‘If anybody can charm a nurse into letting us use their kitchen,’ said Romily with a smile, ‘it would be you.’
‘Hey Kit, you probably know your way round here pretty well, how about you come with me and help carry the cups back?’
‘Did I just witness your American friend performing an act of international diplomacy?’ asked Evelyn, when the two men had left them alone and Romily was sitting next to her.
‘I believe you might be right. He mentioned that there had been a certain amount of tension between you and Kit on the way here.’
Evelyn sighed. ‘I’m sorry that it was that blatant.’
‘Max, I presume?’
‘Yes. What on earth is he doing with Isabella? Apart from the obvious.’ Her voice was taut with angry disbelief.
‘I thought the same yesterday when he showed up,’ said Romily. ‘But as much as it pains me to say, he seems genuinely to care about Isabella. And from what she tells me, he looked after her extremely well when she was ill in bed with bronchitis. Haven’t you noticed how attentive to her he is? She only has to cough and he’s like a mother hen checking that she’s all right.’
Evelyn didn’t look convinced. ‘But marriage. It’s unthinkable. And they’ve known each other for so short a time. Mark my words, it won’t last. He’ll soon grow bored and start chasing after some other girl.’
‘Trust me, I have the same concern,’ Romily said, ‘but if I had heeded the so-called warnings people gave me about Jack, I would have missed out on the love of my life.’
With a roll of her eyes, Evelyn said, ‘You can’t really think that Max could be the love of Isabella’s life, do you?’
‘I have no idea. But I don’t think we have any choice but to give him the benefit of the doubt and let him prove himself.’
‘I can’t believe he’s fooled you.’
‘Evelyn, it’s not a question of him fooling me, it’s Isabella whom he has to convince.’
‘But he’s only been at Island House for twenty-four hours, you can’t possibly be that sure of him. What would Elijah and her mother think?’
‘Reluctantly they would have to do what we have to do, and that is allow Isabella to go her own way.’
‘No matter the consequences and how painful they might be?’
Romily nodded. ‘It’s what you’ll have to do with Pip and Em one day.’
Evelyn shuddered. ‘Don’t! I can’t bear to think of that right now. Not on top of all this.’
‘I’m sorry. But there’s something you should know, and which won’t please you. Max has told Isabella about you and him.’
Evelyn reeled back in shock. ‘He did what?’
‘Shh! He did it because he didn’t want there to be any secrets between them.’ At once Romily heard her words as an echo of Red’s. She thought of her own secret which had lain dormant for so long. What would it take for her to share that with Red?
‘Rubbish!’ retorted Evelyn. ‘Max’s ego would have got the better of him and made him boast that I had been yet another conquest of his.’
It was hard for Romily to see her old friend who was normally the epitome of calm level-headedness so intractable. ‘I don’t think that’s the case,’ she said. ‘He had too much to lose by sharing what he did with Isabella. She might have been appalled by his confession and ended things with him there and then.’
‘And what if Isabella starts telling people? What if Kit gets wind of it?’
‘He won’t.’
At the sound of somebody clearing their throat, they both turned to see Red standing in the doorway with a tray of hot drinks. Kit was a few feet behind him.
Chapter Eighty-Two
Chelstead Cottage Hospital, Chelstead
December 1962
Hope
In all the years she had known Edmund, Hope had never seen him cry. But then for that matter, nor had she ever cried in front of him. They were two of a kind in that respect; it was one of the reasons she had married him, knowing that they shared the same stoic instinct.
Yet here he was unashamedly weeping and telling her how much he loved her, that these past weeks had been the worst of his life. ‘I’m so very sorry I shouted at you that afternoon,’ he had said over and over, while Hope wept in his arms and apologised for being so vile to him.
Now, both of them calmer and with Hope feeling drained and her head throbbing with the effort of keeping her eyes open, Edmund explained that she was not the only one to be sent a poison pen letter, Evelyn had too, as had Florence.
‘I know,’ she told him, ‘I’ve heard you all discussing it. Except sometimes I wasn’t sure whether what I heard was real or something I was dreaming.’
‘If only I had known that it was receiving one of those letters that was the cause of your unhappiness,’ he said. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
Her throat so constricted with emotion, Hope could hardly get the words out. ‘My pride,’ she murmured. ‘My wretched stubborn pride. Oh, Edmund, I’m sorry I doubted you.’
‘It’s I who should apologise. I should have done more to find out what was troubling you. I let you down and I’ll never forgive myself for that.’
‘It’s not your fault,’ she said, ‘it’s Arthur’s.’
He looked at her with a frown. ‘Your brother?’
She hesitated. With her head still a chaotic tangle of thoughts, she struggled to understand if what she’d said was based on fact, or something her brain had conjured up while she had been unconscious. But with the tornado of strange thoughts spinning around inside her head, she felt that Arthur was definitely at the epicentre of the maelstrom.
‘He wrote the anonymous letters,’ she said. ‘I’m sure of it. Or I think I’m sure. Everything’s all so blurry and mixed up. But I can’t stop thinking that he’s the reason I’m here.’
‘Speaking now both as your husband and a doctor, you mustn’t tax yourself,’ Edmund said. ‘Your mind and body are going to need time to recover.’
‘You know I hate it when you mollycoddle me,’ she said with a small smile.
‘I’m afraid in this instance you have no choice in the matter.’
She sighed and turned to look out of the window. It was snowing heavily. Then as if mesmerised by the falling snowflakes, it was as though two wires suddenly connected deep within her brain and gave her a jolt of clarity. ‘It was Arthur who drove into me!’ she exclaimed.