Chapter 18
Some moments remained fixed in your mind for ever. Gazing at the newly familiar faces around her, Disa knew this would be one of them.
There was a party atmosphere at La Lanterna this evening, on the final night of their eventful week in Venice. Beneath the trees, glittering with strings of white fairy lights, the five of them sat together, eating and drinking and marvelling at the way the past few days had turned out.
‘Well, this has been the best holiday of my life.’ Disa raised a glass to Molly. ‘I came out here hoping to meet you, but I had no idea if my plan would succeed, or that you’d turn out to be so perfect.’
‘And you’ve been the best surprise ever. Both of you.’ Molly blew her a kiss, then one to Fen.
‘My week’s been pretty average.’ Leon shrugged. ‘I mean, Venice is OK, apart from being a bit old and watery, but it’s a shame I couldn’t have met anyone half decent.’
‘Same,’ deadpanned Fen, next to him. ‘Just think, if I’d played my cards right, I could have bagged myself a gorgeous Italian gondolier like Kayla.’
Disa was still laughing when Jamie raised his glass. ‘Here’s to all of us. It’s been a superb week all round. And I’m glad I brought Leon along with me. I’m also glad he dropped his Scotch egg down that escalator.’
‘I’m glad I caught it.’ As Fen said it, Disa saw her squeeze Leon’s knee.
‘And I’m so glad I met all of you,’ Molly chimed in. ‘We mustn’t lose touch. If any of you ever want to come back to Venice, you must stay with me. Whenever you want. I mean it.’
‘And the same if you want to visit us in Bristol,’ Disa told her. ‘I hope you will. You’ll always be welcome.’
Molly glanced in Jamie’s direction. ‘I’d love that. Thank you.’
They all clattered their glasses together and raised a toast to each other.
Then the church bells began to ring out in the warm night air across the city.
It was ten o’clock, their signal to leave; a Venetian masked ball was being held on the ship, and Jamie had promised to be there to celebrate with the rest of the guests.
‘You three go on ahead,’ Disa told them. ‘I’ll catch you up. I just want a few more minutes with Molly.’
When the two of them were alone, Disa said, ‘This is going to make me sound like a terrible person.’
‘Oh! Why?’ Molly looked alarmed.
‘Don’t panic. I just needed to make sure you were .
. . nice, I suppose. And you are,’ she added hastily.
‘You are! Which is why you absolutely deserve this.’ Unzipping the cross-body bag she hadn’t taken off all evening, she drew out an envelope and the blue velvet jewellery box.
‘Here, take these. Maybe read the letter first.’
She’d kept it back upon first meeting Molly. Now she watched as Declan’s daughter scanned the words her father had written to her. Having read them herself at least a dozen times, Disa now knew them off by heart:
Molly, my darling girl. I love you so much, and haven’t seen you for so long.
You might have forgotten all about me by now.
Your mum has kept me updated on your progress and I know you’re happy with your stepfather.
But Yvette felt it would be easier, under the circumstances, if we had no further direct contact, and I felt I had to respect her wishes.
I did tell her, however, that in that case I saw no reason to give you my late mother’s engagement ring.
I’m so sorry, I should never have said that.
Not my finest hour, and of course you must have it.
Once you reach the age of eighteen, I very much hope you’ll want to meet me, and when that happens, I shall pass it on to you, to do with as you wish.
It’s a Victorian diamond ring that you might not want to wear.
If money would be more useful, feel free to sell it.
As I write this, you are fifteen years old. If you make contact three years from now, once you’re eighteen, I’ll be able to give you the ring along with this letter.
I do hope you will.
I’m sorry I haven’t been able to be the father you deserve.
I love you so much.
Dad xxx
As Molly finished reading the words written in Declan’s heartbreakingly familiar handwriting, Disa realised that tears were sliding down her own cheeks. She wiped them away with her napkin.
‘Take a look.’ She indicated the box.
Molly opened it, then gasped. ‘And this belonged to Dad’s mum? My grandmother?’
‘It did.’ Declan’s mother, Elspeth, had been frankly terrifying.
Disa, who wasn’t easily scared, had found it hard to relax around her.
Following Elspeth’s death at the age of ninety-two, she’d left items of jewellery to various distant relatives.
Disa had duly received an enamel brooch of a giraffe.
