Chapter Twenty-Three
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
It had been a wonderful few hours, and by the time they’d arrived back in Thimblebury, Ottilie felt as if she’d had the weekend away that she’d refused. They swam until they were too cold, and then wrapped up and gazed out at the glorious quilt of hills and valleys and distant lakes as they’d warmed up with hot coffee from a flask and snacks Heath had packed for them, and then they’d gone back into the water and done the whole thing all over again.
They’d talked, longer and more honestly than they’d talked in a long time. Heath had been completely open about his feelings on what was happening – not only with Fion and Damien and the village at large, but how he felt it was affecting them, what their futures might look like, and how hard he was prepared to work to make sure they would be this happy forever. They’d laughed, recalling things that had happened the last time they’d been here. It felt like the early days of their relationship all over again. Ottilie had worn a smile all the way back to the car, even when her legs had been aching and her feet were sore. They’d stopped at a pub for a quick drink and yet more food, contented and happy as dusk followed them into Thimblebury.
At the same time as they arrived at the house, Damien’s car pulled up too. Ottilie looked across at Heath. As relaxed as she’d been only a moment before, it was like their day out had never happened. Instantly, she was tense again, wary of what might unfold in the next few minutes.
But the car didn’t stop for long. Fion got out and waved as it pulled away again. She turned to watch as Heath killed the engine and he and Ottilie got out of the car.
‘Have you had a nice day?’ she asked. She looked so happy it made Ottilie’s heart ache for her. Why did people have to judge her so harshly? Her intentions hadn’t been to hurt anyone, and Ottilie felt she knew enough of her now to know she would have tried hard not to, even if she hadn’t been able to fight the attraction to Damien in the end.
‘Lovely,’ Ottilie said. ‘Did you?’
‘We’ve just been on a driving lesson. Damien says I should think about putting in for my test. We’ve done hours and hours of practice today.’
‘That’s brilliant,’ Ottilie said cautiously.
‘I think we’re out of bread,’ Fion said. ‘Want me to go and see if the shop is still open?’
‘Magnus and Geoff won’t be open now,’ Ottilie replied. ‘The newsagent might be.’
‘I’ll go,’ Heath said, but Fion started to walk.
‘Don’t worry – I’ve got it! Won’t be a minute!’
Ottilie opened up and let Heath in. ‘I think I’ll go and put something comfier on.’
‘Want some help?’
‘No.’ She laughed, prodding him in the chest. ‘You can make yourself useful and go and make drinks.’
‘Can’t I go and get something comfortable on?’
‘When you’ve made me a drink.’
‘Spoilsport. All right then, what do you want?’
‘Something warm. I won’t be a minute.’
Ottilie came back downstairs a few minutes later in some old leggings and a fleece. She liked that they were at the stage of their relationship where she didn’t have to worry about what she wore in front of him. She’d joked that as soon as he’d proposed, he’d waived the rights to sexy lingerie and sitting around in full make-up and stiff clothes whenever he was around. He’d joked that if that was the case, she’d waived the right to clean boxers and socks. He’d made cocoa from a jar of very expensive chocolate Fliss had bought her for Christmas, and it smelled amazing as she took a seat at the table and wrapped her fingers around the mug.
‘I feel quite spoiled today.’
‘Good,’ he said, playfully nudging her leg beneath the table with his foot. ‘That’s what I was aiming for.’
She leaned across to kiss him but a second later was jolted away by the sound of the front door slamming. Expecting Fion to skip into the kitchen with the bread, she turned and smoothed her expression into one that didn’t give away the raunchy thoughts that had just been whirling around her head. But all steamy thoughts were chased out when she saw the anguish on Fion’s face.
‘What’s happened?’ she asked, leaping up to embrace her. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘It’s nothing,’ Fion sobbed. ‘I’m fine…’ She dragged in a breath and pushed herself free of Ottilie’s arms.
‘You don’t look fine. Has somebody upset you? Fion?—’
‘Please, Ottilie, I’m really fine. I’d rather not talk about it.’
