Chapter Thirty-Five
The One With the Power of Love
Kate’s senses were heightened, her skin alternating between hot and cold. Maybe she was going down with something? She clasped her arms around her middle as they entered the house, aware she was creasing her top by grasping it so tightly, unsure why she was in such bits.
Get a grip!
Kate chewed her lip as Ryther shed his lightweight coat and opened a closet to hang it up, desperately searching for small talk to take her mind off Dev and what he might think of her uninvited appearance in his home.
‘Ryther’s an usual name. Do you mind me asking where it came from?’
The gentleman indicated they head down the hallway, and she fell into step beside him.
‘It was my grandmother’s nickname for me and somehow it stuck.’ He sent Kate a mischievous smile. ‘I was a demon on a pony, you know. My maternal ancestors stem from Germany, where the name means horseback rider or knight. I rather liked the inference.’
Kate grinned at the boyish delight suffusing his features as they reached a set of double doors.
‘Here we are.’ He pushed open one of the doors to the central room with the ornate glass roof Kate had seen before, and she summoned a smile to mask the trepidation that had returned with a vengeance.
Dev’s surprise was evident when he looked up from the vast table, where he sat beside Theo, working on a jigsaw puzzle, but he didn’t look displeased.
‘Kate!’ Theo had far less reservation and he discarded the colourful piece he held and shot around to hug her.
Laughing, Kate laid a gentle hand on the little boy’s head as he released her.
‘Have you come for supper?’
‘Oh! No, I—’
‘Kate was passing by,’ Ryther said as Theo turned to hug his great grandfather before resuming his seat beside his dad. ‘So I invited her in. I hope that was okay?’
He looked to Dev, who seemed amused.
‘Kate’s always welcome here, Grandy, but on past experience, I’d say you’d have invited her anyway.’
Despite her inner tumult, Kate couldn’t help but laugh at the pretend afront on Ryther’s face, before he winked and gestured towards the sofas by the hearth.
‘Come and entertain an old man for a while, my dear, while these two finish their jigsaw.’
Kate hesitated, but as Dev and Theo’s had returned to the puzzle, the former guiding his son in finding the next piece, she acquiesced.
‘Would you care for a tipple?’ He indicated the decanter on the coffee table between the sofas and his own glass. Then, on seeing Kate’s gaze flit to the clock on the mantelpiece, added, ‘It’s well over the yard arm.’
Perhaps it might calm her jitters?
‘Yes, please.’
He poured her a small sherry, and Kate took it, refraining from saying she hadn’t drunk it in years. At least it looked like a dry one. She took a cautious sip, then smiled at Ryther, the sherry easing the constricted throat that seemed to be part and parcel of being in Dev’s company these last few weeks.
‘Dev tells me everything looks quite splendid up at the manor. Are you looking forward to the weekend?’
Kate pulled an amused face. ‘I’m part excited and part terrified. There’s an… unpredictability about the cove that means you never know what to expect.’
‘Having heard from my grandson about your support team, I’m not surprised. I’ve known Pat most of my life, and the late Arthur Clegg.’
‘Is Mrs Clegg a local too, then? Her accent isn’t pronounced like the others’.’
Shaking his head, Ryther placed his glass on the table. ‘Cleggie moved here from London when she married her Artie. They’re all partners in crime, though. I’ve seen them in action before.’
Kate laughed, then drew in a short breath when Dev looked up. She fixed her gaze on the man opposite.
Focus on the mundane…
‘So,’ she cleared her throat. ‘Dev told me a little about the Devonshire connection to Polkerran. You grew up here, Ryther?’
‘Indeed.’ For a moment, he stared into the empty hearth, then turned his keen gaze on Kate. ‘You are familiar with some of the house’s history?’
‘Be warned,’ Dev’s voice sent a tremor through Kate, and she assumed nonchalance as she turned her head to where he now stood by the table. ‘Grandy will wax lyrical for hours about the cove if you let him. Come on, Teds. Time for your supper.’
He ushered Theo from the room, and Kate’s taut shoulders relaxed their grip as she sank back against the cushions to listen to Ryther’s tale.
Kate wasn’t blind to the emotion behind his eyes or the slight inflection to Ryther’s voice, despite speaking fairly matter-of-factly about both stunning properties perched on their respective outcrops. Yet something had happened here, in the past, surely?
‘Is that when…’ Kate hesitated.
‘Harbourwatch fell into a bit of a state?’ Ryther emitted a faint laugh, though he looked unamused. ‘The poor house. Neglected, unloved, abandoned.’ He glanced around the now charming room. ‘They say buildings cannot mirror the emotions of the human state. How wrong they are.’
Emboldened, Kate leaned forward. ‘Would you tell me? What happened all those years ago? What drove you away from somewhere you loved so much?’