When she’d asked Declan about this ring, he’d told her it had been sold a couple of years earlier to pay for his mother’s new Bentley.
Another lie, of course, but at the time she hadn’t questioned it.
‘What was she like?’ said Molly.
‘Imagine Queen Victoria crossed with Margaret Thatcher.’
Molly tilted the ring this way and that, watching as the glow from the candles on the table caused the diamond to throw out rainbow sparks of light. She said slowly, ‘I don’t know anything about jewellery. But it looks . . . big.’
‘It needs to be kept safe.’ The restaurant’s outdoor garden was still busy. Disa lowered her voice and gave her the ballpark figure of the ring’s worth.
Molly, her eyes like saucers, clapped a hand over her mouth. ‘No.’
‘Yes. He wanted you to have it. But it’s yours to do whatever you want with. If selling it would be more useful, do that.’
‘It’s so much money.’
‘You deserve it.’
‘And you didn’t even need to give it to me. You could have kept it for yourself.’
‘I could. Except it wouldn’t have been mine, would it?’ Disa reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. ‘It belongs to you.’
*
Disa made her way back to the ship past the gently bobbing sleeping gondolas lined up at their poles along the edge of the Grand Canal.
Before she’d left the restaurant, Molly had taken the ring inside to Rosa, the owner, who had locked it away in the safe.
Tomorrow she would take it for a proper evaluation and consider its future.
A wiry grey cat emerged from the darkness and Disa bent to say hello. For a few seconds it weaved its way around her ankles, head raised so she could stroke it. The next moment it lost all interest and slunk off, melting back into the shadows in search of fresh entertainment.
Like so many men had a habit of doing, Disa thought drily as she watched the cat disappear.
Please God, don’t let Leon do that to Fen. If he tried, he’d have her to answer to.
Happily, she didn’t think he would.
‘Swap! Swap!’ Above the noise of the music, Raewyn bellowed so loudly in Jamie’s left ear that she almost burst his eardrum.
A retired head teacher from Melbourne, she had pretty much demanded he dance with her, and she wasn’t the kind of person who tolerated insubordination.
But now the song had come to an end and he was evidently being released.
Behind his black and gold Venetian mask, he heaved an inward sigh of relief.
Raewyn was vigorously tapping the shoulder of someone behind him and announcing firmly, ‘Come on, swap with me, you’re next on my list.’
Seconds later, it became apparent that the next victim on her list was Leon, who’d been dancing with Fen. And now Raewyn was pushing Fen towards Jamie, saying, ‘There you go, your turn with this one.’
So much for the vow he’d made forty-eight hours earlier.
It was proving to be a promise it simply wasn’t possible to keep.
Not without drawing unwanted attention to himself, at least. The dance floor was full of masked guests, Fen was in front of him waiting to be danced with, and .
. . typical, the next song beginning to be played by the band was a slow one.
Of course it was.
In slight desperation, he said, ‘If your feet are hurting, we could always sit down.’
But Fen was looking surprised, and Leon, a few feet away with Raewyn, called across at him, ‘Mate! What are you, ninety?’
‘I’m fine,’ said Fen.
Right. Looked like he was going to have to get through the next few minutes.
Thank goodness for the ornate mask covering at least some of his face.
Placing one hand on Fen’s tanned bare shoulder and resting the other as lightly as possible on her waist, he kept as much distance as he could between them without it looking ridiculous, and together they began to move around the dance floor in time with the music.
Behind him, Jamie could hear Raewyn shouting to Leon about her plans to explore France, Spain and Morocco next.
Someone else was singing ‘la-la-la’ out of tune, and he tried to concentrate on that.
But the dream from the other night was still there, box-fresh in his mind.
The more he tried to banish it, the more vividly it continued to haunt him.
He hadn’t kissed her then, and was still deeply regretting it.
Risking a glance at her mouth, which was slightly open, he quickly looked away once more. The next moment, having forgotten to move his left foot in time, he found himself overcompensating and treading on her toe.
‘Ouch,’ Fen said mildly.
‘Sorry, sorry. Wasn’t concentrating.’ I was too busy thinking about that dream and your mouth.
She looked amused. ‘You know, you’re so good at everything else, it’s actually reassuring to find out you can’t dance.’
It was his turn to say, ‘Ouch. I can dance.’
