As Rosa was thinking this, the hall door swung open and in strode a rotund man wearing a smart winter coat and a brown felt Fedora.
‘Oh, hello Rosa, dear girl. I hope you don’t mind my joining you.’ Felix Carlisle’s deep voice reverberated around the hall. ‘Marvellous, marvellous. Let’s try a bit of Rigoletto.’ He puffed out his chest and sang a few bars then looked up at the ceiling. ‘Listen to that – these acoustics will work so well with my vibrato.’
By now, Tina and Amira were peering through the hatch, wondering who on earth the loud, self-important voice belonged to.
Controlling herself, Rosa said faintly, ‘I don’t understand. Why are you here, Felix, and why have you chosen to join this group?’
‘Oh, didn’t you hear?’ Felix made a dramatic gesture. ‘Mother left everything to that blessed gardener. Well, I say everything. He got the cash, the pensions, and the holiday home in Ibiza. The house was in my name, thank the Lord, so he couldn’t get his muddy paws on that.’ He winked at Rosa. ‘Mummy and I did that a while back to try and avoid the old taxman.’
‘Ah, so are you here to organise the house sale?’
‘No.’ Felix gave a large sigh and took off his hat. ‘I realised when I came down to take care of poor Mummy’s funeral how simply lovely it is in this part of the world. I’m utterly sick of London,’ he snapped, ‘and once I sell up in Chelsea for vast amounts of money, that will give me the freedom and finance to semi-retire. I can perform when I want to, enjoy the beautiful scenery and immerse myself in the community down here, just like my dear mother did.’
‘Oh, does it work like that with your singing then?’
‘I’m a singing waiter, darling,’ Felix informed her gaily. ‘I can go where the work is. Restaurants, bar mitzvahs, hen parties – you name it.’ He tapped his nose knowingly. ‘And I have discovered that an awful lot of weddings happen at this end of the country. I may just set up my own business; hire in some more singers. The Devonshire Divas – how does that sound?’ His stomach moved up and down as he guffawed.
Rosa tried not to laugh out loud. When she had first met the bumptious Felix, she had had visions of him starring at the Royal Opera House. Not of him going around various different venues bursting into song and deafening unsuspecting event guests. Although meeting him again now, she realised that this kind of career suited him far better, with his exuberant personality. She looked at him closely as he went to hang his hat and coat on one of the hooks at the back of the big room. Yes, he was a little tubby, but his face was handsome, his thick brown hair shiny and well cut.
The door opened again and in walked Nate. She saw Felix look her brother up and down then sashay over towards him. ‘Indian bells, darling?’ he said, and handed him the two little bells held together with a short piece of cord – an instrument Rosa remembered using at school in many a Christmas production. ‘You can ring my bell any time,’ Felix added archly.
Unfazed, Nate replied cheekily, ‘Maybe you’ll have to show me how. I’m Nate, by the way, Rosa’s brother.’
‘Felix Carlisle.’
‘I can’t believe you’re here, Nate, not after our bum note conversation,’ Rosa told her brother.
‘Oh, there will be bum notes a-plenty, sis, I can promise you that.’
‘I have a whole box of Indian bells, Rosa,’ Felix boomed. ‘And have you chosen a song yet? I shall offer myself as the choir master.’
‘Don’t get too excited,’ she warned him. ‘We are only doing “Jingle Bells”.’
‘Oh.’ Then he cheered up. ‘Well, I suppose the Indian bells will fit with that nicely, at least.’
‘They will have to, Felix, as I am the choir master,’ Rosa informed him. ‘Ned’s Gift is my baby, you see, and that is our song. Why are you not with the Polhampton St Michael’s lot, anyway?’
‘Oh Rosa, I told you why. I couldn’t even bear the embarrassment of burying Mother at her church because of the way she died.’
‘I think you need to get over it,’ Rosa said in her abrupt London-born manner. ‘Look at it this way: your mum was happy and having fun. It wasn’t your money; it was hers to give away.’
Not used to someone standing up to him, Felix went quiet. But only for a moment. ‘Hmm. When you put it like that… Now,’ he too became brisk and professional, since music was his life, ‘who else is coming along tonight?’
The door opened and Vicki walked in. She smiled at the others then went straight over to Rosa, took one look and whispered, ‘Congratulations. When is it due?’
Rosa shook her head in disbelief that yet another mum had sussed her. She gave her friend a secret little wink, then lifted the wooden spoon she intended to use as a baton and brandished it in the air.
Addressing all those gathered there, she called out, ‘Hello, the Ned’s Gift Cockleberry Bay Choir, let’s get ready to massacre “Jingle Bells”, shall we?’
‘Hardly, dear, not with moi here as a member,’ Felix said, catching Nate’s eye, and giving him what he thought was a seductive gaze.
CHAPTER 41
As all the punters had left and the room guests gone up to bed, Lucas was not only surprised but also slightly annoyed to see the door of the hotel bar open and somebody walk in just as he had instructed the barman to close up for the night. His attitude soon changed, however, when he recognised who it was.
‘Room for a little one?’ Carly Jessop took off her coat, hung it on a peg under the bar, then went and sat herself on a stool next to Lucas who was relaxing with a pint of cloudy cider in front of him. The fire was still giving off a cosy heat, the remnants of a large log glowing warmly, and the off-white Christmas tree lights made for a romantic setting. Checking the clock in front of him, he glanced at the pretty young woman. Her dark hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, her tight jeans and cream roll-neck jumper emphasising her trim figure.
‘Hello, what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here at this time?’ Lucas looked behind to see if anyone was following her in. He then noticed that she had been crying. He was surprised at how sad that made him feel. The cider loosened his lips. ‘Aw. Sweet girl. What can I get you?’
‘A dark rum and Coke, please?’
‘Large?’
‘Larger than large, please.’
Lucas signalled to the barman who was already putting ice in a glass, then said carefully, ‘Tell me to mind my own business if you like, Carly, but do you want to talk about it?’
Carly took a large slug of the ice-laden drink that had just been put down in front of her. ‘It’s boring really.’
‘I’m sure it’s not and I’ve got all night.’
‘I’m embarrassed to talk about it, to tell the truth. It’s like this: I’ve been seeing someone down here in the Bay. Well, I say “seeing” but he’s never been very attentive. I just ended it this evening. It’s OK though; it wasn’t right.’ She sighed deeply.
‘But that doesn’t make it any easier, does it? You’ve had that connection.’