasure. She found a few miraculously unbroken shells, a somewhat battered Lego octopus, and a pebble shaped like a heart, which she promised to paint and varnish for me.
Then, happy, windblown, tired and ravenous, we went back. I thought, as we made our way up through the village, that anyone who didn’t know would have taken us for a little familygoing home after a day out. And oddly, entering the warm hall of Triskelion now reallydidfeel like coming home.
*
As soon as we got back, Cariad dashed off into the kitchen to begin her charm offensive about the kitten on Bronwen.
Nerys and Timon weren’t back yet and there was no sign of Opal or of Evie, who was probably still engrossed in the contents of the Memory Box.
Verity, looking pale and heroic, as if coming downstairs had been a huge achievement worthy of applause and admiration, was nibbling a tiny piece of cake in the refectory.
‘I feel as if I need to keep my strength up,’ she said bravely. ‘And of courseIdon’t have any weight issues,’ she added, looking at Kate’s heavily laden plate.
‘Neither do I, if that was aimed at me,’ Kate said hotly. ‘I’ve stayed exactly the same weight for the last ten years!’
‘Oh, no, I didn’t mean—’ began Verity hastily, backing down in the face of Kate’s belligerent glare, but luckily just then the late arrival of Pearl and Toby, glowing, provided a diversion.
I’d presumed that Verity had missed out on all the news of the last few days, but it quickly became apparent that someone had filled her in, because she congratulated Toby and Pearl on their engagement.
Then she turned her sweet smile on me and said archly that she’d heard I meant to rent a nearby cottage, because thelocal attractionshad proved too much to resist. Then she looked with wide-eyed innocence from me to Rhys before smiling knowingly.
But this time, I caught a glimpse of something disturbing behind the seeming innocence, as if a mask had slipped: a kindof gloating pleasure. I’d always thought she just had a propensity for putting her foot in it and saying exactly the wrong thing, but now I suddenly realized that here was someone who derived pleasure from being malicious.
‘I’d like Ginny to come and live here with us for ever,’ said Cariad, who had emerged in time to snatch the last flapjack from under Kate’s nose.
‘I’m sure you do – and you’re not the only one, since she’s made herself so popular,’ Verity said, with another smile that this time I could see was entirely false. I wondered how I could have been so taken in. Then she trailed off back upstairs again, saying she was quite worn out and must have a lie-down before dinner that evening.
Pearl, catching this, looked up from a low-voiced conversation with Toby.
‘I think Opal will be at dinner with the rest of us tonight too, so we’ll all be together again.’
‘I suppose we will,’ I said. It seemed to me that some of us had changed rather a lot in the short time that had elapsed since our first dinner together!
Verity’s true nature would probably remain exactly the same.
‘Rhys,’ I said quietly, ‘I’ve made an awful discovery. I think Verity positively enjoys saying hurtful things to people!’
He eyed me in an amused kind of way. ‘She does, and spite is terribly exhausting, so it’s no wonder poor Verity needs a lie-down.’
‘I suppose that’s why Nerys doesn’t seem to like her very much.’
‘Idon’t like her, either,’ said Cariad.
‘Little pitchers have big ears,’ he told her.
‘Don’t be silly, Daddy. Pictures don’t have any ears at all!’ Cariad said, and giggled.
30
Bedtime Reading
It turned out to be quite a cheerful gathering at dinner, apart from Opal and Verity, who were rather quiet and with little appetite.
Cariad was in high spirits because she’d managed to persuade both Nerys and Bronwen that she should have the kitten.