‘You can? No offence, but—’
‘No offence always means you’re about to say something offensive.’
Fen shrugged. ‘Fine, you’re a grown-up, you can take it. If you can dance, why are you touching me as if I’m covered in wasps? And why are you dancing like a human clothes-airer?’
It was the way she asked the questions, like a serious scientist, that made him burst out laughing and thankfully banish all thoughts of the dream.
For now, at least. ‘Brutal.’
‘But honest.’
‘Careful, I might have to accidentally step on your other toe.’ He was able to see the glint of mischief in her eyes through the eyeholes of her intricately painted pink mask topped with ostrich feathers.
‘And I’m doing my best, OK? But maybe I get a bit shy when I have to dance. I’m better at rugby.’
‘Shy!’ Fen scoffed. ‘I bet you’ve never been shy in your life.’
‘You’d be surprised. It can happen to all of us.’
‘But you’re always meeting new people, and you’re famous. Everyone loves you.’
Not quite everyone. ‘That makes it worse. People expect more of you. Look.’ He moved her around and pointed. ‘There’s Disa, dancing with the captain.’ He paused. ‘You’d think she’d have found a new man after all these years.’
‘There have been a few contenders.’ Fen deftly avoided his clumsy left foot again. ‘None that have lasted long. Nothing more than a couple of months. Grandpa really was the only one for her.’
‘You never know, someone else might come along, sweep her off her feet. Still plenty of time for that to happen. What’s wrong?’ said Jamie, because Fen had stopped dancing and was looking up at him as if he were a puzzle she couldn’t work out.
‘Nothing. Just . . . you. You’re not anything like I expected.’
He felt his heart speed up. The mask made it that much harder to read her expression. ‘What does that mean?’
‘You’re nicer than I thought you’d be.’
‘I am? What did you think I’d be like?’
‘OK, honestly? I was expecting you to be full of yourself. The important one. Always expecting to get your own way, and irritated when it doesn’t happen. Like Elton John that time he lost his temper playing tennis because the wind wouldn’t stop when he wanted it to.’
‘Wow.’ Also, how closely was she comparing him with Elton John?
‘I know. Sorry.’
‘You really thought that?’
‘Well, yes. Because you’re famous, I suppose. But the good news is, you aren’t like that. Which is better!’
‘In what way, exactly, am I better?’
‘You don’t act as if you’re above everyone else.
And you chat to everyone like you’re really interested in what they have to say.
You’re friendly. And kind. They all love you here.
’ She gestured airily with her hand. ‘That’s it, really.
Like I said, you’re nicer than I was expecting. And I’m so glad you came on this ship.’
‘Oh?’ It was good to hear.
‘Because if you hadn’t, Leon wouldn’t have been here either. And I might never have met him. Which doesn’t bear thinking about.’
The song was coming to an end. Jamie smiled. ‘In that case, I’m glad to have been able to help. My job here is done. And I’m officially a nice person too.’ Stepping back, he gave an ironic bow. ‘The ultimate compliment. You’ve made my day.’
‘She has?’ Here came Leon, released by Raewyn and ready to reclaim Fen. ‘What’s been going on here?’
‘Apparently I’m not as terrible a person as Fen thought I was.’
Grinning, Leon clapped him on the back. ‘Don’t go getting your hopes up, Hamilton. She still prefers me.’
He was speaking the truth. As the band struck up the next song, Leon whisked Fen off. From the corner of his eye, Jamie glimpsed a flash of spiky red and gold hair and turned to see Kayla making her way past in a purple mask, her usual beaming smile for once missing.
He nodded at her. ‘Hi! Haven’t seen you around much lately.’
‘I know, thought I should be here tonight. Felt a bit guilty about leaving Hattie on her own this week.’
It was the last night of the cruise, the singer was now belting out Jamie’s favourite George Michael song, and Fen had told him he was a nice person. Indicating the band, he held out a hand in invitation. ‘I love this one. Fancy a dance?’
But instead of giving a squeal of delight and launching herself at him like an overexcited puppy, Kayla paused. Then she shook her head. ‘No, thanks.’
What?
Behind the mask, something was evidently amiss. ‘Is everything OK?’
She gave him a long look, then heaved a sigh. ‘Not good, actually.’
‘Do you want to talk about it?’
‘Not really. You carry on, enjoy the rest of your evening. I’m fine.’