For a moment, Ryther didn’t speak, and Kate suspected she’d gone too far. Perhaps she ought to go, leave the family in peace?
She made to get up, but Ryther reached out a hand, and she took it. He had a firm grasp, despite his age, and he squeezed her own hand lightly before releasing it.
‘Do not mind me, my dear. Memories come thick and fast sometimes. Why is it they are so clear, so vivid, so fresh, yet I will be blowed if I can recall what I even had for lunch yesterday?’
Kate shook her head.
‘I wish I knew. My biggest failing is stairs. I swear there’s a portal on them so that you repeatedly forget why you went up them in the first place.’
Ryther looked over as Dev returned to the room.
‘Theo’s having something to eat with Stella. He’ll come and say good night shortly.’
‘Join us, my boy. We’re discussing this house.’
‘As you were when I left the room. There can’t be much more to say.’
Kate was uncertain whether she was thankful Dev had taken a seat on the same sofa – albeit at the opposite end – or not. Every nerve was standing to attention, yet surely this was easier to handle than if he were sitting opposite, beside Ryther, those blue-grey eyes drawing her hungry gaze?
‘I am addressing the most recent years. The house was boarded up, I’m afraid, and left—’
‘To rot,’ Dev added succinctly. ‘I should know. This house and I are now intimately acquainted.’
Kate’s gaze dropped to her lap, and she clasped her hands together.
Was it weird to envy a house?
‘You have done a wonderful job, Dev, in restoring its beauty.’
‘Thanks to your financial support.’
Ryther waved a dismissive hand and continued. ‘My Dev was kind enough to preserve some of the things I treasured.’
‘Oh! Like the shell frieze in the gorgeous square room?’
The stillness of the figure opposite was in stark contrast to his normal animation, and Kate was alarmed by the sudden paleness in Ryther’s papery thin skin.
‘Are you okay, Ryther?’
Was he feeling unwell? Kate made to move forward, but Dev was quicker, reaching for the decanter and adding a splash of sherry to his grandfather’s glass.
‘Here, Grandy, take it.’
Dev flashed a glance at Kate, his expression reflective of his concern, but he resumed his seat, and having done as he was bid, she was relieved to see colour returning to Ryther’s cheeks.
He coughed slightly as he placed the now empty glass to the table. ‘Forgive me. Some memories may fade but the wounds do not.’ His gaze drifted to his grandson. ‘The care you have taken in restoring this house warms my heart, Dev. That you have made it your home brings me great peace.’
‘You’ve never explained why you left, Grandy. Or why you and Dad fell out when he was young.’
Ryther said nothing for a moment, his gaze flitting between his grandson and Kate, who could detect the conflict passing over his elderly features. Then, he released a long sigh.
‘I have not spoken of this before, but I feel it is pertinent just now and, Dev, my boy, I would caution you to listen. It is quite simple. I adored the most incredible woman, as beautiful inside as she was to observe.’ His gaze became distant, as though lost in the mists of time. ‘Unfortunately, she was not my wife, whom I had loved once. It is a hard path, is it not, when it is a one-way street with no U-turn at the end?’
Her heart saddened, Kate wished she could reach across and take Ryther’s hand. She cast a discreet look at Dev, whose eyes were fastened on his grandfather.
‘This lady lived here in Polkerran. At Westerleigh, which she rented from my company. We fell deeply in love one beautiful summer. I had a ring made for her. A promise ring, for how could I suggest more in my situation?’
‘She had no idea about your life away from here?’ Kate asked tentatively.
Ryther shook his head. ‘Not then. I wished for a divorce from my wife, but I had a young son.’ He looked over at Dev. ‘Your father. And he needed me, so although your grandmother knew I had someone else, that I wished to marry them, she held it over me. I decided to leave anyway, but then—’
His voice caught, and Dev fetched water from the carafe on the sideboard.
‘Thank you.’ Ryther took a gulp, then another. ‘I felt honour-bound to confess my secret.’
‘To Meg.’ Kate’s voice was a mere whisper, but Ryther held her gaze, then inclined his head.
‘Of course. I told her the truth, of which she had known nothing. That I was married and had a son, but much as I loved my child, I was leaving them to be with her. She was upset, which I anticipated, but what I did not was the devastation, or the depth of her subsequent anger. She told me in no uncertain terms to go away and never contact her again. Be the father I ought to be. That no child should be without their parent. I couldn’t reason with her on any level, and our precious time in the cove was over.’
He drew in a shuddering breath before continuing. ‘It did not stop me loving Meg, or thinking about her… us. It was a love the like of which I’d never known, or ever did again.’ He bowed his head, and when he raised it, his eyes damp, he continued, his voice creaking with emotion. ‘My heart shrivelled and died, and so did Harbourwatch.’