It was then that Ottilie noticed Fion didn’t have the bread she’d gone for. Narrowing her eyes, she held Fion by the shoulders and looked at her squarely. ‘Did they say something in the newsagent’s?’
‘No.’
‘Was it shut?’
Fion shook her head.
‘Then where’s the bread?’ Heath asked. ‘Didn’t they have any?’
‘I don’t know…’ Fion started to cry again. ‘I didn’t…I didn’t go in.’
‘Someone said something to you,’ Ottilie insisted. ‘What did they say? Was it about you and Damien?’
‘It was…’ Fion gave a tiny nod. ‘But don’t make a fuss about it, please!’
‘Who was it?’ Heath asked.
‘Nobody.’
‘Who?’
Fion looked up at him, and there was a horrible moment where realisation hit and Ottilie went cold. Ottilie saw that Heath had worked it out too.
‘Gran?’
‘You can’t say anything to her,’ Fion pleaded. ‘She didn’t mean anything. She said…she said it was you two she cared about.’
‘And she told you the best thing you could do was to break it off with Damien, I suppose?’ Heath said.
‘She told me I ought to move back to Penrith,’ Fion replied.
‘There’s progress,’ Heath said grimly. ‘I’ll go and see her.’
‘You can’t!’ Fion yelped.
‘It’ll only make things worse,’ Ottilie said to him. ‘Fion’s right, you can’t.’
‘But look at her!’
‘I know. Still, we’re going to have to let it go.’
‘No.’ Heath grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair. ‘This has gone too far.’
‘Where are you going?’ Ottilie ran after him as he marched into the hallway. Her feet were bare, and she cast around for the nearest pair of shoes as he yanked open the front door. ‘You’re not going to Flo’s now? At this time?’
‘There’s no point in talking to my gran about it because anything I’ve got to say would fall on deaf ears,’ he said, reaching into a pocket and pulling out his car keys. ‘I’m going to the source.’
‘What?’ Ottilie stepped onto the path, the ground beneath her bare feet cold and hard. She winced as she stood on a sharp stone. ‘What source?’
He turned to her. ‘Go inside.’
‘Not likely. Not until you come back in too. What source?’
He nodded at the distant hill, where Damien and Melanie’s house was.
‘Heath, this isn’t your fight. It isn’t your business.’
‘It’s my business when it upsets your sister because that upsets you. And you are very much my business. There’s only one way to put a stop to all this. Damien’ – there was a hard emphasis on the name – ‘needs to be a man about it and accept some responsibility.’
‘And what does that mean?’
Heath unlocked the car, and Ottilie followed him out onto the pavement. At this point, Fion was also on the path, watching anxiously. Ottilie didn’t know how much of their altercation she’d been there to hear but suspected that if she’d heard all of it, she’d be trying harder to stop Heath from getting into his car too.
‘Please,’ Ottilie said, glancing back at Fion before grabbing him by both hands. ‘Don’t. It’s not going to help. We’ve had a lovely day – why ruin it like this?’
He paused, and Ottilie could tell she was getting through. While she loved and admired his sense of right and wrong, his need to step up, whether it was his business or not, she felt that sometimes it was misjudged, and sometimes it was too much. This was one of those times, and if ever she needed him to step away and think for a moment, it was now. She was convinced that no good could come from him storming up to see Damien and demanding he break things off with Fion. If nothing else, it was surely up to Fion who she chose to love. And Ottilie had no doubt that Fion did love him. Whether Damien’s feelings were as strong, she couldn’t say, but it wasn’t her or Heath’s business to pass judgement on that.
‘Tomorrow,’ she added in a voice meant to soothe him, ‘we’ll talk about it – you, me and Fion. It might even be a good idea to get your gran over too and all sit together. We’ll decide then if anything needs to be done. I know you want to do something, and I understand it’s frustrating to sit around watching all this and not be able to do anything about it, but it would make me happier if we didn’t rush in all guns blazing.’
After another long pause, he gave a reluctant nod.
‘Thank you,’ Ottilie said, and as they turned to go back into the house, Fion scurried inside and ran up the stairs to her bedroom. Perhaps, with Heath in his current mood, that was for the best.